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[Mariolee]

So, Ford is dead, but how can anyone else die without the entire park getting shut down?


And how come nobody knew Bernard was Arnold? Shouldn't there be like media reports on Westworld to the outside world?

They've made it abundantly clear that after Arnold unexpectedly killed himself, both Ford and Delos as well as whoever else was in charge made a cover up so that no one ever knew, even those working in Westworld.

 

[StopMakingSense]

I take it that Jimmi Simpson is done with the show then?

 

[Mariolee]

Can we walk about heartbreaking the scene is when William finally meets Delores again only for her not to remember him, despite the great lengths he went to to find her?

That absolutely destroyed me. So well done.

 

[StopMakingSense]

I also very much enjoyed Harris' reaction to Delores mentioning William.

 

[-griffy-]

Can we walk about heartbreaking the scene is when William finally meets Delores again only for her not to remember him, despite the great lengths he went to to find her?

That absolutely destroyed me. So well done.

After having gone through that with someone, having it fundamentally change your perspective on the world and yourself, only to find her again and have it mean nothing to her, not changed or remembering but reset to a default state. Makes sense why it would break him and have him searching for a deeper meaning to the park.

 

[chifanpoe]

Great way to end season 1.

Was that the real Ford that died at the end or did he make himself a double?

 

[Cornballer]

Content roundup. Much of this has probably already been posted, but I don't have time to wade through ~1000 posts since last night. I'll continue to update this list with new posts as more content appears.

Reviews:
- Sepinwall
- Onion A|V Club
- Vanity Fair
- Rolling Stone
- The Guardian
- YahooTV
- Variety
- MTV
- Paste Magazine
- Salon
- The Wrap
- The Ringer
- EW
- THR
- Vox
- Washington Post

Other articles:
- EW: Westworld finale: 10 unanswered questions
- NY Mag: Our Biggest Questions After the Westworld Finale
- NY Mag: Why Westworld Is Such an Unlikely Success Story for HBO

Interviews:
- EW with Ed Harris
- Vanity Fair with Jimmi Simpson
- IGN on the post-episode video with Jonathan Nolan
- GQ with Jimmi Simpson

 

[Meier]

I know that no one would have the balls to spend $100 million on a show like this and have it be a one off, but I really would have loved that to be the series finale as well. Just a one off kind of thing. Going out with a bang.

Show won't be the same without Tony, that's for sure.

 

[Mariolee]

After having gone through that with someone, having it fundamentally change your perspective on the world and yourself, only to find her again and have it mean nothing to her, not changed or remembering but reset to a default state. Makes sense why it would break him and have him searching for a deeper meaning to the park.

Exactly. I guess it's because I've gone through that in my own life, though obviously not so drastic.

 

[Angry Fork]

Still sad there probably won't be more Ford/Hopkins. He was my favorite character on the show, what can replace him?

Hopkins is getting tons of love, deservedly so, but I also think Ford's arc isn't getting enough credit. What a magnificent, layered character arc. First he seems to be the kind old benefactor of the park, then he appears to take a serious heel turn, and then finally comes out the other side as completing Arnold's life's work. Combine that with the superlative Hopkins, and it really underpins the whole show.

And Dolores/Wood, Bernard/Wright, and William/Harris are right there with him too.

I love Hopkins as a heel but also glad he ended up being the "good" guy in the end, as long as you ignore him killing theresa who despite being on the "bad" side still didn't seem worthy of being murdered lol.

 

[SargerusBR]

S2 Samurai World focused please.

 

[-griffy-]

You know how hasn't gotten much credit for this season? James Marsden. Seems like his name is rarely mentioned among the great performances, but he was just as good as everyone else. And hey, here's an article about how he's under-appreciated!

 

[Zyae]

Good to hear it sounds like MIB is back in season 2. Ed Harris was a joy to watch.

 

[Mariolee]

You know how hasn't gotten much credit for this season? James Marsden. Seems like his name is rarely mentioned among the great performances, but he was just as good as everyone else. And hey, here's an article about how he's under-appreciated!

