Westworld

[Ironwood]

Yeah.  Ok.  That was good.

[Threash]

My only complaint is that they got Lili Simmons playing a whore on an HBO show and she's only in a single episode and doesn't even get naked.

[Bunk]

She was literally only introduced in the second to last episode. I also appreciated the show showing me that Talulah Riley hasn't aged since St Trinians. There is certainly no lack of eye candy.

[Ironwood]

Alas, when you think about the Maze storyline, it doesn't really work.   

[jgsugden]

My biggest problem right now is that I feel like the entire season was a prequel for what follows, not the start of that story.  In other words, the real story starts in Season 2 and what came in Season 1 seems like it set the stage in a story that began and ended within Season 1. 

Hinted at cast changes, world changes, etc... seem to indicate we'll end up with a drastically different show next season... and I'm not so sure that it will be as good.  It looks like some of my favorite elements are now over.

[HaemishM]

Alas, when you think about the Maze storyline, it doesn't really work.   

The maze wasn't meant for you. 

[Amarr HM]

The maze wasn't meant for you.  

Bravo.

[Quinton]

It doesn't look like anything to me.

[Ironwood]

My biggest problem right now is that I feel like the entire season was a prequel for what follows, not the start of that story.  In other words, the real story starts in Season 2 and what came in Season 1 seems like it set the stage in a story that began and ended within Season 1. 

I don't agree.  At all.

[Ironwood]

Alas, when you think about the Maze storyline, it doesn't really work.   

The maze wasn't meant for you. 

 

[HaemishM]

To expand past snarkiness, I think the maze itself wasn't the end goal or even the method. After all, to Arnold, it represented his emotional response to the death of his son but that was very personal. To the hosts, it was just a metaphor for their own internal journey about learning from your mistakes.

[Ironwood]

Not what I mean. I mean the physical breadcrumbs that old William was following. No sense.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, I'm not sure why Ford would put the symbol of the maze on the inside of Kissy's skull either.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, that's part of what I'm saying.  And the wee girl with the Maze hint ?  Arnolds plan called her to be, er, dead.  Along with Arnold.

Makes no sense.


But It was great.

[HaemishM]

I don't think it was Arnold - it was Ford. I think he knew that William was dead set on finding the maze and was stringing him along because just telling him "The maze is not for you" was only going to make him push harder. William was the one who attributed so much importance to it, was convinced that it was a hidden truth from Arnold. Which it was, but Arnold didn't put it in the park, Ford did, mostly to fuck with William.

[Ironwood]

Maybe.  At least then it has a point.  I'll subscribe to that theory.

[Mandella]

She was literally only introduced in the second to last episode. I also appreciated the show showing me that Talulah Riley hasn't aged since St Trinians. There is certainly no lack of eye candy.

Unless I'm mis-remembering Talulah was the "greeter-bot" that guided William in his character generation tutorial ("pick a hat"), which was the second episode wasn't it?

[eldaec]

My biggest problem right now is that I feel like the entire season was a prequel for what follows, not the start of that story.  In other words, the real story starts in Season 2 and what came in Season 1 seems like it set the stage in a story that began and ended within Season 1. 

I don't agree.  At all.

And I'd add, this is what a good cliffhanger looks like.

Dolores, Ford, Arnold/Bernard, William, and Maeve all resolved their stories. In doing so they set up another story.

Also I'm doubtful the next story will be the dramatic change of pace that the final episode superficially implied. Maeve and William trying to manage  the emergence within the context of the park sounds watchable though.

My only vague criticism is that the whole season could have been edited down a bit.

[shiznitz]

I really loved that the guards were armed with the FN Herstal. Someone on set knows CGC submachine guns intimately.

[Bunk]

She was literally only introduced in the second to last episode. I also appreciated the show showing me that Talulah Riley hasn't aged since St Trinians. There is certainly no lack of eye candy.

Unless I'm mis-remembering Talulah was the "greeter-bot" that guided William in his character generation tutorial ("pick a hat"), which was the second episode wasn't it?

Replacement Clem was the one I was referring to as being introduced really late. Talulah did appear fairly early, but it was so brief I never noticed it was her until she came back later to tie things together.

[Xuri]

Prediction: Next season will be a prequel.

[Teleku]

Maybe.  At least then it has a point.  I'll subscribe to that theory.

