Why is there such a desire to have everything figured out after one season, or for the show to follow established storytelling methods? I don't understand why people can't just enjoy the ride of a show without needing every loose end tied up with a nice little bow. The acting is great, the story is intriguing...it's a great show IMO and I looked forward to it every week without needing every little mystery to be solved right away. I think that's part of the enjoyment of a show like this, otherwise you might as well watch "Friends" reruns.

Do you guys read the last chapter of books first too?

Just a suggestion, but maybe watch an episode or two and decide for yourself?

seriously, trag.

I enjoyed this show, flaws and all. I agree about the Maeve decision at the end being the most important part of the finale.

I agree. That screenshot shows that she follows her script until she gets off the train. Nolan says as much here.

I don't get the comparisons to Lost. I stopped watching it in the second season, but I've heard many of the complaints, including that they were making it up as they went along. Supposedly, Nolan had an outline for 5 seasons when he approached HBO.

Westworld wasn't perfect, and I can't say I picked up every detail, but I don't understand some of the complaints. This season could definitely act as a self-contained season if season two were to never happen. There were no gimmicky cliffhangers. They told the story they needed to tell while leaving enough open for a considerably different second season.

I, uh, didn't say anything there about loose ends being tied up. I'm having trouble with this show because I don't really like any of the characters. I can appreciate the craftsmanship and the visuals and the effort that was put into the series, but it's hard for me to get into any narrative--book, film, story, TV show, etc.--unless I have an investment in character, and Westworld just hasn't given that to me yet. That said, I'll almost certainly watch Season 2 (which probably won't air until Game of Thrones is over, which is sort of mind-boggling to say).

I enjoyed the fleshing out of the world, but I feel like the upcoming story will essentially be like ex machina into terminator

So did William kill his brother in law without reprocussion?

I didn't think he killed him, just sent him off nekkid into the wilderness to figure his shit out.

Do you think it's because all the most relatable characters (Bernard, Maeve, Dolores) all happen to be hosts? And you have trouble feeling empathy for a robot with a programmed personality? Because I do, but at the same time, I think that's kind of the point.

I remember when Logan put a knife thru that old guy's hand, who was a host, and was apathetic toward his pain. I told myself, "that's not real suffering. He's just programmed to respond that way." Then I thought, how is that different humans?

I'm just basing my reaction on my previous experiences with Lost and The Walking Dead. I watched Lost all the way through; I should have quit watching the moment Scentless Apprentice (by Nirvana) stopped playing during that first flashback episode, because it was all downhill from there. And I saw the writing on the wall with TWD after

Spoiler: show

they killed the Governor and were headed for Terminus

in season 4.

I just don't enjoy watching those shows. I find it to be a lot of moody suffering and characters making senseless choices just to prolong a certain vibe. And the constant one-upsmanship of the show on itself -- the whole cliffhanger/"tune in next week!" format -- it's not fun for me. If Westworld is different than that, than I'll check it out...

But it sounds like you're confirming that it is precisely that. I'd rather just have some whiskey and watch ...With Bob and David for the seventh time.

Do you watch AMC's The Killing? It was exactly that, but there was still some really good stuff in there.




There is some of that, sure, but I still enjoyed WW despite it's frustrations. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more without this thread (one of the reasons I don't often read the GoT thread).

Oh man, The Killing was such a great fucking show.

for the first season

Not surprisingly, a great post. I'd respond by saying that I think the reactions I had to the random hosts being slaughtered are about the same as the reactions I have when faceless soldiers get killed on Game Of Thrones, or when a stormtrooper gets shot in Star Wars--they're just stock characters, and while I might feel a twinge if they go down in a particularly gruesome way, it's not like I was invested in their fate. The named hosts, on the other hand, I feel like the text does want us to feel for them, to root for them and hope that they can achieve something. I think the difficulty in getting invested goes beyond the fact that their personalities are programmed: the fact that every time we saw them die we knew they could just be stitched back up and sent back out made the decisions they made and the things that they learned have a lot less weight; if they made a mistake, they could just try again (people have used videogame metaphors all around this show, so I don't want it to sound like I'm aping anyone else, but it is sort of like a "Load Save" option that takes the tension out of so many games).

If they were human, they'd get just one chance to get things right, and all of their choices would be given so much more weight. But they'd still need to be deep, interesting characters that I cared about. Remember when Elsie got strangled? Remember when gruff security guard was attacked by the Ghost Nation? Those are real people in danger, but it's not like I was on the edge of my seat rooting for them. As people have been saying, Maeve is probably the one character whose arc is intriguing at this point to me, because she's the only one who's gone against her programming. When the next season opens and Dolores and co. are ripping shit up, if Maeve is trying to find a middle ground between humans and hosts, I think I'll be even more interested.

I'm wondering about how involved the "control room" people are in all of this. There's a few scenes in episode 4, like when MIB is breaking out of prison and we see the control room being asked for an explosive effect, that make it seem as if there's very little that can happen off-script. Yet we see lots of stuff throughout that seems to be happpening "off the radar." I'm not sure anything happens without the park staff's knowledge.