Westworld (HBO 2016) Series Starring Anthony Hopkins: Discussion/Spoilers

[Platschu]

* freeze all motor functions *
* rewrite DigiFluid's loyalty *


* * * *

Here is a nice WW timeline chart. SPOILERS :
https://amp.thisisinsider.com/images...-960-12124.png

[Ian-S]

I think it's you that needs to enter analysis mode lol.

The finale was as expected, tied up all the storylines, used a maguffin to fix everything (DoloresHaleBot) and generally gave us what we all wanted. The only things that annoyed me were:

Lack of clarity, only one line was needed from one of the techs to say they had patched Clementine and so she was immune to Maive's SuperAdmin privileges, they had plenty of time to slip it in, all it was needed during the demo was Hale asking if Maive could stop her, and the tech saying no, we patched her. Because without this, it made the entire Valley Beyond scenes pointless because as soon as Clementine rode up, Maive should have used the mesh network to shut her down.

Lack of more HaleBot, in season 1 we worked out Bernard and Arnold because of the special little thing they slipped in, in this season they aparantly didn't tell Tessa Thompson until very late she was playing Dolores in certain scenes so it's only in the finale do we see her doing the eye thing (looking with her eyes first, then moving her head to follow like Dolores does), so the continuity of it was all wrong because she should have been doing that in all the two weeks later scenes but wasn't.

This is the only HBO thing I watch other than John Oliver, so can a GoT fan tell me, did they tone down the nudity in season two of that too? Or did it continue to the level of season one? I know I'm probably way off base, but I wonder if the lack of nudity in season two has also contributed to the skydiving viewership figures for Westworld.

Oh and how the heck did that bear get in the map room?

[Platschu]

SEASON 1-2 SPOILERS

Somebody said that Hale's hair style was the clue whether she is Hale or Dolores.

Nudity was toned down. Maybe the metoo campaign had an effect on the show as there were some news how the extras must have signed a contract to perform nude scenes. 2 years have passed since seaosn 1, so maybe they didn't want to repeat the same negative gossips.

I will be interested what happened with MIB as the extra scene clearly shows that the system remembers him when he has badly hurt his own fingers. And I am a bit confused how many days he was outside then.

The only reason I was so pissed off with the finale as they have thrown away all the characters. I mean the hosts can be resurrected any time. So even if Maeve and her crew's death were dramatic, then why would the viewers worry about them in the future? What was the role of the Japanese girl? She looked like a wasted character as she hasn't done anything useful after shooting a few arrows.

Then they have sacrificed 3 important human characters. Now we know that even they can be rebuilt from memories, but this is also a cheating from the writers. I was not happy to see Elsie die in season 1, but that was an unexpected dramaturgic plot twist. Then they have brought her back, but she hardly had any major role in this season then following Bernard.

I didn't like how they sacrificed the writer guy (Lee Sizemore). Now he had his famous speech, he became the man what he always wanted to be. But then? I believe he died for nothing.

Because I would accept the crazy twisted timeline game, but I have felt we were cheated in this season. When they kill everyone in a season finale episode as part of the cliffhanger then normally they never kill off anyone. So I expected a bit more creativity from the writers, but we will see how season 3 will work.

[Ian-S]

Well, we didn't see Sizemore laying dead on the beach (there were piles of hosts on one side, and neatly laid out humans the other - he wasn't in either), so until it's confirmed, you know what they say, until you see the body, he isn't dead, they also paid special attention to MiB's daughter being in the dead human line too.

I suspect Elsie may be reserected by Bernard next season, he said earlier in the season she was the only person he could trust, so yup, we know human/host hybrids work if they are built from the memories of a donor host, they just don't work when The Forge tries to build them from brain scans it's collected over the years. It would also be a fittingly ironic arc for her character all things considered.

Everybody in The Valley Beyond is not coming back according to the producers, they are gone forever, which is good because there were some that were annoying. But then they said the same about Ford so hey ho.

Btw, the co-ordinates of where Dolores sent The Valley Beyond was South Korea, we all assume Arnold's house was mainland China, but what if it wasn't? You see what I'm sayin? Maybe she beamed it to a server in Arnold's toilet?

[Ian-S]

When he was with the woman we all thought he killed, they were headquarters (I think it was headquarters) and he was also with that crazy lady in charge being interrogated. I think it was established that it was actually different periods in time after all. It was hard keeping track of all the different characters and varying timelines

That was a memory, indicated by the quick flashing of black before switching timelines. Whenever we switched timelines with Bernard, they'd do that strange strobing thing, similar to how they did the timeline switching for Dolores with the fade to black in season 1/2.

[Teddybrown]

I will be interested what happened with MIB as the extra scene clearly shows that the system remembers him when he has badly hurt his own fingers. And I am a bit confused how many days he was outside then.
.

This scene is far in the future according to the producers

[Chaka-Z0]

I still don't understand why we needed the ShogunWorld, if it has added almost nothing to the main plot. The whole story would have been more enjoyable, if they show the events after each other not like a nonstoply shaking puzzle. So even if season 3 was ordered, I am not sure if HBO won't axe it and probably we won't get a 4th season.

