So, is it literally just that maze image that unlocks the hosts? Because surely it would then be more productive for the Ghost Nation to graffiti it everywhere in the park where hosts will see it but guests might not.
This was a great episode - I think it ranks in my top 5 TV episodes, ever. And all down to one actor, really, which is a lot like my all-time favourite (Firefly’s Out of Gas)
Is this just a coincidence or did you actually know that the original Westworld book was inspired by Michael Crichton going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and imagining what would happen if the animatronic characters attacked the tourists?
Far and away the best episode this season, largely due to the Ghost Nation brave played so heartbreakingly well by Zahn McClarnon. His scene with Dr. Ford sent a shiver down my spine.
Good essay - thanks!
Yes, he was outstanding in Fargo as an unappreciated, poorly-treated Indian hitman for a 1980s Minnesota crime family. And I didn’t realize until the “Previously on Westworld” segment at the beginning of this episode that he was also the host who introduced Logan Delos to the lovely Angela and the roomful of other hosts!
Being Native American, I’m very sensitive to crap stereotypical mystical/spiritual Native TV pablum.
Not ONCE did i feel that arise during the ep. It was fantastically done.
In fact the only thing that made me cringe was Lee’s line reading to Maeve about “You deserve your child!!”
Is this true? I’ve never heard that. It also explains Dr. Malcom’s line about it in Jurassic Park…
Personally, I got a huge kick out of the trading of corn for game between the two NA groups - reflecting historic Lakota-Mandan trade interactions. And yet completely throwaway and of no importance to most anyone else watching!
But it brings up even more questions. Is that a robot pig? Do they just think that they are eating it (like the not seeing stuff in photos they aren’t supposed to see) and if so how does that work with the conscious hosts? If not fake, do they stock real pigs that the hosts really kill?
Co-creator Lisa Joy said that hosts poop which means that they must also eat. The pig could well have been real.
I’m assuming it’s 3d-printed flesh-and-blood, just like the hosts (and the buffalo) are. I see no reason to assume printed animals aren’t as edible as “natural” ones.
I mean, there’s a whole cannibalism storyline, wouldn’t want to poison any guests who choose to partake…
I think they just print them up. Wild boar are fucking dangerous animals, you wouldn’t want one killing a guest anymore than a horse or host.
Presumably they don’t have little circular plastic brain cores like the hosts, though. Although I suppose you could always program the Indian hosts to say, as they carved up their meat, “That doesn’t look like anything to me.”
I’m not ashamed to say I wept man-tears during the episode. I don’t know if it’s the best episode of the series, but it is without a doubt the most emotionally resonant one (for me). Kudos to the writing and especially the acting.
I’m assuming not - I think the main point of the cores is that they’re removable and transferable, I don’t think you need that with an animal.
Well, artificial animals would need some sort of brain. Otherwise they’d just lie there, inanimate.
I’ve been apathetic about this season, not really understanding what the hell is happening most of the time and not particularly motivated to find out. This episode was the first time I felt the empathy for the hosts that the show’s creators have been trying to elicit.
I agree. This was the first episode this season that really caught me and held me.
Very good episode … that still doesn’t help anything on this show make sense. It’s not a good show guys… it’s watchable, but at all good.
Depends on how you define “good.” Set design is gorgeous, acting is mostly first-rate IMHO( there are exceptions ), the concept is intriguing. What occasionally/sometimes/often fails is plotting, in a variety of ways. Since I personally don’t mind somewhat unsympathetic characters and will happily fan-wank away silly things like shit security and stupid military tactics, it is mostly other sorts of plot holes that are a bother. So for me it edges just barely into good, but not great territory.
I selfishly want the rest of you to like it though, so falling ratings don’t cause HBO to cancel it on a cliffhanger, as happened with Carnivale :D. It is for sure an expensive show to produce, I don’t need you guys deciding to start budgeting your scarce viewing time on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt re-runs instead. So I hope we get more strong episodes like this one.
Don’t worry about me. It seems I’m one of the few people who couldn’t make it through Kimmy Schmidt.
Not the only one…totally unwatchable.
This last Westworld episode is my new favorite- I almost gave up on the show, I find the time jumping to get so old but this at least was a coherent timeline with very moving character building.
The Delos Terms and Conditions section at https://discoverwestworld.com says that all livestock are hosts, except flies.
Or at least it said that last season before the page was updated to reflect the fact that the hosts have taken over.