Actually, do we think in this supposed sovereign nation of hosts, would Teddy be part of some "resistance" against Dolores?

 

[Jb]

Still sad there probably won't be more Ford/Hopkins. He was my favorite character on the show, what can replace him?

Let's hope they manage to fill that void with some great newcomers, but in meantime I'm glad Jeffrey Wright could still be in season 2. He was by far the most likable character(s) of the show for me.

 

[Shy Fingers]

Since they went through the hassle of casting a young Ford for a two second appearance, curious if we'll get more flashbacks next season, or young host Ford.

 

[Cornballer]

Interviews:
- EW with Ed Harris
- Vanity Fair with Jimmi Simpson
- IGN on the post-episode video with Jonathan Nolan
- GQ with Jimmi Simpson

A few pull quotes:

So you’ve said before you’re on board for Westworld season 2. Clearly being swarmed by hosts isn’t the last we’ve seen of the Man in Black.
I know we’re doing a second season. [Showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy say] we’re doing 10 episodes. Probably won’t start shooting until June or July. They sound pretty excited about what it’s about. But I have no idea what it will encompass.

Since you don’t know what happens, you’re free to speculate, though. What do you think is next for him?
I don’t know, but it sure seems like there’s going to be an awful lot of violence. I think all hell’s going to break loose. I don’t know if I join forces with the hosts, or what. But I’m happy for Jonah and Lisa. This has been something they’ve been working on for a long time. They have very specific plans for season 2. I think they’re gonna spend more time in Utah next season — they were there for two weeks last season, next season will be a month. They’ve done a great job. And it’s nice to be in a hit.

How do you relate to William’s emotional progression from the man you’re playing to the one Ed Harris presents?

I feel like William is a man who has seen the rules very clearly. That’s a lot of people’s mode of getting through life. When you have nothing, you have to abide by other people’s rules, and play their game, and play it well. And then they give you a cookie. I think what he saw [during his Westworld experience] was that playing by the rules to get the cookie actually hadn’t gotten him anywhere.

He goes from following the rules to making the rules, and I think that happens when your heart breaks. You realize, “Holy shit, I have nothing to lose. That didn't kill me.” Then you start calling the shots. I really related to that, being a person who was in a very long-term relationship and was married and then divorced. There comes a clarity of what’s important. For the narrative, the Man in Black’s realization is pretty dramatic and exciting. But, like mine, it's very much “Oh, that kind of stuff won’t kill me. I can try a little harder. I can go after what I want more, and I can be myself, and fuck it.”

I’m worried, given the convergence of characters, that there isn’t room for you in Season 2. Are you coming back?

No.

That’s a bummer!

I feel the same way, like gosh darn. My William has served his purpose. As of now, I’ll be done at the end of Season 1.

"If the first season was defined by control, the second season is defined by chaos," said co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan during the episode's "The Big Moment" segment. "That's part of what we come to understand Ford has been planning all along."

The big question remaining after the finale is what Ford's true motives are, and Nolan promises that will be a key focus in Season 2.

"Ford has set in motion what he thinks is a plan. The nature of that plan is something we explore in the second season," said Nolan. "What his intentions are: are they to let Dolores or the other Hosts escape? Are they simply to teach the human guests a lesson?"

Added executive producer J.J. Abrams, "What happens at the dawn of consciousness? What happens when you begin to actually wake up?" Co-showrunner Lisa Joy reiterated the unanswered question behind the Hosts' uprising, saying, "Is it consciousness? Is it programming? Is it awareness?"

Though Dolores finally reached the center of the "maze" and realized the voice in her head was her own, it's still unclear if she simply is acting on Ford's direction. The same goes for the other major Host characters in the show, particularly Maeve. There's also the question of what comes next for the Hosts now that they seem to have achieved consciousness.

Evan Rachel Wood reflected about what comes next for her character, saying, "If Dolores is the oldest, this girl has seen three lifetimes of pain and trauma. I would think there would be only so much one can take, whether you're human or not."

