WestWorld: ...Where nothing can possibly go worng!

by the way, anybody else slightly dreading meeting "the board"?

I think it's more likely that the producers, having set themselves up for the parcheesi strategy narrative you described above, don't have time to introduce other imaginative sexy stuff that isn't part of the stories we're already following. There's not that much time to do world-building with other guests in the park, like "Marti" the gunslinger lady in Ep 3 or the family in Ep 1, the drunk guy who shoots Teddy in Ep 4 or the dorks who approach the MIB in Ep 5 (I think)

There was one lady guest in an early episode that went off with a hostess. & there seemed to be others on the train.

I wonder how long William and Logan are gonna be there for. Other guests seem to do like a weekend or a few days and then get back to their lives (presumably fairly busy, because rich). If they're an Executive VP and part-owner of a thriving business, their storyline can't last multiple seasons. Ed in Black supposedly has an active foundation and presumably a profit-making business of some sort, yet he's spent most of his time for 30 years wearing a fucking cowboy hat and carving up robots for fun.

We watched "The Truman Show" the other week with the kids, and something occurred to me. Truman starts getting suspicious when things start going wrong in his simulated world, but ... who the fuck would watch a 24/7 hugely rated reality show where nothing ever changes, and everything/everyone is more or less the same day in, day out? That's the dead-end of a "scripted" (within the show) WestWorld: a park like that would only be appealing, not just for repeat business but also first-timers, if things went off-script and allowed for surprises at least once in a while. Otherwise it might as well be the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. (Insert "Jurassic Park" quote here.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKK4KmDlj8U

Truman Show was good in first season

when it was called "Baby Cam" and everyone felt really bad about themselves for watching

when dolores finds the gun in the dirt, then in her drawer, etc., i am pretty sure she is remembering finding the gun there in the past.

the dead-end of a "scripted" (within the show) WestWorld: a park like that would only be appealing, not just for repeat business but also first-timers, if things went off-script and allowed for surprises at least once in a while. Otherwise it might as well be the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride

Yeah but you can't fuck the pirates of the Caribbean

Not officially anyway

Disneyworld: After Hours.

Anyway, that gets back to the aforementioned sticking point that the only reason someone would presumably prefer a lifelike robot prostitute to a real prostitute is that they can kill and abuse them. But it's crazy to think WestWorld is a park that courts families but look out, don't cross the river, that is where rich psychopaths fuck and torture and kill hookers, like, I dunno, the "Hostel" films. For that matter, why the hell would families with kids even give a shit about WestWorld? Why would a kid give a crap if there were lifelike robots and fake horses walking around acting all wild west, which is as easy to simulate in the real world as, well, they do on the show? Save the cash and go to some living farm or colonial Williamsburg or something.

Hmm, wonder if I'm soon going to have more problems with this show than I first assumed. I'll give it a couple more eps, for sure.

We don't know what the real world is like yet. Obviously despite massive advances in medicine, children still die. People still smoke and drink. There is VR, so not only could people go to a Colonial Williamsburg, they could go on the holodeck, but they still choose Delos Destinations, and sometimes the kids come along. Vegas.

If the "real world" has effectively cured all disease, what did Ed in Black's foundation save that dweeb's sister's life from?

children still die

at least in robo-backstories they do

Bernard's roboticalness is totally a red herring you guys

Maybe the world is all run by humans, and this whole simulation is a way for them to study human behavior!

The big reveal is that the hosts were the real humans all along, and the HQ/processing/behavior control stuff was the simulation. Bernard and Ford and Elsie and them were the 'bots. Guests paid to be minor functionaries in the storyline of the unraveling of a purported robot theme park that is simultaneously being filmed for an elaborate reality show that has the premise "what if there were a wild west theme park staffed by androids."

But that's a false ending and it's actually all been engineered by hyperintelligent and insanely wealthy horses, who view it as a fun vacation because they're ironically nostalgic for the time in which horsekind was enslaved. You know, those quaintly barbaric times prior to the Equine Revolutions of 2092.

Maybe they are all robots programmed by super smart horses to think they're humans who are actually robots, coerced by implant or false instinct to build this elaborate theme park under the guise of it being for the "humans" when in fact it's for their benefit of the horses, who wanted a wild west town to run around in "like the good old days," before they were supplanted by cars, but lacked the thumbs and tools to get such a thing built.

super smart horses

These are really just a few cats taped together

They still need someone to do the coding for them, hence the robot people.

