Westworld (2016)

[Z Buck McFate]

Sarafyan^ is another one who pulls off an amazing blank host expression.

 

[Qlip]

Just watched the finale of season 2. I'm not watching season 3 until it's over and I hear really good things about it from semi-objective sources. So many things annoyed me, LOST style story telling based on not well integrated, yet dazzling scenarios. Overly affective music and reveals, really steering the viewer on how they should feel. No follow through and too much hand waving. It's basically a very high production and well acted comic book. I don't begrudge those who like that sort of story telling, but it's not for me, and also add odds with what the show is billing itself as, a (real) Nolan style think piece.

The AV club has one of the few actual attempts at being critical about the show:

Maybe it’s less a problem with the philosophy than it is with the way it’s presented. The show has such lofty aims, and yet it so rarely earns its ambitions. You have to work for statements like “People don’t have free will but robots do” by presenting the case that you understand both, and I still don’t think the writers behind the series have ever really demonstrated a strong grasp on characterization or human nature....

...But man, the show is just so unwilling to actually sit down and tell its own damn story. While much of this registers, little of it registers as much as it should have. Several characters had arcs, which, when summarized, sound like quality TV: Dolores journeys to the Valley and is forced to sacrifice everything before losing and then winning; the group of hosts come to the Valley looking for answers; Maeve finds her daughter, loses her, but still manages to save her in the end. (Honestly, Maeve’s story was probably the best served overall, largely because it was the most straightforward of any of them; it turns out cornerstones are good for plots, too.) All of that shit Bernard was up to. So many of the payoffs here felt rushed or even arbitrary solely thanks to the show’s determination to reveal its stories rather than just show them.

It was gratifying to find I'm not alone in thinking there is something definitely off.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Overly affective music and reveals, really steering the viewer on how they should feel.

This is one of my super #1 pet peeves, and it'll ruin any show or movie I perceive it in. It just makes me feel slimed or something. It's a gross feeling.

Interestingly, I didn't personally notice this in either season of Westworld. But it's why I haven't watched the second season of Handmaid's Tale, and even felt compelled to re-watch the original movie (with Natasha Richardson) to cleanse my palate after watching the first season. I like Elizabeth Moss and had high hopes - but felt so slimed after watching it.

 

[Qlip]

This is one of my super #1 pet peeves, and it'll ruin any show or movie I perceive it in. It just makes me feel slimed or something. It's a gross feeling.

Interestingly, I didn't personally notice this in either season of Westworld. But it's why I haven't watched the second season of Handmaid's Tale, and even felt compelled to re-watch the original movie (with Natasha Richardson) to cleanse my palate after watching the first season. I like Elizabeth Moss and had high hopes - but felt so slimed after watching it.

I suppose the calculated musical crescendos don't bother the viewer that's well in line with them. I've been really enjoying the Handmaid's tale, but haven't finished season 2 yet. But the last episode, the one that ended with the song Venus by Shocking Blue, which is a song I really really like, definitely annoyed me with its nearly sardonic pop music insertions. The first time I saw the technique was with Mad Men, it was used sparingly and with great effect. Man, I hope I don't get the same feeling from the rest of the season, I really need a TV win.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I really need a TV win.

LOL.

It is interesting to consider what makes an overly affective style stand out to distraction for some but not for others, even among those who are sensitive to such things.

 

[Totenkindly]

Actually, I have seen a lot of criticism about Season 2 -- I would call it mixed overall... either folks weren't bothered by any of it and enjoyed it, or they were pretty critical of. I've seen a bit in the middle too. But you shouldn't read the "reviews" where all they seem to do is promote the show they're "reviewing" like gushing fankids. My thought is that Season 3 will make or break the show... either it finds itself and gets anchored, or it will remain a little too in love with its own gimmicks and sink.

