Just started to watch the show on DVD. I agree with the reader who noted that the piano roll was a metaphor for AI. Closeups of it are reminders that the first "computers" were punch cards such as those used in Jacquard looms.
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Has no one yet figured out that the piano roll is more than a metaphor for artificial intelligence? what is the difference between a punch card and piano roll as it relates to a difference engine?
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I think the most intriguing figure is Anthony Hopkins. Wouldn't it be awesome if he turned out to be a robot??!!
I think that it is an intriguing show and plan to continue to watch it to see what develops. I find the human administrators and technicians far creepier than the androids they program. I am unclear how they can have a small model of the "theme park" in the building where they can watch the action but have real live human beings down below.
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So excited to have a series to watch with Sidse Babset Knudsen! Loved her in Borgen!
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I thought the first episode was really promising and I'm looking forward to more. Fantastic cast, even down to the smaller parts--Peter Abernathy, Dolores' father. Wow, that must have been a fun role for Louis Herthum and he was amazing. So poignant when they are put in permanent storage. And the fly theme running through it--chilling. I hope it keeps it up!
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The guests may be kept from conflicting with each other because there is only one guest, or guest team per narrative. The narratives are separate from the each other, and so different guests never encounter each other. In the first show anyway, they never showed unconnected guests in each other's narrative, except on the train. The only character that stepped out of turn was the "gunslinger", and he is obviously an outlier of some type. As someone pointed out in these comments, he could be a host himself.
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Yes, I think this is definitely the case--each guest, or guest group, gets their own narrative. Seems a bit impractical, like when they had to shut down so many hosts and rewrite, what, all that was just for that one couple?
I loved the scene where Anthony Hopkins is drinking with one of the old hosts. I especially liked the jerky movements of its arms and lips. It was like Walt Disney sitting down with one of his animatronic pirates.
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I found the possibilities fascinating and I've been opposed to AI since HAL.
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Really good beginning, but probably not for those who impatiently like things right there in front of them. I agree that there's the huge question of how guests to Westworld do not accidentally murder, maim or otherwise molest other guests. I'm sure there will be an answer to that along the way. I do think the reviewer could have been a little more helpful in explaining the set-up of "Westword" and its premise. With a show as obtuse as this one, viewers can benefit from whatever insights they can find.
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Accolades aside, I found Ms. Knudsen to be more mechanical in her mastery of English that of the hosts. Eapecially when her expressions did not seem to be in synch with the dialog.
I agree. Knudsen speaks a beautiful British-accented English. Why not let her speak without the forced American accent. There were other accents in the episode.
Terrible show. Vinyl, come back, all is forgiven...
For the channel that gave us Deadwood and The Wire.....wow, just wow....
For the channel that gave us Deadwood and The Wire.....wow, just wow....
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One man's terrible show on is another's freedom fighter
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I also dislike Westworld, Paul. For me, while it assuredly interesting, it just isn't fun. I tend to go very dark in my film, literature and TV tastes, and do not shy away from violence, having adored Top of the Lake, The Killing, The Bridge, The Wire and Happy Valley, to name a few. I also love Cormac McCarthy's entire oeuvre, including the film, The Counselor. I admit that dystopias as a genre are not a fave for me. If Westworld was a food, I would spit it out. I will state that I am nevertheless happy for those of you out there who are enjoying the series-- I was looking forward to it.
Vinyl terribly misused Olivia Wilde. She could have been Cookie Lyons.
Ms Knudsen also starred in the terrific Danish series, Borgen, which made it to PBS.
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She was a pip in Borgen Burger.
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I think Dolores' line about the Judas cow "wherever he goes, the rest follow" gives an idea of where the season is headed.
The game I want to play is which of the management team is a host. Bernard is the most obvious choice and I think most likely. His line about envying the hosts ability to forget while sadly gazing at a photo of his son is a good misdirect.
The game I want to play is which of the management team is a host. Bernard is the most obvious choice and I think most likely. His line about envying the hosts ability to forget while sadly gazing at a photo of his son is a good misdirect.
Huge hole in the premise (or did I miss something?): How do Guests distinguish other Guests from Hosts? If they can't, then what prevents Guests from shooting other Guests? Seems like Westworld might soon have a courtroom spin-off for all the lawsuits it would generate.
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I wondered about that as well.
