Westworld- Discussion Thread

I had planned on making a full blow review of this show (might still do it later), but got lazy and I got other things in the works. Anyway, thanks to the user @dagmar_merrill, I started watching this show, and my brain is blown to bits after every episode from 7 to 10. An amazing SciFi thriller. Discuss this season and what you'd like to see in season 2?

@saintwildcard: I haven't watched the show yet (I really and I mean REALLY want to though).

Though I had the Blu Ray of the original 1973 movie for Christmas and oh boy! What a freaking awesome movie that is!

@jwwprod: Leave this thread boy! Don't come back till you've seen it, don't watch videos that discuss the series for they may spoil it for you. I got lucky and watched it without it getting spoiled for me.... SO RUN! LEAVE THIS THREAD!

@saintwildcard: But this thread is called "Westworld- Discussion Thread" so you need to talk about Michael Crichton's original classic as that movie was a head of it's time as it was one of the first movies to discuss things like computer viruses and apparently the first movie to use CGI. Michael Crichton also decided to use elements from Westworld and use them in the novel Jurassic Park and it stars freaking Yul Brynner and in this movie he's pretty much the first Terminator. And believe it or not I've actual heard somewhere that Crichton made this movie in just a month!

And remember that Itchy & Scratchy Land episode from The Simpsons? well that episode in a way of a parody of this movie.

So how can you ignore this classic when this thread is about Westworld!

It doesn't look like anything to me.

@rogueshadow: what you did there... I cant see it

William x Dolores broke my heart, binged watched the whole series a couple of weeks ago without reading any spoilers. The reveal scene really messed me up. Best love story in decades.

It did irritate me how many people didn't seem to realise they were witnessing the hosts clearly displaying consciousness and free-will and that it would inevitably lead to the singularity. That was my only real issue with the show.

Once episode 7 hit, it was just twist after twist after twist. The Bernie one through me through a loop, but what they did with the Man In Black/William story is a modern day masterpiece of a twist. Not much stuff shocks me, but that just had me on the floor (moreso than the Bernard one). It is a ding at my ego as an aspiring writer for not catching it, I should have known something was up when we saw the picture of his fiance. I am super pissed at myself

EDIT: Even more annoying when I hear many people caught that early on.

The part I hated was the storyline with the hooker. when she finally started waking up with Felix and then manipulated them. She went from scared shitless and confused, to completely in control of the situation. At times I was like "would someone shank this bitch?". Fortunately they kind of rectified it by saying she was programmed to do those things.

I did actually see the Bernard twist coming, both that he was a host and that his consciousness/appearance was based on Albert's. I figured there was a reason they were refraining from showing him and Ford spoke to Bernard too fondly. I realised when he was talking to Ford's pseudo-family he was a host, I could just see the way that plotline was starting to shape up. I don't recall when exactly I realised he was based on Albert, it was just a persistent suspicion I had.

Regarding William = MIB, I remember wondering a few things throughout the show, like the picture, and I wondered where Maeve was in the brothel early on, but the show was structured in such a way that you wouldn't really connect the pieces, especially if you binge watch it. I'm glad I binge watched it, otherwise I think I would've figured it out over the weeks, if not I'd have definitely read the theories online.

I actually quite liked Maeve's storyline and I think it is purposefully juxtaposed with Dolores', the key difference being their primary influences as they garnered determinism; Felix and William. Maeve seems to achieve genuine free-will in the final scene and I think she is the anti-thesis to what's going on in WW. I see Dolores vs Maeve in the future. The pure and righteous Dolores has been influenced by her experiences with William, which have jaded her into Wyatt. Whereas Maeve, the jaded brothel owner, has been exposed to Felix, arguably the most moral character on the show and will see the good in humanity. Not to mention the catalyst for Maeve's cognitive 'ascension' being born of love, with Dolores' being born of malice/vengeance due to what I see as Ford's arrogant endeavour to 'beat' evolution and thereby become 'God'.

I hope the MIB makes it out alive.

@jwwprod: Have you seen Future world?

I seem to recall a moment where I thought we saw Albert's face (in a lab coat working on some of the hosts), and I thought it was the Man in Black. It kind of looked like him, which is why I never made that connection. Like MiB was a robot created by Albert that looked like him.

Pretty much what I did too. Watched them at night after work. finished them in like 3.5 days. I saw a video breaking down the clues, the biggest ones being the picture and the old logo was used when WIlliam first got there.

I get what your saying, and that'll be cool to see. I did like that Maeve at the end decided to go back for her daughter and that made her more appealing to me, and like you said she finally obtained free will. It's just all the shit she did which just felt like she went from 0 to 60 in one moment.