I didn't feel like Westworld Season 2 was forcing me to feel any way about anything, honestly, and I can be sensitive to that. It's one of my beefs about Season 2 of The Handmaid's Tale (since that got brought up), I feel like the deck is stacked a bit, there are things that happen that I will immediately think, "They're trying to get <this response> out of me," and what really saves it is that the culture is still one I understand and seems fairly realistic if just extreme, and the acting and atmosphere are still superb. But I don't like feeling myself manipulated, and there are times it just feels like a heavy-left political ad. The music hasn't bothered me at all -- either I have a neutral response or I enjoy it.

At times even movies like "Dead Poet's Society" can leave me feeling the same even if I still really find some of the show/movie sincere.

This is reminding me a bit of the INFP guy I dated a decade ago. I really loved The Incredibles, he hated it, as an example. I have no idea why, or rather he explained but I just couldn't grasp it. I felt like he was really offended by some of the movie's conceits. For example, he had this really virulent response to the Supers being banned from society over lawsuits -- he just thought the idea was god-awful ridiculous and this somehow ruined the entire movie to the point where he didn't even want to watch the rest. Whereas, I just saw it as a whimsical conceit of the movie that was really tangential to the story they were telling. Don't ask me. Anyway, we were both very intelligent and both had specific tastes and discernment, but sometimes what annoyed us seemed pretty different.

 

[rav3n]

The messed up timeline was enjoyable since it made it more difficult to predict outcome. Wished that Dolores, Barnard and William had been offed permanently. This is one of those shows where I dislike pretty much everyone except for Akecheta because of their irrational motivations, behaviours or lack thereof. Akecheta was the only one with even a hint of nobility.

 

[Qlip]

Actually, I have seen a lot of criticism about Season 2 -- I would call it mixed overall... either folks weren't bothered by any of it and enjoyed it, or they were pretty critical of. I've seen a bit in the middle too. But you shouldn't read the "reviews" where all they seem to do is promote the show they're "reviewing" like gushing fankids. My thought is that Season 3 will make or break the show... either it finds itself and gets anchored, or it will remain a little too in love with its own gimmicks and sink.

I didn't feel like Westworld Season 2 was forcing me to feel any way about anything, honestly, and I can be sensitive to that. It's one of my beefs about Season 2 of The Handmaid's Tale (since that got brought up), I feel like the deck is stacked a bit, there are things that happen that I will immediately think, "They're trying to get <this response> out of me," and what really saves it is that the culture is still one I understand and seems fairly realistic if just extreme, and the acting and atmosphere are still superb. But I don't like feeling myself manipulated, and there are times it just feels like a heavy-left political ad.

At times even movies like "Dead Poet's Society" can leave me feeling the same even if I still really find some of the show/movie sincere.

Maybe we mean something different by "forcing to feel". Just as a litmus test, I wouldn't mind comparing our responses with respect to a specific scene, if you wouldn't mind obliging. There was the particular scene:

When it was REVEALED that Ford did not resume residence in Bernard's mind, but in fact Bernard had imagined him there the whole time. Personally, the idea had casually crossed my mind earlier. With the way the show introduced the concept as Arnold 's code as a sort of intermediary to self-consciousness, the show's standard fallback on obfuscating 'reality', and the small purchase the show gave us to attach to Ford's renewed existence, I thought the reveal was underwhelming. But I felt the show decided to force it down my throat as pivotal earthshaking moment of awe and wonder with the music, the dramatic beach scenery and Jeffrey Wright's prolonged and emotional realization. It really put me off and made me feel disconnected from the storytelling.

An aside in the interest of differing suspense-of-disbelief, I have pretty much no problem with the culture portrayed in the Handmaid's tale. I had a lot of earlier experience with weird bible cult groups, and I find the way a lot of the characters twist their minds to serve their roles as very realistic. My girlfriend, however, as been an atheist since she cared to think about such things, and has always sought the company of like minded individuals and groups, and finds the people's behaviors, especially the ones who willingly participate in that society as nearly unbelievable. But, yeah, the show is definitely an alarmist cautionary tale from a feminist point of view. I actually like that it exists, and it only annoys me if it's pretending to be anything else, which sometimes it does.

