Bad Robot/Jonathan Nolan Bringing "Westworld" to HBO - Part 1

[DarthSkywalker]

Spoiler

Blah. Nothing compared to the one in Dr. No.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Stubbs being a host wasn’t confirmed (even though it’s a really popular guess) until this ep, right? Or did I just forget about it? Is it just me or is Luke more bulked up than usual?!

Stubbs s01/02 wasn't a host. He is a simulation in S03. Scrap that I m mixing things up with Lee.
Yeah, Luke-Ashley seems to be buffer than previous seasons.

 

[antsman41]

Blah. Nothing compared to the one in Dr. No.

Poor Quarrel.

 

[chamber-music]

The eldest Hemsworth brother has always been stocky.

 

[carrrnuttt]

Well that was very good.

Spoiler

- I wonder how they shoot those scenes, where the actor has to stay as still as possible.

I have HBO through Hulu and they show a BTS clip right after every episode, and they showed exactly how they shot that scene. Pretty cool.

 

[Erik20]

This ep was awesome!

Enjoyed it even more than the premiere. That whole sequence of Maeve bringing down the simulation was fantastically executed, imo. And I think I'm gonna love this Bernard/Stubbs duo.

Same for me. I enjoyed the premiere, but I often had no idea what was going on... I watched a season 2 recap but it still felt like I was missing a lot.

This second episode was more like "classic" Westworld

 

[Sithborg]

I mean, Dolores makes a wonderful murderbot. And I do enjoy her doing her thing.

Maeve's story has always been better and more interesting.

 

[flickchick85]

I mean, Dolores makes a wonderful murderbot. And I do enjoy her doing her thing.

Maeve's story has always been better and more interesting.

My feelings exactly.

 

[#root]

This episode was sooo good.

Spoiler

Loved seeing Maeve figure out that she was in a simulation and figuring out a way out of it. And Sizemore’s role in this episode was really, really well done.

Can’t wait for the next. From the looks of it, we might be delving into the Hale host mystery now.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I mean, Dolores makes a wonderful murderbot. And I do enjoy her doing her thing.

Maeve's story has always been better and more interesting.

Dolores is as much just a murderbot as Root was just a sociopath.

Maeve's story peaked for me with "Music Motion Picture Soundtrack". Since the I have found her a holier-then-thou version of Dolores, who embraces her programming time and again. Of all the major characters (Dolores, Maeve, Bernard, Ford, and William), she is the one I find the least compelling. She's got some Reese to her, in her one noteness. Did you know she was programmed to be a mom? Because I never did.

It is a very good one note, but I find all the others far more interesting and likable. When it comes to a direct comparison with Dolores. Maeve is a slave to her programming, where Dolores is more human then human. She makes her own decisions, and whether they are right or wrong, she's a person. Maeve is who she was created to be. Maeve was created to be Sarah Connor. Dolores by choice is Sarah, John, and the Terminator. And she just found her Reese.

 

[Snow Queen]

My biggest problem with Maeve is also my biggest issue with an otherwise really good episode: I wish the daughter stuff had been left at the end of season 2. I thought her choosing to let her go with her other mother a good way to end that aspect of her story and let her direction evolve. Giving the show a rewatch before this season, I found the story grew a bit tedious to rewatch for me compared to the others. But it seems that's still on her mind, given her interest in going to the Forge for her daughter. The ending does leave open the potential though for a different direction, and so I hope either they find a way to reinvigorate that element for me or let her move on.

 

[Sithborg]

Odd, because I thought it was Dolores who was following anothers plan, aka Ford's. Maeve is something Ford didn't plan. And I do believe this episode was about Maeve moving on. I mean, the whole simulation was about having Maeve unlock the Forge. So, I would not consider it a backtrack.

 

[Snow Queen]

Odd, because I thought it was Dolores who was following anothers plan, aka Ford's. Maeve is something Ford didn't plan. And I do believe this episode was about Maeve moving on. I mean, the whole simulation was about having Maeve unlock the Forge. So, I would not consider it a backtrack.

I hope you're right that it's not. For me it's not so much about the simulation, but her reaction to it still felt hung up on her daughter. I do hope that's going to be the end of it and she can move on, because I do like her, I just find myself a little tired by the daughter stuff at this point.