 

[golem]

After having gone through that with someone, having it fundamentally change your perspective on the world and yourself, only to find her again and have it mean nothing to her, not changed or remembering but reset to a default state. Makes sense why it would break him and have him searching for a deeper meaning to the park.

On the reverse side when she found out the MiB was the savior she had been hoping would arrive seems to have broken something inside of her as well.

 

[jett]

Robert was so well written. They really did justice to Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE.

That line is wonderful and more than truly confirms that Sir Anthony is long gone from this show.

 

[Negaduck]

Yeah I had no clue about any of the twists, the only one I guessed was that Dolores was Wyatt but only seconds before they showed it.

That finale blew me away. I had a fucking blast.

 

[kai3345]

damn no William confirmed

 

[Veritigo_X]

Aw, Jimmi Simpson is done? It makes sense but that kind of sucks.

 

[bggrthnjsus]

is hopkins definitely out for s2? i wouldn't put it past ford

Spoiler

to have his death as part of his grand scheme and return as host ruler

which i guess goes to show how well hopkins played him

 

[gun_haver]

Am I mistaken in thinking Delores shot/killed a good dozen people in that final scene (potential maximum number being dozens to hundreds present who you could just say were all killed after it cut away/the host army shows up)? I'm just reading some posts here that make it seem like the only human who died in that scene was Ford. Delores wasn't shooting the hosts who were present, she was shooting humans only - right?

Anyway with that out of the way - I didn't really like the finale. It was pretty inelegant the way they handled all of the exposition, and I ended up tuning out a bit. I also think 'The Maze' and the expected result of it being metaphorical is too vague and silly to spend such a long time talking about in detail because there is no real detail, just a bunch of sci-fi hocus pocus. It would be better if they simply just talked about it as consciousness and talked about the real world conditions and opinions on what consciousness is. Which they have done - but did less in this episode, and I don't like as much.

I think also this episode changed too much all at once and what the changes mean for the show isn't immediately exciting. If you think about, there isn't a single protagonist left in the show except Bernard, and he seemed completely ineffectual and ambivalent this episode. Delores is a psycho killer, Maeve and her buddies are psycho killers, William/MIB is a psycho killer. There aren't really any major human characters left on the show and what human characters are, like the young black Delos CEO and the irritating english narrative guy, aren't presented as sympathetic and haven't had enough of an impact for me to even remember their names now. We're losing Ford, the young MIB and haven't seen Elsie or the blonde security guy in a while, and they both might just be dead.

So the stakes for season 2 are currently:
Will these psychotic robots manage to kill the remaining human assholes, or not?

So they better get to developing some protagonists in Season 2 Ep 1 cos Bernard looking around forlorn and confused isn't gonna be enough.

 

[kris.]

do

lo

res

c'mon guys it's been an entire season

 

[BlueTsunami]

Dolores is one of the best characters of all time for TV show. I swear to Christ. This show. That final frame, the look on her face. The way they portrayed her finding her possible consciousness, inner voice.

 

[Meier]

Aw, Jimmi Simpson is done? It makes sense but that kind of sucks.

Could also be a bit of a false flag. I suspect he'll show up here and there in flashbacks or old timeline moments at least..

 

[j-wood]

My question is, how in the world does season 2 work? How do you still operate a theme park where your customers can die? Obviously the board has lost all control, and I assume out in the real world there are laws and such still against murder, so in what way does this park stay open?

I wonder if the next season doesn't have new people coming into the park, but focuses on the some characters still in the park trying to get out.

 

[Seesaw15]

Since they went through the hassle of casting a young Ford for a two second appearance, curious if we'll get more flashbacks next season, or young host Ford.

Pretty that was just CG

 

[golem]

My question is, how in the world does season 2 work? How do you still operate a theme park where your customers can die? Obviously the board has lost all control, and I assume out in the real world there are laws and such still against murder, so in what way does this park stay open?

I wonder if the next season doesn't have new people coming into the park, but focuses on the some characters still in the park trying to get out.