I have binge watched this and it's really catchy (although I could do with less violence, especially Harris : could someone take away his crazy knife !?).
the Lost parallel seems obvious, especially with the hatch/maze and suggested upthread, I suppose what's left of Arnold will be there (re-incarnated in a cyborg or something).
also, I don't think there's been a discussion about the idea that he or some hosts plan to destroy the park or something (I think it was said in the latest ep) ?
as for wyatt, it's not clear who/what he is but apparently he's a guest as he and his gang couldn't be shot by the hosts when they attacked them. but it's weird since it's Anthony Hopkins who apparently added this story in Marsden's program...
and about the park HQ controlling everything, beside the fact they didn't notice the drawings, as noted, apparently, they didn't notice the change in Dolores being able to shoot/kill other hosts (including a fly !) although the boss of HQ said she wanted to have a report on anything different...
anyway, so many questions...

homosexual II, you're right, it's actually much more plausible that (over the course of several loops) someone put the gun where she'd find it, let her hide it in the drawer, then removed it from the drawer and put it in the hay.

OTOH there's a part of me that wants to see this series reimagined in Colonial Williamfburg. You get a powdered wig and a musket, and you can either fuck a tavern wench or flirt with treason against the Crown whilst debating molasses imports in the House of Burgesses.

As a young Virginian I heard Colonial Williamsburg was hiring for a town drunk, and I thought: I've found my life's ambition. But it was not to be, alas.

Soderbergh is (maybe) making the Sot-Weed Factor as a 12-parter :D

I think it's amazing how watchable this show is despite having practically zero plot or compelling characters

Haha yes

indeed !
although I guess you're supposed to like Bernard (lost his son, tries to free/raise Dolores, seems to be a decent person...) and maybe Dork (facing his evil bro in law, saving the damsel in distress...).
but they're both so boring !
then there's Dolores who seems to be at the center of the story.

and regarding the character you have to hate, it's obviously between Logan and MIB !

Maybe you are supposed to like Bernard but in the context of a theme park where robot sex abuse is thoroughly 'OK' it is more than a little creepy that every time he does a deep dive into Dolores' psyche he always forbids her from telling anyone about it. 'Let's just keep this between you and me' gggghhhuuu

Speaking of which, it is a little weird how paranoid Bernard is about her telling anyone. She's a robot. If he says 'don't tell anyone' she won't. There isn't any grey area. So why's he so worried about it?

yeah. and it's not even like there's something really wrong in their conversations which would make it scandalous if anyone else knew.
I mean, it's not very different from what Ford does "officially" with various hosts.

Good point!

Dystopias be needing a Chosen Damsel, with a hidden nougaty center of badassness.

Anybody who knows their Shailene Woodley from their Hailee Steinfeld knows this. Dolores, Katniss, Bella from Twilight, whatserface from Divergent, River Tam.

Do I need to point out that the given name of the title character in Lolita is Dolores?

Arnold, Ford, Bernard, Ed in Black, and William McDork are all creeping on Dolores and projecting their own personal bullshit on her, almost bukkake-style. Ick.

I feel like they could be quietly phasing out that Bernard guy, like he could just not be in any more episodes and nobody would care. Borgen too - was she even in this last episode? Feel like I haven't seen her since her dinner with Hopkins in the holodeck or whatever that was, but I haven't really been paying too much attention. Did evil BiL expect there to be actual nitroglycerin in a theme park ride? idk this show is dumb as shit, unless at some point a character says "this narrative is dumb as shit", in which case it's TOTALLY CLEVER

ahah. I hadn't even thought about the obvious reason for fake nitro ! that said, MIB did have some explosives (which required an authorization from HQ... so I guess it wasn't REAL explosives ?).

also, what made MIB realize Lawrence was useless finally, after dragging him along for so long ?

bc he saw teddy who was an obv NPC upgrade

Originally MiB was amusing himself by sadistically torturing Lawrence; clearly he's interacted with him before. When the daughter provided clues about the maze, MiB may have figured he was on the right track. He used Lawrence's blood to revive Teddy (rather than waiting for the staff to fix him up and send him back out). That would have reset the storyline, I guess, which MiB would not have wanted to wait through now that he is on the scent of the maze. Sidenote: are all hosts the same blood type? Inquiring minds want to know.

