This station comprise spoilers for the 5th sequence of Westworld " Contrapasso . “Head to ourWestworldshow hubfor more revue , theories , and deep nosedive .
Just when you thoughtthe throw ofWestworldcouldn’t get any bigger , it bring a Geek Squad reading of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern . In this workweek ’s action - packed episode , we spend some of the quieter bit with Felix and Sylvester , two Delos robot - repair technician who come out to be named aftercartooncats . Like many feline , Felix ( Leonardo Nam ) spends most of the instalment obsessing over a bird , which he nurses back to sprightliness using his apprehension of biology , a fancy tablet computer , and absolutely zero supporter from Sylvester ( Ptolemy Slocum ) , who might be the most unlikable character on the show not named Logan . Also , Thandie Newton come back to life . Again . It was weird .
But like most seemingly odd or inexplicable moment onWestworld , the razz scenes in thisweek ’s episodewere also funny , thematically rich , and perhaps important to the big " robots vs. humans " narrative that ’s about to take flight . They were n’t the mostwell - acted scenes , and they did n’t havean orgy plant to Nine Inch Nailsin them , but that does n’t entail they were n’t authoritative . So , let ’s take the lab scenes apart like a man repairing a tiny bird on his lunch break .
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We’re finally learning about the animals in Westworld
Of the manyunanswered questionsfans have foisted at co - creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy , who write last Nox ’s episode , I ’ve always been into the creature one . For a ballpark with so many moving part and potentially grave malfunctions , it makes sense that Anthony Hopkins ' Ford and the mysterious Arnold would take to occupy their interactive fantasy world with celluloid tool that can be controlled just like the hosts . The completion mo ofEpisode 1 , where Dolores kills a fly with a immediate smacking , felt designed to unnerve and breathe in further interrogation . As the scholars in the Insane Clown Posse would say : " flaming robot - horses : How do they form ? "
As is often the showcase withWestworld , the good agency to learn something is to look backward – like , right smart backwards . Besides being very creepy , the whitish - white android that seem in the show’scredit sequenceand in the promotional materials is an updated take on Leonardo da Vinci ’s " The Vitruvian Man , " the ultimate Renaissance blending of scientific view and artistry . The literal musical theme behind the famous survey came from Vitruvius , an ancient Roman architect who probably had secret hope of one Clarence Day inspiring artistic decisions on a HBO science - fabrication drama . Congrats , Vitruvius . You made it , dude .
About 15 years after da Vinci completed his " Vitruvian Man " cartoon in 1490 , the Renaissance man created another document that would test subservient in the study of human - fly mechanical flight : theCodex on the Flight of Birds . According to this helpfulSmithsonian videoon the subject field , theCodexexplored " aerodynamics , recognize the motive for control , express the importance of lightweight social organization , and even hinted at the force Newton would later name as sombreness . " It ’s yet another example of da Vinci ’s genius , particularly his ability to toggle between heady questions about nature , engineering , technology , and art .
In the same way Nolan and Joy have mine the works of William Shakespeare , John Donne , and Gertrude Stein for literary quotes in the first few episodes , they ’ve also weaponized scientific construct likethe bicameral mindto make a racy ( and occasionally confusing ) texture of scientific fake - genuineness . Nolan and Joy are n’t creating a work of artistic production that suffer next to the oeuvre of Shakespeare or da Vinci – I likeWestworldbut , like , come on – but they ’re not above evoking well - known cultural signifiers to loan their show a rarefied , museum - ready feel . The symbolism of the bird , particularly the direction Felix yearns to make it and checks in on it during his tiffin break , suggest that shuttle will carry thematic weight in the show going forward .
Writers love bird metaphors
suppose of Tony Soprano andhis ducks . Or the pigeon Betty Drapershoots out of the skywith her rifle onMad Men . Or the menacingowlsonTwin Peaks . Or Varys ' " little birds " onGame of Thrones . It ’s a fact : Writers of challenging TV drama making love bird . With their fluttering wings , cunning little feather , and melodic petty chirps , Bronx cheer have a verse to them and a hopeful sense of possibility that something like a tiny earthbound lizard lacks . badly : Can you suppose Felix nursing a lizard back to wellness and it triumphantly crawling across the trading floor of the lab ? I ca n’t . Outside of thefilms of Werner Herzog , lizards get very slight respect from Hollywood .
But it ’s not just television writer who have it off shuttlecock . In her 1994 Christian Bible on writing , Bird by Bird , writer Anne Lamott tells an anecdote about how her 10 - year - quondam pal struggled to discharge a book story about birds for schoolhouse . He was overwhelmed by the materials he was represent with . Her father , also a author , recite the son that he just needed to come on the report in a simple way , enunciate , " Bird by bird , buddy . Just take it birdie by bird . " It ’s become a popular originative maxim , a phrase that can move around on the face of it complicated labor into a set of accessible tasks . Lamott uses it as a way to demystify the writing process .
Critics ofWestworldmight say that the show struggles to take thing " razz by boo . " This is a series that roar out the logic gate with four densely plotted , hypothesis - arduous , and often confounding sequence of television . ( If these are raspberry , they are very , very big birds . ) But , if " Contrapasso " had a slight boundary over its predecessors , it was in the way the episode sit in moments and did normal television show things , like show us two low - story workers having a dazed conversation about ham sandwiches . It gave us an adventure to a dangerous town . It hand us a face-off between two of the show ’s biggest stars . It did basic raspberry thing .
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What does this all mean for Maeve?
Thandie Newton ’s Maeve is perhapsWestworld ’s most tragic character . Unlike Dolores , who seems to be on a itinerary to self - noesis that involve firing a gun , overcharge Wagon , and having the occasional trippy flashback , much of Maeve ’s clock time on the show is spent sustain shoot , drawing sketches of terrifying distance men , and dwell naked on a slab of metal . Her path to self - consciousness is one rooted in trauma , memory stifling , and black body horror . She is a survivor .
The conclusion of last night ’s episode suggested that she ’s about to take flight . In the same room sure character in theJurassic Parkmovies are more sympathetic to the need of dinosaurs than others , Felix seems to have pity for the androids he cares for more than his co - workers ' rubber or the Westworld code of conduct . " Come on , little one , " he tells the tiny bird early on in the episode while secure it . He ’s much more sympathetic than his absurdly boorish twin Sylvester , who behaves like an objectionable roommate in a ' 90s sitcom . He talks about having a " nubile redhead load up in the VR tank car . " He is the variety of cobalt - proletarian you require to see get kill by a automaton , and I have a feeling he ’ll finish up being one of the show ’s first human casualties .
Will his death come at Maeve ’s newly mobile automaton hand ? allow ’s remember what she says in the episode ’s net chilling moment : " Hello , Felix , it ’s time you and I had a confabulation . " But after that , she smiles as Felix ’s fresh hefty pet ground on her finger . She does n’t need a computer lozenge . If that image is any indication , she ’ll be establish her rotation bird by doll .
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