I'm guessing some of the surviving board will be held as hostages to slow down any action by the authorities. The show will probably be a bit more survival horror as remaining guests try to either hide or ingratiate themselves with the hosts. Also I expect the hosts will find out that running a society with free will isn't as easy as it seems. Another possibility however is that they for the most part haven't actually been granted free will and that a lot of what is going on is still part of Ford's narrative.

 

[Luigi87]

I wonder if the next season doesn't have new people coming into the park, but focuses on the some characters still in the park trying to get out.

That's what I'm expecting. Trying to escape the fallout of the Hosts rampage seems like the natural progression, especially with security on lock-down, etc.

 

[Blader]

I think my favorite bit of acting across the finale was the looking on William's face near the end, when he's shot in the arm by the hosts. He has this look of pain, shock, and excitement all mashed up together, and Harris nailed it perfectly.

 

[Future]

My question is, how in the world does season 2 work? How do you still operate a theme park where your customers can die? Obviously the board has lost all control, and I assume out in the real world there are laws and such still against murder, so in what way does this park stay open?

I wonder if the next season doesn't have new people coming into the park, but focuses on the some characters still in the park trying to get out.

Ford didn't give a shit about the park. He wanted the hosts to fend for themselves and escape

Season 2 will be about the uprising and not normal park attendance. It was a cool misdirect to think this show was about the uprising with Maeve, but she was just following script. Literally not till the last ten minutes of this episode did any host think for themselves

Samurai west world also hinted at other parks and settings yet to go through this change

 

[Spiral Insanity]

One thing that is rather untidy though is Elsie and Stubbs. S2 wasn't confirmed until loooong after S1 was finished. So to just have Elsie and Stubbs maybe have deaths off-screen is quite clumsy.

They can't just write it assuming S2 won't get cleared, wrapping each character arc up.. we'd need a 3 hour episode.

I think my favorite bit of acting across the finale was the looking on William's face near the end, when he's shot in the arm by the hosts. He has this look of pain, shock, and excitement all mashed up together, and Harris nailed it perfectly.

Yes, it was perfect.

 

[royalroyal]

My question is, how in the world does season 2 work? How do you still operate a theme park where your customers can die? Obviously the board has lost all control, and I assume out in the real world there are laws and such still against murder, so in what way does this park stay open?

I wonder if the next season doesn't have new people coming into the park, but focuses on the some characters still in the park trying to get out.

I'm thinking of a similar situation like in 30 days of night.

Spoiler

W/ Delores being the main villain and Maeve helping the remaining humans.

 

[-griffy-]

Ford didn't give a shit about the park. He wanted the hosts to fend for themselves and escape

Season 2 will be about the uprising and not normal park attendance. It was a cool misdirect to think this show was about the uprising with Maeve, but she was just following script. Literally not till the last ten minutes of this episode did any host think for themselves

Samurai west world also hinted at other parks and settings yet to go through this change

I'm wondering if the purpose of Maeve's whole storyline is to spread the "awakening" to the other parks, since she's going to be searching for her daughter in another park (I believe I heard that right, that Felix said he found her daughter in another park).

 

[Zoe]

Actually, do we think in this supposed sovereign nation of hosts, would Teddy be part of some "resistance" against Dolores?

I think if he ever realizes his own consciousness, it will be to go against Dolores. He seems to be programmed to do whatever it takes to follow and protect her.

 

[Extollere]

Can we just say the lady playing Delores is a pretty good actor? I'm pretty impressed with her in this show.

 

[commish]

I'm wondering if the purpose of Maeve's whole storyline is to spread the "awakening" to the other parks, since she's going to be searching for her daughter in another park (I believe I heard that right, that Felix said he found her daughter in another park).

If she's in another park, why would she get off the train? Does't make sense. Unless there are multiple parks there on that (island, whatever).

 

[fallengorn]

I'm wondering if the purpose of Maeve's whole storyline is to spread the "awakening" to the other parks, since she's going to be searching for her daughter in another park (I believe I heard that right, that Felix said he found her daughter in another park).

He said that she's in the park and the location written down is "Park 1" which I assume in Westworld. She'd stick out in Weeabooworld.

