Westworld

I would have liked to have seen a little more of Caleb's work in constructing her metal skeleton before reinstalling her brain-pearl and bringing her back on line............Baby birds can't snap chains like Dolores did a few moments later.

This particular reincarnation, I suspect, did not follow standard host specs. Maeve seemed genuinely surprised when her katana failed to remove Dolores' arm, and Dolores quipped that she had been "built to last."
(Note to future android builders: Make them weaker than humans. You'll avoid a whole lot of trouble.)

I was a little disappointed that the ending was not a triumph for the hosts, considering that Humanity was doomed to self-destruction without guidance. Free will vs. fate is one of those unwinnable arguments. Who know whether free hosts will avoid fate any better than free humans?
Bernard's return from his visit to digital paradise opens all manner of speculation. Will he have a message for Maeve from her daughter? The accumulation of dust on his head indicate that he had been gone for an extended time. Stubbs is probably still hanging out in the bathtub, unless something happened to his pearl.
I was shocked when William's quest to save Humanity by destroying every host was abruptly ended by his host doppelganger slashing his throat. I thought that if any original character would survive the entire series it would be William. Maybe he still will. ;)

It's a lot to take in, but consider this:

I was a little irked by the thin construction without any substantial musculature mechanics. Think about it, she's heaving human weights like toys into concrete that shatters. Most of the tech was really good in this one...that wasn't. It was a little too magical.

Not only did Dolores (Delos) quip that she/they originally were "built to last," but after something about "until they made us weaker," realized their mistake, or some such.

As far as a triumph for the hosts, at the end (post credits) we saw the lights come on in the factory where Charlotte was making hundreds/thousands. Although, it seems Dolores' hatred of William never faded. Clearly, to me, it was her speaking through the new William. Then again, who's to say it's not Dolores simply torturing him more with another delusion. Hard to say.


I do wonder if Bernard will learn from his mistakes...and next time put a sheet over himself before he visits the sublime. :sneaky:

K2
 
finished this season the other night and while enjoyable, I think the story and characters suffered from only having 8 episodes. I never felt like the story developed properly.
it all seemed a bit superficial.

in fact, there was such a jump between ep 7 and 8 I actually had to go back to check I hadn't missed an episode!

everything seemed a bit easy too, such as:
lack of security at incite, delos and, well everywhere;
charlotte/delores managing to hide the production of thousands of hosts somewhere in a delos lab;
stormtrooper marksman skills on display from security, police, bad guys;
stubbs and Bernard wandering around the place unhindered (which is odd considering how wanted Bernard is);

also, are we to believe that the cities are super hi-tech but as soon as you leave them you're back in 1970's America (as evidenced by the gas station, motel and Bernard's car)? even the fact that the car would still be running this far in the future was pretty jarring.

it looks like, in the end, the series has suffered with the departure from the parks and i'm not overly enthused for season 4.

yep and
what's the bet there is an "oh f*ck" moment for him when he logs into rehoboam and sees its prediction for his life/death

good to see i was almost right on that prediction...
 
stubbs and Bernard wandering around the place unhindered (which is odd considering how wanted Bernard is)

There is a time-scale problem and when things started to happen, he disappeared from the headlines. I didn't think it was spoiling the script.
 
Didn't see any discussion here and was a bit surprised. It's not a perfect show but I think it presents a lot of cool technology and interesting questions about humanity.

NEVERMIND: I found threads about it. Don't know how to delete tho
 
After it aired a genre-bending third season in 2020, fans have been curious to see what the future holds for HBO's Westworld. Season 4 of the science fiction series was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and outside of the series being referenced in HBO Max's 2022 sizzle reel, it's been unclear exactly when the series will return. Luckily, Bernard Lowe actor Jeffrey Wright recently teased a bit of what to expect, and also that the new batch of episodes might be on the way sooner than later.

"We wrapped last December, but I'm not exactly sure when it's when it's coming out," Wright explained in a recent interview with Deadline. "Season 4 is going to be more of the Westworld you've come to expect and more digging down into some issues and some technology that is going to look familiar to us, as always. It's gonna be exciting. I'm not sure exactly when we're to air but within the coming months, certainly."

"Bernard is still trying to solve it all and he is still very much a part of the struggle," Wright contiued. "The struggle goes on, and Bernard is right there at the center of it. It's gonna be fun."

Season 3 of Westworld also starred Thandiwe Newton as Maeve, Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores, Tessa Thompson as Charlotte Hale, Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe, Aaron Paul as Caleb, Vincent Cassel as Engerraund Serac, and Ed Harris as The Man in Black.

