Westworld is now four episodes in. The show’s fourth episode “Dissonance Theory” ran straight up against a total barnburner of a professional football game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you missed it. Either way, here is what we absolutely know for sure about Westworld so far:
Robots
Cowboys
That’s it.
Now, here’s some things we might know about Westworld so far:
Ford might be able to control the robots with his mind
Bernard is hooking up with the Lady from Risk Management
Going to Westworld is expensive AF
William is about to be Logan’s brother-in-law and they also work together
The Man in Black has been coming to Westworld for 30 years
The Man in Black is also somewhat of a good dude in the real world but GODDAMMIT HE DOESN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT ON HIS VACATION
There was a dude named Arnold
Arnold is dead
Oh, and some of the robots are getting wise and that could either be a problem or wonderful, depending on your stance on robot uprisings.
In “Dissonance Theory,” both Maeve and Dolores found themselves being haunted by memories and flashbacks; two things that are understandably confusing if one is a robot as they are. While Dolores is essentially stumbling through the dark, arms outstretched as she looks for the light switch, Maeve is doodling her flashbacks over and over and over again. Here’s a fun fact: one of the producers of Westworld is Jonathan Nolan. Nolan wrote Memento. That’s why the scene where she realized she had been drawing the same MTV Moon Man over and over again felt kind of familiar. It had that Memento vibe to it. The Memento vibe is actually kind of cool. To which I would add, Westworld is kind of cool. However, I’m not yet at the point where I want to dive head first into theories and predictions so settle down Internet. I think we should all wait until the first season is at least in it’s home stretch before we start deep diving into the far corners of the Internet. It’s only fair – fair to us, fair to the show, fair to the robots because please, think of the robots.
Theories aside though, it’s hard not to be a little confused about the show at this point and to have some questions. So let’s hash some shit out, ya?
Is The Man in Black an older version of William?
No. Next question.
Is Bernard a robot?
No. Next question.
What is Ford’s deal?
I don’t know yet. I think the shift in our perception of him, from doting grandfather to homeboy harboring a possible God complex has been one of the most intriguing things to come from the past two episodes. And he definitely hinted at a dark side when he was meeting with the Lady from Risk Management on this most recent episode and come on, it definitely looked like he controlled all those robots with his mind and that he was trying to prove a point by doing so.
Do we think Ford killed Arnold?
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t surprised.
So is Ford the bad guy?
Too early to tell.
Yeah, because we thought the Man in Black was and well, he’s not, right?
Again, too early to tell.
But it…
He does seem to be on some kind of quest and he alluded to finding a way for robots to be free. If we are meant to empathize with the robots, it would seem to make sense that we support a dude fighting on their behalf. So what if the Man in Black isn’t a bad guy, but actually a good guy and what if he isn’t just in it to torment and kill robots, to save them because after 30 years of coming to West World he realized that the robots were getting a raw deal and he decided that his last act as a park-goer, before transferring his membership to Roman World (it’s a thing) was to liberate Teddy, Delores and the gang? I think it’s in play.
Isn’t everything in play at this point?
Yes. That’s why the Internet needs to pump the breaks. How can we try and figure out the secrets of a picture if we don’t yet know what the whole picture looks like?
If it was real, would you to go West World?
Totally.
West World, Roman World or Medieval World?
West World. Cowboys are cool.
Is there one thing about the show that throws you more than anything else?
Yes there is actually. Thanks for asking.
My pleasure.
The one thing that I’m hard time wrapping my head around is the loops the hosts are on — where they end, where they begin. Do they even end or begin or are they constantly going? Also, why is Teddy strung up on a dead tree, left to “die?” That seems weird to me. Also, I don’t think those dudes in the hoods were robots because Teddy tried to kill them and they didn’t die. Kind of like what happens when hosts shoot guests.
Is there something more to this Wyatt character?
Didn’t snake tattoo gal mention him?
I think so.
And the Man in Black is aware of him?
Yes.
So, it doesn’t seem like he’s a new creation, which it kind of felt like when Ford introduced him last week when flushing out Teddy’s back story.
Hey, what if Wyatt is somehow Arnold?
Whoa.
There has to be more to Arnold. You don’t just mention a former partner, add that he died somehow in the park and then move on. That means something. Arnold has to come back, right?
It would seem so but I’m hesitant to fully buy in to that if only because it seems like a tired TV trope and Westworld feels like anything in the world besides a tired TV trope. I think they flirt with things like that, but that’s it. I do think Arnold will somehow factor in to the plot (whatever the plot turns out being,) but I can’t see it being something overly conventional.
Okay, sounds good. See you next time.
Categories: Television
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