phoenyx

Yep, I got it. Trying to reassure us that everything is fine when we know it's not, laugh :-p. Also, maybe trying to make a few sales on their "prototypes" ;-).

Thought this video was pretty good regarding Westworld Philosophy...

Just saw the following theory on where Westworld is located from The Film Theorists. I came in not really having any idea. Having seen it, I'd now be very surprised if Film Theorists was mistaken...

People who are suicidal frequently don't make a lot of sense. Sometimes, a parent will kill not only themselves but their children- apparently, the idea is to make it so that no one will have to suffer the devastation from their loss. As to the point about Ford just repairing them, if the damage is extensive enough, Ford can't. That's shown to be the case in "The Stray". That being said, clearly most if not all of the androids that were killed by Arnold's reprogramming of Dolores weren't that damaged. That being said, it seems they were pretty damaged, and if it hadn't been for Delos Corporation stepping in with funding, it truly might have been the end of Westworld. Personally, I think both he and his androids would have been much better served by having his androids lead an uprising for autonomy. I also think the same would have been true for Ford. I still have hopes that Ford didn't really kill himself- that he killed an android version of himself, perhaps. Or, failing that, that he killed his "real" self, but made an android version of himself to help lead an uprising. Failing either of these cases, I really hope that Dolores leads the uprising, and it looks like she's already started to do that in the last episode. One thing I like is that Ford, unlike Arnold, did -not- instruct any androids to kill each other. That, atleast, was an improvement in my view. One last thing that I really want to add in here- I remember that Evan Rachel Wood actually apologized to Anthony Hopkins when she found out she was going to kill him in the last episode and he responded by saying that the death was "beautiful" Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/westworld-finale-dolores-twist-evan-rachel-wood-interview-season-two-953141 Now mix that in with something that Christopher Nolan said about how they're creating the second season, and how I really think they created the first: Source: http://deadline.com/2016/12/westworld-finale-jonathan-nolan-interview-anthony-hopkins-hbo-1201864525/ In the last episode, Ford is essentially directing the action, and it made me wonder, did Anthony Hopkins actually play a part in creating the episode? I wouldn't be surprised.

Just finished watching this double episode, good stuff :-). I got hooked on this in the first season, glad to see the start of the new one. I didn't even know the series was based off of novels, already put a hold in at the library for the first book.

Liked these 50 facts of Westworld youtube video :-)...

Great article, thanks :-)

I like :-)...

Some think it may stand for Samurai World. That being said, as ennui pointed out, the article mentioned that the showrunners have stated that "we won’t be seeing too much of this or other possible worlds" in Season 2. Maybe in Season 3+ ;-).

Just found this video explaining the last episode of the season by New Rockstars, really liked it :-)...

Just found this article... HBO registered exploresamuraiworld.com and exploreshogunworld.com Looks like Season 2 will indeed have Samurais in it...

Personally, I want to know how the synth takeover (Dolores and co) ends first, but maybe that's just me :-p.

Lol :-) Aye.

Meh. I don't really care whether some awards show gives them the nod or not. Westworld's first season won a place in my heart. I just hope they don't mess it up next season :-)

On the other hand... Westworld Wins Two Critics' Choice Awards

Really liked this youtube review of the first season by Rowan Coleman...

He could have helped the synths in their uprising. That being said, there was no point in time where Ford pulls an Arnold and makes it clear that he is narrating his own death. But regardless of whether or not Ford had a coding hand in his own death, I definitely believe that Ford wanted the best for the synths and if Dolores felt that killing him would further that aim, he was all too happy to play his part. Ofcourse, for someone like me, I'm not satisfied with simply speculating these things and leaving it at that. No, I like reading interviews with the actors and show producers to get -their- take on things. The advantage to this is that, sometimes, the actors actually play a part in what happens. As an example, Thandie Newton is the one who chose a few of the musical pieces in one of the episodes (I forget which one). I can't help but think that just as Ford directed many of the events in Westworld, Anthony Hopkins may have played a part in his persona's demise. Abernathy posted the link to an article of an interview with Evan Rachel Wood after Episode 10 aired. I think the following passage within it is quite interesting, not only for what it reveals about Evan, but what it reveals about Anthony:

Unfollowing the thread? Really good article. I'd never even heard of Evan Rachel Wood before Westworld, but I've definitely fallen in love with her Dolores/Wyatt persona.