Remember when Ford met with MiB at the graveyard, he told him "I tried to tell you the Maze wasn't for you."  To me, that means every single time one of the bots told him that phrase, or said anything else about it, it was Ford taking control and talking.  Ford loves telling a story after all, so I'm sure he couldn't resist playing along with the MiB even if it had no point.  Also, it got the MiB exactly to the spot Ford needed for his big reveal, in a way that means the MiB would take part instead of demanding he be left "undisturbed" somewhere out in the middle of the park.

Looking forward to Samurai World in the upcoming seasons.   

(though I'm not exactly sure how you make swords and arrows that only bruise a human but cut a robot in half).

[Amarr HM]

(though I'm not exactly sure how you make swords and arrows that only bruise a human but cut a robot in half).

Make them rubber and make robots prone to rubber damage.

[HaemishM]

The Westworld web site is doing some stuff with the Ask Aeden feature that gives some more insight into the finale.

When asked about the board coming to the gala:

[Mandella]

I saw her bumping up aggression and pain tolerance, didn't see mortality.

It was "Mortality Response," I think.

Guess no need for spoiler tags anymore? Okay.

I just watched the whole thing again. Totally different show when you know you're actually getting to see Deloris' thirty year old memories play out while she's wandering around in a fugue state.

Before I watched it again I totally agreed that it was Ford guiding the MiB the whole way, co-opting Arnold's AI bootstrap maze symbolism for his own purposes. Now, I'm not so sure. Maybe ninety percent of the time, but Ford seemed honestly surprised and confused a couple of times when he himself uncovered the symbol somewhere. And I'm not so certain Ford was directing the Indians either. There seems to be some third (fourth? fifth?) party conspiracy going on here. Maybe Arnold did leave some other project ongoing, just in case his suicide-by-robot didn't get the park closed down as planned.

Thoughts on Samurai World -- I think we were given a glimpse on how the swords might work during Maeve and MiB's interaction. It looked like she had deeply slit his throat, but then the next scene shows him barely scratched. Some sort of memory metal I would think, designed to go dull at living skin contact, but to be sharp all other times. Then you just depend on the host's programming to make them pull the hit so as to not leave any severe damage.

I'm actually a little more confident in a good second season now, seeing as how many promising threads have still not been wrapped up. Not getting that "make it up as you go along" sense at all -- I think they might really have a cohesive storyline planned. Hope so.

But do we really have to wait two years? Some of these actors aren't getting any younger!

[Threash]

More like 14 months.

[calapine]

Spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the final episode:

[Samwise]

Started on this show over the weekend and I'm so fucking hooked.  It's hard to ration myself to one or two episodes a night.

[Samwise]

And finished!  I liked it.

Re: the hosts dropping cryptic hints about the maze -- my take is that some of the hosts in the fringes of the park have been able to retain more memories than the hosts in the Sweetwater area (who generally get more attention and more rollbacks), and have built a mystical religion around their insights.  It's made explicit that some of them have knowledge of the guys in hazmat suits and explain them as being from the afterlife.  So some of them might have found Dolores's maze (maybe Arnold embedded it deep in the core code of all the hosts, like the reveries, and Dolores was the first to be able to access it but never meant to be the only one) and incorporated it into their religion, and they know enough about it to know that it's not for the "newcomers".

[Ironwood]

Also works, I guess.

[lamaros]

Finished. And I liked it, quite a lot.

Last few episodes had to labour a few points but I guess that's the price of mass entertainment.

Interesting to see how they pivot for a second series.

[Khaldun]

I think if you think carefully about Ford's words at the end of the last episode,

[Typhon]

There is simply no way that these things would last 5 milliseconds against the real killer bots.  I can't stop thinking that ever time they throw inept human security teams at them.

Ruined the whole series for me.  Yes, I AM broken.

[lamaros]

There is simply no way that these things would last 5 milliseconds against the real killer bots.  I can't stop thinking that ever time they throw inept human security teams at them.

Ruined the whole series for me.  Yes, I AM broken.

Why are you trying to think of it as some realistic thing? Of course it breaks down in about 5 seconds in a thousand ways. Who cares?

[lamaros]

I always turn off as soon as the credits roll, now I see something about post credit scene? Worth it?