 

[flickchick85]

At the end of the day, I just find Thandie a much more compelling actress/presence than ERW. I've never been a fan of the latter, and this is the first time I've ever found her decent in anything. She actually doesn't bug me in this show, which is a first. But still nowhere near Thandie's level, imo.

 

[Kane52630]

At the end of the day, I just find Thandie a much more compelling actress/presence than ERW. I've never been a fan of the latter, and this is the first time I've ever found her decent in anything. She actually doesn't bug me in this show, which is a first. But still nowhere near Thandie's level, imo.

Thandie is killing it.

 

[Man in the Suit]

ERW and Dolores are great. Thandie and Maeve are great. I love them all.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Odd, because I thought it was Dolores who was following anothers plan, aka Ford's. Maeve is something Ford didn't plan. And I do believe this episode was about Maeve moving on. I mean, the whole simulation was about having Maeve unlock the Forge. So, I would not consider it a backtrack.

This show is completely confusing, so maybe I am wrong. But the way it has played out to me is that Ford's plan is the chance for the host to achieve consciousnesses, and thus have free will. It's not actually Ford's plan, but Arnold's original goal. Season 1 kept bringing us back to who was Dolores hearing inside her own head. It wasn't until the finale that we realized it was herself and thus it was not Ford' but Dolores who was making this all happen. Maeve continuously defaults back to her core drive. For all that makes her special, she is still that mother they made her for a period of time in the park. It's almost like she is too afraid to move beyond that, which is why see continues to kind of live out the life she had in the park, with a few twist. It's not the same for Dolores. Because even with her feelings for Teddy and her father, she forges beyond them. Which is why unlike the rest of them, including Bernard, she gave them a chance to survive.

Why is she trying to unlock the Forge though then? I getting the feeling that is a goal for her this season.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

ERW and Dolores are great. Thandie and Maeve are great. I love them all.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

At the end of the day, I just find Thandie a much more compelling actress/presence than ERW. I've never been a fan of the latter, and this is the first time I've ever found her decent in anything. She actually doesn't bug me in this show, which is a first. But still nowhere near Thandie's level, imo.

I disagree, but that is a fair opinion to have. I think ERW is pretty great in her own right, and I just find the writing of her and her story to be the most compelling on a show, with so many compelling tales to tell. But hey, I have had a crush since Practical Magic, and I am a Root guy. So I might be a little bias.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

AFAIC, I like Maeve for her humanity and cleverness and I like Dolores because I agree with her point of view (kill them all) and for her look, she is neat and slick (fashion, hair cut, how she moves).

 

[kvz5]

Thandie's range is impeccably vast so she was able to bring a lot of layers to a character that started off as one-note. Dolores' character right now is at that stage that really highlights ERW's strengths. I've never seen her more confident, cool and mesmerizing as ever.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Thandie Newton has been killing it on this show since Day 1 IMO. Her character always felt like the emotional center and heart of this show, especially when you get to Season 2. Evan Rachel Wood is great too though as well as Jefferey Wright, and I still can't forget how much Ed Harris completely terrified me when his character was first introduced in Season 1. His character alone was why I got hooked in the first place and kept watching honestly.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I think they're both great, but Evan Rachel Wood has been one of my favorite actresses since I saw her in Thirteen so she was the biggest draw to the show for me. I'm interested to see where they both go, but I'd rather them join forces than fight each other.

 

[Flash525]

I may be looking into it a tad too much, but how can you hack your way out of a simulation, to then attempt an escape into the real world?

By comparison, that would be like trying to escape from a dream (short of waking up out of fear or needing a pee), or maybe a better comparison would be someone who’s physically incapable (trapped in their own mind) finding a way to dance.

Should what Maeve did even be possible? A computer program, within a computer program, that can hack into the computer program to free itself?

 

[Filmfreak]

I have a different question about last episode. Maybe it's something that I didn't understand or missed but I did watch the episode twice. I didn't see if it was discussed before here.

How did they go to all this trouble to create a Lee Sizemore who remembers everything he went through with Maeve but failed miserably with everyone else's copy? Felix, Sylvester, even Hector didn't remember a thing in the simulation and they were with her from the beginning. I mean either you are thorough enough to make everyone close to her have updated memories or you just miss that part entirely. The only reason I can think is they wanted to confuse the audience but also make it easy for the character to see through the illusion so that they can move on with this subplot within one episode. For which I'm actually kind of glad. But plotwise it doesn't make much sense to me.