Speaking of which, it is a little weird how paranoid Bernard is about her telling anyone. She's a robot. If he says 'don't tell anyone' she won't. There isn't any grey area. So why's he so worried about it?

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, November 4, 2016 6:41 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he could be suspicious that a) the bots are able to communicate/infect each other with ideas inadvertently (a concept which the show seems to have left alone for a couple episodes now? after thandie got it?) or

b) some other person, staff or not, could be talking to her or running code on her or w/e

idk if the show is meant to be clear about this, but i think the bots recognize the corporate hierarchy? they respond to hopkins like he's some kind of wizard, but the rest of them have to have these clunky formal conversations.

Well, from what I understood, initially, MIB went after Lawrence for a very specific reason, after scalping the indian. Obviously he knew Lawrence had something special regarding the maze, it wasn't just about the simple pleasure of torturing (what an interesting sentence !).
This is why I wonder why he suddenly decided he didn't need him anymore (although he still kept him with him even after his daughter gave him some info about the maze). I don't remember clearly the scene when he sends the boy for some water cos he decided to kill Lawrence to save Teddy. I missed a detail, I guess.

Do u think the presumably very educated and expensive robot experts who have to rebuild the murdered robots at the end of the day also have to clean the ~body fluids~ out of them, or are there lower paid/more downtrodden employees who do this off-screen before that

it is strange how everyone in this show is either a dumbass or a robot, but maybe after six anxiety-inducing seasons of Game of Thrones it's nice to just watch some idiots hurtle towards catastrophe without having any other stake in it idk

xp Dolores has been shown to be able to lie to Bernard

xxposts : eheh, yeah I thought about the blood type issue too but forgetting they're robots I just thought "that's pretty silly, how does he know they're the same blood type..." !

well, about the lying thing, clearly, if she can lie to other people because he asks her to, she obviously can lie to him if someone else - Ford or.. Arnold - asks her to !

Had thought the robots were about 10 years old at oldest and still then surprised taht robotic technology wouldn't be in a constant flux of updates.

i think the answer to this was alluded to in the latest episode: when MIB mentioned that he opened up a host and it was beautiful inside. he was disappointed when they decided to go with the human-like technology for the hosts. it would seem that robotics technology continues to evolve and improve while human-bio-robotics has been perfected

also makes me wonder that if the human-bio-robotics is a perfect facsimile, then maybe the programming tech could be used on actual humans too?

Would be surprised if anything was ever permanently perfected. Thought everything was open to improvement unless laws and strictures were passed preventing it.

also makes me wonder that if the human-bio-robotics is a perfect facsimile, then maybe the programming tech could be used on actual humans too?

isn't it what the tech guy trying to revive the bird is all about ?

Wait, does Dolores lie to Bernard?

As I recall it, she lied to Ford - that is, she told Ford she hasn't spoken to Arnold in 34 years. Then she said something to the air along the lines of "I didn't tell him anything; he doesn't suspect."

What I take from this is that Arnold, before dying, conferred immortality upon himself by effectively uploading his brain into the cloud. He transferred his consciousness into the host-hivemind so that he can continue to manipulate events from beyond the grave. Arnold knew that the corporation would keep retiring and replacing individual 'bots, so he knew he wouldn't be able to live on if he only infected one host.

Note that Dolores is one of the oldest, but her original daddy had also been pretty well-used, in a variety of storylines. So he'd be a very good vector for transmission of the Arnoldvirus. Arnold MADE HIMSELF CONTAGIOUS, y'all.

oh wait, I think you're right, she lied to Ford, not to Bernard.

A friend of mine is very hyped about the "Ed Harris and dork guy are the same person" theory, citing Lawrence popping up very quickly and far away for the dork's story 'after' being killed by Harris. also Harris talking about how he saved the company at some point in the past (which i don't fully remember), and the brother-in-law talking about getting in on the company 'now'. i was not convinced, but it's looking more likely?

also i do not know anyone's character name in this show except for Dolores, had to look up the wiki when you all were talking about "Ford" and "Logan".