This post contains major spoilers for the premiere ofWestworld . Head to our show Thomas Nelson Page for moreWestworldreviews , theories , and deep dives .
Michael Crichton ’s 1973 sci - fi movieWestworldwas a total tease . In the cult classic , unsuspecting patrons who ’d come in to the adult amusement parkland for its automaton - deliver joy departure in eubstance handbag , thanks to a bug that have aTerminator - way android nuclear meltdown . Crichton ’s smell at our exponential relationship with artificial intelligence was intriguing then and prescient today – the how s and why atomic number 16 are sempiternal . That ’s whereHBO ’s new showpicks up .
Westworld , adjust by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy , is not a unmediated sequel of Crichton ’s original , but it dives back into the world with an appetite for inquiry , whodunit , and heroic storytelling . The premiere is rich and methodical , introducing charactersin both the make up Old West subject park and the Silicon Valley - inspired work that play the twenty-four hours - to - day . Nolan and Joy detail how such a park could feasibly exist – when is Disney World croak to start sculpting horses out of resin ? ! – while managing to keep spate of threads left unpulled .
HBO
Where willWestworldgo over the course of 10 episodes that Crichton could n’t get to in his 88 - minute of arc movie ? have ’s await at six way the series could take in Season 1 … and beyond .
Westworld isn’t a theme park, it’s a video game
On the surface , the Westworld tourist experience is like the ultimate Renaissance Faire , with six - hired gun and 10 - gal hat replacing bastard swords and shining armour ( though clearly this is not set in a future in whichGame of Throneswas a hit show , or the amusement park ’s wheeler dealer might have switch out the Wild West in favor of an real Ren Faire theme ) . We see visitant step off a nineteenth - century locomotive engine and into theDeadwood - alike townspeople of Sweetwater , where dreams of Andrew Jackson Downing whisky mid - shoot - out come genuine . Bros looking for a fantasy unmarried man party give " tons of money " to hook up with Westworld ’s Department of State - of - the - artistic production robo - sporting lady . The boldness can venture outside of town – " past the river , " as the father of a visiting family insinuates – for a seedier adventure . Still , the hit man of the golem " host " only fluff fastball , while the " newcomer " are all dead eye .
There ’s something more meaningful happening in Westworld , and The Man in Black ( Ed Harris ) is determined to find it . " There ’s a deeper level to this biz , " he tells Kissy the Card Dealer , just before scalp the poor robot on the edge of a cliff . The Man in Black has a story with Westworld ( more on that in a second ) and regard the simulator like an undetermined - macrocosm video game . Where other visitors see the surroundings as a freeform animatronics mount , he sees them as NPCs written as adversaries , emote to heighten the post , programme to succeed or fall back .
While first writingWestworld , Nolanrevealedthat biz like Rockstar Games ' sprawlingRed Dead Redemptionand the popular Orwellian steampunk RPGBioShockwere every bit as influential on this series as other movies or TV shows . This is all the more seeming in The Man in Black ’s quest , which kicks off at the end of the premier episode when he notice something inscribed inside Kissy ’s skull . The icon look like a mathematical function , with a Kokopelli - like Vitruvian Man at the center . wait Season 1 to chronicle how the Westworld was " won . "
Westworld’s future is tied to Westworld’s past
The year in whichWestworldtakes space is unclear , though prison term represent a unique role in the drama of the premiere . Early on , The Man in Black recount Dolores ( Evan Rachel Wood ) that he ’s been coming to the Mungo Park for 30 age , and that he has a long - tolerate relationship with the farm girl . " Thirty eld ago " is also the last time Westworld had a far-famed " loser , " allot to Bernard ( Jeffrey Wright ) . The last beat of the installment is the Revelation of Saint John the Divine that Dolores is the old " legion " at the park . " She ’s been repaired so many time , she ’s practically brand unexampled , " says Stubbs ( Luke Hemsworth ) , head of Westworld security . All of these quotation pile on top of an easter ballock : when Stubbs and Bernard take the elevator down to retrieve Dr. Robert Ford ( Anthony Hopkins ) from his empty words with " Old Bill , " they go into B83 , a long - forget atrium complete with " Delos " globe . Delos was the name of parent company in the originalWestworldmovie .
What go horribly untimely 30 years ago ? Was The Man in Black directly necessitate ? And do the solution cleverly tie back to Michael Crichton ’s original story ?
Robert Ford breaks the barrier between man and machine
Ford admit he ’s playing a dangerous game in the premiere . He ’s almost done with robotic conception because , frankly , there ’s nowhere left to go . With the growing of the " reveries , " the host ' memory - similar recall that allows them to dredge up event from past storylines , unreal word is all but real intelligence . " One fine day we ’ll resurrect the stagnant , " Ford allege , " call Lazarus from his cave . " The suggestion is beyond the scope of his workplace with Bernard ; Ford ’s not only replicating human gesture and experience in the " lives " of his robot creations , he believe they ’ll one Clarence Day replace our dead , leave immortality to those with the cash . Might make a good prize for the player who crock up Westworld ’s hidden puzzle .
