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Westworld (2016)

Z Buck McFate

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Is anyone else struggling to keep a mental map of when each scene is happening? I've watched each episode at least twice (not to keep times straight, but just because I know I miss things if I only watch it once), and I'm constantly trying to place it. "Okay so wait, this is before Bernard washes ashore on the raft... so Ashley can't die here because he's on the beach when Bernard washes ashore. And soon after that is when all the Host bodies are found floating in the lake - Teddy is one of them, so this thing happening with him and Delores is happening before Bernard washes ashore and probably while Bernard and Elsie are in the cradle..."

I felt like there was a lot of references to Christian iconography in this episode, and I wondered why (perhaps it was a coincidence), but the bit at the end, especially the way you put, it makes sense.



It didn't look like anything to me.

I am finding the parallel between God>Humans and Humans>Hosts interesting and eerie though. The way their perceptual limits are presented really isn't that different from our own limits, and the question about free will is something we face pretty much equivalently.

William's daughter reminds me a lot of Mary Louise Parker. It was driving me crazy at first, trying to figure that out.
 

chubber

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This is what I think

 

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Episode 7 was a huge exposition episode, although a few MORE questions got raised to replace those that were answered. (like, what's the deal with Bernard the Many?)

It's funny how people can have distinctly different experiences.

The second season is definitely not like the first season, although that is not necessarily problematic. It's just thematically and structurally different, to me, with different levels of questions being asked. There's also been a shift in the existential presentation of the two leads (Dolores and Maeve), where Dolores is more a force of nature and someone moving the plotting along rather than explored as deeply and fundamentally as she was in Season 1. But yes, I'd say a more plot-based season altogether so far from the big picture view. We learn how it ends in the opener. But we have no idea how anything got there or what it actually MEANS, hence we're now walking through all the permutations that were taken to reach the ending.

The actors definitely aren't the weak link if there is one, they're all pretty solid and sometimes exquisite. Some really good work being done by them, although it's a shame Talulah Riley didn't get to do a ton this season, aside from this last bit in Episode 7 where she was mesmerizing. Regardless of whether attitudes have shifted about Dolores, Evan Rachel Wood was just stunning in Episode 7 when she is moving between Peter Abernathy and Charlotte Hale. There was too many "convenient interruptions" in this episode unfortunately, as the scenes themselves were unnerving and it felt like the writers ended up just being teases / not having a cajones to actually carry through with something irrevocable... the scenes themselves made my skin crawl, though.

What makes it a mess for you?

Good question, it took me a while to put my finger on it, partially because it is actually blaringly obvious. I think, at the very core, what Totenkindly said is pretty much at the heart of it, the first season isn't like the second season. To me the first season was very much within my preferences, more of a think piece with good acting and great cinematography and a very nice ending, imo. Kind of a like a series version of Arrival, or something similar.

If you judge the second season by those expectations, and I do, it really feels like a dissapointment. There's a more of a Marvel feel to it, the 'hook' seems to be about being attached to the characters and wanting to know what will happen to them next in a setting that is exciting and action packed. As far as the big picture, which I really like, it's hard to feel very attached. The narrative doesn't really give you time to work with the concepts and ideas at hand, and the pieces attached to them, and doesn't really focus on them in itself. Instead it focuses on throw away yet dazzling set pieces, like Samurai world, gun battles, etc. Some things I was really excited to hear about is what does it mean for Dolores to be both herself and Wyatt, I was expecting to get some sort of insight into a fractured dual personality. I wanted to know and understand how strange and different it might be to be emergently self-aware, especially so I could attempt to empathize with supposedly strange forms of consciousness, and was perhaps hoping to see the sorts of things that could emerge from the 'not us'. I was slightly excited to hear about this kind of unconscious network the hosts had, and wondered if there could be some sort of collective gestalt at play.

Maybe the ideas wouldn't be those specifically, but I was definitely hoping for something more grand and original and speculative in nature. Now it feels more like watching people play a video game. The more interesting aspects right now to me are Ford's plans, and Bernard's place in them, I'm hoping that'll lead to something interesting.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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One thing I love about this show is all the instrumental covers of rock/pop songs. I love that minute when I'm trying to piece together a familiar melody before I figure out what it is.


