Westworld (2016-)
Created by: Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy Nolan, Michael Crichton (1973 movie written by)
Starring:
Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie
Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro
Rating: TV-MA
Plot:
A futuristic theme park recreates the wild west for visitors, but bliss doesn't last forever.
Review - Episode 1
This is an impressive pilot episode. It sets up an intricate plot,
introduces the characters, and provides an oft used conflict. Just like
in Jurassic Park (1993), life finds a way. These mindless hosts
seem poised to become self aware. It's not novel, but that's okay. I'm
excited for what this show can be. The setting combined with the sci-fi
elements and ensemble cast have the makings of HBO's next hit.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show
calls them hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The
creator wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing
to perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
We're introduced to a few of the parks characters, Dolores (Evan Rachel
Wood) and Teddy (James Marsden) as well as a mysterious visitor in black
(Ed Harris), a top programmer Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), and the eccentric
creator Ford (Anthony Hopkins).
I'm left with the basic question of how the plot continues, but I hope
the show gets into some of the science and general operation. What are
the boundaries of the park and how are they enforced? How are the hosts
tracked, if at all? How do the guns work exactly?
We could also get some really neat side stores about side characters.
The series opens with Teddy on a train, returning to the park with a
voice over between Dolores and a programmer questioning her self
awareness. I immediately wondered what kind of park this is and is there
real danger. The show pulled a fast one. Teddy is a host. Each day
repeats over and over. We get a glimpse of the creation process. We see a
horse starts as some kind of 3d print, then organs are added, it's
reshaped, and then it's lifelike and human. This facility manufactures
humans.
It seems to be setting up the loving doctor who thinks the hosts are his
kids, his creation. Bernard Lowe states they haven't had a critical
failure in thirty years, but the armed guards are taking no chances when
an android in cold storage is "restless." Cold storage appears to be a
derelict shopping mall. Of course when you claim no failures, it's a
clue that's exactly what will happen.
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| Never trust the man in black. |
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| Hopkins chatting with a rather bland robot. |
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| We don't know the year, but that is one high tech table. |
The sheer scale of the story and plot is impressive with all of these interlocking and interweaving story lines. These story lines could have a massive sprawl if we explore all of the different viewpoints.
Wright does a great job as a scientist more interested in how humans react than what humans have to say. With a new update on ten percent of the hosts, and one of them malfunctioning, the top brass is wondering whether they'll have to stop the simulation. Wright's character assures them they don't need to stop it.
Heavy foreshadowing indicates the simulation could go awry. A fly landing on the face of the hosts seems to be a clue. These androids don't notice a fly landing on their face. They aren't that aware.
Programmer Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) suggests the updates are a mistake. The park is becoming too real. Murder, sex, and blood lust are crossing the line from simulation to reality. Where is the line?
Hosts are programmed to not harm guests but are the guns real? Could visitors harm each other?
Ed Harris's character seems to take depraved joy in pillaging the city. He knifes a host, but couldn't he just as easily knife another guest. Is it just an invisible legal line he doesn't dare cross? How does he run amok with no one noticing?
And now we get to the real problem. A host that's shot but not dead. The programmers shut the malfunctioning host down quickly, but how far away are they from the action? Is there just a painted veil at the edge of town?
The issues seems to be the recent code added by Ford (Hopkins). He continually adds "reveries", small movements and tics to better simulate realism.
Wouldn't the programmers know what's going on with the host Ed Harris has kidnapped and is bleeding out? There has to be an alert when a host doesn't return to its spot.
The saloon robbery sequence with Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro) is high energy with the gang leveling the town, though it ended prematurely due to a visitor. This show can do action very well.
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| He seems a little too human. |
Dolores voice over from the beginning returns, though we don't see all
of it. The conversation between a host and Hopkins is chilling. This
host is seemingly self-aware. Hopkins attributes it to the host
accessing previous builds, but we can guess it isn't that simple.
The fly returns, landing on Dolores, and it is indeed a clue. She swats
at it. It's a great closing scene. I can't wait for next week's episode.
Review - Episode 2
It's been a long time since I've seen a pilot as good as Westworld. Fortunately we got episode two early due to the presidential debates.
It's just as good as the pilot, even better in some respects, as it
slowly builds the stories in and outside the park.
Information is expertly meted out, at least thus far. While the main
characters in the first episode have lesser roles here, it adds to the
scope of this world. As Ed Harris's character says, "Everything adds up
to something." Through this episode we better understand how the hosts
and operators work in and outside of the park.
In multiple instances the park operators comment on the hosts and in
turn comment on what we're seeing. Bernard states how the hosts talk to
each other as a form of practice.
A technicians muses how messed up the hosts would be if they could
remember what guests do to them, and that is the key. Hosts are
remembering brief snippets of past lives. This episode shows us just how
many concurrent story lines Westworld could run, both the show and the park.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
As I hoped, this episode builds more of the world around the park. We
know what it's like to enter the park and we get glimpses of the
different operator departments. While we don't get much of a
continuation of some of the character specific stories from the first
episode, it doesn't matter. The script is so good that the new plot
lines are just as intriguing.
 |
| William (Jimmi Simpson) is strapping in for the ride of this life. |
William's friend is no stranger to the park and is having a great time. This park is a window into how depraved people can be given the opportunity. William retains a moral compass.
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| Dolores (Evan Rarchel Wood) is hearing voices. |
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| The Man in Black (Ed Harris) wants to find the deepest level of the game, the maze. |
The park operators do know about him. A technician asks a higher up if they need to slow him down since he's killing so many hosts. The manager states that guest gets whatever he wants. The man in black thinks an outlaw knows more about this maze. The man in black threatens the man and his family. He dispatches a gang of men easily, because being a guest, they can't hurt him.
Wow! I'm thinking Ed Harris is crazy with the maze nonsense, but then the outlaw's daughter tells him "The maze isn't meant for you. Follow the blood arroyo to the place where the snake lays it's eggs." I don't know what it means, and I don't think he does either.
Bernard is still trying to figure out the glitch. Abernathy is an interesting question as he seemed to have an existential crisis despite being a host.
He seems to live on site, which makes sense with the scale of the park.
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| Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) conversing with Teddy Flood (James Marsden). |
While technicians repair Maeve, and I'm guessing these guys are the "body shop", she wakes up and threatens them with a scalpel. Everyone else uses voice commands on hosts. Why didn't these guys? Are they too low level? Maeve wanders around the facility, obviously bewildered, before she's sedated.
A quality assurance technician analyzes Maeve and makes adjustments, complaining about how aggressive the story line department made her. It's a subtle reveal at the tension between departments. We've already seen the head of the story department, Lee, can be a primadonna. He's building a grand story line, in his opinion at least, and routinely dismisses that he'll need approval, citing that the old man, Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins), doesn't even pay attention anymore.
When presented with the story, Dr. Ford rejects the grand story line and tells Lee why his story line is garbage. The park isn't about garishness or cheap thrills, it's the subtlety. People come to the park because they discover details they feel no one has ever noticed. This park is to get a glimpse of who you could be.
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| Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) dismisses Lee Sizemore's cheap thrill storytelling. |
Ford takes an elevator to a remote part of the park. He meets a boy that
I wonder is his own creation, someone he used to know or even himself
as a child. Is it a way to make up for past mistakes?
The episode ends with Ford telling Bernard about a new story line he's
been working on, something quite original. I'm willing to bet this
intersects with the maze.
Review - Episode 3
This show continues to impress. This episode focuses primarily on
Dolores as we see hosts operate outside of programming. Bernard is still
concerned about the glitch, and Ford's big new story begins to take
shape. We also learn more about how the park operates. Each episode
continues to build upon the last and the park keeps getting larger.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
This episode provides a glimpse of hosts operating outside of their
programming. A stray host seems to be chasing the stars, which links to a
conversation between Ford and Bernard about sentience in the hosts.
With sentience hosts could think they speak to god and other hosts may
follow them. The park would break down when hosts fail to follow their
programming, but we're on the verge of that.
Bernard is playing a dangerous game by allowing Dolores to evolve and change.
That's the overview, read on for an in depth break down of the episode.
Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) is still talking to Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood). He has her read a passage from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
about how strange everything is but the world continues as normal. It's
less than subtle, and it just seems odd that Bernard does this unless
he truly thinks Dolores has awakened somehow. He has little indication
to think such has occurred, though it certainly has. Dolores remembers
more than she should. Her failure to inform any of the technicians has
to be willful, though perhaps no one has asked the right questions.
Bernard mentions his son who we later find out died young. He's been using Dolores as a crutch to fill the emotional void.
William is going to bounty hunt, though Logan (Ben Barnes) is reluctant stating bounties are j.v., he follows anyway.
A host goes stray and has to be tracked by Elsie and Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth). The host has a wood carving hobby with some strange designs carved into a few of the wood animals. He's eventually found, trapped in a ravine. Elsie thinks this isn't a typical stray. This host went outside of his programming, like he had an idea.
Stubbs is going to cut off the head and leave the body for convenience sake. Despite being in sleep mode the host wakes up in the middle of the 'procedure' and proceeds to crush his own skull with a rock.
Ford talks to Teddy, wanting to give him a part in the big new story line that seems to include a crazy military deserter Wyatt (Sorin Brouwers) that thinks he hears God speaking to him. This also ties into Dolores and the sentience conversation.
Teddy gets wrapped up in the story line where he tracks down Wyatt. It doesn't end well, facing a group of foes that look inspired in part from the baddies in Bone Tomahawk.
Bernard approaches Ford, still hung up on the aberration. Ford's office is more than a little creepy, filled with artifacts, heads and faces. There's even a host playing the piano. Bernard feels they haven't found the problem. Two hosts were both having conversations with no one visible, despite calling the person 'Arnold.' Ford seems to recognize the name.
Ford recounts a bit of history. His business partner was Arnold. They worked on the park for three years before opening the doors. Hosts were rubber and metal framed. They passed the Turing test within the first year. The CGI to make Hopkins look young looks amazing. Arnold wanted the hosts conscious. Arnold was scrubbed from the records after dying in the park. Ford lives on, though he adds that Arnold was too careful to have died from an accident.
Bernard talks to Dolores again. He's wrestling with whether he should change Dolores back. He's been using her as an emotional crutch since the death of his son. Is Bernard in part responsible for the aberration? He has some responsibility in the changes with Dolores. She's evolving and he knows it. He doesn't want to stop that.
Review - Episode 4
This is another solid episode that slowly edges the plot forward. It
looks like 'the maze' might be the endgame for season 1. This doesn't
have any big revelations, it's primarily a foundation for plot yet to
come.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
Dolores strays farther off path as the show is getting her to wherever
she's going, and the Man in Black edges closer to the maze. The maze
might be the end game of this season. Maeve determines that nothing
matters, but no other hosts have awoken.