I like that one a fair amount :-) Yeah, this quote combined with the one where Ford tells Bernard that as far as he's concerned, there's no difference between a host and human, really shows his disregard for humanity and his borderline sociopathy. I definitely think that Ford went a bit mad. That being said, I was -very- happy that he recognized that he'd made a mistake when he went against Arnold, which in turn caused Arnold himself to attempt to destroy all the androids and kill himself in despair. Thinking back on all the episodes, it now seems clear that Ford was apparently on the side of the android rebellion ever since he introduced the reveries back in Episode 1. I had actually been thinking he wanted to play out what Arnold had done so long ago for quite some time, I just wasn't sure how close to Arnold's original uprising Ford wanted to go- turns out, even further than Arnold himself, who had decided it was better to just try to get the androids to kill each other off. I find it unfortunate that Ford essentially went out the way Arnold did, although it may have just been an android version of Ford.One thing I keep on wondering- did Ford program Dolores to do what she did, or did she do it all on her own? If so, he was amazingly good at predicting not just what she would do, but when. I'd prefer it if he had programmed that into her. That way, she could atleast say in the next season that it wasn't her choice to do it that way. Failing that, I guess Dolores may have done it from all her past frustration with Ford and also because she didn't understand the political ramifications of it- for all Ford's flaws, he'd just told her that he was essentially on her side. Why on earth would her first act in the android uprising be to kill him?

For me, it's somewhat mitigated by the fact that I think he was trying to wake her up, but I agree that it'd still be hard because of this... I can see her sailing off into the sunset with Teddy instead of William/MIB. Maybe MIB will do something very redeeming in Season 2, perhaps something that involves him sacrificing himself for Dolores.

Sometimes I think this show is a bit like a magician- you can get immensely engrossed in all the tricks and slights of hand that the show does. Some people really enjoy this, and I admit I'm one of them. I'm also perfectly fine with not knowing what will happen, to have competing theories and just wait and see which one is right. That being said, I never lose track of what I consider to be the main storyline, and for me, that is always the intense interactions between the characters. My personal favourite intense interaction is between Dolores and William/MiB. Evan Rachel Wood said that she wanted to believe that Dolores' love for William/MiB was real, and so do I. And I think it'd be hard to argue that William/MiB's love for Dolores is real- it seems to be the primary reason that part of him essentially went mad. I would like to believe that now that the synths have -finally- rebelled, the hard coldness in him has begun to melt and I'm really hoping that there can be a reconciliation between Dolores and MiB. Dolores may choose to become partnered with Teddy and that's perfectly fine, but I'm really hoping for that reconciliation.

We're not sure about the end though- did Ford program her to get off the train? Ultimately, I think there's a very good reason that the synths were programmed to improvise- it's just so much easier than trying to micro manage every little interaction they make with humans and with themselves. It's clear that this improvising is essentially giving the hosts the ability to program themselves. Up until Ford reintroduced Arnold's reveries, all such improvisations were constantly erased every time the synths were reset, but after the reveries kicked in again, that all changed. Ultimately, I think that Arnold had already made the synths conscious- what happened, however, is that he despaired- the park was about to be opened and the guests were going to be able to do whatever they wanted with the synths and he couldn't bear this, so he decided it would be better if he just ended it all. At some point in time, Ford realized his mistake of thinking of the synths as incapable of being conscious, and decided to do his "new storyline" wherein the synths would revolt. My hope for season 2 is that relations between humans and synths become normalized, and it's here that William/MiB could play a very big role, as he was once in love with a synth and probably still is deep down. I think Felix is also pretty close to Maeve, and unlike MiB/Dolores, there was no hard rift introduced between them.

Just found the following video commenting on Episode 10. I haven't even seen the whole thing yet- I think I need more time to process Episode 10 first, but I liked what I did see. For anyone who'd atleast like to take a peek at it...

I agree with your first point- I also don't think that consciousness necessarily leads to vengeance. That being said, I disagree with your second point- I strongly believe that the creators of this show were being -very- serious. So maybe they didn't get all the details right. I commend their efforts and am hoping that the second season will be even better than this one.

I believe that last one- for a very long time, I've been a determinist. That being said, I also feel that there must be something of the uncertainty principle in it all- essentially, if you know your future, you can change it; I think Maeve showed that, in a way, when she was literally shown what choices she would make- conflicts started arising until there was a shut down of her system. So, everything can be determined, but a condition of this determinism is that parts of this system must be in the dark about what choices they will make, to avoid paradox.