 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Is anyone else struggling to keep a mental map of when each scene is happening? I've watched each episode at least twice (not to keep times straight, but just because I know I miss things if I only watch it once), and I'm constantly trying to place it. "Okay so wait, this is before Bernard washes ashore on the raft... so Ashley can't die here because he's on the beach when Bernard washes ashore. And soon after that is when all the Host bodies are found floating in the lake - Teddy is one of them, so this thing happening with him and Delores is happening before Bernard washes ashore and probably while Bernard and Elsie are in the cradle..."

Yeah, I find that tricky. I guess probably the thing that takes place the latest is that scene when they brought all the hosts to the mesa and found out that a lot of them had their control units wiped. Presumably they were recovered from the deluge. Somebody on another site said they saw Teddy in the water, but I didn't notice it.
 

ceecee

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Is anyone else struggling to keep a mental map of when each scene is happening? I've watched each episode at least twice (not to keep times straight, but just because I know I miss things if I only watch it once), and I'm constantly trying to place it. "Okay so wait, this is before Bernard washes ashore on the raft... so Ashley can't die here because he's on the beach when Bernard washes ashore. And soon after that is when all the Host bodies are found floating in the lake - Teddy is one of them, so this thing happening with him and Delores is happening before Bernard washes ashore and probably while Bernard and Elsie are in the cradle..."

YES! It's annoying (but not enough to make me stop watching).

It didn't look like anything to me.

Heh

I am finding the parallel between God>Humans and Humans>Hosts interesting and eerie though. The way their perceptual limits are presented really isn't that different from our own limits, and the question about free will is something we face pretty much equivalently.

This is what keeps me watching. I know there is more going on than I see. Once I stopped thinking about it too much, I enjoyed it more.

 

Totenkindly

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The thing with Lee -- despite his deficiencies as a human being, he's also a storyteller. It's his job. he takes pride in it, even if he sucks sometimes.

You cannot be a storyteller without feeling compassion or connections with other beings around you. Because you naturally will perceive the joy and the pain in their lives. If you're any good, you will be able to identify with others to some degree.

What happened is that Lee moved away from just 'creating art' meant to make himself feel validated and he's really grasping what stories are about, and what is at stake in individual lives. he's growing up a bit. And growing out. Even if he can't articulate it yet beyond the most simple ways, sometimes the simplest way is the core of it. I hope his growth continues.
 

Z Buck McFate

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Somebody on another site said they saw Teddy in the water, but I didn't notice it.

Yes, I saw him too. And they also showed him on a pile of host bodies pulled from the deluge, back in the underground area with glass walls (whatever it's called, where hosts get worked on) - it's specifically mentioned they are host bodies pulled from the water.

***

I think they used Zahn McClarnon really well. It's different from every role I've seen him play before yet he did it well. I think he's the first host who doesn't look completely dead behind the eyes when 'shut off' - which fits the story, McClarnon found a blank expression with exactly enough embers still glowing behind the eyes to match the story being told about him; he remembers even more than Maeve and he never really shuts off.

There's something profoundly sad, to me, about when he mentions the thing about being in the wrong world to others.
 

chubber

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Yes, I saw him too. And they also showed him on a pile of host bodies pulled from the deluge, back in the underground area with glass walls (whatever it's called, where hosts get worked on) - it's specifically mentioned they are host bodies pulled from the water.

***

I think they used Zahn McClarnon really well. It's different from every role I've seen him play before yet he did it well. I think he's the first host who doesn't look completely dead behind the eyes when 'shut off' - which fits the story, McClarnon found a blank expression with exactly enough embers still glowing behind the eyes to match the story being told about him; he remembers even more than Maeve and he never really shuts off.

There's something profoundly sad, to me, about when he mentions the thing about being in the wrong world to others.

It must be sad to be awake, while no one else to share it with.

With Lee, I was thinking of Black Mirror, San Junipero. Wondering if Lee would consider doing the same to end up with Maeve (if it is that kind of feeling).

I'm trying to be a passenger and enjoy the story.
 

Z Buck McFate

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It must be sad to be awake, while no one else to share it with.

Yeah, that's wrenching in itself.

There's something else kinda hovering in there too, though. It's like the same thing William experienced, although the trajectories are reversed: William progressively feels unsatisfied with the real world because he's convinced there's something that's going to make life meaningful in Westworld; Akecheta feels like anything with real meaning must be outside of it. Or something.
 

Z Buck McFate

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Oh William. Holy shit.

 

Beorn

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Soooooo...

 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Soooooo...