 

[SeanC]

Good solid finale and overall season. My only hangup is still our asian surgeon fella but at this point I feel you just have to chalk it up to "well...we need to get some shit to go down and this guy can just be an idiot." Half assed in comparison to how everything else was lined out but eh...I'll give it a pass and just be ok with it. Everything else though, the style and the tone and the characters, really enjoyed. On to Season 2.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I don't care if it's the right format, Hopkins deserves an Academy award for this performance.

 

[Future]

Good solid finale and overall season. My only hangup is still our asian surgeon fella but at this point I feel you just have to chalk it up to "well...we need to get some shit to go down and this guy can just be an idiot." Half assed in comparison to how everything else was lined out but eh...I'll give it a pass and just be ok with it. Everything else though, the style and the tone and the characters, really enjoyed. On to Season 2.

Since it was shown that ford altered her narrative, Im willing to believe that he knew Felix would comply. Also Bernard could have helped cover any of the crap up

Only thing in the show that bugs me now is Black hat William. What was driving all his choices early in the season. They really didn't show why scalping the dude in the beginning was important , why he was chasing after Lawrence, why is that maze drawing everywhere (in scalp, in the field, built by another host, etc). I don't really see the connection with those events and the reveal on what the maze actually is.

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Mag: Why Westworld Is Such an Unlikely Success Story for HBO

A few comments from HBO president Casey Bloys:

While Westworld’s ratings success has been evident since its strong premiere numbers, new HBO chief Casey Bloys took his time making a decision about a second season. TV industry sources have suggested the show’s high price tag — an estimated $100 million per season — and concerns over whether Nolan and Joy had a firm grasp on the show’s creative direction caused the network to think hard before pulling the trigger on a renewal. In an interview with Vulture late last week, Bloys admitted to exercising a bit of caution before deciding. “This is a big show, financially and creatively, for us. I wanted to make sure it didn’t start strong and fall off,” Bloys said. “I wanted to make sure that what we had here was really working.” In the end, Bloys says Westworld “fully met my expectations,” and then some. “The nice thing about Westworld is, it’s a broad-based hit,” he explains. “It’s an audience hit. Critical reception is good. The fan interaction is good. It’s hitting a number of metrics where one of the above would make me happy. The fact that it is doing all of these things is great.”

But while he acknowledges that he didn’t rush to renew Westworld after one or two episodes, as the network has often done in the past, Bloys — who only became involved in supervising production of the show in January, when most principal photography had wrapped — dismissed TV industry talk that has suggested he asked Nolan and Joy to come up with outlines for every episode of season two before he committed to a renewal. “I wanted to make sure I had as much information as possible … and part of that included Jonah and Lisa being excited about where they wanted to go for this next season,” he says. “It wasn’t outlines for every episode, they pitched out the entire second season. They know where they want to take it … They have a very, very detailed understanding of where they’re going, and now, so do I.”

Bloys also remains committed to giving Westworld’s creative team all the time and money they need to make the show work. While he wouldn’t confirm the $10 million-per-episode price tag that’s been attached to the series, he admitted the ambition of the concept made it more expensive to produce. “You’ve got a big world here,” he says. “And it’s half period, which is always [expensive]. And when those characters have their story lines, they’re in different places. You need more shooting days in order to put the episode together. For a show that is this big, you’re going to pay for it.” Similarly, the complex nature of the Westworld plotlines, and the need for the producer to juggle so many creative balls, means Bloys has all but ruled out Westworld coming back next fall. “I think it’ll probably [return] in 2018,” he says, adding he hopes the season-two premiere will be in “the first half” of 2018. “I’d like to get it on as soon as possible, but for a show of this scope, the most important thing is getting the best version of the show on the air. If it takes some time, we’ll take some time.” Bloys points to Westworld’s now-famous origin story, including the production hiatus, as a reason for patience. While delaying the series resulted in a temporary bout of negative press, “what’s nice about how this story turned out is, it paid off,” he says. “Taking the time, giving them the room and whatever assistance they needed, paid off. Saying we’re just going to take a beat here — it’s a hard thing to do. [You have to] assure everybody, ‘We’ve got it, we’ve got it.’ The fact that it actually worked feels good for us and feels good for them.”