William and Logan off some outlaws and Logan claims to have found an easter egg to one of the best rides in the park.
Technicians notice Dolores is deviating and notify the behavior department. Dolores has a vision of the Man in Black's captive Lawrence's (Clifton Collins Jr.) daughter and sees the pattern she drew in the dirt of the same maze the Man in Black is seeking.
QA takes over the investigation from the behavioral department into the host that crushed its own skull with a rock in episode 3. Elsie (Shannon Woodward) is upset that Bernard allowed it, but he's trying to hide the aberration from QA. Letting them investigate is the only way to make it look like he has nothing to hide.
We do learn that whoever the Man in Black is outside of the park, he owns a medical foundation.
Man in Black knows Arnold. Man in Black recounts the legend of Arnold, and how Arnold said you can do anything in the park except die. Arnold wanted a world with real stakes and real violence. If that's what the Man in Black seeks, why?
He tells the tattooed woman he'll retrieve what she wants from a jail provided she'll tell him about her tattoo. He gets into the jail, finds another outlaw, Hector (Rodrigo Santoro), and frees him.
Man in Black lights a match which sends a signal to the staff for a pyrotechnic effect. Since he's such a big benefactor, it gets approved. He escapes the jail with Hector and Lawrence.
That tattooed woman tells Man in Black a story of revenge and how she
added a segment of the snake as she took her revenge on those that
killed her mother. The last man she wants to kill is Wyatt, the same
character just introduced in Ford's (Anthony Hopkins) new story line.
Teresa (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the head of QA, meets with Ford. She
tries to suggest delaying his new story line, but he has no intention.
It's not a theme park, it's a world. In the park Ford and Arnold were
gods. They designed every inch. Ford states that Arnold, "lost his
perspective" and went mad. Ford knows everything about the guests and
his employees. He knows Teresa and Bernard have a relationship, and he
tells Teresa to not get in his way. He will finish the story on time and
it won't be a retrospective. A giant earth moving machine in the
background tears up the Agave garden in the distance.
The Man in Black finds Teddy Flood (James Marsden) tied to a tree. Teddy was after Wyatt last episode.
Hector and his crew return to the city for their heist story line where
Maeve corners Hector, wanting to ask him a few questions. He tells her a
few myths about the techs she drew and gets the safe for his trouble.
Maeve asks him to stab her. He refuses so Maeve does it herself, finding
a bullet inside her from episode 2, proving that she was shot and there
is more behind the park. As she says, this proves "nothing matters."
Review - Episode 5
This episode doesn't provide many answers. We get more information, but
it just makes everything more confusing. It's an intriguing episode all
the same that makes the excitement for a or the final revelation all the
more overwhelming. It could just be that all paths lead to one point in
this strange confluence of events. Solid episode, and better than the
last one.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
Ford (Anthony Hopkins) is talking to an outdated host, the same one from
the first episode. He tells a story of a racing dog that caught what it
was after but didn't know what to do with it once it had it. I assumed
he was talking about a host, maybe Dolores, but by the end of the
episode maybe he's referencing the man in black.
Why is it Hopkins prefers to talk to an old host with repetitive
responses. Is it that it makes him feel better than talking to himself?
That same voice as before is urging Dolores to "Find me." It's a safe
bet she has a few more clues than what we're aware. It's Arnold, but
what is he doing and why has it taken this long? Arnold has been long
gone. These voices and memories seemed to be triggered by a change Ford
made, but that hasn't been referenced lately.
As we learned in episode four, Logan's (Ben Barnes) family is looking at
purchasing a stake in Westworld. He is William's (Jimmi Simpson) boss.
Logan's hedonistic behavior is widening the rift between he and William.
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| The man in black is the villain he thinks the world needs. |
The hosts can bleed out too. How real it seems, and the man in black laments the fact. Humanity is cost effective. That is the reason this park has made hosts more realistic.
Ford sits down with the man in black. The man in black asks Ford if he's getting any closer. The man admits he always felt Westworld lacked a villain. That is his contribution, and he hopes Wyatt is a worthy adversary, someone to stop him from finding the maze.
The man in black boasts he's the reason the park didn't die when Arnold did. Is it just coincidence that the man in black's quest for the maze coincides with hosts waking up?
Ford asks Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) if she remembers the man he used to be. He asks if she remembers Arnold, the man that created her. He's sure she does. He knows she hears voices, but she denies it. She states her last contact with Arnold was thirty-four years ago. Ford remembers it was the day Arnold died. Once Ford leaves she admits to the voice that is Arnold that she told Ford nothing.
How do they take her out of the park to talk to her and put her back without William or anyone else noticing?
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| From Lawrence to Alonzo without a hitch. |
They're robbing a stage coach for Alonzo and William has a big moment where he kills a couple of Union soldiers.
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| Is it cliche to say she holds the key? |
Alonzo double crosses the Confederales and Dolores urges William to chase Alonzo. William ignores helping Logan and witnesses Dolores displays some keen gun slinging skills.
She and William both are defining their own stories.
Evan Rachel Wood does an amazing job in this. She deserves recognition.
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| Elsie discovers yet another plot point. |
Elsie (Shannon Woodward) was told to not investigate the defective host
from episode three, but she can't leave it alone. She finds an implant
in the host's arm. It's a laser based satellite uplink, and she tells
Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) straight away. Someone is using the hosts to
smuggle data out of the park.
