Thoughts on Westworld

And what it’s leading to

There be spoilers ahead

Two episodes in and there’s still plenty to explore and question, but enough has been teased to point to the bigger picture.

Episode two of HBO’s latest, titled “Chestnut,” introduced new characters and ideas.

Dreams

One of the big, flashing concepts that was mentioned previously but now further developed: the androids dreaming.

It’s still uncertain if the hosts are truly able to do so, as the imagery shown when Thandie Newton’s character Maeve ‘passed out’ wasn’t clear. Was it a previous life? Robert Ford, the architect of the park, proved in the pilot that the hosts are regularly commissioned for different roles. Sometimes, revisions (or “reveries” as they’re called) to their code allow them to access older programming from their former selves.

Is it possible Maeve simply glimpsed a past, horrific event she was involved in? Or are they fake memories implanted to strengthen her current character and reinforce her backstory?

The reasoning behind the dream theory is because of the conversation she had with one of the other prostitutes (or madams, to provide a level of sophistication) in the saloon. Maeve said if you’re ever in a bad dream, all you need to do in order to escape is close your eyes and count backwards.

Which is what she does. She follows her own advice during this dream, takes a deep breath, and counts

3

2

1… only to wake up, where exactly? It’s clear we’re now in a section of the park accessible solely to employees, and this specific area houses a key department that keeps things running. They clean up the messes and prep the hosts overnight so the cycle can start all over the following morning.

This has been a point that’s naturally been brought up, which is how exactly do the runners of the show — because that’s what the park, Westworld, essentially is, just a show with all of its characters and the scriptwriters that plot out their dialogue and storylines — ensure that the hosts are in tip-top shape at the start of each new day?

These androids go through a multitude of situations that cause extreme disfigurement due to their physical frames, depending on the plot they’ve found themselves in or what the guests (called ‘newcomers’ by the hosts) decide to do to them. One has to wonder how exactly they start fresh every day, free of any evidence to suggest something horrific could’ve happened the previous cycle.

An easy answer would be there are multiple copies of each host, but that provides a few issues right off the bat. The programmers, and Ford himself, care far too much and particularly for each android. It’s difficult to believe they’d devote so much time and energy ensuring each one is running perfectly, or as smoothly enough to simply make the show go on, if they had another duplicate in storage good to go.

So when Maeve wakes up after getting shot and blacking out, obviously she comes to in utter confusion. She doesn’t understand where she is or what she’s experiencing. Just the sight of futuristic technology is enough to frighten her.

The reaction by the two techies working on her, repairing the damage she sustained, is far more revealing to the inner workings of the company. They’re not necessarily scared of her. Their concerns lie with the repercussions and their job security if word gets out a host woke up during this phase.

They manage to get Maeve back under control, but not before she slinks off into another sub-basement level. Here she finds Teddy (James Marsden’s character) bagged up and offline, still bearing the gunshot wounds he sustained earlier that night. She and Teddy shared a moment back in the saloon, the first time the audience saw them interact, so it will be interesting if this is a relationship that develops.

Who knows if Maeve will recollect any of this later. Who’s to say the memory wiping the park’s technicians employ each night, to wipe the slate clean and prepare the hosts, is thorough and effective?

Ford’s creations appear to be advanced enough where they can question and speculate, but do they have a subconscious as well? Is there more to them than just the shell the newcomers interact with? What do they do when no guests are around, how do they live?

The Man in Black

Ed Harris’s character, still unnamed at this point but dressed all in black and very reminiscent of Yul Brynner’s Gunslinger in the original 1973 Westworld film, is full of mystery. Despite how little screen-time he has, much of the show revolves around him and the impact he will make.

The main question after two episodes now is what his deal is. It’s extremely clear he’s on a mission, yet he’s waited this long to go about it.

30 years keeps getting thrown out. It seems that was the last time there was “an incident,” which involved who knows what. Perhaps several of the hosts rebelled and committed actual murder, not the staged kind they constantly enact. It’s yet to be revealed what the incident was, but it was serious enough that a notorious section of the park’s inner workings was cordoned off. Referred to as “sub-level 83," it’s now used as a cold storage for the androids. Security views it with absolute seriousness, which reinforces the notion that they were heavily involved with the incident, and that it was most likely a violent event.

In the first episode, the Man in Black uses this same amount of time when he describes how long he’s been coming here. The “here” he refers to is unknown. Is it the park itself, or the barn he was situated at the time he intercepts Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Teddy?

One has to go with the former, as he seems to be an android that has gone rogue and now openly laughs at the programming the others are slaves to. If this is accurate, he’s unlike any other host in the park, since he seems to do whatever he so chooses. He’s able to see the strings that pull on the puppets around him and point out the reality they live in is fabricated. Plus, he appears to know everyone on a first-name basis — in a town and park that’s founded on the concept of anonymity.