So they're hoping for the first half of 2018 for the 10-episode second season. Ed Harris also mentioned in an interview that they "probably won’t start shooting until June or July [2017]."

 

[golem]

I'm wondering if the purpose of Maeve's whole storyline is to spread the "awakening" to the other parks, since she's going to be searching for her daughter in another park (I believe I heard that right, that Felix said he found her daughter in another park).

Westworld is Park 1 apparently, and the paper she's handed indicates her daughter is in Park 1. Also if you ask the visitwestworld site about Maeve the reply is that she's in the mesa

 

[Angelus Errare]

So I think the whole park terminal shutting down thing that's happening with Maeve is in her head. Only because...where the hell are the humans? If it was in lock down b/c of what happened with Ford then surely you'd see humans running around trying to get to the terminal.

After having gone through that with someone, having it fundamentally change your perspective on the world and yourself, only to find her again and have it mean nothing to her, not changed or remembering but reset to a default state. Makes sense why it would break him and have him searching for a deeper meaning to the park.

Yea, as much as I want as they want to allude to William being the equivalent to a "nice guy/white knight" I can imagine something like that breaking anyone. Granted it doesn't full excuse him; he was always a bloodlust filled dude searching for Delores simply gave him an outlet for it.

What's that saying about good intentions are paved by like evil or something? it's pretty apt.

 

[Solo]

I love Hopkins as a heel but also glad he ended up being the "good" guy in the end, as long as you ignore him killing theresa who despite being on the "bad" side still didn't seem worthy of being murdered lol.

While his morality is highly suspect, Ford very much strikes me as being a "the end justifies the means" kind of guy. Ultimately you could say he was a "good guy" in that his goal was to finish Albert's work, but he didn't care who he had to destroy to achieve it. Brilliant character and performance.

Actually, do we think in this supposed sovereign nation of hosts, would Teddy be part of some "resistance" against Dolores?

I'm with you on this. Teddy clearly had a look of disgust and disbelief. I'm thinking he sides with the humans in S2.

I think my favorite bit of acting across the finale was the looking on William's face near the end, when he's shot in the arm by the hosts. He has this look of pain, shock, and excitement all mashed up together, and Harris nailed it perfectly.

I've noticed throughout this season how Harris is a master of non-verbal acting. He can say so much with just a look, or a smile, or in this case, a twinkle in his eye. That was also my favorite moment. Here William was, all resigned and cynical when suddenly he receives a blast of hot lead.....and loves it. In that moment he was given new life. Can't wait to see his S2 arc.

- NY Mag: Why Westworld Is Such an Unlikely Success Story for HBO

A few comments from HBO president Casey Bloys:So they're hoping for the first half of 2018 for the 10-episode second season. Ed Harris also mentioned in an interview that they "probably won’t start shooting until June or July [2017]."

Shoot in June 2017, air in Got's April slot in April 2018. Boom.

 

[Geist-]

Still sad there probably won't be more Ford/Hopkins. He was my favorite character on the show, what can replace him?



I love Hopkins as a heel but also glad he ended up being the "good" guy in the end, as long as you ignore him killing theresa who despite being on the "bad" side still didn't seem worthy of being murdered lol.

You need to ignore Elsie too, who definitely didn't deserve to be murdered lol.

This was an amazing show, really, with only one major flaw for me. The Maeve storyline just didn't make sense at all. She wasn't sympathetic enough for Felix and that other guy to keep her threatening tendencies a secret from security, I mean, losing your job sucks, but it's better than potentially losing your life. Episode to episode I was looking for a reason for why they kept going along with it and they never gave anything satisfying.

Other than that, I loved it, one of the best shows HBO has ever done.

 

[kris.]

The next year and a half-long wait is gonna be bruuutal.

 

[Solo]

You need to ignore Elsie too, who definitely didn't deserve to be murdered lol.

Elsie (and Stubbs too) isn't dead. Rule #1 of television: if you don't see a character die on screen, then they are never truly dead.

They'll both be back.