He's gotta. The ending wasn't as satisfying as some of the twists. Mostly cus at the time they got rid of Ford and were gonna of William as well, which would have pissed me off. Too much death in such a short time. It's ballsy, I'll give them that though.

I'm actually worried as to what they plan on doing next season. This season was just so full of so many twists and turns, the WIlliam/MiB trick remains to be a feat of writing. I just don't see the next season can topping this one.

@dajam said:

Unfortunately no I haven't seen it yet, heard it was garbage though.

I could have got that for Christmas as well along with Westworld but I decided to just have Westworld instead.

@saintwildcard: Yeah, I was wondering throughout the show why she had randomly begun to act out, everything else seemed to have a degree of design to it throughout. Maeve was this rogue element until she was revealed to have been tampered with. But that's what I liked about it, I thought she was the real deal outside of Ford's control, he seemed to have a lock on everything.

In the end though, this strand was still maintained because that's still the case; Maeve still acted beyond anybody's designs in the final scene. Dolores, to a degree, was still acting under Ford's master plan/directive, even though she made the choice of her own volition, the path which lead her there was constructed by Albert and Ford, so I question how her 'consciousness' compares to Maeve's. I don't think it's going to be clear cut going forwards. Lots of questions.

I read they've got it planned over 5 seasons, so it's not a case of 'oh, this is popular, let's do more!!' and they have an actual overarching narrative. So more good stuff like this might occur, but that was very lightning in a bottle so I don't know, even if that's the series' peak it wouldn't be a bad thing.

I was just questioning the practicality of Ed Harris returning, but I checked and he's said he is coming back, so good stuff. It would be a little disappointing if the MIB spent decades trying to 'make it real' only to die as soon as he does. I mean, that might be the point, 'careful what you wish for', but I think that can be accomplished without just killing him, which just seems wasteful narratively. And aside from anything else... it'd just make him a bit of a pu**y.

The show was amazing. Loved it all...Except Maeve. That dude she kept threatening could have easily shut her down.

I think I watched the original a few years ago. I sneaked away from my room in boarding college (not allowed to do that) and it came on the TV they had so I watched it. The original is a great movie.

Well that's good to know. I knew they probably had something planned, but for them to have 5 seasons must mean they have more than I thought. if I had to guess a storyline besides the hosts dealing with their new freedom and possibly having conflicts between them, I get the idea that may be there will be a literal man in the maze.

I also think that the head security gaurd and the girl who helped Bernard are still alive.

I wonder if the board members will be able to leave and then try to fight them, or if the next season will have them fighting to survive. I'm sure that MiB is gonna stay behind and have the time of is life.

Finally, someone who understands.

@saintwildcard: I definitely expect them to return. Probably a bit of both, some will flee, others will get trapped. Won't be surprised if they pair up William and Charlotte.

But Felix wouldn't let him.

@rogueshadow: Felix wouldn't have to know, lol.

He never had access to her when Felix wasn't around though (did he?). She would get herself killed and then brought in for 'repairs', there were no other opportunities from what I can recall. Plus, Felix probably would have made efforts to always be around to make sure Sylvester didn't just kill her.

@rogueshadow: He could just go to someone. Like "Hey, this Host is acting really weird, she also is self aware, do something."

Lol, that's true. I think he was just too scared to do it because he thought he'd be in deep sh*t at work and that Maeve would try and kill him, but it is pretty weak. It also sort of goes back to my issue as to how everybody seems completely oblivious to basic concepts in A.I. and neuroscience even though coding synthetic thought is a thing in this world.

You mean the same guy that saw Maeve nonchalantly slice his coworkers throat and then go on to slaughter a bunch of security guards so she could escape? Yeah, that dude was shown to have balls

By the same token, Sylvester had zero balls, so that logic doesn't really work.

Jesus, does no one else watch Westworld?

Does anyone know when the Westworld season 1 blu-ray comes out? because I can't wait anymore! I want it now!

I loved Westworld. Had a hard time following things here and there, but I think I got to a place where I understood most of it.

Took me a while to figure out that the two storylines were occurring at different points in time. A lot of people caught that very early.

@rogueshadow: I just got done watching A Series of Unfortunate Events, and while not entirely the same, they built up to a giant misdirect that'll probably be built upon later (the other couples kids).