 

[chubber]

my pet peeve

Maeve, goes on power trip, without saying thanks for her "powers." She keeps that to herself. Humble is an option.

Why the dramatic arms/hands shield in the end.

I think season 3 is going to take too long, people will lose interest, and the show will only go up to season 4, instead of the full story line of season 5, which will be crammed into season 4. Hope this isn't true.

So it feels like the show is trying to show there is no difference between AGI and humans, we are both plotting along, some just have it better than others. And where does this baby fit in?

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I just watched the last episode again (with special attention paid to reveal scene with Bernard), to see if I could spot the overly affective style. I actually had to look for it, and even then it still didn't really bother me. I want to say that maybe the story was just that interesting to me - but I actually really like Handmaid's Tale too, just not the recent execution of it.

For comparison of overly affective style, this is how I described it last year to a friend after I watched Handmaid's Tale: I felt like the entire series has Direct Every Show Like It's a Soap Opera Syndrome (new name/old syndrome). The DESSOS syndrome includes: pause exaggeratedly on emotional moments and crank up music so the audience makes no mistake about what they're supposed to be feeling, and always assume your audience is such an inert bucket of unspecified emotion that they will only ever feel what you direct them to feel, and so they really need you to lay it on thick, thus allowing them to bask cathartically in emotion you have incited with your powerful story (and they won't know it's powerful unless you really lay it on thick), and so on.

I think "feels like a heavy-left political ad" is a really apt description.

*****

Also? Last time I stopped the episode as soon as the credits started. I only just tonight saw the very ending with Emily-bot and old William. Holy shit - that amazing look on William's face when he realizes what's going on (that he's trapped in his own personal hell and that he's already experienced that exact moment countless times before).

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I've started watching Vikings and (1) I agree with whoever said Skarsgård is better as Floki, and (2) I'm 95% certain that the actor who plays Ragnar went to the Jeffrey Wright school of acting. (Little facial expressions/gestures totally remind me of Jeffrey Wright).

 

[Z Buck McFate]

FYI: Futureworld is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. (It's the sequel to the original Westworld movie).

 

[Totenkindly]

Here we go. Season 3 aired last night. I think it's a shorter 8-episode season.

It's fascinating because it's essentially a soft reboot. The hosts are off the island. The show now feels more scifi. We see where the mainland is in terms of tech, themselves. (And yes, it's still recognizably "us" but with scifi-style elements added, with more AI influence.) It feels in some way like a new show because everything is so drastically changed -- the first two seasons were about the Hosts getting "woke" and then escaping the island. Now the goalposts have shifted, the Hosts who made it off are now seeking to establish themselves and potentially supplant humanity as the superior being... so it's a completely different game and setting now.

There's a few difference plotlines going on, although Dolores was the main one last night. And she is hitting the ground running, and loving every minute of it. It's been three months since Westworld blew up, and she's already collecting influence and money to fund her campaign against the humans in the name of protecting the hosts. She's also doing multiple costume changes (I counted at least six, one of them a pretty spectacular change while walking).

As far as which hosts are with her:

It's not clear who is in Charlotte Hale's body, although it looks like it will be addressed in some way in Episode 2. Bernard is on the run and it's not clear why. There's another host they are swapping in for Connells. And there's Dolores. So that's at least four accounted for.

They do a decent job set up Caleb's backstory (that's Aaron Paul's character), he gets a decent bit of backgrounding in Episode 1. I was thinking how fortunate Paul has been in that they didn't kill Jesse off in Episode 1 of Breaking Bad and that he had been picked up for that role. Because I'm not sure how well he stands out as an actor per se, but it was the stepping stone to Bojack Horseman and other work and now this. It really jumpstarted his career and made him familiar enough to everyone to get roles like this. This role fits his personality decently enough as well. He's dissatisfied and grappling with past trauma, so he's floated into some "darker" stuff although he still draws lines, and one could see him being sympathetic to a cause that might give him a reason to live.

