I stopped halfway through season 2.

chick79 said:

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I stopped halfway through season 2.

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Congrats?

Seeing a lot of positive season four reactions, which dropped today. Multiple takes saying it's back, is the best the show's been since seasons one and two, etc. Critics have seen the first four episodes, and despite a couple negative-ish reactions, they seem mostly high on the season overall (some even *very* high on it). However, the first one I clicked on spoiled me right out of the gate (nothing big, just some setup stuff I didn't want to know), so I'm refraining from posting here.

Yeah I was reading some today, and saw one spoiler, but for the most part I was able to stay clear. I was trying to skip right to the last paragraph.
79 percent on RT right now, which is a good sign.

Irrationally pumped for tonight.

TCTTS said:

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Irrationally pumped for tonight.

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Still debating if I want to finish this show or not. Tried to avoid reviews of the new season because I knew they'd be bad and accidentally read one from The Guardian…. oof.

Probably still going to watch.

Again, personally, I'm seeing tons of positive reviews. About to dive into the first episode now and see for myself…

No idea really what the hell is going on, but I'll be back next week

Meh

I didn't even recognize Evan Rachel Wood

That was the most boring and underwhelming episode of Westworld I've seen

TAMUallen said:

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That was the most boring and underwhelming episode of Westworld I've seen

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Guess you didn't watch season 3

YNWA_AG said:

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TAMUallen said:

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That was the most boring and underwhelming episode of Westworld I've seen

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Guess you didn't watch season 3

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Actually I just watched season 3 to get back into Westworld..this episode was so flat

I feel like this series falls into the trap of thinking tricking or confusing the audience makes for good storytelling. It's actually more clusterF than clever

Aaaand the complaints are already in mid season form.

I liked it. It toned down the over the top stuff from the last 2 years but kept the basic feel of the show the same.
There were one or two bread crumbs towards a cool reveal later, but will save that for when it happens or gets blown up.

I'd say, yeah, probably a bit too much table setting, and it's *almost* too much of a new show now, but at the same time... I really like the table that's being set. Yes, this first episode was little dry/sleepy, but I think necessary considering what we know of the story/characters to come. We had to take a beat to get reacquainted with everyone, and now that that's out of the way, it looks like it's full steam ahead from here on out.

The seven-years-later thing is the "spoiler" I accidentally read in a review a couple days back, but seeing it in practice, I think I really like it. I didn't want to have a season that took place among the rioting or any kind of post-apocalyptic future, so I'm glad we got to skip all that and that the chessboard pieces were given time to move around/reestablish themselves, and I like the mystery all of that creates as well.

I really loved the Hoover Dam opening too. Such a great set piece, and such a cool idea that it would be used to power vast data storage in the future. I also liked the idea of Maeve having gone off the grid, which was fun in a purposefully familiar/tropey kind of way. Caleb's situation was easily the least interesting, but at least they've got him on the road now with Maeve.

Based on the trailers + tonight's episode, I'm 99% sure that "Manhattan World," or whatever the heck it is, is being run by Halores/Host William. I think Delos - under their watch/ownership - built it in the seven years since last season, and that it's being used in much the same way the original park was - to collect data on the guests AND the "hosts" - but for obviously different reasons this go around. There was an early scene when Christina/Delores was walking to work, and three dudes/guests walked by her, excitedly talking about about the city as if it were a park, just like in season one. Except this time, my guess is that little to no humans are actually operating the park, which is where Christiana/Delores comes in. She thinks she's writing for a video game, but she's actually writing background stories for other "hosts" in the park. Basically, instead of humans writing the stories for the park, now they're being written by A.I., i.e. hosts like Christina/Delores. Who, again, is a completely new character, who I'm almost certain doesn't have one of the four Delores pearls in her head (though I could be wrong). Either way, I really like the season one redo vibe aspect of this storyline, just set in the future. I certainly miss the original park, and hope this show ends up back there at some point, in some way, but I at least like what they're going for here.

Anyway, I'm excited to see what Bernard and Stubbs are up to, along with the Halores of it all as well. I think once we meet all of them again, and with Caleb/Maeve on the move now, things should liven up a ton. Definitely excited to see where it goes from here...

Ramin Djawadi's cover of Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" from tonight's episode, which was a nice, thematic touch...

Long fall from one of the best season 1 shows ever made.

I think everybody is over hyping season 1 and under hyping season 2-4. They were all decent. Not great.

TCTTS said:

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Ramin Djawadi's cover of Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" from tonight's episode, which was a nice, thematic touch...

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This wonderful song also gave birth to the most wonderful parody song.

Lana Del Rey's "Hunger Games"

"This district smells like rat piss, my name is Katniss, I play the Hunger Games"

TCTTS said:

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Based on the trailers + tonight's episode, I'm 99% sure that "Manhattan World," or whatever the heck it is, is being run by Halores/Host William. I think Delos - under their watch/ownership - built it in the seven years since last season, and that it's being used in much the same way the original park was - to collect data on the guests AND the "hosts" - but for obviously different reasons this go around. There was an early scene when Christina/Delores was walking to work, and three dudes/guests walked by her, excitedly talking about about the city as if it were a park, just like in season one. Except this time, my guess is that little to no humans are actually operating the park, which is where Christiana/Delores comes in. She thinks she's writing for a video game, but she's actually writing background stories for other "hosts" in the park. Basically, instead of humans writing the stories for the park, now they're being written by A.I., i.e. hosts like Christina/Delores. Who, again, is a completely new character, who I'm almost certain doesn't have one of the four Delores pearls in her head. Either way, I really like the season one redo vibe aspect of this storyline, just set in the future. I certainly miss the original park, and hope this show ends up back there at some point, in some way, but I at least like what they're going for here.