According to a site that post such information, they don't even have the date. So... IDK

Did you figure it out before the reveal or when the reveal came... cus if it's the latter, well duh. I'm mad at myself for not realizing it sooner. I think the theory started probably at episode 2 or three. I didn't even get the slightest hint of something till we saw the picture of his fiance. But even then I didn't think much of it since the show had done such a good job of editing and building excuses for why things happen the way they did

@saintwildcard: It honestly didn't occur to me William could've been the Man in Black until he killed all those soldiers at the camp. The picture with his fiancee was what sealed the deal for me. It was clever how they did things like that.

@saintwildcard: @peterparkerjr: I feel so stupid for not figuring out the William twist sooner.

Also, more people need to know about WW. Funny how some shows get more fanfare than others like...Ugh, Stranger Things .

@the_stegman: Nah, I'm right with you. I didn't get a lot of things until like the last few episodes. But it was great when everything all came together. It was one of those, "Oh, now I get it..." etc.

Westworld is a great show, but I can see how the story kinda turned people away. I guess some of them didn't get it and didn't bother to stay with it.

Also, you didn't like Stranger Things? I love that show, lol.

@peterparkerjr: I thought ST was decent, but not nearly worth the hype. I'd put WW and a few other shows way above it

Also, I'm mad some got the big reveals way before me, lol. My friend instantly saw the Bernard thing coming.

My brother in law totally predicted William was the Man in Black after the first appearance of him. How he did that, I have no clue.

@the_stegman: I did have a feeling that somebody working there was a Host. I just couldn't figure out who it was. I thought it was Theresa at first.

I was more surprised at Bernard being Arnold. I thought for sure Arnold was somebody we never met that was still alive in the park, sabotaging it from within, but I guess the twist made more sense to make Ford's character even more of a bastard.

@the_stegman: Stranger Things was pretty good imo.

Also, I think we'll see other parks in the second season. Like the Samurai world and other worlds.

In an analysis video, the break down a ton of hints at it. Like the Westworld logo being different and the people welcoming them into the town being different, and that Maebe wasn't there at the whore house.

I just wanna punch people in the throat when they tell me that. DAMMIT! I should have known.

As for ST, I liked it, but I do think it's overhyped. I love how it's a more adult version of Gravity Falls and The Goonies.

@saintwildcard: Never noticed any of that. And it's one thing to notice all of that after the fact, but for someone to pick up on that in the first viewing, so early on, completely blows my mind.

I picked it up when William first got to Westworld as he was choosing between the white and black hats. But, honestly I dismissed it since I didn't expect the series to have three different timelines going on.

@buttersdaman000: At that point in the series, I didn't even realize the Man in Black's identity was going to be such a mystery yet even, since every character was such a mystery at that point, so the MiB didn't seem like a special case to look out for. I wouldn't have even considered looking for tiny clues like that. I'm amazed by the people who did notice that stuff on their first viewing of it.

Haven't seen it yet but I did read the books when years and years ago, I don't remember it in much detail. I'll get back to you when I've seen it.

...whoops, sorry for spoiling it for you

Eh, I'll probably start to remember it as I watch more of it anyway, my memory is just hazy.

@rogueshadow: @saintwildcard: Just finished watching the whole of season1 on Blu-Ray.

And all I have to say is........ Oh........ my........ GOD!!!!!!!! I was completely blown away! Everything thing about it was amazing! the atmosphere, the acting, the writing and the twists......... Oh boy the Twists!

Hope season 2 lives up to the awesomeness of season 1.

When is Season 2 supposed to be coming out? Late 2018?

Not gonna be able to remember many specific details cause I watched it when it was airing and haven't since but I remember that episode 7 to 10 were some of the best TV I've seen and Anthony Hopkins was amazing as Ford.

I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the last of Ford either

It's basically a televised masterpiece imo. I'm going into season 2 expecting it to be great, but if the end of season 1 was the show's peak, I don't think that will necessarily be a bad thing. It's difficult to imagine them topping it, at least for me, because I'll be watching it week to week now and I'll be more tuned in to twists, whereas I watched S1 completely blind in a very short time-period.

Certainly one of the best TV shows of the recent years, if not ever. Hopefully the next season won't disappoint, which is going to be a hell of a task for the creators.

Ghost in a Shell influence was evident though.

@rogueshadow said:

Indeed.

To be honest if I had to say one negative thing about Westworld was that while I think the twists were all absolutely amazing I fell like they should have saved most of them for a later season. I mean they are planning on having Five seasons. If they really want to have Westworld last five seasons they probably should have saved the major plot twists for a later season because they kind of already wrapped up most of the mysteries in season 1 and I honestly don't see what they can do for four more seasons, maybe season 2 will pull something out of the hate but I honestly can't really see them doing much more at this point (Unless they actually decided to do Medievalworld and Romanworld in the later seasons).