Why, but why does nobody talk about Westworld on LJ?
Oh well, even though I'm just talking with myself, I need to write a few thoughts down. Last week's episode was pretty great. I didn't find the time to write a review but I really, really, liked it.
The Maeve's storyline was terrific (and I'm already shipping Maeve/Hector) and the cast continues to kill it. I adore Ed Harris' Man In Black being such a smug bastard (his conversation with Hector was priceless), and frankly Anthony Hopkins was scary when he delivered the "don't get in my way" line. He never more looked like the villain of the play than in that scene with Theresa, in which he played the omniscient - revealing he's aware of her affair with Bernard - and omnipotent god.
This week's episode was less engrossing, but I'm still intrigued by the show.
I must say that Lawrence is growing on me. No wonder that the MiB enjoyed his company!
It's fascinating how intimate the MiB is with the hosts, the way he talks to Lawrence or Teddy, for instance. There's a familiarity that makes sense from his point of view but sounds both weird and patronizing from ours because the viewers are meant to embrace the hosts' perspective, to empathize with them.
The Ford/Dolores scene seems to indicate that the voice Dolores has been hearing comes from a place Ford doesn't control. Arnold created Dolores, or her code, and wanted her to help him destroy the place, and my guess is that Ford found a way to neutralize that threat by putting Dolores in a loop, wherein she is "content most of the time". Yet he's worried that she might get out of the loop and fulfill her destiny, and probably curious of what she would become then. "Hero or villain", he asked? He sounded like an author who isn't in control of his character anymore, maybe because the script was actually written by four hands, not two.
Dolores in cow-boy outfit, holstering a gun, seemed to offer her the bigger role Ford was wondering about. But did that scene really happen after their conversation? It mostly looked like it paved the way for William. (see the theory corner below).
Proper Dolores sitting in that orgy tableau, in front of The Captain, was fun. HBO people do like their orgy scenes don't they? Fair amount of male nudity, for once I must say, though.
The heated argument between William and his friend/soon-to-be brother-in-law sounded like something that might echo arguments between Arnold and Ford. I don't think that William is actually Arnold, (and his dark eyed "friend" can't be Robert Ford, right?), but maybe things are supposed to happen again and again, because humans play their part on a bigger stage, just like the hosts inside of the park.
Dolores doesn't want to be the damsel in distress, and she told William that there's a way out.
"Now that we are friends, you can call me Lawrence" he said...and who has been calling him Lawrence for several episodes? Hmmmm...
And then, the scene everybody had been waiting happened: Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins facing and playing each other!!! Ford showed off his power again. That's it I'm definitley rooting for the Man in Black! Hopkins does his usual thing but Harris is just the embodiment of class.
BTW I couldn't help noticing that Ford's hat was darker than the MiB's...
Also, here is something I've been meaning to say, for a while, about a certain fan theory:
On the one hand, I'd like to believe that the scenes showed are out-synch and that William is actually a 30 year younger version of the Man in Black, because some editing and some lines seem to provide clues it is true, and it would be just cool writing, and it's interesting to explore the way visiting the park, years after years, would change someone, from white to black hat...or at least to have a naive newcomer become a VIP guest who has already seen and played it all.
Also how twisty it would be if it turned out that Dolores' glitch or her awakening was already there, 30 years before, and is actually part of her coded storyline, of her loop ? What seems to be only happening "recently" to her - as she told William when mentioning " a couple of dreams" she had - would actually be something she goes through over and over. It would defy the premise of the pilot, or what the audience thought it was, and I'd love that. And it would explain the "most of the time" in Ford's line.
On the other hand, apart from the few things that apparently seem to go against that theory - but never quite invalidate it (writers are clever enough to leave it ambiguous) -, I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that the actor playing William could grow old into...Ed Harris. Sorry but he just doesn't have the right bone structure! Look at young Ed Harris! Those cheekbones were there even before he became old and emaciated.
