numbnut

I'm inspired by the anti-Trump protests led by college students and that age demographic because it tells me that, despite present circumstances, the future looks bright (and sane!). Right after the election, I kept hearing half the country voted Trump but that's so not true (I'm hearing it less now as people realize this). If 42% of eligible voters didn't vote, that leaves 58%. That 58% wasn't split evenly -- Hillary got 2 million* (!) more votes than Trump while other votes went to Gary, Jill and write-ins -- so, at most, only 29% of voters want Trump and at least 71% of the country wants him out of office. That's a lot of opposition. And as his visits to cities around the world are also protested by locals, his thin skin won't be able to handle all the negativity.

Go Cali! There's a California secession movement but it's not going to pass without the support from 38 states. I think Texas tried to break away too for various reasons. It would be strangely interesting if it did pass. I'd need a passport to go home for Christmas (I'm NYC/L.A. bicoastal). And Cali has Silicon Valley, so it would be interesting to see U.S./Cali trade deals for new tech after Trump damages trade agreements with foreign countries. The "sanctuary city" movement is also interesting. I see more discrimination-based tension in NYC than in L.A., but I love how de Blasio met with Trump to basically say "No one here likes you, and your 'stop and frisk' profiling won't fly here, especially with 900 Muslim cops in the NYPD." This is his M.O. He settles cases with a payout to avoid a trial but doesn't admit being at fault (on paper). I'm not a lawyer so I don't know why this is allowed. He screws people over left and right (lots of nonpayment for services rendered; it's bizarre that his working-class supporters aren't outraged by this) but he avoids conviction with settlements so he can say "I've never been convicted of a crime." I look forward to the day when his victims won't settle.

There's no way he'll read through a thick stack of detailed briefs every night. No way in hell. He gets his facts from random tweets or Facebook. He probably can't read an entire newspaper without being bored or distracted. I bet he'll delegate someone to read the briefs and relay the highlights, which is so wrong on so many levels.

Just focused on the acting during a rewatch. Jeffrey Wright can do no wrong. He's always solid. Thandie's monologue about dying will be her Emmy "for your consideration" clip for sure. Her facial expressions and vocal inflections are so complex. She killed it. I'm not the biggest fan of Hopkins (as he often uses the same mannerisms) but his evil speech was really effective even if it was Lecter-y. ERW is a capable actor but she's never been interesting to me. She conveys real emotion but in a predictable, simplistic way. I've never seen the actress playing Theresa before this but I really like her and will now check out her other work. (Can anyone recommend where to start?) She's so good that she acted circles around Tessa simply by inhabiting the character. Meanwhile, Tessa is so externally focused on using every piece of business (the chips, cigarette, lighter, remote, robe, couch) that her emotional performance becomes hollow. She's over 30 so I don't see her becoming a better actor.

He doesn't care. Plain and simple. New Yorkers know who Trump is. His campaign didn't fool us. He has a fifth-grade reading level and doesn't know the first thing about being a public servant. He just wants prestige any easy way he can get it. And now he wants to muck up the city and create security issues because he doesn't want to live in D.C. I for one am looking forward to seeing him age rapidly when he's overwhelmed with the responsibilities of the job. By August he'll want to quit. They may talk him out of it but he will definitely want to quit.

So could the river location that Dolores found be a route to the outside world? Dolores said she saw the location in her dream (courtesy of Arnold) and Lawrence said that no one ever returns from there, so now I'm wondering if the maze is a physical way out of the park.

She could have been programmed to find and engage William (which is what Logan suggested) or she could be off-loop in search of the maze. The latter premise works with the Bernard = Arnold theory: when Arnold secretly meets with Dolores in the basement (the place where Theresa was killed), he activates her "improvisation only" mode and directs her to find the maze to be free. Speaking of the basement, anyone notice how Bernard paused to look around as if he had deja vu? That was more than just a typical survey of the location IMO.

I usually watch each ep twice but the William/Dolores sex-train romance was a chore to rewatch. I love Jimmi Simpson on House of Cards but he's dull as William, partly because William's storyline is so underwritten. Why does he have to "pretend" in the outside world? Why can't he find a woman and a profession that will accept the real him?

My take on Q1: In the current storyline, Dolores has gone off-loop and is retracing her journey with William (to Pariah, on the train ride, on horseback to the river, etc.). My take on Q2: In the current storyline, Dolores envisions the MIB in the barn before escaping the ranch. This cuts to the scene of her falling into William's arms in a flashback.

I don't know who directed the ep but that horseback chase was lame. The tighter shots were stiff/clunky and it didn't look like they were riding very fast. It got better when the Native Americans showed up to create chaos but by then the scene was over.

Ford has a God complex. That's my take. I think Arnold is making the robots aware so they can be free while Ford wants them under his control. That's the premise of the show. The hosts are supposed to be indistinguishable from humans, especially after switching from robotics to (whatever they're using to mimic) flesh and blood.

