Monthly Archives: April 2018
I really thought the previous post was the last of this series of (13!) posts looking into the first season of Westworld. I thought I’d covered everything, but the more I thought about Arnold’s Maze, the more confused I became.
Either I’m missing something (which is certainly possible), or there’s something muddled about the whole thing. This could be a case of my over-analyzing things; fiction almost always has flaws, and apparently the show did alter course about halfway through the season (plus, the actor playing Kissy died). But since the name of the season is The Maze, I’m surprised how muddled the core idea of it seems (or maybe I just don’t get it).
In any event, here’s what’s bugging me (as always: Serious Series Spoilers)…
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2 Comments | tags: Anthony Hopkins, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
It turned out to be a lot more work than I expected, but I managed to take and write up notes for all ten episodes of Westworld, season one. And I’m really glad I did. Paying that much attention really cleared things up for me; I actually think I understand most of what happened. (Or, at least, I have an understanding! Might not actually jibe with Nolan & Joy.)
And these notes make a nice reference that I may tweak if I find errors or vagueness. Bonus, the notes generated a look into the script Dolores follows and also let me write the Westworld chronological timeline, so I don’t begrudge the work at all.
But now I have questions. As always: Serious Series Spoilers! You’ve been warned! (Repeatedly.)
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2 Comments | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
It’s fun watching the fans try to guess what’s coming next in season two of Westworld. To their credit, they’ve gotten a number of key points right (like Bernard being Arnold), but some of the theories seem far-fetched (like Westworld being on the moon).
Along the lines of the latter, some fans think glimpses of the hosts in modern dress, and in modern city scenes, indicate a visit to “Futureworld” rather than, say, Delos using the hosts in the real world. (We see BernArnold in those scenes, so either they’re before Arnold died or after Ford made Bernard.) But it does look like they might be stealing a plot point from the Futureworld movie!
Anyway, back in season one, here is a go at a chronological account of Westworld starting back 35 years ago (Warning: Serious Series Spoilers)…
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Leave a comment | tags: Anthony Hopkins, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for Bicameral Mind, episode ten (the finale!) of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!
The season two premiere dropped last Sunday, and it seems worth the wait! The second season looks to be just as enthralling as the first one. It’s interesting to read the various reviews (which often say as much about the reviewer as they do about the reviewed). Some loved the puzzle-box aspect of season one and miss it in the new season; others are relieved there’s less of that and more action. A few seemed disappointed the show didn’t live up to their personal expectations.
I loved it, and I’m so looking forward to watching the story unfold over the next nine weeks! Meanwhile, the exciting finale of season one—
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Leave a comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for The Well-Tempered Clavier, episode nine of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!
These last episodes are so full and complex that even a mere outline makes for a long post! So while this may be bare bones and really sketchy, it’ll still be long!
One very neat thing that’s happened is that, despite all the times I’ve watched the series, it’s only watching carefully and taking notes that has really clarified the storyline for me. I feel that I understand what happened a lot better than I have until now. (Which is good considering we jump into season two tomorrow. Whoo Hoo! The wait is over!)
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1 Comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for Trace Decay, episode eight of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!
The pace is definitely picking up in the later episodes as much of what has been set up is paying off (but much is left still unexplained).
Because the second season premiere is so close, these notes are getting fairly skeletal, but I’m still finding the idea of even an outline useful, so I’m still hanging in there (and even as an outline, this episode made for a long post).
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Leave a comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for Trompe L’Oeil, episode seven of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!
Still trying to get these posts done before the season two premiere on Sunday, but it’s not looking good. At least not for a careful look as I’d planned. On the other hand, it’s becoming apparent to me that one could spend a lot more time analyzing each episode and writing about it. These notes posts are longer than my usual limit (about 1500 or so words), and even the longer ones only seem to scratch the surface. Part of what’s working against me here is a bit of despair over doing this series real justice.
But whatever. Even these bare bones notes have been helpful in getting to me really think about the series, so on we go!
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Leave a comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for The Adversary, episode six of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one.
I’m faced with the prospect of rushing through the second half of the season in order to post all these episode notes before the new season airs this Sunday. Watching, thinking about, and writing about, an episode per day doesn’t sound like fun (mostly on account of all the writing), and I have no intention of turning this into work. (And I’m getting tired of writing about Westworld so much.) On the other hand, I do need to at least see the remaining episodes before the new season starts, so I might do these in a far more bare-bones fashion (and then maybe later come back and flesh them out).
I’ll see how it goes. For now, here’s episode six:
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1 Comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
The Australians have Waltzing Matilda; Westworld has Looping Dolores… and a whole host of looping hosts. (Is there a collective noun for robots, yet? A mechanation of robots? A clank of robots? An Asimov of robots? How about an uprising of robots?)
Halfway through season one, it’s possible to get a sense of the script Dolores follows. We can also get a sense of the path Teddy follows, although we haven’t seen as much of it.
Obviously, and as always in this series of posts: Serious Season Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen all of season one.
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Leave a comment | tags: Dolores Abernathy, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for Contrapasso, episode five of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one.
Unfortunately, the rest of this series of posts may be a bit rushed and, perhaps, more scant than I would like. I’ve waited too long to start this trip through the series; season two starts in just a week! Fitting in the rest of the season one episodes requires doing one per day (with two days to spare). But the later episodes demand as much attention, if not more, as the earlier ones.
On top of all that, either I’ve got a bad Blu-Ray or my player doesn’t like all the back and forth and freeze-framing. The best scene of the episode wasn’t watchable…
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1 Comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV