Social media is dark and full of terrors spoilers. To avoid spoiling the fun for fans on the west coast and those who have to wait to beg, borrow, or steal an HBO Go password, I”m going to (mostly) confine my stream-of-consciousness thoughts of Westworld here. Follow along or flee in fear. Here there be spoilers! Episode One is entitled ‘The Original” and we”ll see if HBO can find an original way to deal with how horrifically I”m sure the female robots of this theme park are treated.
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[8:58PM EDT] – We're about to get started. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about this show as I think it has potential to really dig deep into the way humans behave when they think there are no consequences to their actions and are (hopefully) unpleasantly surprised when the robots rise up and fight back. I do love a good 'What makes a person a person?' philosophical jaunt! And HBO has done a great job with their Westworld website full of information and lore both from the perspective of those trying to book a trip and those who work at the park.
[9:01PM EDT] – As usual, HBO is incapable of starting a show on time. Let”s goooooo!
[9:02PM EDT] – Questions I hope they answer tonight. Where is Westworld located? How do you tell the difference between guests and hosts if you are a guest? I mean, Heaven forbid you accidentally live out your darkest desires on a real person and go to jail. What exactly can you do in Westworld with a family? I mean, it can”t be all murder and assault, right?
[9:05PM EDT] – Two seconds into the show and we”ve already got female nudity. If you”re drinking, take a shot!
[9:08PM EDT] – Dude bragging about being evil for the “best two weeks” of his life without his wife and kids makes me want to throw up but that”s probably the point.
[9:10PM EDT] – Interesting, repeat guests can apparently opt to “save their game” so to speak and have the hosts remember them.
[9:14PM EDT] – Or Teddy isn't one of the newcomers after all. That is weird to put him on the train where the hosts can hear the guests and slowly start to put it away in the processing units to remember. Question kind of answered about making sure the guests can't hurt each other.
[9:18PM EDT] – Weird side note: Watching them put the horses together reminds me of The Cell.
[9:19PM EDT] – Well I almost was willing to give them a pass for the female nudity because we got full-frontal male but now we've got a long conversation taking place in front of a naked prostitute.
[9:21PM EDT] – Sub-level 83??? GOOD LORD.
[9:22PM EDT] – No no. Go back. I don't want to go in cold storage. I want to know why this sub-level looks like a lobby. There's lore out there! Go back and explain it!!
[9:25PM EDT] – The jerky gestures on Bill are amazing. Extremely interested in knowing how the actor accomplished that.
[9:27PM EDT] – Pleasantly surprised by the complete lack of racism in Westworld. It's almost as if you can choose to change the narrative, especially to cater to the needs of guests of a variety of backgrounds.
[9:30PM EDT] – 200 hosts is 10% of the population which brings their numbers to 2000. With 1400 guests in the park, the humans are significantly outnumbered. Just sayin'.
[9:35PM EDT] – So far, the show is doing a great job of making me very uncomfortable about the hosts on multiple levels. Level one, the way they're treated. Level two, the possibility that they'll REALIZE the way they're treated. Level three, the metaphor for how our lives are just a repetition of daily routines.
[9:36PM EDT] – The staff rotates out to see family. I knew this from the website. It makes me wonder if the park isn't on Earth at all. After all, how would they even FIND that much space on our planet?
[9:39PM EDT] – THE PIANO IS PLAYING BLACK HOLE SUN, OMG.
[9:42PM EDT] – How many of the staff do you think are actually hosts within the larger picture? Are there any real humans left? Is Anthony Hopkins the only person left alive in the company? Oh God, we're not even through the first episode and I'm already paranoid AF.
[9:47PM EDT] – So the Man in Black has been spending 30 years coming here. I guess after a while you want to know what's going on behind-the-scenes. Probably a less psychopathic way to go about it.
[9:50PM EDT] – The score on this episode is amazing. Now they're playing 'Paint it Black' as the villains return to town.
[9:52PM EDT] – Pretty impressive that I assume the villains are shooting the upgraded 'glitched' guests. And we finally know who the girl with the mesed-up face is from the very first promotional image.
[9:56PM EDT] – The dichotomy is SO GOOD. Plus the meta commentary on what writers do versus what the audience/guests/viewer want.
[9:59PM EDT] – I just realized he tells her there is nothing to be afraid of as long as she answered the questions 'correctly.' He is basically incentivizing her to lie, once she figures out how.
[10:00PM EDT] – Parental drive is the highest drive, even in robots. Mr. Abernathy knows what happens to his daughter and he is going to save her. I wasn't expecting the first episode of the show to give me feelings.
[10:09PM EDT] – Well, Westworld definitely lived up to my expectations! What did you guys think? Did it sell you? Will you be back next week? Should I keep liveblogging? Crazy fan theory: I think the Man in Black has to be more than just a standard issue guest since no one stopped him from dissembling one of the hosts. Managment? Shareholder? Competitor?