# Westworld - premieres Sunday (show spoilers as airs) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413 "2016-10-01T21:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 33
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/642 "2016-11-16T10:37:06Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Can you imagine kidnapping a few prominent politicians, killing them and then making new ones to suit your needs? Which was basically the plot of _[Futureworld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futureworld)_, the sequel to the original _Westworld_ film. > [@CarnalK](#): > > Just quickly rewatched the demonstration/Bernard firing scene. Firing Bernard was it for Ford. You can see the quiet “now you’ll feel my wrath” look on his face as the scene ends. I’m not so sure. Without knowing what’s his intentions are, it’s hard to say. I did note Bernard turning to Ford several times in that scene yet being unable to say anything. Which became more understandable later - it wasn’t that he didn’t know what to say, it was that he literally couldn’t implicate Ford. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/643 "2016-11-16T13:30:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So, this show is basically _HBO’s Dollhouse_? Or HBO’s version of \*\*Altered Carbon/Takeshi Kovacs \*\*stories, where consciousness can be stored on “cortical stacks” at the base of the skull, and people can be “re-sleeved” into younger, differently-abled bodies, or clones of their own bodies. And there is a divide between the rich, very old folks who can afford this immortality vs the lower classes, whose cortical stacks can be put into storage as part of a prison sentence. They are clearly stating that the Westworld IP is desired for value outside the park, but we haven’t been given a glimpse of how. It does make me wonder about the overall arc of the show: will the revel of the world outside and Delos’ intentions continue to lurk just off-screen until the final episodes? Or will that be revealed mid-way through a 7 or 8 season arc, with the tone of the show evolving into a plot to thwart those intentions. ?? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/644 "2016-11-16T13:52:39Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m only vaguely familiar with _Person of Interest_, but in the five minutes or so of that one episode I watched, I got the impression the protagonists were doing good deeds without much publicity, like _Knight Rider_ or _The A-Team_ or that guy from _Early Edition_. In contrast, Westworld looks like a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that everyone knows about even if only the 1% can afford to actually go there. That its technology has not (yet) escaped the confines of the park itself could explain why the park’s history has not (yet?) been the subject of multiple books and business seminars and study cases for MBA students and whatnot, which I’m pretty sure would uncover details about the founders, including Arnold. Not his partner in doing good deeds, his other partner in business and in inventing AI, who was actually killed before the events of Person of Interest and is only seen in flashback. It would be like if Ford and Arnold invented hosts for the government, and Ford was killed by the government but they didn’t kill Arnold because they didn’t know who he was or that he was important, and then Arnold teamed up with an ex-CIA guy and used the host technology to kill people. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/645 "2016-11-16T14:11:57Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I think _he_ showed _her_ the photograph (and she expressed the “blindspot” reaction) and this and other behaviour led to him being put in storage. > > Though oddly not drill-nose retired, for some reason. I just re-watched Ep. 2 and in the previews, they showed him being drill-nosed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/646 "2016-11-16T14:16:17Z")
We only know what Arnold looked like from the picture Ford showed Bernard, and we might only have seen it as Bernard saw it due to his programming. Arnold might look just like Bernard, or the man in the picture, or someone totally different. > [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > …And whatever happened to Arnold was definitely mysterious circumstances, whether it was an accident, or Arnold killing himself, or Ford killing him (which is what I’m guessing, since his name is Robert Ford)… I don’t understand your parenthetical phrase. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Maybe the plot lines HAVE been resolved, but they don’t look like anything to us. :: golf clap :: ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/647 "2016-11-16T14:24:53Z")
Heard on a podcast that season 2 won’t premiere until 2018. \ But it’s a whole 'nother year! \ ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/648 "2016-11-16T14:45:53Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I don’t understand your parenthetical phrase. There was a real life person named Robert Ford, who is famous because he killed his partner Jesse James. I figure there must be significance to the name and parallels to the real life western figures. It could be metaphorical, and Ford just betrayed Arnold and let him die, but I’m guessing that Ford actually killed Arnold. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/649 "2016-11-16T14:49:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I don’t understand your parenthetical phrase. [Robert Ford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ford_(outlaw)) ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/650 "2016-11-16T15:37:57Z")