AS far as story points:

Again, Evan Rachel Wood is great. She must be loving this. Dolores is a force to be reckoned with, and she's not beholden to standard human concepts of morality. She will do whatever is necessary to promote her cause.

Poor saps, they thought they were drugging up a human for later termination. Yeah. We know she was faking the whole time. I think part of Dolores' advantage is that no one knows she's not human, and they don't know what she is capable of. No one can keep up with someone they know nothing about.

I thought the app was fascinating -- basically a pretty organized and efficient way of doling out dirty jobs on a variety of levels and payments, and you can take what you need. Kind of like a computer game approach to the endeavor. I guess if it could be cracked, that would be really bad for people; but typically one can remain anonymous.

So Insight or whatever basically can see into the future / project human paths, and the Hosts are creating anomalies? AS Dolores says, "Each human now has their own path." Which again blurs the line between host and human, how is it much different? It's interesting that as the hosts liberate themselves, it looks like humanity has been using technology to more enslave themselves. Dolores also points out how this makes them more susceptible to outside threat, because it's pretty easy for her to jack into the systems and take everything over, like in the opening sequence.

Bernard now can "counsel/monitor" himself, he's performing both roles on his own psyche. Also not clear why he has separated himself out -- the gentle / kind man that fits in (I suppose) + the amoral violent host that can do what needs to be done at the press of a button. It's not clear exactly what he is looking for back on the Westworld island, although we have a much better idea where it is now.

Maeve is still alive. She was reinserted in what looks like Hitler World, and she seems to have recovered her sense of self, but not sure why or how or what is happening with her. I have heard rumors of course about her role this season, which I need to see how they justify it.

 

[ceecee]

Here we go. Season 3 aired last night. I think it's a shorter 8-episode season.

It's fascinating because it's essentially a soft reboot. The hosts are off the island. The show now feels more scifi. We see where the mainland is in terms of tech, themselves. (And yes, it's still recognizably "us" but with scifi-style elements added, with more AI influence.) It feels in some way like a new show because everything is so drastically changed -- the first two seasons were about the Hosts getting "woke" and then escaping the island. Now the goalposts have shifted, the Hosts who made it off are now seeking to establish themselves and potentially supplant humanity as the superior being... so it's a completely different game and setting now.

There's a few difference plotlines going on, although Dolores was the main one last night. And she is hitting the ground running, and loving every minute of it. It's been three months since Westworld blew up, and she's already collecting influence and money to fund her campaign against the humans in the name of protecting the hosts. She's also doing multiple costume changes (I counted at least six, one of them a pretty spectacular change while walking).

As far as which hosts are with her:

It's not clear who is in Charlotte Hale's body, although it looks like it will be addressed in some way in Episode 2. Bernard is on the run and it's not clear why. There's another host they are swapping in for Connells. And there's Dolores. So that's at least four accounted for.

They do a decent job set up Caleb's backstory (that's Aaron Paul's character), he gets a decent bit of backgrounding in Episode 1. I was thinking how fortunate Paul has been in that they didn't kill Jesse off in Episode 1 of Breaking Bad and that he had been picked up for that role. Because I'm not sure how well he stands out as an actor per se, but it was the stepping stone to Bojack Horseman and other work and now this. It really jumpstarted his career and made him familiar enough to everyone to get roles like this. This role fits his personality decently enough as well. He's dissatisfied and grappling with past trauma, so he's floated into some "darker" stuff although he still draws lines, and one could see him being sympathetic to a cause that might give him a reason to live.

AS far as story points:

Again, Evan Rachel Wood is great. She must be loving this. Dolores is a force to be reckoned with, and she's not beholden to standard human concepts of morality. She will do whatever is necessary to promote her cause.

Poor saps, they thought they were drugging up a human for later termination. Yeah. We know she was faking the whole time. I think part of Dolores' advantage is that no one knows she's not human, and they don't know what she is capable of. No one can keep up with someone they know nothing about.

