You like robots? You like artificial intelligence? You like watching rich people pay to go to another world to live out there every fantasy, which includes killing people, having sex with robot hosts that look like real people and trying to find a hidden maze that may evidently lead to the freedom of the robots inside the resort? (takes breath from talking so quick) Oh, no… that does’t sound interesting enough? James Marsden is in it. That should garner your attention.
So that may not sound like your cup of tea, I know. It probably reminds you of a bad dream you had a few weeks ago, but don’t let that steer you away from watching the show. Coming from the channel that has brought you Girls, Sex and the City, True Blood, Entourage, Games of Thrones (have you ever heard of it?) and many more that I’m sure you think I’m forgetting, HBO does it again. And by it I mean, make a show that will win ALL the awards. Yes, it's that good. This show is loosely based of the 1973 Westworld movie that was written by Michael Crichton, but the production value that HBO brings to our screens every Sunday night is truly stunning.
In the “Westworld” theme park, artificial robot hosts play a part in the guests every fantasy they aren't allowed to live out in every day life. Let me give you a short Westworld vocab lesson that will help you become less confused while reading this. There are Guests and then there are Hosts. The guests are the rich people that pay to come to the park to live out their fantasies. The Hosts are the artificial robots that are there for the guests pleasure. Social pleasure, physical pleasure or killing pleasure; whatever it may be. So these guests come from all over the world to attend the park that is the size of an entire continent. Just think of it as a six flags…but bigger…and with more guns. Anyway, the park has been open for 30 years, allowing guests to play with the hosts in any way they want and the hosts are programmed to allow the guest to do whatever they want to them, including kill them. See, the crazy thing is that the hosts can never hurt or kill the guests but the guests can kill the hosts. Morbid and unfair I know, but thats the appeal that brings guests from all over.
What makes every tv show and movie so great and reels you in is the problem that arises isn’t in? There’s always a problem that needs to be solved, or someone who wants to go against the grain that has been the same since the beginning. Well gear up kids, because that's exactly what is happening in the early stages of this show. We have the group of programming professionals behind the whole operation who build the hosts, clean them and fix their broken features when guests tear them apart and most importantly, they program the hosts. What this means is that they give the orders on what the hosts should do and how they should do it. They specifically program them to not have any feeling towards anything, so no emotions that could push away the guest. No literally, they don't even physically feel a fly if its on their face just chillin. And since they’re not allowed to harm the guests, they aren’t allowed to harm anything else, including flies that chill on their face. But ah, you must have already come to the conclusion that a host eventually DOES harm something. You’re right, but lets get back to the host programmers. So the technicians who build the hosts have only had very sporadic instances where hosts start acting strangely; asking questions about the real world that they shouldn’t even know about. The creator of the park wants the technicians to reprogram the hosts to not allow the hosts to be inquisitive about information they don’t need. But this reprograming is starting to show signs of issues. More and more hosts are becoming aware of their surrounding, remembering other timelines in the park that they were apart of many years ago that they shouldn't remember.
Their are other particular story lines that make this show something interesting besides watching a weird sci-fi documentary don’t worry. There is guest who literally has no name on any character roster besides “man in black”, who has been trying to find a deeper level of the park. In particular he is trying to find “the maze”. Since the season has just begun and we’re only on episode 5, I have no idea what the maze could be besides what was mentioned as it possibly setting the hosts free. There’s Maeve who is a prostitute attraction in the park and her flashbacks to her other timeline is whats coming back to haunt her and is giving us a glimpse into what else the park had to offer originally. Maeve left us at the end of episode 5, woken up in the Westworld monitoring labs, waiting for an explanation from a technician on what has been happening to her. Give the woman some answers man, because we the audience needs them too. The technician looked like he was ready to pee his pants but who wouldn’t when an artificial robot starts talking like she just woke up from a delicate nap.
If you're a fan of love stories as well, don’t worry your little romantic brain because its all in here! Dolores, who is the parks oldest host being there since the beginning 30 years ago, is realizing that her entire life is a constructed lie. Homegirl is finally starting to become a boss who takes what she wants and what she wants is a guest that may or may not have a finance back at home (GASP). William, the guy Dolores wants, totally wants her back though so all is well I guess if you’re okay with a possibility of him marrying another women he probably doesn’t love. But sad news is that theres another man that wants Dolores' affection and that man is James Marsden’s character, Teddy. But Teddy is still in the robot mindset where he doesn’t realize that he lives in a lie. Poor James Marsden. Every movie/tv show he is in, he never gets the girl. Don’t worry James, I’ll be yOUR GIRL!!!!
Westworld seems like its a lot to take in with a lot of details, but put your trust in me friends, this show is so riveting and captivating that it’s totally worth it. Even if you don’t like sci-fi, dystopian, theme park, wild west types of entertainment, I really think you should give it a try anyway. I didn’t even know what the show was until my roommate turned it on and now all of us are hooked, watching it every Sunday when it premieres at 9. So come on, get lost in the robot abyss. And if you don’t, every bus stop, cab advertisement and billboard promoting the show around you will annoy you into watching it instead.
Welcome to the wild wild Westworld.