I immediately had the same question and it was definitely not addressed in the first episode. Also, if the people running these simulations monitor everything how is the Ed Harris character allowed to kidnap and destroy a host?
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Also, why would 'hosts' have live ammo in their weapons?
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Two observations. First, the "hosts" new ability to access past " builds" seems possibly analogous to reincarnation and past life remembrances.
Secondly, and less existential, where does Ed Harris's character get the money to always be at the park? Does he live there? Is he Yul Brenner?
Secondly, and less existential, where does Ed Harris's character get the money to always be at the park? Does he live there? Is he Yul Brenner?
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#Westworld Two observations. First, the "hosts" new ability to access past " builds" seems possibly analogous to reincarnation and past life remembrances.
Secondly, and less existential, where does Ed Harris's character get the money to always be at the park? Does he live there? Is he Yul Brenner?
Secondly, and less existential, where does Ed Harris's character get the money to always be at the park? Does he live there? Is he Yul Brenner?
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I watched closely, but can't tell whether Ed Harris, who I could watch read the dictionary, is a host or a human. If he's a host, is he killing other hosts or humans?
Hi blessinggirl. I totally agree with your assessment of Ed Harris! I am pretty sure that he is a human (guest), who has experienced the Westworld fantasy for years. My impression was that he now wants to find out more about Westworld, in terms of how it works and/or other secrets, probably to do with the ulterior motives of the owner corporation. (I am watching it for the second time to catch whatever I missed the first.)
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Well, you can never tell what surprises they have up their sleeves--I mean, the fact that we really can't tell the hosts from humans leaves many surprise possibilities--but it seems like the Ed Harris character is a human guest. I was skeptical that anyone could keep coming back to that place for 30 years though. I mean, is he having that much fun?? Maybe he's like Dexter and finding a safe outlet for serial killing.
That was my understanding as well. I suspect he's a Guest who is actually more interested in what the Corporation is up to than in playing a fantasy game, though he's obviously indulging some very nasty fantasies along the way.
Programs whose plots are so hard to follow are not entertaining . I watched it last night and did not know what was going on. One may need a Ph.D. In science to follow this series. Take it off the air.....It is not worth the energy to try and figure out the good guys from the bad guys or who is real or fake.
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Just cuz u lost the plot doen't mean the show isn't worth watching. I found it fascinating and had no problem keeping up with the narrative twists and turns.
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Don't take it off the air, HBO! What a terrible idea. There's plenty of shows out there for people who like simple stories.
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Unlike "network" television dramas and sitcoms, this show is not written so that the dumbest person in the room is able to follow along. Heaven forbid you should have to actually listen to the dialogue and watch interactions between characters to understand what's going on.
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A minor correction: in the "Andromeda Strain" novel, as well as in the film version, the alien microorganism doesn't "[evolve] to threaten humanity" but is fatal to almost everyone from the moment it arrives. It does evolve in the course of the story, but I'll omit the details. So our recapper's point about "one small glitch in the system [triggering] irreversible chaos" and his later reference to "Crichton's chaos theory" isn't well supported by "The Andromeda Strain," though unforeseen consequences play a big part in his "Westworld" film and in the novel and film of "Jurassic Park."
It's not clear to me, from the first episode of "Westworld," that Dolores ends each day "with some combination of violence, degradation, and loss," though at least one other viewer got the same impression. One of her days comes to a violent ending because of the Man in Black, and another of her days also comes to a violent, though different, ending, but I think the point is not that she's abused or made to suffer every day, only that whatever happens to her seems to leave no impression on her.
Beyond those points, I appreciate Scott Tobias's efforts to suggest what this first episode was up to.
It's not clear to me, from the first episode of "Westworld," that Dolores ends each day "with some combination of violence, degradation, and loss," though at least one other viewer got the same impression. One of her days comes to a violent ending because of the Man in Black, and another of her days also comes to a violent, though different, ending, but I think the point is not that she's abused or made to suffer every day, only that whatever happens to her seems to leave no impression on her.
Beyond those points, I appreciate Scott Tobias's efforts to suggest what this first episode was up to.
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I think the common thread through all of Crichton's work is hubris--specifically, the hubris of people who think they have a complex, living system/entity under control. Whether it's an alien life form, a resurrected dinosaur, a troop of gorillas, or a community of almost-human AI androids, the people in his novels always think "We've got this!" until just one or two predictable events, perhaps in concert with a black swan or two, prove otherwise.
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