However, he doesn’t appear to have all the answers just yet. That’s what he’s looking for by scalping one of the hosts in the pilot, to uncover the map that’s hidden inside. And then, in the second episode, he ventures to a neighboring town to further his odyssey and dig deeper into the rabbit hole. His questions suggest he knows this world is not real, and there is more outside that can’t be seen. “How do I find the entrance?” he asks.

A young girl he comes across, a host, tells him, “the Maze isn’t meant for you.”

Which leads the viewer to question what exactly the Man in Black is. Is he a host, or a newcomer? His actions and his aim are far too perfect to be human, but at the same time there is a heavy amount of doubt regarding his status as an android. He travels freely with no fear of repercussions from management, and it’s revealed in “Chestnut” they are fully aware of his actions.

The Man in Black kills a number of hosts in this other town, and it even comes to the attention of security. Yet they turn a blind eye when they see it play out on a monitor. The response, “that man gets whatever he wants,” lends credence to the idea that possibly Harris’s character is a guest. Maybe he has been coming back, year after year, for his vacations, and has stumbled upon the park’s ultimate quest.

Hopefully, the following episodes reveal more of his history and how he came to realize there’s more than meets the eye. There is a structure to the park that he senses and is adamant to uncover. Perhaps he is a key link to the incident.

New to the game

One aspect the second episode handled very well, and which was greatly needed, was portraying the park from a newcomer’s perspective — specifically from a first-time visitor.

Jimmi Simpson is introduced as William, a guest who’s been roped into coming to Westworld by a friend of his already familiar with the park. William seems hesitant and skeptical about the entire experience.

A comparison that has been brought up elsewhere, which continues to strengthen the format of Westworld’s experience, is that much of its functions are based on aspects in modern videogames. Specifically, in the roleplaying genre, where players create their characters and are thrust into a world they explore at their own pace. Decisions are made that can greatly affect the storyline and the game’s outcome.

These intricate details are highlighted in William’s scenes, which introduce him to and prepare him for the park, by first teaching him the rules and equipping him with proper gear.

The choices that newcomers make before they even step into Westworld are the type of clothing they pick, which seem to determine how the hosts regard and approach them. At no other point in the story was this more clear then the moment when William was asked to pick a hat. The varying styles were divided into two clear-cut colors, white and black. There absolutely must be some significance to this decision, especially at the onset of the experience.

What makes William interesting is his reluctance to fully embrace what Westworld offers, which is pure hedonism and escapism. He still follows a sense of order, whereas his friend understands there are no rules in the park. He is there to unleash his darker side, but William is in search of something else.

And that brings him to Dolores, the host that was the focus of episode one. The character revealed to be the oldest host in the park.

One of the subtleties with Dolores, an event written into her script to be repeated day after day as if she were in Groundhog Day, is she always drops a can of goods after a trip to the town’s store. As she’s getting everything settled in her horse’s saddlebags and prepping her departure, out pops the can that rolls so perfectly to a stop at a passerby.

It’s one of the finer details that Robert Ford is most likely proud of. He makes a point in the second episode that the guests don’t return to the park for the cheap thrills. They come back for the subtleties, for the hidden moments they feel no one else has discovered.

That’s one of the moments William comes across. He picks up the can and hands it back to Dolores, and the two exchange a look. A look of substance that will definitely develop over the season.

The question is how this moment affects these characters, and the script for the day. So far, we’ve seen three people in total pick up the can Dolores drops. William is one of them.

Teddy was another. Early in the first episode, after stopping for a drink at the saloon, he spots Dolores and walks over in time to return the can to her. It isn’t until later that we find out that not only is she a host, but so is he, and the encounter they have is completely plotted out. It’s an encounter that leads them to spending the day together and returning to the barn, where they both meet their temporary demises at the hands of the Man in Black.

He is the third character we’ve seen who’s picked up the can and returned it to Dolores. During that moment, it was clear the Man in Black knew who she was, but in her eyes she’d never met him before. He mentions how he has “other plans that evening,” indicating he would not be returning to the barn to kill Teddy and violate her. Another horrible experience that occurs on a frequent basis to a host, and one that’s removed at the end of each day, never to be remembered — at least for now.

The closer

All of the above barely even scratches the surface, it’s simply food for thought.

“Chestnut” ends with Ford and his key programmer, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), out of the office and in the field. We get the sense the park’s growth has been stagnant as their conversation suggests upper management is anxious for a new storyline, something Ford seems to have promised for some time now.

Ford provides no details to his plans, but leads Bernie to the site where his new story will take place. It’s an area separate from the main town with nothing in sight, and the only prominent feature is the lone structure jutting out of the ground: a tower of some sort.

Very little can be made from the building but it appears Gothic and religious. The first impression is that it’s a church of some kind, but it doesn’t seem like a logical addition to the park and its nature.

While much was explored in this episode, unfortunately there were still far too many questions left unanswered. Eventually, the audience will need some definition to Westworld.