The guests were attracted to the park to be violent, vulgar and vitriolic--that's one of the reasons the show was set up for the audience to relate better to the hosts, which is interesting. Ex Machina and lots of other sci fi is set up for the audience to initially see more humanity in robots than in their creators. I thought the writing was brilliant. Yes, lots of swearing, but that's by design and character driven. You don't catch Bernard or Ford swearing. By your definition, lots of HBO shows from GoT to Sopranos have bad writing because of endless swear words.
No not exactly. This is a continuation of what occurs when they escape to the real world something that hasn’t been examined in any way shape or form.
I find it to be one of the best written shows. Yes, it lost its way on occasion with season two but it largely redeemed itself by the end of the season.
Which ending? The Man in Black ending or the great rip in the sky? The latter turned me off quite a bit. The former slightly redeemed it. For a show with such high standards, I thought it was incredibly lazy to write-in a door between universes that looked like bad CGI - something that would have a better home in a campy '80s sci-fi flick. That's not keeping me from watching Season 3, though. This season appears to be a hard reset, so maybe they have better ideas to play with.
Did you miss the entire episode of Kiksuya? That pays off the door where the "native american" hosts travel to their promised land--it is not lazy writing and one of the most beautiful, emotional journeys in the show. It is meant to contrast with the Delos promised land of stealing data from the guests and ultimately replicating them. This new season is not a hard reset. Some hosts, e.g., Maeve, have been motivated to flee the park and infiltrate the real world since season 1. It was just a matter of time before that motivation was realized. Now that there is sufficient development with the Delos Corp mission and the rift with Ford to proceed with that.
It looked so cheesy that even Shakespeare's writing wouldn't have saved it. I know the story. There was a thousand ways they could have rendered that moment, but they chose the Weird Science route. That said, it wasn't a deal breaker. But to me it was a bit like going all the way with a girl on the first date (Season 1), but you only get to 2nd base on the second date (Season 2). You wonder if you can rekindle that magic on the 3rd date, or if it's "I swear it's not you. It's me."
Again, if you know the story you know the hosts were seeking a spiritual journey to a promised land that turned out to be a data repository. Their physical forms were in fact falling off a cliff but their cyber spirits would go on in this promised repository that was rendered as a safe, new territory where the native American types couldn't be hunted or harmed. I guess the CGI could have been done better but I never had a problem with it or thought it was at all like Weird Science. Like all the special effects in Westworld it was done tastefully and in a compelling way that paid off the story. We did sort of go all the way in Season 2. The repository actually made it out of Westworld to the real world where there was a type of 3D printer to create androids. The hats we knew so well from season 1 are actually collection devices that record guest data...we didn't know that in season 1, so technically we did not go all the way in the first season. Not even close.
I continue to think Season 2 was great; I'm re-watching it yet again as we are so close to Season 3. I like it more each time. This time I'm really enjoying Katja Herbers role as I've come to appreciate her work more since "Evil" had it's first season on CBS. She's lovely, and I think she acts well.
Agree on all counts, she's also great in the now sadly cancelled Manhattan series Manhattan (TV series) - Wikipedia
Dang now I'm going to have to go back and watch that show again. I find that show, and Counterpart, a bit hard to watch because Olivia Williams, whose acting is an excellent component of both shows, so much resembles my late wife Helen. Manhattan was a pretty darned good show.
The wife and I are rewatching Season 2 and still have so many questions, which is fine. But can anyone recommend some Web pages that help explain what's going on with the Man in Black and Delos Inc.? Why is Peter Abernathy so damn important?
These are big-time spoilers so if you haven't seen the show, stop reading. Basically, William aka The Man in Black comes to be in charge of Delos as we learn in Season 2 by pitching Westworld to James Delos as a means to collect the personal data of guests via devices in the hats and the ability to live out their fantasies in the park. In season 2 this data collection is partially manifest in the ability to create android versions of real people, using the data. James Delos himself is the subject of this experimentation. However, there are glitches and it's not clear if that is because Ford is the "ghost in the machine" so to speak. Peter Abernathy was the first host seen to glitch out early in season 1. His significance is that he started a virus in the hosts that led them to the "these violent delights have violent ends" rebellion that concluded the first season. In the second season it becomes clear that Ford has hidden the repository of all guest data in Abernathy, so he becomes hugely important. But he is more important to Dolores because he is her father. The more "pure" motivations of the hosts relative to the guests makes the audience relate more to the androids than the humans, which is one of the creepier and more fascinating elements of the show. Also a device used in Ex Machina.
Makes me long for another series of BBC Channel 4's Humans. Lot of ground covered in that, and easier for many to follow, to get to the same issues.
were review copies sent? Season three does not air for another week! update: 4 episodes sent to critics
Yup, I thought it was a superb opening episode, really strong - although I'm rooting for Delores it doesn't look like she's gonna get things all her way this time