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I think "Manhattan World" is exactly what Maeve said Dolores (?) was going to do. So now instead of humans getting to do whatever they wanted to the machines in a time gone by. The machines now run it and have themselves a view into what life was like when humans ran the world. My assumption is that the suicide guy broke through whatever control they had and was able to reach out to (good?) Dolores before jumping off.

Yeah, I can't tell if "Manhattan World" is a complete role reversal - humans are the "hosts" under control of Halores & co and certain hosts are the "guests" - or if it's more complicated/simple than that. Either way, it's clear that Halores now has the tech to control humans (via the flies), so you're probably onto something.

The other theory I've been seeing is that all of "Manhattan World" is a virtual simulation being run by Halores on one of the Delores pearls in order to try and extract information from it/her.

You guys are way smarter than me, I was assuming all those scenes were a flashback to when they were first writing Dolores's character, even though I knew Anthony Hopkins had built her. I couldn't make sense of it.

Hopefully it's an actual world/park, not a simulation. Constantly questioning whether something is happening real time vs inside a computer program makes it so confusing.

The poorly done CGI fire when Maeve burned down the cabin.

Four Seasons Landscaping said:

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The poorly done CGI fire when Maeve burned down the cabin.

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Had the same thought.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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You guys are way smarter than me, I was assuming all those scenes were a flashback to when they were first writing Dolores's character, even though I knew Anthony Hopkins had built her. I couldn't make sense of it.

Hopefully it's an actual world/park, not a simulation. Constantly questioning whether something is happening real time vs inside a computer program makes it so confusing.

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One of the reasons we're nearly certain those scenes aren't flashbacks is because, in the trailers, Halores is seen in "Manhattan World" as well. That, and her office/headquarters seems to be in the "the tower" that is cryptically referred to in this episode, that only certain hosts/humans(?) can see. The same offshore tower from the trailer, that seems to be controlling "Manhattan World" in some way...

While pulling those screen shots, I just had another theory...

Seeing as it's looking like Bernard/Stubbs' story might very well be taking place even farther in the future, I'm starting to wonder if this new female character is Caleb's grown up daughter. She looks just like her, and her practicing with the guns (twice) in the first episode almost assuredly wasn't accidental...

There are even shots of them back at a seemingly abandoned Westworld...

I won't pull them all, but there are a number of shots of what looks to be a *functioning* Westworld as well. Or, at least, semi-functioning.

So, yeah, I have absolutely no idea what's going on, and I kind of love it...

TCTTS said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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You guys are way smarter than me, I was assuming all those scenes were a flashback to when they were first writing Dolores's character, even though I knew Anthony Hopkins had built her. I couldn't make sense of it.

Hopefully it's an actual world/park, not a simulation. Constantly questioning whether something is happening real time vs inside a computer program makes it so confusing.

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One of the reasons we're nearly certain those scenes aren't flashbacks is because, in the trailers, Halores is seen in "Manhattan World" as well. That, and her office/headquarters seems to be in the "the tower" that is cryptically referred to in this episode, that only certain hosts/humans(?) can see. The same offshore tower from the trailer, that seems to be controlling "Manhattan World" in some way...

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The streetlights were also the same design as the tower.

TCTTS said:

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I won't pull them all, but there are a number of shots of what looks to be a *functioning* Westworld as well. Or, at least, semi-functioning.

So, yeah, I have absolutely no idea what's going on, and I kind of love it...

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I liked your original post better since it explains why I've pretty much given up on this series. There's "out there" and then there's Westworld...not sure its worth the time investment to re-watch all previous 3 seasons to try and begin to understand S4.

Good call. As is this thing at Halores' headquarters, that looks to be in the head of some kind of new host or host/human hybrid skeleton...

javajaws said:

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TCTTS said:

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I won't pull them all, but there are a number of shots of what looks to be a *functioning* Westworld as well. Or, at least, semi-functioning.

So, yeah, I have absolutely no idea what's going on, and I kind of love it...

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I liked your original post better since it explains why I've pretty much given up on this series. There's "out there" and then there's Westworld...not sure its worth the time investment to re-watch all previous 3 seasons to try and begin to understand S4.

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Personally, I love causally trying to unravel the clues. That, and you don't need to understand/remember everything from the previous three seasons to appreciate what's going on this season. Just watch those recaps I posted a few days ago, and that should be enough.

I can't wait for the directors cut that puts the entire show in chronological order

Since folks are talking about it now, the breadcrumb I was primarily taking about was in the first Christina scene, when she was getting on the subway, if you heard the kids in the background they were talking about parts of the game they haven't seen yet. Also; in the other three storylines they made it clear it was 8 years on, and that was absent from the Manhattan story. And then the obvious fact that the people fighting outside of her apt just disappeared and she went right to waking up the next day, which implies a reset of some sort, though she still had the arm wound.
It's also weird that she had that painting of her own neighborhood squarely in the middle of her room. Not sure if that means anything, but it seemed to be made purposely conspicuous.