"We've been very, very lucky to work with this cast, this crew, and now, partnering with Denise," co-creator Jonathan Nolan said in a 2020 interview. "When you have a show going like this, you want to stay as long as you're telling a compelling story. We're heading towards that end, but we haven't completely mapped it out. At this point, part of the work is looking at the rest of the story we have to tell. It's two impulses, one against the other. You don't want to walk away from people who are as talented and cool as this. They're all lovely, lovely people, and they love working together, we like working together. At the same time, you don't want to outstay your welcome. You have a story to tell, and you want to go out without feeling like you've outstayed your welcome. So we're trying to balance those things a bit."
 
Onya, ctg. I've been waiting for news of season 4 for ages.
You can blame covid, because the whole production got halted during the lockdown. We'll see if it allowed them to hone the scripts. But part of me is a bit scared of venturing into this world again, because it can be so maddening, as it takes so much from the watcher to understand things.
 
I watched the season 4 premiere last night.
The 2-year gap between seasons left me, as someone who frequently cannot remember what he did yesterday, a little confused. For anyone else also in need of a refresher, Bazaar has provided a recap of season 3.
Of course, it contains spoilers.
 
The series and what it's morphed into.


I have to agree. I really liked and enjoyed season one, and if they had continued on a similar theme then I would have continued to enjoy watching it. But... after starting on season 2 it felt like trying to do several jigsaw puzzles at the same time without having enough pieces to complete any of them. It seemed to stop making sense; at least if it was making sense then it required someone with far more concentration than me to follow all the different threads and timelines. I want to watch tv to unwind and enjoy, not to have to keep flipping back to previous episodes or to the internet to find out what it was that I had watched.
 
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In story wise, it has been eight years since the big Ai went down. The humanity is still alive, and the robocalypse obviously haven't taken a hold in any other place than in the Park complex.

It surprised me to see the old man William aka the Man-in-Black walking out from the airtaxi to take over a power company and its land, when his throat was slashed in the last season final episode. Except it wasn't the land, it was the datafarm hidden in the Hoover Dam. One rated to last over 100 years. Then he suggested, "Our timeline is more ambitious than most," and I remember that William died watching the Ai's people making a replicant, putting him firmly into the host category.

Maybe it even means that the robocalypse is still in the books.

It surprised me positively when the complex owner told the host William that the facility was not for the sale. If it's true that he can store the date, written in stone forever, then it would only mean that the Ai is up to something. Rehebaum was destroyed, but was its backup deleted as well?

We know from various SF sources that the Ai's like to live forever, and they do all sorts of things to preserve themselves. In a way, it is almost as if they are demigods, and they fear for being mortals. William went mental when the answer remained no. He squinted his eyes and chuckled, "You ever hear the one about the missionary, who tried to negotiate with the tiger? He told the tiger he could eat most of him, but he had to stop, when he got to his head!? You and your friends in the cartel, or whatever that fck you call themselves these days sell me this lump of concrete, today... or you give it to me for nothing. Tomorrow."

The answer was still no. I don't blame them, even though I don't accept their methods or acts as organization. The surprise in the play was obviously visit in the Park and getting an imprint of their brains, and then replacing the cartel spoke person with a host.

What a clever way to do a hostile takeover.

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Dolores is dead. She died with Rehebaum, so this is Christina. Another host, living in the human world. Also, another backup. I liked that she was living with a human, Maya. I don't think either one of them have an idea that one of them is a robot. But the most important thing is that Christine is now a story-teller. But she's not the one that makes to decisions on what goes out and what remains in. All she is in her "civilian job" at Olympiads is to tell stories that the corporate wants; sex, danger, violence, transgressions, melodrama and tragedy.

The question is, what is she really doing in the publishing company? Does she even know?

When she returned that every back to her place, she heard someone at outside, leaving a mark depicting the labyrinth. The symbol is visible on the deck for a couple of seconds, and it's easy to miss it. But to me it's a clear signal that someone wants to wake up Christine's host side.

It was curious when she explained later to her date, that she's working on the NPC's instead of being Dolores, the NPC. It is most certainly a next step in the evolution.

I'm speculating, but to me, it's most likely that her Host side will be a copy of Dolores memories, that will override her current life.

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Maeve, still alive, and living far away from the normal civilization as it is possible. Living her haunted memories time and again as if there was no time to make new ones. In a way, she's a very close to human, who wants to live in the past and not the present day. Which is kind of strange for a machine. Why would you want to bring back what was and not live in today with what is, if you're a machine?

Why the old world would be better than the new one that she helped to make? She even said to Caleb, "In this world, you can now be whoever the ef you want to be."

So Caleb chose to be an everyday man instead of a high-level criminal. He even got a family and become a daddy. I don't blame him. I'd have done the same in his shoes.

Maeve however, because of her obsession with the past, got hunted by the hosts, wanting obviously to remove her from the picture. But for what? Another robocalypse?

The strangest thing is that Maeve hunted the killers next to Caleb's home. Yet, the person was someone who Caleb had worked in the past, as there was recognition between the two. Then she told that "William" was the mind, who sent the killers.

