Westworld

[Psychotic]

Is anyone else watching this show? It's both enthralling and deeply unsettling at the same time. Ed smurfing Harris, son. Paint it Black and No Surprises too. Hot damn.

[Rantz]

This has definitely been worth watching so far - feels like a novel enough concept (yes I know it's based on a movie and I haven't seen it so it's novel to me). I'm so far much more interested in the awakening of Dolores et al than the scavenger hunt Ed Harris is doing. I reckon in episode 2that was a "real" gun she found, ie. one with the potential to harm humans. Next person who tries to rape her is gonna get deaded!

[Psychotic]

Ooooooh! (SPOILER)And she whacked that fly on her so we know she has the capacity to do it now! Also do you think that little boy with Doctor Anthony Hopkins is a cyborg younger version of himself?

[Night Fury]

JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan?

Well. Might just have to add this to the list of things to watch.

[Psychotic]

JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan?

Well. Might just have to add this to the list of things to watch.

Do it! It's only just started so get in on the ground floor!

[Night Fury]

Will do! Drag Race goes into off season tomorrow (WAH) so I'll start it then!

[Slothy]

Fantastic show so far. And I would bet money on the thing in your spoiler about Hopkins being true Psy.

[Mirage]

I'm really excited to see what Dolores ends up doing with the device she found.

[Loony BoB]

I am enjoying it for what it is. I'm going to treat it like I treat most series I watch and not really spend time predicting what will happen, because it's just damn good couch TV for me.

And yeah, the Paint it Black music was excellent. Loved it.

[Del Murder]

Loved the Paint it Black scene.

I'm sure HBO wants this to be the heir apparent to GoT. So far so good. Some of the things the guests do with the robots is incredibly disturbing though.

I liked the bait and switch they did with the male lead in episodes 1 and 2.

My guess for the overall storyline: (SPOILER)the company running Westworld is using as a testing ground for developing more and more humanlike robots which they will then unleash on the rest of the world and use them to acquire political office and other powerful positions.

[Mirage]

that's what i think they're up to too, del. that, or (SPOILER)political assassinations, undercover operations in foreign countries. these machines would never defect, and if they were captured, no amount of torture or coercion would make them give up any secrets. of course, unless they were hacked, but naturally, like every company making technology, they think their own products won't be hacked because they've hack-proofed their products sufficiently . Of course, they could just be programmed to self-destruct if captured. I'm sure certain governments would pay good money for a perfect agent

[Shaibana]

Hello! Shai here, reporting for duty *salutes*

this show had me hooked imediatly!

[Slothy]

that's what i think they're up to too, del. that, or (SPOILER)political assassinations, undercover operations in foreign countries. these machines would never defect, and if they were captured, no amount of torture or coercion would make them give up any secrets. of course, unless they were hacked, but naturally, like every company making technology, they think their own products won't be hacked because they've hack-proofed their products sufficiently . Of course, they could just be programmed to self-destruct if captured. I'm sure certain governments would pay good money for a perfect agent

(SPOILER)Never mind governments. If you owned a company that can make these things why not just use them yourself? Any government or agency you want will be in your pocket soon enough. Plus, if any were found out everyone would immediately know who made them. Best to have more in place to be able to cover it up or make it look like the situation is being dealt with when it's not really.

I can't help but think of the Secret Invasion Marvel series when I ponder this actually.

[Marshall Banana]

I like all the actors in the show (they're amazing), but what the show is putting forward is so impractical (and sometimes pretentious) that I'm annoyed watching it. I can't adequately articulate how I feel about it, but how the story is presented makes it impossible for me to suspend disbelief and accept its reality -- maybe because of what it chooses to focus on. I dunno. Examples below.

(SPOILER)

• Why is Westworld a physical location instead of a digital one?
• The invincibility of humans who visit Westworld -- this is the big one once I realized that Westworld is supposed to be real and not a virtual reality. Maybe I misunderstood, but how could this possibly work? Episode 2 seemed to insinuate that there are special guns that can cause damage (the ones given to humans before they enter Westworld). What happens if a robot takes one of those? What about knives, heavy furniture, and fisticuffs? Ed Harris' character encounters violence from the bots (like James Marsden's character in episode 1 and the lawmen in episode 2) but they use only guns. Are the bots programmed to use only guns assigned to them no matter what? Because it seemed like Dolores found one of the human's guns and will be able to kill humans now, but I don't know if that's a flaw in her programming or what. Also, what happens if a human shoots another human? Are the guns supposed to be smart enough to not fire at a human? I feel like this is a slippery concept, and they'll have trouble writing around this. This is already killing the plot for me.
• How are there enough rich people who want to rape and murder (including entire families who visit this place and experience horrifying violence, like the shootout in town) to sustain this business?

[Mirage]

(SPOILER)It's possible that virtual reality that looks and feels as real as this hasn't been made yet.

I'm thinking not *all* visitors are there to rape and murder. Kill, sure, but not just gun down indiscriminately. As explained, the world gets more and more violent the further from town you go, so perhaps families just stay close to town if they don't want things to get completely crazy. Of course, there was that shootout with the bandits in town, but that was an extraordinary event that was staged just to cover up the fact that something like a hundred hosts were missing from the world.

The hosts are programmed not to harm humans by any means, even if they got a hold of something like a knife. Of course, accidents happen, and this is actually described in the terms of use that players have to agree to when they enter. There have been deaths there in the past. I think it's using some sort of "smart" bullet that would disintegrate if it hits humans. Of course, they need some time to detect and react to that, which is why that host couldn't fire at the man in black at point blank range. His programming determined that this would probably hurt the human significantly. I also think the gun Dolores found might be something else than just a player's gun. I was thinking it was perhaps planted there, and is in fact a real gun with normal ammo.