Westworld

[Deepster]

I cut bait on this one. I feel too simple and stupid to follow along what's actually happening here.

 

[CTMike]

I cut bait on this one. I feel too simple and stupid to follow along what's actually happening here.

Just enjoy the ride.

 

[HuskyHawk]

First episode with no Evan Rachel Wood...so that's a slight downer. Otherwise I liked it. The upstairs scene was excellent, including the music. They just let it run as a visual experience with music. Good directing there.

Elsie is an interesting character. She strikes me as a perfectly brilliant nerd who simply doesn't understand human nature or have any "street smarts". She challenges authority too readily and was obviously putting herself at personal risk at the abandoned theater, but seemed clueless about it.

 

[FluxTZ]

First episode with no Evan Rachel Wood...so that's a slight downer. Otherwise I liked it. The upstairs scene was excellent, including the music. They just let it run as a visual experience with music. Good directing there.

Elsie is an interesting character. She strikes me as a perfectly brilliant nerd who simply doesn't understand human nature or have any "street smarts". She challenges authority too readily and was obviously putting herself at personal risk at the abandoned theater, but seemed clueless about it.

Yes, however she's also investigating corporate espionage and doesn't know who to trust. Can't really blame her for keeping her circle tight and checking it out solo.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yes, however she's also investigating corporate espionage and doesn't know who to trust. Can't really blame her for keeping her circle tight and checking it out solo.

Yes, the same way I blame the idiots in horror movies that say...I'll go check out the attic (or basement or shed out back). It's like the commercial where the kid says...let's go hide behind those chainsaws!

 

[StoweD210]

Nice little tribute to the original movie in the last episode: When Bernard goes "downstairs" to the restricted level to access the old system, you can see Yul Brynner's gunfighter character posed in the background when he's looking around.

 

[Rico444]

Really digging this show. I'm interested to see how long it can sustain, but right now I'm all in.

 

[businesslawyer]

My goodness the actress that plays Maeve is terrific... upstairs scene was really well done. Not sure why the two tech dopes go along with her plans so easily though.

You're seriously not sure why they go along with her? Because you know dweebs (or even normal people) who wouldn't do almost anything to do a woman that good looking?

 

[HuskyHawk]

You're seriously not sure why they go along with her? Because you know dweebs (or even normal people) who wouldn't do almost anything to do a woman that good looking?

She's also a little terrifying. They don't know how she's circumventing the fail safes. These guys live in a real world that is supposedly now devoid of violence. They're wimps.

 

[CTMike]

You're seriously not sure why they go along with her? Because you know dweebs (or even normal people) who wouldn't do almost anything to do a woman that good looking?

Lol they definitely reference some of the pervy stuff that happens when the hosts are offline... but that's not why they are going along with it. The asian guy seems to be doing it out of sympathy? Ultimately they are both threatened by her... but why? They have control, she's a computer... dial her back, wipe out some memory, shut her down... something. Don't just let her go rogue.

 

[J187Money]

Really digging this show. I'm interested to see how long it can sustain, but right now I'm all in.

They planned 5 or 6 seasons out...

 

[Fishy]

I cut bait on this one. I feel too simple and stupid to follow along what's actually happening here.

I kind of agree.

You are too simple to follow along.

 

[Deepster]

I kind of agree.

You are too simple to follow along.

No argument here. When I am reading stuff like someone in the background had a different color scarf on the next day and that means something? I'm out.

 

[FluxTZ]

No argument here. When I am reading stuff like someone in the background had a different color scarf on the next day and that means something? I'm out.

Similar to how

Spoiler

the host getting filled with blood in episode 6 was only at the design stage during episode 2? Could be seeing the making of a new main character later down the road...

 

[CTMike]

Yooooooooooo Bernard...!

 

[auggie22]

The last five minutes of the episode hooked me. I'll be dvr'ing Walking Dead hence forward.

Anthony Hopkins was electric in the final scene. I watched it three times, maybe the best 5mins of television this year.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The last five minutes of the episode hooked me. I'll be dvr'ing Walking Dead hence forward.

Anthony Hopkins was electric in the final scene. I watched it three times, maybe the best 5mins of television this year.

That was certainly a left hook to the jaw for the audience. I love how he says that the hosts can't see things they aren't supposed to. She says...what's that door? And he says "what door?" Boom! She really should have gotten out of there then.

Then Hopkins shows why he's one of the great actors of all time. His ability to come across as a kindly grandfather type and a sinister mastermind just seconds apart is remarkable.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yooooooooooo Bernard...!

I knew we were headed for the Bladerunner moment. I almost typed here a few weeks ago that I thought Bernard was a host. But I figured it might ruin it for those that hadn't picked up on the clues.

So now we have a couple of host revolutionaries and a host who knows how it all fits together. Not too hard to see where this show might be going and how it is going to get there.

 

[ZooCougar]

That was certainly a left hook to the jaw for the audience. I love how he says that the hosts can't see things they aren't supposed to. She says...what's that door? And he says "what door?" Boom! She really should have gotten out of there then.

Then Hopkins shows why he's one of the great actors of all time. His ability to come across as a kindly grandfather type and a sinister mastermind just seconds apart is remarkable.

I wonder if Ford was making a replacement host for her.

 

[CTMike]

I wonder if Ford was making a replacement host for her.

Id be disappointed if he wasn't...

 

[HuskyHawk]

I wonder if Ford was making a replacement host for her.

Oooh...interesting. When he left her body there, I had to wonder why.

Meanwhile, Elsie found out the corporation has been essentially transmitting it's own IP out of the park. So who grabbed her? Even money says it could be Ford, who would actually be on her side.

 

[FluxTZ]

I wonder if Ford was making a replacement host for her.

Gotta be. That final scene was amazing television. From

Spoiler

the door reveal to the look on Theresa's face when she sees Bernard's blueprint, to Bernard's reaction as he attempts to come to terms with being a host, and finally to Ford's dialog.

. Everything about the scene was amazing and Hopkins went full Hannibal to bring it home.

 

[CTMike]

Btw - lots of places to get episode recaps but I've found the ones on ew.com to be very good and they always have a follow up interview with the show runners. Good insights.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Btw - lots of places to get episode recaps but I've found the ones on ew.com to be very good and they always have a follow up interview with the show runners. Good insights.

Went and read the summary at EW. Very good.

 

[Rocktheworld]

So spparently Westworld was at least partially inspired by the Bicameral Mind Theory. Some dude at Princeton in the 70s posited that until about 3000 years ago, human brains functioned fundamentally different than we know they do today; the Left helisphere was the "executive" giving commands for the Right hemisphere to execute. The two hemispheres then started working together as a cohesive unit, bringing forth our ability to introspect, which in his opinion is true consciousness. Humans previously plugged along, following their "inner voices" as if they were external commands, and were unable to execute any kind of meta-cognition.

The "evidence" dude cites is shoddy at best, and as someone with more than zero neuro background, I can say it is not at all grounded in the reality of our current understanding of neurobiology, neruophysiology, and evolution. But it is definitely an interesting idea that spawned a great show.