One of the body techs, Felix, is working on bringing a host bird to life to
secure a raise. He's laughed at by his associate. There is no way to
climb the ladder at Westworld. This seems like an unnecessary story,
where there are so many stories being juggled.
It turns out this does have a point, or at least a lead in to another
plot point. Maeve (Thandie Newton) wakes up and tells Felix, "It's time
we had a chat" She can wake up at will and knows his name.
Review - Episode 6
Another awesome episode. I love to see how this park works, and we get
quite a bit of that this episode with a quick tour behind the scenes.
There is a lot happening in this episode. Initially I thought Dolores
would be the main host that awakens, but looks like Maeve will have a
big role too. She's gone farther past the park than any other host and
she's poised to be a super host.
Arnold is still a big mystery, but Ford is becoming a concern. Bernard and Elsie begin uncovering a conspiracy.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
 |
| A host is created. |
In the last episode Maeve (Thandie Newton) woke up and spoke to the body tech, Felix. What happened between then and now? In one of her first scenes, she wants the guest, I assume this guy is a hurdyto kill her. The reason was so she could continue her conversation with Felix.
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| Maeve's startling revelation. |
He manages to get her back on line and she wants to see upstairs. He protests, but relents. We, through Maeve, get a much deeper look at the behind the scenes of the park. She sees hosts being cleaned up after a day in the park, animals, characters being tested in various scenes, and new faces being sculpted. Their tour is capped by a video trailer for the park.
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| Maeve isn't playing. |
Maeve is still learning about how the park works, specifically her attributes. While hosts' intelligence is capped at 14. She's eager to change that. In the last scene of this episode, she modifies those attributes.
Elsie (Shannon Woodward) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) are discussing the satellite uplink Elsie found in the stray host from episode three.
The host was an older model and to access the geo cache information, Bernard has to enter a restricted part of the facility, that, as it did before, looks like an abandoned shopping mall. Is there a reason this park never throws away anything? Is it they have the space so why not or do they always need parts? It can't be for parts because so few people have access. This area is the old creepy basement to the extreme.
Bernard has to go all the way down just to access a computer terminal. Seems unnecessarily complicated. Why do the lights flicker. That has to be mood lighting. While Bernard is checking the stray host's data, he finds five additional unregistered hosts with anomalies like that one. They are all in sector 17. The sector is off limits and designated for future narratives. This park has an entire sector they aren't even using. How many states big is this park?
Elsie claims she's close to finding the saboteur, but Bernard isn't admitting what he found. Elsie is hoping for a raise and additional amenities for discovering the espionage. With Theresa being head of security, she'll be held responsible. Of course this presents a dilemma for Bernard who had a relationship with Theresa, but was also just dumped by her in this episode.
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| Nothing like an original gen host. |
Why doesn't Ford ask Bernard how he found this place?
Bernard goes back to his office and looks up the names of all first generation hosts designed by Arnold.
Elsie determines the satellite is the parks. The voices the hosts hear appear to be someone broadcasting to them through relays in the park. The relay system was abandoned long ago, but someone is still using it.
Are the hosts hearing voices all first gens by Arnold? If they are, why now? Is this whole series predicated on the fact that everything just seemed to happen all at one time? Ford's big story, hosts waking up, and the Man in Black's quest all seems to have started at the same time.
Elsie heads to sector 3, looking for a relay. It seems a bit strange for Elsie to be doing this alone. Park security is scared of hosts, not wanting to enter the park without weapons. Elsie is hunting for a rogue person solo. I'm guessing that will be her downfall.
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| Beware the anomalies in sector 17. |
Theresa is using the signal system for a satellite uplink, but someone else has been modifying hosts, changing prime directives. As far as Elsie can tell, it's Arnold. Who, as you remember, is dead.
Elsie finds something big in the data from the relay. Of course, someone grabs her, before we find out what.
Ford (Anthony Hopkins) is still undertaking massive terra forming for his new story line. It's crazy that story lines don't just involve new hosts or even a few new buildings. The park is changing the actual terrain and adding a canyon. That can't be a cheap undertaking. The people doing the work seem to be park staff, which means this must happen often.
Then again, this is in essence an interactive zoo. Why create a new exhibit or story line when you can create a new zoo. He decides to stop the canyon just short of whatever town he is in, but he sees the same maze marking on a table. I'm guessing Arnold must have left these symbols throughout the park. It's a riddle that doesn't seem to have a start point. Maybe the man in black has seen enough of the park and enough of the symbols reappearing that he's determined there is something to it, and as this show suggests, there is merit to that idea.
On his quest to find Wyatt, Teddy (James Marsden) tells the Man in Black (Ed Harris) about the legend of the maze. A man built a house in the center of a maze so complicated only he could find it. This sounds like Arnold. The original founder who 'died' at the beginning of the park. Arnold hid something, or himself.
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| Watch out for Teddy, the one man wrecking crew. |
Teddy and the Man in Black infiltrate a camp as they try to catch up to
Wyatt. They get caught, but Teddy mows down the entire camp single
handedly, impressing even the Man in Black.
Theresa ends her relationship with Bernard. It raises too many questions and what if scenarios of partiality.
We get to see a park lounge. Theresa wants Lee to plug story line holes
that Ford has created with his secret project. We last saw Lee in
episode 2 where he was being a primadonna and his story was shelved for
Ford's. Now Lee is on sick leave by the pool and doesn't want to help.
