Westworld: New original HBO series

[Yamer]

There. That is how you do filler properly.

[FlameOn]

I wouldn't call it filler. It seems like Akecheta is being set up as the anti-Delores. He woke up on his own from the maze like Arnold originally intended and didn't do it through cycles and cycles of death or forced reveries update Ford pushed out with the "these violent delights have violent ends".

Way less violent. Way more aware since he's been awake for the past 35 years and Delores has been self-aware for what? A few months or years at best between being wiped and going through her own loop. I'm sure Akecheta and Delores will come into conflict soon.

[PsYcNeT]

Yeah it felt fillery for the first half or so but goddamn that was a solid payoff.

Very good bridging episode.

[Fuzz]

I think the show is suffering a bit by not having a human character to kind of empathize with. I find myself not really caring about the robots, despite their discovering consciousness. Them dying is fairly meaningless so I don't have any attachment to them. It's a tough one, becuase it is a show about toasters gaining consciousness. At what point do they go from a toaster to something I care about? None have hit that point for me. And the humans at this point get little screen time and mostly seem to be throw away characters.


I still love the show, but this season ahsn't connected with me nearly as much. I think the above is the reason for that.

[#-3]

It was pretty bold doing 1/2 the episode subtitled with virtually no English laced in for what seem to me was over 20 minutes. The best part was that was the engaging part of the episode, They got back to the visually stunning dramatic suspense that defined the first season.

Far and away the best episode of the season.

[La Flames Fan]

Akecheta was talking in Lakota to Maeve and English to the girl...

[calumniate]

Love that actor, he was awesome in Fargo

[Fuzz]

Did anyone else think, in that last barn scene..."man, that sure is some nice barn wood. Would love to reclaim that". Or was that just me, Surferguy and Nick Offerman?

[Finger Cookin]

Jesus this episode was disturbing and hard to watch

[FlameOn]

Someone at HBO really hates father's day. Tyrion offs Tywin on the sh*tter and now this.

[Yamer]

Well that escalated quickly.

Interested to find out how Teddy's suicide will effect Delores going forward. Will she be completely broken and deluded like William?

What becomes of Maeve now? It looks like she changed the parameters of her programming, if I caught that correctly. I'm assuming that's to mess with the Clementine-drone plan?

Quite the over-the-top junction in the William storyline. I really don't know what to say about it since I'm still processing. That whole thing was heavy, but I found it fascinating he had recognized the darkness in himself a while ago.

A slow start to the season, but I should have known better than to criticize. I'm really starting to see how binge-watching has changed the way I watch shows.

[Fuzz]

I really like how Ford has planted all these different bots to find consciousness in different ways, seeing which journey is working, and able to tweak and influence them as they go.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Yamer

There. That is how you do filler properly.

That episode was the opposite of filler. We learned the entire history of Ghost Nation, a lot about Maeve, the valley, etc...Those Japan episodes were definitely filler and didn't really add to the story at all. The idea of other worlds was cool, but we didn't need to dig that deep. This one of my favorite episodes and put the season back on track.

That last episode was dark though....Surprised we didn't see how the valley got flooded. They opened the season with that.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I think the show is suffering a bit by not having a human character to kind of empathize with. I find myself not really caring about the robots, despite their discovering consciousness. Them dying is fairly meaningless so I don't have any attachment to them. It's a tough one, becuase it is a show about toasters gaining consciousness. At what point do they go from a toaster to something I care about? None have hit that point for me. And the humans at this point get little screen time and mostly seem to be throw away characters.


I still love the show, but this season ahsn't connected with me nearly as much. I think the above is the reason for that.

I am with you. I don't care about the robots other than how are they executing Ford's plan. Like when Akane's daughter "died", why didn't Maeve just turn her back on. Heck, they had two body guys with them who's full time job is to patch up "dead" robots.

[calumniate]

Yeah when someone dies now it's kind of a laughable event. It's still keeping my attention though.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by pseudoreality

I am with you. I don't care about the robots other than how are they executing Ford's plan. Like when Akane's daughter "died", why didn't Maeve just turn her back on. Heck, they had two body guys with them who's full time job is to patch up "dead" robots.

In this episode, there was some ambiguity with the daughter being a robot, but that whole interaction with William felt real. Him shooting her had feeling to it, though I was fairly convinced she was real at the time. A lot more so that William, apparently! Despite only knew her character briefly, I felt more for her than I did when Teddy offed himself, even though he has been around since the first episode. I kinda just shrugged. While his actions are important for the story of robots suicidal feelings and it is quite interesting, it isn't emotional.

I actually find it fascinating how I am reacting subconsciously. Even though they look like humans, and it's all actors on a show, human stories and deaths have impact while the robots do not. So I think they need to make sure to keep that human element around. If this season has convinced me of anything, a show about robots alone is boring, perhaps becuase the stakes are so low.

[Inglewood Jack]

well that's kind of the whole idea isn't it...when we eventually find a way to make copies of minds, the concept of death changes forever. I am seriously hoping it becomes possible within my lifetime, so that I can hang out in simulations Black Mirror style until the sun swallows the earth, and maybe even after that.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

well that's kind of the whole idea isn't it...when we eventually find a way to make copies of minds, the concept of death changes forever. I am seriously hoping it becomes possible within my lifetime, so that I can hang out in simulations Black Mirror style until the sun swallows the earth, and maybe even after that.

Except it wouldn't be you having those experiences. It would be a digital clone of your conscious personality.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Except it wouldn't be you having those experiences. It would be a digital clone of your conscious personality.

if you can't tell the difference, does it matter?

[Inglewood Jack]

hold up, is that what the Valley Beyond/Forge actually is? not a place to hold minds waiting for transfer to a robot body, but a bunch of servers to run minds in virtual reality forever? from what we saw of the Cradle, it was basically a perfect simulation so what's the point of bothering with the real world at all?