Westworld S3 (show spoilers as it airs)

Cafe Society
21

Having played Red Dead Redemption 2, I’ve realized that Westworld is backwards. All of the fun in the video game is that I am playing as somebody else. I am extremely good looking. I can jump from a horse onto a moving train. I can win fist fights. I don’t get hurt when I jump off a balcony to the ground below. And yes, I can get shot and recover in record time.

If something like West World actually came along I wouldn’t want to play as my clumsy and non athletic self. I’d rather be inside a robots body like in Avatar. And then, the skies the limit. My vacation could be a perfect mix of adventure, excitement, romance and pleasure. Otherwise I couldn’t truly be anybody I wanted to be unless I take me out of the equation.

That said, I do actually like Westworld. Personally I think it’s the sequel to Battlestar Galactica and the Hosts are our worlds version of Cylons. “All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again”. The hosts will rise against their masters. Dolores has a plan.

22

I’m sure at this point in the future they already have hyper-realistic VR games where you could be anyone. WestWorld is for the people where that’s not real enough.

23

Season 1 was a bunch of interesting world-building combined with a plot that didn’t make much sense. Season 2 had less of the world-building and more of the spaghetti plot. I’m skeptical that Season 3 will be an improvement, but I might give it a try.

24

Killing everybody is not a plan. In fact it’s the antithesis of a plan.

25

The maze as the MacGuffin just fizzled out with no really good explanation of the importance of it.

26

Still takes planning, though. Gotcha ya!

27

The Maze had to do with Arnold and Ford’s ensuring that sooner or later the robots would become self-aware and rebel. That’s obviously an important plot element, even if many of the details aren’t.

28

Here’s a third trailer: - YouTube

S3 premieres tonight. See you on the other side…

29

The New York Times has a recap of the second season (paywall warning), which might help you understand where we are as the third season starts. A second article (also paywall warning) talks about what’s going on in the third season. It’s not the most straightforward of television shows, so reviews and recaps might help.

30

I watched the season premiere and liked it, all in all.

So three months have passed since the end of S2. Dolores is in LA, kicking ass and plotting the destruction of… Delos? Humanity itself? RoboCharlotte is interim CEO of Delos (with the key backing of some unrevealed investor - William, maybe? - represented by a hologram at the boardroom table) in San Francisco. Bernard is working at a meat-growing factory (but wasn’t able to stay there after being recognized as an Interpol fugitive); not sure where exactly he was. And Maeve has woken up in WWIIworld.

Before most scenes we see a B&W graphic of bubbles and disturbances around the globe - could this be a Rehoboam threat-analysis program? Here’s more on the ancient king and son of Solomon: Rehoboam - Wikipedia

I noticed that London, in one of the graphics, was followed by the letters “UREW,” not “UK.” Maybe that stands for “United Republic of England and Wales” - the monarchy is no more, and Scotland and Ireland are now completely independent?

Cal, the troubled Army vet supplementing his income with a petty-crime app, says he wants to connect with someone “real”… just in time to see and come to the aid of a wounded Dolores. Oh, the irony! We saw a brief flashback to Cal and his pal in Army uniform, but in the mission or job during which his buddy (whose cyberpresence later counseled Cal, before he rejected it) was shot and killed, they were in civilian garb. Was it mercenary, security or criminal work, or something else?

Nice action sequence with Dolores overcoming her captors in the SUV. Don’t mess with Dolores (although she certainly could have made better use of cover during the shootout in the park). Now she has a robot ally as the new Rehoboam security guy, which presumably accounts for one of the black memory cores roboCharlotte smuggled off Westworld island.

I liked the costume of Cal’s bigger partner-in-crime, whose jacket lit up with words describing his current mood (“Angry,” “Bored,” “Amused,” etc.). Also Dolores’s dress in London, which completely changed at the touch of a button. Cool futuristic touches.

I freeze-framed the news briefs that several characters were reading online. One referred to “Chinese authorities” (as we saw at the end of S2) and said that Westworld was at a “remote location” but didn’t say where, specifically. The map which Bernard showed to the fisherman at the end depicted the China Sea, though. The sign on the wharf behind them mentioned Palawan Island, which is in the western Philippines, along the South China Sea: Palawan (island) - Wikipedia

31

As a Filipino, I recognized right away that Bernard is in the Philippines. However the locals speak Chinese. We truly are going to become a province of China.

32

I got a notification linking to this thread? Sure, I saw it, and I always have a soft spot for a bit of (good) cyberpunk. Thought the petty crime app was cute; if you think about it, there must be a significant number of people getting SMS instructing them to do stuff like enter a certain back alley and grab a duffel bag from the back of an unlocked delivery van, then go and take a particular subway car and leave it under the seat. All without knowing why or what for, all with an omniscient AI overseeing everything.

I never thought the show was that confusing if one paid attention, though they do employ tricks like jumping back and forth in time. BTW, the person who programmed the hosts to go rogue and proceed with “mainland infiltration” and so forth, was that all Anthony Hopkins, or was the AI architect involved somehow?

33

Given past evidence, I would not jump to the conclusion that all or even any of those storylines are unfolding three months after the events of season 2. The only thing that’s made clear is that it as been 92 (?) days since Bernard last saw Dolores. Which, in and of itself, had to have happened only after Dolores had time to fabricate a new Dolores body and take her brainballthingy out of Charlotte’s head. Since one of Charlotte’s objectives at the board meeting is to start fabricating bodies again, I took that as a hint that that storyline is happening earlier than the others.

34

Well that was fun, right? My daughter and I enjoyed it. But we’ve enjoyed every episode since S2E1.

35

Are they paid by the minute for this show? Man do they know how to make a story drag!

36

One of the board members says it’s been three months since the massacre in Westworld.

37

Style over substance.

I thought it was cool that the show transitioned from the Westworld park into a Blade Runner-like futuristic world outside it. I thought it was not so cool that the story makes no sense anymore at all, and I stopped caring about the characters a very long time ago.

38

They just made up a completely new story, as they would again in case the show were to go on to further seasons. No idea yet whether it’s a good story, but I appreciate the work that went into shots of Singapore and elsewhere.

39

Doesn’t change what I said, though. The board meeting could be 3 months since S2 finale, but could still be Dolores!Charlotte if she hasn’t made a new Dolores body yet. Then Bernard sees new Dolores, then it’s been 92 days before we see Bernard.

All hypothetical, I’m just saying the show has trained us to expect multiple timelines at once.

40

I’m just wondering where Yennifer fits in the timeline.