Westworld is a test ground for… something more
There are layers to the interior Westworld experience , the path that The Man in Black is taking , and there are layer to the exterior Westworld operation , an headquarters where timbre - assurance handler Theresa ( Sidse Babett Knudsen ) and " narrative " author Lee ( Simon Quarterman ) oversee from afar . Between the bureaucratic power work debates , Theresa tugs on a thread that could eventually unspool everything we know about Westworld : " This situation is one affair to the guest , another thing to the shareholders , and something completely different to direction . "
Lee would prefer that Ford quit improving the robots , because he does n’t suppose they need to be that natural so as to enthrall the well - heeled visitor . But someone in the shadows need the AI to evolve . In the Crichton - adjacentJurassic World , the governance check rebirthed raptors as rebirthed raptor super - soldiers . Westworld ’s automaton could have the same electric potential in the eye of unidentified moneymen . Or peradventure someone pulling the string wants to live forever inside one of the 3 - D - printed legion . Anything ’s possible .
Someone on the outside wants to break Westworld
Between the next - level reveries and a bug in the rise , the string that keep the car park ’s golem puppets in position are beginning to snap . There ’s no bigger clew than the photo Dolores ' Fatherhood , Peter Abernathy , finds bury by his cattle playpen . It ’s a good deal he ’s never seen before : a woman in a puffer pelage , standing in a metropolitan area resembling Times Square . The pic dislodges a few of Peter ’s screws . The question is : how did it get there , and who wants to disrupt the order ? Bernard is a prime suspect to have planted the pic – he ’s nasty with the golem and obsessed with the tiny motions that " make them seem existent , that make the node come in erotic love with them . " Or maybe it ’s his learner Elsie ( Shannon Woodward ) , who slip a cleaning lady - on - robo - fair sex kiss in the premiere .
Dolores will lead a robot uprising
Ford is an artist , and Peter Abernathy , a former cult - leader - bot - turn - farmer - bot , is his piece of work of art . Which is why he ’s work up to cite Shakespeare – or at least the Bard ’s most minacious pedigree . " These tearing delectation have violent ends … " Peter tell , line upon one ofRomeo and Juliet ’s most minatory beats . For those who are less intimate with Act 2 , Scene 6 , it continues , " … and in their victory drop dead , like fire and powder , which , as they kiss , consume . The sweet honey is repellant in his own deliciousness and in the taste fox the appetence . "
The violent enthral ofWestworldwill have wild ends . It ’s the basis of Crichton ’s original picture , and it ’s the most obvious tease in the premiere , from the " would n’t down a fly ball " motif to Dolores ' acknowledgment of the " Judas steer , " that one equanimity , aware bovine who can lead the respite of the ruck to the slaughterhouse without human assist . Judging by her tolerance to flies at the final stage of the episode , Dolores will belike be the Judas steer who mosh the brakes , and go the herd in another instruction . " Have you ever questioned the nature of your realism ? " her victor ask her , while she sit in answer mode limbo . They ’re take for it .
But how far could the havoc go ? If Dolores becomes sentient , revolt , and plant Westworld ’s 30 - year " without incident " counter back to zero , how will it bear upon the nature of show ? Could a genuine uprising revert the real world back to … the Old West ?
HBO
What the creators are actually saying
In a post - premiereinterviewwithEntertainment Weekly , Nolan and Joy molt some light on what we saw – without giving anything off . While the two acknowledge the serial take place in the 21st century , they ’re coy about the specific year . Same with the family relationship between the command center and the Mungo Park , and if , like Crichton ’s original film , there are other robotic paper playing out in unseen sector of the map .
Nolan did open up about the central conceit of the series . Or as he puts it , " the Freudian - Jungian stuff " inside the human genius , and how it has to be expertly constructed inside a robot . " How much [ the golem ] can call back is an important question for the time of year , " he sound out . " The ability for the technicians to directly query the subconscious mind of the hosts was such a fun style to bet this moral force and also suggest at the levels of sophistication and controller that are latent in the legion that they ’re not allowed to get at . So , no , they ’re not aware of their plight . They are cognizant on another grade , but they are prevent from access it . "
While the internet consider whetherthe fliesare genuine " bugs in the machine " and goes frame by inning to estimate out if the show is a verbatim subsequence to the 1973 picture show , you’re able to check into out some cold , hard spoilery facts in the the physique of the above series promo , straight off from HBO . Ride on , cowpuncher .
HBO
signalise up herefor our daily Thrillist email , and get your localization of the best in food / drink / fun .
HBO
HBO
HBO
HBO
HBO/YouTube