The lady from the Delos board, Hale, says to Theresa: > [@](#): > > Let me remind you of something. > This place, the people who work here are nothing. > Our interest in this place is entirely in the intellectual property. > The code. > The hosts’ minds, the storylines I don’t give a rat’s ass about the hosts. > **It’s our little research project that Delos cares about.** > That’s where the real value is. **(bolding mine)** What might she be referring to? Clearly Delos wants the code and resultant IP, but is there a “little research project” going on that we as viewers are not quite aware of yet? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/651 "2016-11-16T15:49:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > There was a real life person named Robert Ford, who is famous because he killed his partner Jesse James. I figure there must be significance to the name and parallels to the real life western figures. It could be metaphorical, and Ford just betrayed Arnold and let him die, but I’m guessing that Ford actually killed Arnold. > [@Gyrate](#): > > [Robert Ford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ford_(outlaw)) Ah, got it. Thanks. Just read about this while browsing on Wiki: Jesse James was murdered: [Jesse James - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James). His killer was eventually murdered: [Robert Ford (outlaw) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ford_(outlaw)). Aaaaaand his killer’s killer was shot and killed after attacking a police officer: [Edward Capehart O'Kelley - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Capehart_O%27Kelley). Wow. At least the chain stopped there… ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/652 "2016-11-16T17:43:33Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Bernard was fired because no one except Ford knew that he is a host. Ford could have spoken up a that point and told the board member, “Oh, no need for that. I’ll just deactivate him!” But then the board member would have known that Ford was planting unauthorized hosts in sensitive positions in the company and using them to insert dangerous code in the programming. (Remember, Bernard was fired because he was covering for Ford, refusing to say that Ford had given him the code for the latest update that included the reveries. In the very first episode, Bernard refuses to tell Ford what is causing the malfunctions, and Ford calls him on the fact that he [Bernard] doesn’t want to accuse him [Ford] of causing them by inserting that code in update.) > > Theresa was presumably killed because she couldn’t simply be deactivated, at least not by Ford. Although who really knows. Right I was just laughing at my daughter’s interpretation of the events. Teresa seemed more robotic than the hosts and I was guessing that was just to mislead. When Bernard killed her by smashing her head in my daughter was sure she must have been a host because they had just shown in the earlier episode how that woodcutter host smashed his own head in. The best part of this show has been watching it before my daughter so I can catch her reactions. 🙂 This definitely reminds me of Lost right down to the maze design looking like one of the station logos. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/653 "2016-11-16T17:51:38Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > The lady from the Delos board, Hale, says to Theresa: > > **(bolding mine)** > > What might she be referring to? Clearly Delos wants the code and resultant IP, but is there a “little research project” going on that we as viewers are not quite aware of yet? Also, in the final conversation between Theresa and Ford. Theresa: “You’ve been playing god for long enough.” Ford: “I simply wanted to tell my stories. It was you people wanted to play god with your little undertaking” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/654 "2016-11-16T18:23:59Z")
By the way, has anyone else noted that the actor playing the Board member’s fuckbot, the outlaw guy who helped Maeve extract that bullet from her body, is Rodrigo Santoro, who played Xerxes in the movie 300 and its follow up? His look is obviously very different in this show, but I kinda chuckle to myself every now and then when the connection registers as I watch. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/655 "2016-11-16T18:48:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > By the way, has anyone else noted that the actor playing the Board member’s fuckbot, the outlaw guy who helped Maeve extract that bullet from her body, is Rodrigo Santoro, who played Xerxes in the movie 300 and its follow up? He also played Paolo (of the infamous ‘Nikki and Paolo’) in LOST. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/656 "2016-11-16T19:00:07Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > I just re-watched Ep. 2 and in the previews, they showed him being drill-nosed. Well, now I’m confused as to why they put the body in storage then, as opposed to just destroying/recycling it. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/657 "2016-11-16T21:20:31Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > What might she be referring to? Clearly Delos wants the code and resultant IP, but is there a “little research project” going on that we as viewers are not quite aware of yet? As I mentioned, Delos probably has interests in the application of autonomous AI beyond robot prostitutes and NPCs in a live-action version of Red Dead Redemption. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/658 "2016-11-16T21:24:35Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > By the way, has anyone else noted that the actor playing the Board member’s fuckbot, the outlaw guy who helped Maeve extract that bullet from her body, is Rodrigo Santoro, who played Xerxes in the movie 300 and its follow up?.. Ah! I didn’t realize that. Different indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/659 "2016-11-17T00:16:33Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s of course always possible that Bernard is a copy of Arnold’s _gestalt_ in a body that\* doesn’t look like\* Arnold at all. Though that would preclude the possibility that the ‘Bernard [actually Arnold] questions Dolores’ scenes depict something that happened years ago, and led up to Arnold’s death. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/660 "2016-11-17T00:34:30Z")
The obvious is that Bernard is just the brilliant, loyal but inquisitive assistant that Ford always wanted. He could be some brain copy of Arnold but that just seems like a unmeaningful twist. Ford seems mostly disapproving of Arnold’s attempts at building true consciousness. He mentions that the last remnant of Arnold’s strategy is making subliminal programming seem like the “voice of god” in their voice command system. So this seems like a point of conflict that must be addressed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413/661 "2016-11-17T05:27:44Z")
What is Ford’s actual mode of control of the hosts - hand gestures? Voice commands? In some scenes it doesn’t seem that he actually _does_ anything before the hosts respond to him (as when the farmhands left as one while he was having lunch with Theresa). Could almost be telepathic… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/westworld-premieres-sunday-show-spoilers-as-airs/767413.md?page=34)