 

Beorn

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I was wrong :(

 

Z Buck McFate

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Yes, this was exactly my impression as well. I'll probably watch the episode again at some point this week though, so I'll pay attention to what she says in the beginning.

 

Totenkindly

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Man, so what was i thinking, that maybe I could escape the existential crush of The Handmaid's Tale by watching an episode of Westworld?

Episode 9 was a pretty brutal hour of television.

My read on everything being discussed is that



What really happened in this episode is that everything came due, the birds came home to roost. People (humans AND hosts) were doing crazy shit, following their own ideologies without apparent cost. Well, guess what -- when you chase stuff down obsessively as some of them were, there WILL be a cost to pay. And that cost appeared in Episode 9.

It doesn't make it any less heartwrenching and heartbreaking.

I did really like seeing Sela Ward. I love her, and I hope I have as much grace and beauty when I pass 60 as she has.

All that kept this episode from being REALLY crushing was the conversation between Ford and Maeve. That was really beautiful, especially when he comments about how she violated the story he had scripted for her (as we had speculated) in order to stay and find her daughter. He wanted to protect her, but she made a different choice... and it's a choice he is mirroring himself.

See, what happened in this episode was that a few hosts finally and irrefutably expressed their own volition:


With Dolores:


At least the trailer brings a gleam of hope or some kind of relief after all the tragedy lurking in this episode:
 

ceecee

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Man, so what was i thinking, that maybe I could escape the existential crush of The Handmaid's Tale by watching an episode of Westworld?

Episode 9 was a pretty brutal hour of television.

My read on everything being discussed is that



What really happened in this episode is that everything came due, the birds came home to roost. People (humans AND hosts) were doing crazy shit, following their own ideologies without apparent cost. Well, guess what -- when you chase stuff down obsessively as some of them were, there WILL be a cost to pay. And that cost appeared in Episode 9.

It doesn't make it any less heartwrenching and heartbreaking.

I did really like seeing Sela Ward. I love her, and I hope I have as much grace and beauty when I pass 60 as she has.

All that kept this episode from being REALLY crushing was the conversation between Ford and Maeve. That was really beautiful, especially when he comments about how she violated the story he had scripted for her (as we had speculated) in order to stay and find her daughter. He wanted to protect her, but she made a different choice... and it's a choice he is mirroring himself.

See, what happened in this episode was that a few hosts finally and irrefutably expressed their own volition:


With Dolores:


At least the trailer brings a gleam of hope or some kind of relief after all the tragedy lurking in this episode:

Nope. But I am looking forward to the finale. Teddy Flood, I didn't even think of that until you mentioned it.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Man, so what was i thinking, that maybe I could escape the existential crush of The Handmaid's Tale by watching an episode of Westworld?

Episode 9 was a pretty brutal hour of television.

My read on everything being discussed is that



What really happened in this episode is that everything came due, the birds came home to roost. People (humans AND hosts) were doing crazy shit, following their own ideologies without apparent cost. Well, guess what -- when you chase stuff down obsessively as some of them were, there WILL be a cost to pay. And that cost appeared in Episode 9.

It doesn't make it any less heartwrenching and heartbreaking.

I did really like seeing Sela Ward. I love her, and I hope I have as much grace and beauty when I pass 60 as she has.

All that kept this episode from being REALLY crushing was the conversation between Ford and Maeve. That was really beautiful, especially when he comments about how she violated the story he had scripted for her (as we had speculated) in order to stay and find her daughter. He wanted to protect her, but she made a different choice... and it's a choice he is mirroring himself.

See, what happened in this episode was that a few hosts finally and irrefutably expressed their own volition:


With Dolores:


At least the trailer brings a gleam of hope or some kind of relief after all the tragedy lurking in this episode:

 

Forever

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With the overdone flashbacks this season, ep 9 kind of kicked out some of the cheesiness from the show.

Wyatt did the thing I exactly hoped he done which made me happy. Odd I’m rather happy about this. I really don’t like Delores as much as I did in S1 but perhaps S3 Delores will be enjoyable as maybe she’ll see that being a ruthless renegade won’t help her actualize her potential.

The show needn’t to be so focused on the wizard of oz or otherwise known as Ford.

Season finale looks promising and hope S3 leads to excitement and not regrets
 

Totenkindly

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I have no idea where Season 3 is even going to go.

Real world? Restore some of the damaged worlds? Who really knows anymore? But not knowing is kind of exciting.
 
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