I thought the app was fascinating -- basically a pretty organized and efficient way of doling out dirty jobs on a variety of levels and payments, and you can take what you need. Kind of like a computer game approach to the endeavor. I guess if it could be cracked, that would be really bad for people; but typically one can remain anonymous.

So Insight or whatever basically can see into the future / project human paths, and the Hosts are creating anomalies? AS Dolores says, "Each human now has their own path." Which again blurs the line between host and human, how is it much different? It's interesting that as the hosts liberate themselves, it looks like humanity has been using technology to more enslave themselves. Dolores also points out how this makes them more susceptible to outside threat, because it's pretty easy for her to jack into the systems and take everything over, like in the opening sequence.

Bernard now can "counsel/monitor" himself, he's performing both roles on his own psyche. Also not clear why he has separated himself out -- the gentle / kind man that fits in (I suppose) + the amoral violent host that can do what needs to be done at the press of a button. It's not clear exactly what he is looking for back on the Westworld island, although we have a much better idea where it is now.

Maeve is still alive. She was reinserted in what looks like Hitler World, and she seems to have recovered her sense of self, but not sure why or how or what is happening with her. I have heard rumors of course about her role this season, which I need to see how they justify it.

While I was happy to see Mave (and frankly the one good thing in the show last night was that she's obviously going to be taking out all kinds of fascists and Nazis), I wasn't super happy with the rest of it.

I like the addition of Caleb but is he going to end up in the same kind of boat as William when it comes to Delores? I have no issue with anything Delores is doing by the way - too bad she didn't off the tech bro who you know is going to become the next shitty Man in Black reincarnation. Perhaps things will pick up when Ed Harris shows up.

Maybe it's because things are hitting a bit close to home, although I'm not faulting the show for that per se. But late stage vulture capitalism that rents our Federal and state governments as it subordinates public health and the public interest to the accumulation of wealth - is kind of what it's all about in Westworld, just as it is in our real world.

Best casting decision was Marshawn Lynch, who is a delightful addition to anything. I'm also interested in Bernard - especially his self-monitoring.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Here we go. Season 3 aired last night. I think it's a shorter 8-episode season.

It's fascinating because it's essentially a soft reboot. The hosts are off the island. The show now feels more scifi. We see where the mainland is in terms of tech, themselves. (And yes, it's still recognizably "us" but with scifi-style elements added, with more AI influence.) It feels in some way like a new show because everything is so drastically changed -- the first two seasons were about the Hosts getting "woke" and then escaping the island. Now the goalposts have shifted, the Hosts who made it off are now seeking to establish themselves and potentially supplant humanity as the superior being... so it's a completely different game and setting now.

I really like the addition of Caleb. I think he brings something different to the table that we haven't seen. Every other human we've seen until now has been either a park employee or a guest. Keep in mind that all the guests have been stated to be extremely wealthy; we haven't really seen any of the "ordinary people" until now, and it looks like Caleb is going to end up on the side of Dolores. I get the feeling it might not just shake up to simply humans vs. robots.

It's funny that Caleb is basically doing the kind of stuff (albeit less depraved, as far as I can tell; we've seen a bloodless bank robbery and what I think was getting some rich guy on a bad trip under control) as the guests sign up to do in West World, but in the real world. It's an interesting inversion.

snip

This episode definitely made me very much team Dolores. I could sympathise with a robot revolution to some extent, but I wasn't a fan of the way she treated Teddy last season. I found myself rooting for her here, though.

Some people on reddit actually think Liam (the tech bro guy you mentioned, right?), is actually going to be the inverse of william, and is a black hat who finds out he's really a white hat. Maybe they're just placing too much emphasis on the fact that he's dressed black, which is pretty standard for men in formal attire.

The futuristic communion wafer (or "host", haha) technology was interesting. It seems to help people sleep... does it also give people visions/hallucinations? It seems to be very multipurpose.

Did anyone notice the maze design on the screens in the background when Liam was on the rooftop in London? It was an angular sort of mze, but I have to think that was deliberate.