Theresa tells Lee to get over it and start writing. If Ford fails, Lee
could fill the gap, but not if he's on sick leave.I love that Lee, the
head writer, can't come up with a better line to pick up a girl. Theresa
sends a message and puts him in his place.
Lee urinates on the park map in the control room, obviously drunk. The
girl he tried to pick up at the lounge is a new employee to handle
administrative transitions. It's a great first impression.
Review - Episode 7
What a crazy reveal! This episode brings almost everything into
question. This is the kind of episode that is usually a season finale.
With that in mind, what is this show going to do for the actual finale?
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
A trompe l'oeil is a visual trick to make a painting or other artwork appear three dimensional, to appear real.
Episode seven opens with Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) dreaming about his
deceased son Charlie. While he told Ford (Anthony Hopkins) he didn't
like the idea of unregistered hosts, the thought of making his son a
host has to have crossed his mind. Maybe that's the difference between
he and Ford. Bernard knows where to draw the line. This thought I had at
the beginning of the episode is completely turned upside down by the
end of the episode.
Bernard is running a diagnostic on a host, checking to see if it's self
aware. One of his employees tells him they are almost through the
backlog and that Elsie (Shannon Woodward) started leave today. In
episode six, Elsie was exploring a repeater and discovered something big
that may relate to Arnold. Then somebody or something grabbed her from
behind. Elsie on leave has to be a sham, but that means whoever got her
has the power to alter things like that. Bernard should be freaking out
at this news. He tries to locate Elsie to no avail.
Bernard and Theresa have a terse conversation where she disparages his
employees and he assures her they are done second guessing her.
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| Always best to check hosts thoroughly. |
Charlotte tells Theresa that her company sees the park as a research project. They want the raw data from the park, and they know that Ford has it under lock and key. Charlotte's employers want to demonstrate how unsafe the park is by staging an accident.
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| Always bring a gun to a Clementine fight. |
Charlotte is painted as the villain and rightly so, but it's just so blatant. Theresa has no problem throwing Bernard under the bus and blaming him for the faulty code. Ford does nothing to protect or help Bernard who gets fired on the spot by Charlotte. It was Ford's code. Theresa is surprised Bernard is fired, but does nothing to stop it.
I don't think I missed it in previous episodes, but this one indicates that the Westworld offices are hidden in and behind the mountains of the park.
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| Maeve has plans. |
When techs pause the simulation to get a host, Maeve prepares to attack, afraid they found her out, but the techs are after Clementine.
Maeve gets shot to return to Felix so she can find Clementine. She witnesses Clementine's lobotomy by Sylvester as Theresa watches.
Bernard interrupts Theresa to tell her he saw right through the charade and that if he saw it Ford did. It's obvious the code was manipulated. As he says, "If your team was any good, they would be working for me."
Bernard does think there is a link to memory and improvisation. He takes Theresa to sector 17 where Ford keeps his unregistered hosts. This may seems strange that Bernard is helping her, but just wait. The house happens to be on top of a remote diagnostics lab where Ford is making his own hosts.
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| He's interested in more than just stories about cowboys. |
This brings up some big questions about Ford. How big is this conspiracy? How many hosts does he have implanted throughout the park and the administration?
Ford informs Theresa that while the board tests him every so often, she will not be the one to stop him. He built all of the park. There is nothing he doesn't know. Is Ford's big story just a story or is there more to it?
Bernard did appear uncharacteristically robotic once it was revealed he was a host. I get it's for effect, but it doesn't feel true.
Maeve wants out and wants help. Mave threatens to kill Felix and Sylvester if they don't help her. She reminds them she's died hundreds of times. She's great at it.
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| Welcome to Ghost Nation. The locals are friendly, really. |
William admits to Dolores that he's engaged. It's clear he has an emotional attachment and sees her as more than a host. Little does he know, she is more than a host. He will help her find the place she seeks, but he can't stay. He's obligated to return. William's future brother in law Logan stated in episode four that his family wants to buy a stake in the park. Is he part of the same company for which Charlotte works?
William and Dolores share a moment that he doesn't seem to regret.
He muses that the park doesn't pander to your base self, it reveals your true self.
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| Dolores has found her dream. |
Their train is then ambushed. They manage to escape the confederados,
but are now on horseback in Ghost Nation land where Lawrence stated
earlier they wouldn't last more than an hour outside of the train.
William and Dolores part ways with Lawrence, finding a land that Dolores
had only dreamed about. This has to be a pathway to the maze. Did
Arnold hard code certain hosts to return? If so what triggers it.
Review - Episode 8
This show is amazing. The disparate stories are coming together. Why
does the Man in Black think there is a connection between Ford's
grandiose story and Arnold's maze? The player piano metaphor is slowly
becoming clearer. The buttons Ford presses to execute commands on hosts
may not be doing anything. He just thought they were.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
Bernard wants to stop Ford, threatening to "raze this place to the ground." Ford admits that Arnold felt the same way, but failed to stop him. Ford wants to preserve his art.
Bernard, modeled after Arnold, has to be a trophy for Ford. He bested Arnold, and now he can do it time and again, ordering Bernard to do his dark bidding.
Once Bernard erases all traces of Theresa's murder, Ford will delete those memories of killing her.
Maeve (Thandie Newton) sees her world for what it is. It's routine. The person she knew as Clem is a new host running through the same dialog.