Also, I like puzzle shows, but I expect to be disappointed eventually. I learned my lesson after the LOST final fiasco.
The Maeve's storyline was terrific (and I'm already shipping Maeve/Hector) and the cast continues to kill it. I adore Ed Harris' Man In Black being such a smug bastard (his conversation with Hector was priceless), and frankly Anthony Hopkins was scary when he delivered the "don't get in my way" line. He never more looked like the villain of the play than in that scene with Theresa, in which he played the omniscient - revealing he's aware of her affair with Bernard - and omnipotent god.
This week's episode was less engrossing, but I'm still intrigued by the show.
I must say that Lawrence is growing on me. No wonder that the MiB enjoyed his company!
It's fascinating how intimate the MiB is with the hosts, the way he talks to Lawrence or Teddy, for instance. There's a familiarity that makes sense from his point of view but sounds both weird and patronizing from ours because the viewers are meant to embrace the hosts' perspective, to empathize with them.
The Ford/Dolores scene seems to indicate that the voice Dolores has been hearing comes from a place Ford doesn't control. Arnold created Dolores, or her code, and wanted her to help him destroy the place, and my guess is that Ford found a way to neutralize that threat by putting Dolores in a loop, wherein she is "content most of the time". Yet he's worried that she might get out of the loop and fulfill her destiny, and probably curious of what she would become then. "Hero or villain", he asked? He sounded like an author who isn't in control of his character anymore, maybe because the script was actually written by four hands, not two.
Dolores in cow-boy outfit, holstering a gun, seemed to offer her the bigger role Ford was wondering about. But did that scene really happen after their conversation? It mostly looked like it paved the way for William. (see the theory corner below).
Proper Dolores sitting in that orgy tableau, in front of The Captain, was fun. HBO people do like their orgy scenes don't they? Fair amount of male nudity, for once I must say, though.
The heated argument between William and his friend/soon-to-be brother-in-law sounded like something that might echo arguments between Arnold and Ford. I don't think that William is actually Arnold, (and his dark eyed "friend" can't be Robert Ford, right?), but maybe things are supposed to happen again and again, because humans play their part on a bigger stage, just like the hosts inside of the park.
Dolores doesn't want to be the damsel in distress, and she told William that there's a way out.
"Now that we are friends, you can call me Lawrence" he said...and who has been calling him Lawrence for several episodes? Hmmmm...
And then, the scene everybody had been waiting happened: Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins facing and playing each other!!! Ford showed off his power again. That's it I'm definitley rooting for the Man in Black! Hopkins does his usual thing but Harris is just the embodiment of class.
BTW I couldn't help noticing that Ford's hat was darker than the MiB's...
Also, here is something I've been meaning to say, for a while, about a certain fan theory:
On the one hand, I'd like to believe that the scenes showed are out-synch and that William is actually a 30 year younger version of the Man in Black, because some editing and some lines seem to provide clues it is true, and it would be just cool writing, and it's interesting to explore the way visiting the park, years after years, would change someone, from white to black hat...or at least to have a naive newcomer become a VIP guest who has already seen and played it all.
Also how twisty it would be if it turned out that Dolores' glitch or her awakening was already there, 30 years before, and is actually part of her coded storyline, of her loop ? What seems to be only happening "recently" to her - as she told William when mentioning " a couple of dreams" she had - would actually be something she goes through over and over. It would defy the premise of the pilot, or what the audience thought it was, and I'd love that. And it would explain the "most of the time" in Ford's line.
On the other hand, apart from the few things that apparently seem to go against that theory - but never quite invalidate it (writers are clever enough to leave it ambiguous) -, I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that the actor playing William could grow old into...Ed Harris. Sorry but he just doesn't have the right bone structure! Look at young Ed Harris! Those cheekbones were there even before he became old and emaciated.
Also, I like puzzle shows, but I expect to be disappointed eventually. I learned my lesson after the LOST final fiasco.