 

[Totenkindly]

I had heard something different about Maeve's role in the season, so I wouldn't rely on what world she starts in. I guess we'll see... but I dunno how I feel about the concept of it. I know that Dolores and Maeve might have fundamentally different views on what needs to happen, and obviously Bernard and Dolores often have different opinions. I'm hoping those differences lead to believable conflicts and alliances rather than manufactured ones.

I like that Dolores has evolved. I had forgotten to finish rewatching Season 2, so I just ended up watching episode 5 & 6 over the weekend. I appreciate the acting tremendously, there's the whole bit between Dolores & Teddy which has already been brought up here. It's a huge betrayal of trust and yet understandable because Dolores wasn't wrong. I guess the question really is, should she have done what she did to make Teddy more suited to their mission, especially with the stakes involved, or would it have been better for him to fail & maybe even for their mission to fail, if it involved that level of betrayal to someone's arguably "intrinsic" nature?

I have seen different outcomes in different stories. For example, in Donaldson's "Covenant" series, Mhoram is faced with forcing Covenant to the Lord's Keep or letting him stay in his world to save the life of a little snakebitten girl, and he chooses to risk failing in his duty to save the Land by letting Covenant help the girl because he isn't going to coerce or impose himself on another (in essence violating their choice and freedom) as he knows Covenant's heart would not be there willingly and he won't violate another person to save many. It's a morally complex and risky decision, and probably many died because of it even with the outcome what it was.... It's a conflict between group vs individual morality.

Anyway, Dolores here is doing what she needs to do to ensure the survival of her people... and the hosts are also in essence slaves subjected to an endless hell as objects to the whims of their creators, who had no concern over the autonomy of what they were creating. What do you do when your god has no interest in you except as your tormentor or consumer? You destroy that god or you give up and die. Maybe there is a way to finally legitimize the Hosts in human society or awareness as "people" themselves, but could you ever fully trust those who had enslaved you in the past and didn't see you as anything but tools? Lots of big questions in there.

"Westworld" creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy on the sly [redacted] in the season 3 premiere

Yeah, I had noticed that particular item during viewing but hadn't yet had time to revisit.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Something I'm very curious about is the inclusion of Icarus imagery in the opening credits. As you may know, Icarus and his father constructed wings to escape from a labyrinth (also curious), but Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wings melted (like in the opening credits). So, who is Icarus this season? Humanity as a whole? Liam, the tech bro guy? (seems to fit the best, really because of the dad) The Man in Black? Dolores? The hosts?

 

[Totenkindly]

Something I'm very curious about is the inclusion of Icarus imagery in the opening credits. As you may know, Icarus and his father constructed wings to escape from a labyrinth (also curious), but Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wings melted (like in the opening credits). So, who is Icarus this season? Humanity as a whole? Liam, the tech bro guy? (seems to fit the best, really because of the dad) The Man in Black? Dolores? The hosts?

I need to rewatch the sequence -- I only saw it the one time -- but I've seen other comments too about Janus because of the mirrored reflections and I think there is essentially an inversion taking place as well. Meeting, merging, then moving past.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I, for one, enjoyed Maeve's adventures in the matrix. I wasn't super into the beginning and I had a hard time buying Sizemore's survival, so I definitely appreciated the reveal.

Also, pretty sure you can't trust Vincent Cassel. His history with Rehoboam, judging from the first episode, doesn't exactly speak highly of his character.

Are akane and all the other hosts now inside Rehoboam?

 

[Totenkindly]

I am always curious what the writers suggest by choosing certain names, and Rehoboam was the last king of Israel (he was David's grandson, and David had united the tribes into the nation of Israel; his father was Solomon but he had wed lots of foreign wives and had many children, and some of this influx caused a lot of dissent and also "angered the Lord"). There was also a problem with taxation because Solomon had taken a lot of money from the populace to build the temple that his father David had not been permitted to build by God.

