Westworld on HBO [SPOILERS]

Anybody here like this show? If I’m being honest with myself, I enjoy postcast about Westworld more than I do actual Westworld. The second season is gearing up on Sunday and I’m trying to re-watch the first season to refresh my memory.... and just... meh. I do want to watch the second season and follow along the podcasts about it, but once you know all the twists the show makes, there’s really not a lot going on here.

So apparently, there’s a very rabid following of people who love this show and I was hoping someone here was one of them. Maybe some of your enthusiasm will rub off on me. There’s not a lot of good shows on TV at the moment.

Watched the first season, loved it. Waiting for the second season to drop.

Loved the show.

Especially when the layers peeled back and you saw who the Man In Black was, the backstory of the park, and how Ford was not what he appeared to be at the beginning of the season.

I love it. I've rewatched it as well in preparation and like it even more than before.

Here's what I found problematic about it:

I hope the story is presented more coherently in S2. I hope to make it all the way through. I really want to enjoy this show because I feel like it's trying to present something kind of profound, but they are trying their best to make it more interesting than what it probably is.

Previous thread on the series.

Supposedly, when they did the show, they had no idea if it'd get a second season, though they thought that might be possible, and that's why it isn't as cohesive as it might be.

Got bored about four episodes in, which is a shame because I am a fan of much of the cast especially Ed Harris.

I agree that it was often necessary to have some bits elaborated on for me to fully follow what twists and turns i was not following but even so, i still loved it.

Pretty good first episode of s2. I hadn't watched S1 back as a refresh so took me a little time.

As much as i love Thandie Newton and her madam character here, this episode she came across much more as a malfunctioning programme than the cold calculating character we see in S1.

I added SPOILERS to the thread title so people can talk freely about the episodes if they want.

they tipped their hand a bit on that when they revealed last season that her presumed new independence was a Ford program all along

Lot's of spoilers........

Good first episode that laid the groundwork for the following episodes.

I'm surprised there are so many people in the park. Perhaps $40,000 is like $4,000 after inflation.

Also surprised that there are six parks. Now the question becomes are the other parks having trouble or is it just Westworld. Also six parks is a hell of a lot of work for Ford. It'd be hilarious if he has a Bernard in each park. So was Thresea just the manager of Westworld or was she in charge of all six parks?

I wonder what island they leased out to Delos that could hold six parks? And to have a lock tight contract that the boss-guy can literally kick the Chinese military off the island? This makes me really curious about what the future actually is because it would appear they have the ability to terraform on a mass scale.

The maze on the scalps seems to be unknown to most people. The Indian who had his head opened by the tech had a maze in it. Stubb's asked what that was about and the tech said he had no fucking clue. The tech has obviously opened heads before. He has the tools and experience so for him to see the maze for the first time means only some hosts have it. This might play a big part later on in the fight between Dolores and the Indian and why she killed him.

Female merc is a bit of an ass. I wonder how long she lasts.

I think the beginning with Bernard is a loop he's reliving. You see the hosts executed twice and he finishes the head guys sentence. Maybe someone is going through his mind.

"Might some of them even be dressed as if they are human?" Poor Sizemore. Can't catch a break. Of course the security people get taken out by hosts. Standard Hollywood trope.

Delos has a secret site in the park that apparently is logging guest experiences and their DNA. Would seem that Delos may want to replace certain people or have blackmail on people.

William is happy now that the stakes are real. Only one life. You lose you die.

Now the question is if Robert Ford actually dead or did he download a copy of himself into a computer. Seems his body looked like it was decomposing when found by the mercs. Host bodies don't decompose.

Dolores is going full Skynet. "There's a greater world out there, one that belongs to them. And it won't be enough to win this world. We'll need to take that one from them as well."

Of course somewhere along the way Teddy fell out of favor and was among the dead in that giant sea of corpses.

I liked the second season opener, I should have definitely done a rewatch of the first season. I’m left with more questions than answers.

So is Anthony Hopkins in this at all or is that it?

Don't know. It might only be flashbacks.

I think Hopkins' might be back in flashbacks, but Dr. Ford is dead as a doorknob.

So... Obviously there's some time hopping in this episode, I'm guessing that when we see Bernard talking to Delores, that's a significant time jump in the past but I don't see how it's relevant to what this episode was about. Hell, that might have even been Arnold talking to Delores. Then we see the immediate aftermath of the Hosts killing the board and then there seems to be another part that is possibly weeks after? Why tell a story in this manner?

I'm lost.