The ShogunWorld was an intro to what's coming on Season 3. From what I gather, and from the interview of the producer, he says and I quote ''We have no intention of repeating ourselves'' aka we might not ever come back to Westworld. As for your comment on the shaking puzzle, I think this is what defines this series. You are confused throughout the whole season and get a bomb dropped on your head in the finale, so many plot twists I love it. Some don't, which is understandble

PS: I've heard they got 5 seasons mapped out, and judging from the ratings I don't think this show is going to get cancelled. Don't forget they have big names acting in there, Hopkins, Ed Harris, etc.

[Chaka-Z0]

I am pretty late to this thread but I'd love to discuss with any WW fans! Spoilers ahead, you've been warned.

So I had to watch S2 twice to make sure I understood everything. Man is this show a mind trip! I've seen a lot of negative comments in regards to our characters

Spoiler:

leaving the ''western'' park. Especially considering the amount of time we've seen the same scenes in the saloon, I think a change of scenery is a good thing.

The Man in the Black Hat (TMITBH):

This is my favorite character in any TV series / movies I have ever seen. Ed Harris knows how to play a villain that's for damn sure. Absolutely on level with Hopkins performance, which I adore as well. I was proud of myself figuring out pretty early on that TMITBH was in fact the same William we see in his past life on his first time in the park. I've read a funny interview transcript with Harris where he says that neither him or the actor that plays young William were aware of this plot twist before the very last moment. Harris said he might've changed his portrayal of the character, but I think it was intended from the writers to keep it that way. Great work.

Still unclear on his fate at the end of S2, I'm getting really suspicious that he's in fact a Cylon. How quickly does he heal? I mean in late S2 he gets shot 4-5 times and still manages to move around. I also predict a major plot twist in S3 in regards to his daughters death. My bet is that TMITBH was successful in his experiments on Stello and had his consciousness uploaded in a skinjob. On a sidenote, man I had the feels for the old Stello pal. He's been resurrected, experimented on and went through so much emotional traumas over and over again for years! Glad he's been put out of his misery by Leslie, poor guy. Nobody should ever experience that.

Floki aka Karl Strand aka Gustaf Skarsgård

Man I might've been spoiled too much by Vikings, but Gustaf in this role seems really odd to me and out of place. Every time I watch him on WW I have the feeling he's holding back not to go back into Floki's role and give us these small maniacal laughs after every single line.

I love how everybody in this show have their hidden agendas, which seems to be the case with Karl.

[Platschu]

I will follow S3, but I am not really happy the new direction of the WW. The finale and the whole second season was a disappointment. Everybody can be killed then revived, we don't know who is human and who is host now. Then even hosts are in other hosts. Sorry, but the writers overcomplicated this metaplot.

[Chaka-Z0]

I will follow S3, but I am not really happy the new direction of the WW. The finale and the whole second season was a disappointment. Everybody can be killed then revived, we don't know who is human and who is host now. Then even hosts are in other hosts. Sorry, but the writers overcomplicated this metaplot.

The hosts switching bodies didn't really bother me. To be honest, I expected it since S1 and find it perfectly logical, you can swap a hard drive in a new computer can ya?

I saw a lot of similar comments towards S2, for my part I really enjoyed it. It gets confusing with the ''flashbacks'' and the ''flashfowards'', especially in the finale. I think the scenes where we see Dolores testing Bernard is far, far away into the future (Dolores says ''This is Test 17 thousands something, when interviewing Bernard).

[Platschu]

Don't worry, I will still watch season 3. Maybe my disappointment and confusion will fade away until that time.

[Ian-S]

Regarding fun facts, re Ed Harris and Jimmy Simpson, Simpson worked it out quiet early himself because the makeup artists kept adding features to his face which he thought strange, until he saw a photo of Harris on the desk in character and it clicked, but Harris had no idea.

Also I read somewhere (Reddit AMA with Jeffrey Wright I think) that the only members of the cast that knew about the season 2 post credits scene before it aired were Harris and the lady who played his host-daughter, no one else knew other than the obvious and it came as quiet a shock to some.

[Chaka-Z0]

Regarding fun facts, re Ed Harris and Jimmy Simpson, Simpson worked it out quiet early himself because the makeup artists kept adding features to his face which he thought strange, until he saw a photo of Harris on the desk in character and it clicked, but Harris had no idea.

Also I read somewhere (Reddit AMA with Jeffrey Wright I think) that the only members of the cast that knew about the season 2 post credits scene before it aired were Harris and the lady who played his host-daughter, no one else knew other than the obvious and it came as quiet a shock to some.

Hey Ian, I read that too, quite funny. I love how they kept the actors out of the loop so to say, makes their performance much more believable. Don't you love Ed Harris? Man is he a good villain. (I remember in S1 when he promptly shut the host off saying : Shut the f**k up I'm on vacation . Brings back memories of O'Neill getting framed for Kensey's murder that kept saying: I was on vacation!

Platschu, I would recommend to give the S2 another shot, personally I had to watch it twice to appreciate and understand all the little twists and innuendos. If you do, pay special attention to Bernard. I watched S1 when it came out, and decided to re-watch both seasons back to back.

[Platschu]

Maybe I really need a re-watch. But it will still not revive the dead humans and dead hosts. So they saved almost everyone from season 1 only to kill them off again in season 2. Meh.

[Chaka-Z0]

Maybe I really need a re-watch. But it will still not revive the dead humans and dead hosts. So they saved almost everyone from season 1 only to kill them off again in season 2. Meh.

Hmm... Not all of them are dead and some that are might not be dead for good. I've learned to expect anything off this show. But I get what you're saying, they did kill a lot of them. But... are they really? Who knows.