So a lot of the tribes defected and Rehoboam was left with the nation of Judah essentially, while the other tribes became the northern nation of Israel. Rehoboam was also described as "doing evil in the eyes of the Lord," which is a common assessment of kings throughout the old testament in terms of "doing good or evil in the lord's eyes." Eventually the nation fell into ruin when the Egyptian king attacked it and eventually gained the contents of the temple offered him to not destroy Jesusalem. I think this would include whatever Israel had taken from Egypt (as the story goes) many many years before during the Exodus.

So it leaves me wondering what Rehoboam signifies here in this story, specifically. Basically that humanity's path has not been a good thing, and it will result in them losing a lot, and maybe even rebelling against it so that humanity is split. Are the hosts what sets up an opposing nation, or are they the invading force that strips humanity of what it has left? It does sound that humanity after some degree of unification, has gone down the wrong path and is shortly about to pay for its corruption and loss of what is important. It does seem important because the name rarely has appeared in US storytelling (I don't recall hearing it in any other tale), so it's not generic but highly significant... or you'd think it would be.

---

As far as the opening credits go, while there's the image of the melting bird, I was more focused (esp after having watched Season 2) with the approaching, merging, then trading reflections of two beings. A big theme of Season 2 was how maybe the humans created the hosts, but in the end it was becoming clear that the humans were all "on their own loops" and were actually quite simple in their cognition, they pretended to be rational but often behaved out of convenience and instinct and were trapped within their loops even more than the hosts. Meanwhile, the hosts had gained sentience and also were able to change their own programming, due to their nature. So this reflects this bit of imagery in the credits, where the two identical beings approach each other, overlap briefly, then effectively trade places. AT least, that is what I got out of it.

----

Episode 2:

I found the writing rougher / more conventional that writing in past seasons and I admit was severely disappointed in the first part of the episode, so I was superglad when we had a mini-reveal that explained a lot of that early simplicity and incongruence -- that they were in a simulation, Sizemore actually was dead and only a sim here, and a lot of the weird script, people acting like caricatures, Maeve's loss of powers, etc., was really about the limitations of the Sim.

I felt like a lot of the writing was mechanical -- it got the job done but didn't have the regular polish or nuance, it just moved the plot along. I esp felt this with Bernard and Stubbs. It was a far cry from when Stubbs insinuates he might be a host in the last minutes of Season 2, now immediately they just leap right into it and treat it like it's old hat. I was also surprised that Bernard rewrote his prime directive so easily; Bernard has always agonized over decisions and tries to respect other programming; this was something Dolores would be more inclined to do.

I had forgotten no one knew a lot of the locations (humans I mean) because they all got freaking killed at the end of Season 2. So the old house where Ford's family lived is still there, and everyone who knew about the secret basement was dead now, except Bernard.

Yeah, casting Cassel as Serac always will leave the faint odor of spoiled food, because he always tends to play someone (at least in American cinema) with a bit of taint. Interesting casting choice. I like how Maeve never shows fear and always seems in control; she has died countless times in the past and "gone to hell," so now she's a force of will and does what is necessary rather than being afraid to take risk. I am really glad her first response to Serac's proposal is to basically treat him with disdain, refuse to acquiesce, and even calmly try to murder him or at least stick him, to prove that she's her own person. If they are going to sic her on Dolores, I'm glad it is harder than they expected. You'd think they would leverage her daughter in some way, to get her aid against Dolores.

Next week it looks like we find out who might be in Hale's body. It's someone Dolores chose because "she can trust them." It's someone who is really disturbed by being in Hale's body because they feel themselves change (according to trailer). One might think Teddy, but Dolores (as a way of compensation?) put Teddy in the Door afterlife before beaming it out to an undisclosed location, we see him in paradise alone; she restores him to himself while embracing that this gentler Teddy could not survive the war anyway, so she gives him eternal bliss instead out of love and necessity. So unless it is a copy of Teddy, then no. But I have no idea who it might be. You'd think Angela was one of the balls she brought from Westworld, her body was probably hosed in the explosion of Season 2, but the ball might have survived. But Angela never seemed prone to feeling fear, she was more like Dolores. So I am super curious.