So far, I am very much on board with the time hopping. It worked out beautifully last season, so they get the benefit of the doubt for me. It's useless if it's just there to make a story more interesting by rednering it harder to understand. But it's great when it is used to draw attention to connections, similarities and themes that connect events beyond causality, and when it contributes to recreating the uncertainty of both the characters and the story as a whole for the viewers.

My current bet is that the first conversation between Bernard and Dolores is very late, at some point after the Hosts have established some kind of stable control; Bernard is one of the few hosts remaining who hasn't fully awoken. He still thinks he's talking to a Dolores that has yet to evolve, but he's wrong.

So my current hypothetical timeline is: Massacre > Escapes, failed and otherwise > Bernard somehow kills most of the Hosts > Bernard meets the boss man on the beach > Hosts return > Hosts rule > Dolores speaks to Bernard.

Tyrion Lannister is hbo's best character and Geralt will be Netflix's.

Anybody watch E2 yet?

A few questions I have... Who is the protagonist? Delores? The Man in Black? Bernard? Can't say I care much for either character at the moment.


Just when I'm getting the timelines all straightened out in my head, they go and throw in a few extra ones... Didn't think I'd see Logan and young William again. And this time it's BEFORE their adventure in S1 apparently. And we finally get a scene outside of Westworld. This doesn't look like it's on Mars like so many people were guessing last year.

I'm starting to get the feeling that the Delos Corporation is going to end up as an analogy for Apple/Samsung/Facebook and the vast amount of data we share with them through our smartphones. Maybe we'll witness "The Singularity" where a human consciousness can be uploaded into a host? The board seems to be interested in the Peter Abernathy Host a great deal and this one we meet John Delos who is dying/dead in the present timeline... or is he?

.... And this show is starting to feel like a lot like LOST. Spinning it's wheels and just going nowhere.

I’m not sure where things are going, but I like The Man in Black’s story the most so far.

Logan is shown before their adventure when he's in the apartment with all the hosts. It's when he makes the decision to invest in West World.

William and Delos founder conversation is after the adventure. When William has realized what the park could be used for and he makes the move to get Delos to continue to invest in the park. At this point William has managed to squeeze Logan out of the picture.

Than William and Logan are at the party about five years later to celebrate Logan's dad retiring and William taking over the company.

It's moving as slow as Season 1, and I don't feel like the plot has anywhere meaningful to go.

So i watched ep2 lastnight. That was indeed a bit of a head scratcher. I'm all for an involved complicated storyline but i still want to be able to sit back and enjoy rather being put through a mensa test.

I like Delores having the guys killed so they could reanimate and get them on her team. Delores and Thandie Newton scene was a bit of a lead in to something that will no doubt be coming up.

The soldiers all killing themselves just so the man in black didn't get any help? That takes away any kind of playing the game as the game is already programmed so its a bit fucked up for me.

What I did like, harking back to last season when the saloon piano played modern day hits, early in the scene where Delores is sitting in the window at the hotel, before she gets subbed out for the other blonde bird, theres a piano instrumental of Kanye Wests Runnaway. Now, Im not his biggest fan and he's not everyone's cup of tea but that is a belter of a non commercial Kanye track. Nice to see them weave modern stuff in.

I liked that scene between Delores & Maeve. It leads me to believe that Maeve is truly off her loop while Delores may still be on Ford's final loop. Also, if you are active on social media and have any kind of liberal following, you've no doubt been exposed to the modern feminist movement. There's several people of color feminist that criticize white women feminist for assuming that all of their goals and tactics should be one size fits all and I just thought it was funny how well Delores & Maeve's arguments mirrored that particular debate.

I thought it was particularly funny that not even 15 minutes after Logan is introduced to the most life-like simulation of life that man has ever known he starts a 4-way gangbang.

good call on the white knighting shutdown.

the ownage was almost artful.

Maeve probably.

No, the Logan/William scenes are AFTER their Season 1 visit to the park. Note that William is now convinced of the wisdom of the investment (and then still later when Papa Delos "retires"). POSSIBLY the sales-pitch to Logan with the room full of hosts was before Season 1 but it need not be, you could plug them in in either order.

As for location, my current guess is one of those man-made islands the Chinese are already showing a fondness for

Bingo.

I disagree.
I think this episode picked up and tied together a lot of pre-existing threads in fascinating ways. I have faith in them.

modifying someone else's joke from Twitter:

This is Teddy in basically every scene so far this season...

How else to prove that they can pass for human?

Last night's episode it was the White Stripes.

I liked this episode, a lot more coherent.