ITA about TWD last night (Negan is too one-note for me). Jeffrey Wright is always great. Such a chameleon. Loved him as the villain in Shaft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSFCW8cDIU8

Charlotte ordered Theresa to set up a strategy to undermine Ford ASAP, so Clementine was needed for that purpose (though any robot would suffice so I don't know why they needed one from the park). Yeah, the hazmat suit thing seems arbitrary. Maybe they had no time to dress up in costumes?

Another clue that William may be the MiB: William said that as a kid he wanted to live inside his storybooks because the stories had "meaning." Isn't the MiB not returning to the outside world because he's searching for his "purpose"?

I suspected Bernard was like Rachel in Blade Runner when he was looking at the picture of his son in the pilot (or was it ep 2?).

Ford said that he and the board have an "arrangement" and that they "test" him from time to time. So I'm guessing the board is using the robots (as spies?) in the outside world, and Ford allows it so he can be left alone to create his stories.

I think Tessa is in her mid-30s, but I agree she is far from nailing the role. If the William and Dolores are in the past, we're seeing Dolores' flashbacks/memories so there wouldn't be a reliable running clock. Maybe Felix disabled her sleep function. Or, since she's sentient, maybe she can override it herself. Robots have different modes (or whatever term is used), so she would only be "dead" in her "human" mode. You think Ford is sending robots into the outside world as spies? I like that idea but how can Ford maintain multiple robots outside of the park?

Who called in sick for Elsie? Ford must have ordered a robot to grab her, but is she dead and being replaced by a 2.0? I think Maeve will change her mind about leaving without Clementine. It's not odd that Ford would be oblivious about Maeve's upgrades -- he didn't know that young Robert killed the dog.

I'm not sure how firing Bernard would get Delos closer to acquiring the programming code from Ford.

I had the same thought. It seems so cruel to give Bernard such a sad backstory. Cruel and unnecessary. If Bernard = Arnold then Arnold's tragic memories would be real and Gina Torres (character name?) would be Arnold's wife. That was weird. William's transformation arc was weak. It would have helped to see the challenge of him working with Logan's family instead of just hearing about it. His park moments with Logan didn't seem too arduous.

I knew Bernard was a host but the reveal was thrilling because I didn't expect him to be used as a killer. That was awesome. Kudos to Jeffrey Wright. I guess we'll see more Maeve next week. It was great to finally see a photo of the outside world. More please. I still think he could be Arnold based on him not being able to see Arnold in Ford's photo. That is such a great plot twist. It's also scary AF. Can't wait to see the new Theresa confronting Charlotte. Same here. LOL. Tessa T. was believable in Creed but I'm not buying her in this role. How will Ford convince Delos to rehire Bernard? And who grabbed Elsie? I thought it was Stubbs but it must have been one of Charlotte's people.

I wasn't talking about the real world budget, I was talking about the fictional budget for the theme park. They've mentioned hemorrhaging money, indicating financial difficulties. Hence, they turn off the lights. Sorry about that. I thought you were talking about HBO production anomalies. Wouldn't budget issues fade when the MiB saved the park? Because it was the guy standing next to Ford in the pic he showed Bernard in a previous ep. when he first told him about Arnold. So naturally Bernard assumed that was Arnold. So Ford lied to Bernard (and to all of us) Maybe what they can see and can't see depends on individual programming. Ford partly lied about the photo if you buy the Bernard = Arnold theory. The actual photo would show Ford and Bernard/Arnold standing proudly with the gift of the dad robot. Since Bernard isn't programmed to see himself as Arnold, he would only see the dad robot and Ford. Abernathy saw the city photo because he was infected by Arnold's virus. Someone noted an odd moment right before the security system accepted Bernard's name on Level 83. I didn't notice anything but maybe it was expecting Bernard to ID himself as Arnold? I love the Maeve moment when she freezes after seeing her word tree programming but it looks like the tablet is transcribing her words instead of programming her improv.

The budget for Westworld is massive (season 1 was $100 million) so I doubt that money is a problem. I noticed that when they showed Ford's town model in his office, he had all the human or robot figures positioned around the back of the church like a front line of an attack. Is he planning a reenactment of the critical failure massacre as a way of finding out how Arnold survived? Edited to add: A recapper noticed how Bernard always leaves whenever Ford mentions Bernard's son. It's like a programmed command. Interesting.

I hate "make it up as we go" storytelling. (*cough*Lost*cough*) Ford also mentioned "weaving the old into the new" with his new storyline but the past hasn't been clearly established. The layering of vague Wyatt stuff, vague maze stuff, vague Arnold stuff, vague church stuff and vague critical failure stuff is too much. Plus everyone's backstory is vague so there's no solid foundation. It's like there's no there there. All these puzzle pieces better fit together in the end. I think Abernathy (Bring him back, dammit! He's been in storage too long!) was triggered by the photo because he was already infected by Arnold (without Arnold's "virus," he would have ignored the photo like Dolores did). Ford unintentionally opened a door for the virus with his reveries update. I think the satellite thing (needed for a human to steal data) is separate issue from robots receiving commands and upgrades from Arnold.

Did anybody notice the look Bernard gave the dog when it came into the robot family house? The shots of the dog cut with Bernard's lingering stare stood out to me, like he could be plotting to program the boy to kill the dog. Hmm...