She doesn't want to know her past or the whys. She knows the stories were created to keep her in the park. That, and each host has a fail safe explosive in their vertebrae. Maeve demands administrator privileges to alter her design. She's going to create a host army to get her art and solve the explosive dilemma.
Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and William (Jimmi Simpson) are close to home, according to her. Is home the maze?They discover the aftermath of a Ghost Nation attack against a detail sent specifically to kill he and Dolores. It was Logan (Ben Barnes) who informed on him, so they're told from a young man near death. Dolores wants to help the boy, but William states he's too far gone. William seems almost sinister, at least by the music. So far he's been amazed at the experience, the near reality of it. He's been a person of compassion. Why is he so indifferent now?
Security finds Theresa in the same ravine that the rogue host of episode
three was found. They found a drive with proprietary data and evidence
indicates she fell.Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) indicates Ford could be a suspect in her death, but Ford counters that the demonstration with Clementine in episode 7 where she killed another host was obviously a manipulation from Theresa. Everything is coming up Ford in this episode. He's got Theresa out of the way and Bernard reinstated.
Sylvester is nervous about Maeve and the investigation into Theresa doesn't help. Maeve begins a soliloquy about the nature of her being, how she was designed to do things just out of her reach with abilities that lie dormant. She asks about Arnold, and tells them if they can get her to behavior she will be a problem for someone else.
Sylvester plans to wipe her brain once in behavior, while Felix is more concerned, I suspect Maeve has planned for that.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden) are in
Wyatt's territory, with the Man in Black claiming Wyatt has Flood's girl
Dolores.The Man in Black tells Teddy Ford only lets him remember a very little bit.
Teddy and Man in Black fight a man that's formidable, wearing a bull's head. They dispatch the beast man, but Teddy remember Man in Black taking Dolores in a previous episode. Teddy pistol whips the Man in Black.
The Man in Black is impressed that Teddy remembers. This should be a great game for him. The Man in Black tells Teddy the rules of Westworld prevent Teddy from killing him, but he can change that.
The Man in Black states he owns "not just this world."
If there's a wild west theme park, how many additional parks exist? I thought the rule wasn't that hosts can't kill, but they couldn't even harm them.
We have the Man in Black that claims to own the park, William and Logan that claim to be potential buyers, and Charlotte and the board of Delos. How do none of these three have a more direct connection?
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| Is it a metaphor that Maeve as at he center of the maze when Man in Black first saw it? Probably not. |
The Man in Black entered the world to see if he could do something truly horrid. This world reveals your true self after all. He killed the host that is Maeve. Maeve cut his throat which explains the scarf he wears. He admits he felt nothing upon murdering, but he witnessed a host truly alive. That's when he first saw the maze.
That maze is the key to everything. While Ford's game has boundaries, Arnold's game is deeper, dangerous.The Man in Black believes Wyatt is the key to the maze, but why does he think that?
Wyatt is part of Ford's story, but the maze is Arnold's.
Of course at the same time we hear the Man in Black recount his story, which coincidentally is what set Maeve on her path indirectly, Maeve enters a trance and kills another host, which registers with security. She's now on the run.
After the Man in Black killed her child, she couldn't be shut down. Despite Ford shutting her down and erasing her memory, she still remembers, how? Is it Arnold? When Ford deletes her memory he specifically states he's using a trick from an old friend. That has to be Arnold. Ford also deleted Bernard's memory about Theresa. I'm willing to bet that comes back into play.
Maeve had recruited Felix to help her. She knew Sylvester was going to kill her. She slashes Sylvester's throat to the surprise of Felix. She shrugs, telling him he knew how duplicitous she is. She orders Felix to save Sylvester and he does. She might need him. What a show of power.
It's a new day for Maeve, and now she can influence other hosts. She tells both the bartender and Clem exactly what to do. They do it.
She's going to use Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro) and his outlaw gang to her advantage or is this just a display for the audience? Looks like she's just practicing her power of suggestion.
Charlotte visits Lee Sizemore, letting him know that Theresa wasn't a traitor. Everything she did was at the behest of Delos, at least that's what she tells him.
Lee thinks he is creating a villain for Ford, but Tessa reveals it's busy work. She has a job for him.
They go to the basement host storage area. Charlotte is uploading data to a host. She wants Lee to make a story that gets the host out of the park. Quite the coincidence that the host she picks was Dolores's dad in episode 1. Does Charlotte realize the hosts explode if they leave the park? Does Lee? Either way, that host is going to go off the rails.
I thought Maeve's army was going to come from inside the park, but is she going to intersect the dad, another host with an existential crisis, and get him to recruit hosts from storage?
The truth may be that Theresa was uploading data. If she does everything Delos ordered, I'm willing to bet they ordered that. Now Charlotte needs to finish getting the information out.
Bernard and Ford debate the difference between life like and alive. Pain is always imagined in the mind, what's the difference between a host and a human?
Ford reveals that is the question that plagued Arnold. Ford believes there is no threshold. You can't define consciousness. Bernard asks if he's ever been made to hurt someone before. Ford tells him no, but we see a flash back to Bernard choking Elsie.
All the while, Ford is planning this big story line. Does he just want free reign to create stories and experiment with his hosts? Is this going to be a grand finale for him? Does he just not like outside control?