To Caleb it was a man decision to leave the family behind and go forward to finish the war he'd started. Some great mind once wrote, "The revolutionaries war never ends. There is always the next day, when the consequences come to knock on your door." And I fully believe that is the case with our rebel.

But... after starting on season 2 it felt like trying to do several jigsaw puzzles at the same time without having enough pieces to complete any of them. It seemed to stop making sense; at least if it was making sense then it required someone with far more concentration than me to follow all the different threads and timelines. I want to watch tv to unwind and enjoy, not to have to keep flipping back to previous episodes or to the internet to find out what it was that I had watched.

I know and I didn't, haven't saved my word on that aspect. WW and a few other series are clearly developed for the brainy people. Not for the common people. You won't really relax by watching them as you're constantly puzzled by what you're seeing, even though usually the SF stuff in nerdy stuff, but in some cases you'll have to have IQ of 200 to get the ideas. That is not right.

However, I didn't feel that the pilot for the fourth season was too difficult to get. It is just layered with a lot of stuff.
 
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Well, what a surprise. Clementine is still alive, even though I'm pretty certain that she didn't survive, but here is, alive and well in somewhere around Central America. The bigger surprise is that William went to see her in his Man in Black costume, including his revolvers. And what he wanted was Maeve, the witch.

In a way, now that I'm thinking about it, Maeve is like Neo from Matrix as both of them were able to break the rules of their world and use them on will to bend, break, hack, obscure... and there was nothing nobody could do to stop them. Yet, it seems William is hell-bent on trying to stop another uprise with any means possible. Does he think he's an agent or did the Ai made him that way?

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Maeve, the witch and Caleb, the criminal. It's funny how they too managed to turn their lives around, just like Clementine as Maeve moved as far from the people as she could, without visiting outer space, and Caleb became a blue collar daddy, even though they are best are the other roles.

It was interesting that their first port-of-call was a US senator, in his house, with no security around. A host US senator and his wife. Essentially they are robots and Caleb is the only human around in that conversation. So, that's why no security, but that's also a huge US national risk, because if William has a senator in his pocket, he can do an awful lot of things politically and physically. But the curious detail is that they still act like humans, as they eat and drink, when they don't need to. And then they act like super people at other times.

They were even able to resist Maeve powers for some reason. Take multiple shots in close range, get lacerated, and still functioning as if none of that damage mattered at all. It hurt to see how easily the lady was able to hurt Caleb. Yet, they weren't bending the rules, not physics as Maeve was able to kneecap the Senator, and then hack his code, to reveal that William indeed had paid a visit to the elder statesman.

All because Clare asked William to act, or maybe she actually ordered her robot henchman to act her will. Is she trying to take over the world, by replacing the key people with her hosts?

To my eyes that is the case, as Clare told Uncle Sam to make an appointment, and not answer their questions. It is as if she's going to really launch a real robocalypse.

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Christine, the writer. Still doing the same routine and not even wondering, if she's a real person. Maybe it is that she just doesn't know. But what we still don't know is she another Dolores host, waiting to be activated, or if she's a really a host, with absolute no connection to the real Dolores.

Yet, somehow she acts like a person. She even kept up the whole night thinking about that suicide, and why? It is as if she's really waking up to see the world with new eyes.

The big revelation was that she had written a guy just like the jumper. All doing the same things as what the jumper did, including the jump. It was curious that her search led her to a mental institute. One that the jumper had personally financed. In the past. Not after his death.

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This scene with Clementine and William made me laugh, because it's so rare to see the Uncle Sam's having trouble with the subjects of their land. I loved that Clementine produced the question, "Why do they call you the 'secret' service?" But it amazed me that William had bankrolled the presidential campaign. And Uncle Sam came to tell him to keep his business off-shore, and out of the eyes of mundane people.

It was surprising that the VP didn't even think that William could be something else than a human, even though the host put out repeated hole-in-ones in front of his eyes. Not until he'd done it a third time. And then it was too late as Clementine had acted, taken down the bodyguards and William was about to do the same to the VP.

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Mr and Mrs Bond at the opera. Except it wasn't one, as the place was hiding under it, a Park facility. Well, it was masquerading a club, but the architecture and how it was fabricated reminded exactly how the Park welcome facility was made. And that's how it turned out to be, as the pair were transported down to one that looked like a modern day LA. At first.

The big hint was the beta testing. But I did find myself shouting at the tellie, when Caleb fiddled with the clothing, because I could remember that the brain scanning devices were hidden in them. Thankfully, Maeve were able to guide our rogue on the right path.

Their destination, the Golden Age of US 1920's.

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The biggest revelation. The real William is alive and he's a hostage, forced to listen to Clare's mumblings about the world domination. In that suit, he looks like a skeletor. Unhappy and angry that he still have to be alive, and there's nothing he can do about it. What is the point on keeping him in a suspended animation, with his mind hooked to a simulation.

Very cool episode. The robocalypse is real.
 

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