Head of security Stubbs offers condolences to Bernard over the death of Theresa and is glad Bernard is back. He finds it weird that Bernard seems to not remember his relationship with Theresa. It's more than just being discrete, little does Stubbs know.
Stubbs has mentioned the Man in Black in a previous episode, but just said he was important. Though I get if you call out who he is, some employees will want to see what kind of depraved person the head is. Stubbs hasn't mentioned William and Logan, so he may just not know them.
Dolores is home, but what is home? It's abandoned, but she has a vision of it filled with people. This appears to be an exercise. If not the first hosts, they are early hosts. Dolores is going mad, and it turns out the town has been buried. We see just the steeple of a church. The same steeple from episode 2 when Ford revealed to Bernard he was working on a big story. Does this big story somehow tie back to the origins of the park? At the time that location just seemed relevant to Ford's new story.
Arnold wants Dolores to remember, but remember what. Somehow these reveries have allowed hosts to remember. Did Arnold implant a directive? Did he make it that it's impossible to truly delete host's minds?
Logan finds William and Dolores and he seems quite villainous. It's all just a game, even he said that. I wouldn't believe him now though.
Review - Episode 9
Last episode the player piano metaphor became complete. Ford is pressing
buttons and thinks he's controlling the hosts. We thought he wasn't.
This show is great at leading you down a path and pulling the rug out
from under you. It's hard to out guess it.
This episode brings us ever closer to the maze, without quite getting
there. While this episode is a big information dump, that includes more
than a few big reveals. There is still one more episode, which I can
barely fathom. What will happen next?
Watch it.
Review
Westworld
is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them
hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator
wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to
perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software
update has introduced a glitch.
Obviously William is reactive. What would happen if he even got her out?
Hold on, the picture of William's fiance is the same picture that caused Dolores's dad to break in one of the first couple of episodes. How did that photo travel?
William tries to convince Logan that Dolores is special, but Logan plans to prove she's just a host. He guts her, exposing the underlying mechanics. William and Dolores are both shocked, but Dolores uses the moment to cut Logan and kills a few men to escape. She then hears Arnold's voice and is no longer wounded, entering a vision.
William admits he got caught up and Logan harbors no ill feelings. "What happens in the park, stays in the park."
Dolores is on foot, seeking the town, the very first town. We've seen it in a vision before. As it stands, it's buried.
Logan wakes up to the aftermath of a massacre. Bodies and limbs litter the camp. William tells Logan, at knife point, he figured out how to play the game. He's going to find Dolores and Logan will help. Since Logan has a knife to this throat, he readily agrees.
Bernard wants his mind unlocked and has a devious plan to get Ford to comply. While Bernard can't harm Ford directly, he's got that worked out.
Ford tells Bernard how the hosts passed the Turing Test within the first year, but that wasn't enough.
Ford's narration to Bernard intersects with Dolores's vision as she enters the church and descends into the ground via elevator.
Arnold believed the sad stories worked best. Bernard returns to his cornerstone memory, where his 'son' died. Bernard realizes what the viewers have. Bernard is Arnold. She followed the maze back to Arnold, but Arnold is now just a memory. Dolores killed Arnold.
How did she get into the church? The place was buried up to the steeple in prior episodes.
There's a back door built into all the hosts that Ford uses. He had hoped Bernard would choose to be his partner. Ford ends Bernard. I thought Ford's control was just an illusion, but it seems it's not. He's not a player piano.
Maeve meets with Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro), revealing exactly how his story plays out. When the events unfold and the safe they stole is empty, Escaton agrees to help her, "rob the gods blind."
Teddy (James Marsden) and the Man in Black (Ed Harris) are bound, at the mercy of Wyatt's crew. Teddy recounts how he followed Wyatt, killed for Wyatt. Wyatt didn't influence Teddy, the true memory surfaces. Teddy killed a town.
We knew the Man in Black was a high ranking business man, but he's trying to smuggle information out, or at least his company is. He seems completely caught up in the game.
He runs into Dolores at the chapel right after she remembers everything. Obviously there is a maze. The hosts tell Black it's not for him, because it's for the hosts. It almost seems specifically for Delores. Is the maze remembering everything? If so Delores found it. Is Black going to be satisfied to find out what it is. Is there more to it?
Arnold has a bigger part to play in this yet.
Review - Episode 10
What a ride. While we get answers, this show still manages to leave some
big questions. We finally figure out the maze, and Ford becomes the
story.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software update has introduced a glitch.
Teddy Flood (James Marsden) is starting exactly where we saw him in episode one, riding into town on a train. As he's walking, Arnold's voice urges him to remember. He sees everyone in the town dead, Dolores weaving a path between bodies. Teddy awakes, instinctively killing a host that bumps into hims and mutters, "Dolores."
Teddy is a man on a mission, though we're not quite sure where he's headed. My guess is the now unburied town.
This episode is moving fast!
Dolores finds Arnold in the chapel, telling him, "I know where the maze ends." The scene then cuts to Dolores and the Man in Black at a grave labeled with Dolores's name. The scene cuts back to Dolores and Arnold. The maze, Arnold explains, is an artificial being's journey to sentience. He used his voice to guide her, but he wanted her to hear her own voice. The journey isn't scaling a pyramid, it's a circular journey inward. The maze isn't for the Man in Black as various hosts have told him, because it's a journey to sentience.
Dolores's memories are flooding back. Ford wanted Arnold to roll Dolores back, but he can't do that. Arnold wants to break the loop before it begins. He wants her to kill all the other hosts to delay the opening of the park, urging her to get Teddy's help and promising to help her. Arnold wants to destroy the park.
The Man in Black wants to meet Wyatt, the only character he hasn't encountered.
Teddy is having memories, of what he thought was Wyatt's murder spree, with thoughts that he assisted it. This is part of, what we thought, was Ford's new story line but why is Ford potentially creating a story line so close to something that actually happened? Right now, Dolores is the Wyatt character for Teddy. The villain he remembers.
The Man in Black tells Dolores the world belongs to him because he owns a majority share. While this world feels more real, there are no stakes for guests, no danger. That's what the Man in Black craves.
It seems likely that Wyatt, the maze, Dolores, and William will all collide, but to what end?
Dolores tells the Man in Black that someone is coming to save her. William (Jimmi Simpson) will save her. The Man in Black laughs at that. It's the reveal we've been waiting for, the Man in Black is William.
The Man in Black tells Dolores where William's path really led. He wasn't a fighter, but he became one while searching for Dolores. The knife William is carrying as he slaughters the camp with Alonzo is the same knife the Man in Black always carries.
So Ford is resurrecting an old story line, this Wyatt character? Teddy seems to be present day Westworld. William is thirty years earlier. What a mind trip that is. Now I need to go back and watch this again, and work out the time periods. There were more than a few clues. The Westworld logo was different when William first appeared. The white hat he first chose, he eventually traded in for a black one
 |
| It's Willi... I mean the Man in Black... who is really... |
It seemed like the stories change often, but Dolores has been living the same story for more than thirty years.
Whatever happened to Logan (Ben Barnes)? William plans to take over Delos and Westworld and tells him as much. We know Logan didn't die in Westworld, there has only been one casualty, so what happened?
He stabs her, commenting that she has, "cleared him of his illusions yet again." Teddy rides in and shoots William.
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| Man in Black asking if this is really the maze, just a kid's game? |
Ford tells William the new narrative may be more satisfying. What does that mean? Has Ford been preparing for this since the first episode? Has he awoken hosts and is planning to enact a revolt for his retirement? Is Ford going to bring down the entire park?
Charlotte visits Ford in his office, informing him that the board has unanimously voted for his retirement
 |
| The new Maeve body. |
It seems the body shop has free reign to molest hosts at their leisure. In the park it's encouraged, but I suppose workers should pay to play. Is their no supervision? Felix and Sylvester have been able to do whatever Maeve has asked them to do. Two new techs are getting killed by Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro) and Snake Tattoo lady and nobody seems to realize.
Sylvester informs Maeve that someone with the access code Arnold revised her core code so she could wake up at will.
Maeve goes to the host storage basement. Felix discovers Bernard dead and wonders for a moment if he could be a host. Maeve quickly disabuses him of such a notion. Ford killed Bernard last episode.
Bernard tells Maeve she isn't the first to awaken, but most hosts just go insane. While Maeve wants the memories of a daughter removed, Bernard informs her memories are the cornerstone of consciousness. Bernard asks her if she's ever considered why she's doing these things. Her story has been altered. She's doing this as part of programming. Bernard begins to read her story, but Maeve doesn't believe it.
Does Maeve's story tie into Ford's planned narrative? Maeve isn't sentient. Wow.
 |
| It was all a show, a charade. This scene is a metaphor for the season. |
Ford's new narrative is "Journey into Night."
The entire facility goes into lock down. I would say this is Maeve, but I'm guessing this is Ford. Security is hunting for the the hosts that killed a lab tech, but now Escaton and Snake Tattoo girl are armed.
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| Check out all the samurai. |
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| Delores and Arnold on the big day thirty years ago. |
Ford explains that he and Arnold disagreed about delaying the park. Arnold had given Delores the 'Reverie' update that helped her solve the maze, but Arnold merged her with the Wyatt character.
Arnold's bid was to have Dolores kill him and all of the hosts, but Ford found an investor in William that allowed him to open the park anyway.
Ford didn't want to acknowledge her consciousness. He saw it then as Arnold pulling the trigger. Ford asks Dolores if she knows who she must become to leave the park and walks off.
Ford tells Bernard that Arnold couldn't save the hosts, but Ford can. Suffering is the key, that and time.
Dolores realizes that it wasn't Arnold guiding her, it was her own voice. That is the center of the maze, Dolores confronting herself and who she must become. What is Ford's plan? How could he predict all of these things coming together on this night?
 |
| A little story line called the Ford finale. |
Ford continues that the story begins by the villain Wyatt, and this time the killing is a choice.
Dolores tells Teddy the world doesn't belong to them, humans, it belongs to us, the hosts. Ford announces this is his final story.
Ford wants to become the story. So he does when Dolores kills him. Dolores has become Wyatt, and William finally finds the story he sought. The one with real consequences. These violent delights have violent ends.
I have to watch this season again. Wyatt was a phantom. The split timeline with Dolores. Ford planned for the board to push him out.
Where does season 2 go from here? There is no way this doesn't get a season 2. HBO did a great job with this.
The park is locked down with human and hosts inside, but now this is the host's story. Jonathon Nolan stated the first season was defined by control and the second season will be chaos. I hope it's not a human survival story line in season two, it seems possible but would be disappointing. This show is about more than that, and now it seems to be about the hosts.
Can this season be topped? It functions fairly well even as a self contained story, but I definitely want more West world.
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