HBO's Westworld. Yee-Haww Co/w,bo.Y@@@ [FATAL ERROR]

[Goose]

If you have access to HBO GO or similar, the 2nd episode has been made available early.

[jon_cybernet]

Liked the first episode, LOVED the second one. Liked the opening sequence a lot more the second time after finding it a little underwhelming the first time. Episode also answered a lot of those "but hang on..." questions I had about how the park actually works. 

 

And inspired a few new ones. 

 

I'm in. 

[mogawoods]

Watched episode two and I feel the same reservations as I did after the first. Lots of great stuff, but lots of very ropey, jarring stuff.

 

Every scene with Thandie Newton and with Ed Harris is completely gripping, especially Newton actually. In fact, thinking about it, the great:shit ratio aligns almost exactly with the theme park to real world scenes. They've nailed the park, its hosts and its guests, but botched the real world labs, robot factories and company staff.

 

Considering how much HBO must spend per episode, it's outrageously greedy for me to even suggest this, but they haven't spent enough money to make the 'real world' scenes feel convincingly futuristic. They're really moulding these perfect replicas of human beings in massive vats of hi tech gunk with the odd robot arm zipping about? Come on. These scenes needed to be jam fucking packed with masses and masses of technological apparatus, not some minimalist glass offices with a few gurneys and a heart monitor. The incredible sophistication of the hosts feels completely incongruous - it's a leap I'm struggling more and more to make. And with the exception of the disquietingly adorable gay girl (considering she's a guard in a futuristic Auschwitz) the staff and their performances are really mediocre. I dunno.

[mogawoods]

I suppose the mistake I'm making is in taking it so seriously - approaching it as though it's a thing that could conceivably happen in our near future as opposed to a fun wacky idea for a sci-fi film. But the tone of the programme itself is so serious it's difficult not to.

[lolly]

Was really looking forward to this but it didn't grab me much TBH. The setting is fantastic , it looks great  but I just didn't find it particularly engaging and found the underlying menace to be a bit too signposted. Harris chews the scenery brilliantly and is far and away the best thing in it but in a world where  he is supposedly the pitch black evil  he came across as more grey to me.The humanity of the synthetics  wasn't allowed to develop as they were constantly being reset so it was as hard to identify and feel for them as it is for me to give a shit about how my laptop feels after I reboot it.

 

I'm coming back to Rllmuk whether it fucking likes it or not.

 

Still though, there's enough going on that I'm curious to see where they go with it , I loved the movie  and should really get around to the book some day.

 

 

[K]

Episode one was great, it reminded me of literary SF in the way it showed the reaction of someone who discovered they might not be real. I'm definitely on board for the series. 

 

Plus, it was good to see Trevor from GTAV as the bandit James Marsden kills at the start. 

[Goose]

Didn't enjoy the second episode quite a much but it was still very entertaining to see the pieces very slightly, very subtly come apart. Harris was again formidable but perhaps what he said was more interesting than what he did (which was still very interesting).

 

The English guy is still shockingly awful though, his acting in the scene toward the end of the episode was terrible to be point of derailing the show. Same, but not quite as bad, was the female exec. While before I thought she was a combo of Lorraine Bracco and Mary McDonnell, I'm now thinking they should have hired either of them instead.

 

Couple of things about the episode 

Spoiler

I assume the little boy with Hopkins was a robot? I'm hoping they haven't dealt their hand too early because it was blatant that Wright's character has messed with the programming in some way - which seems to be allowing the robots to recall their old memories and previous storylines. The fact he's sleeping with someone who seems to be readying herself to take over the company also adds up to more. Interesting though, that Hopkins seems to have a storyline of his own in the works, which perhaps might throw their plans. Delores seems to have a new found independence now too.

 

I don't watch many shows at all, if any, but this has got be interested, so for any of its criticisms, that has to be a good thing.

[Harsin]

the guns have sensors on them, but what safeguards are in place so guests don't hurt/kill each other. We've seen people use knives, surely it would be all too easy for someone to stab up a fellow human who was just doing a bit of roleplaying.

[Lorfarius]

Well it's super duper tech so who knows?

[Goose]

20 minutes ago, Harsin said:

the guns have sensors on them, but what safeguards are in place so guests don't hurt/kill each other. We've seen people use knives, surely it would be all too easy for someone to stab up a fellow human who was just doing a bit of roleplaying.

 

I meant to put that question in my post - especially after episode 2. Same for fist fighting and similar. 

[Gotters]

I couldn't wait for Tuesday for the 2nd ep, especially when its an International footy weekend.

 

Loved the second ep - as an old fan of things like Phillip K Dick science fiction I love the questions this is presenting, on top of the superb presentation, I love all the stuff showing the mechanics of how guests are treated and get into the park, damn I'd like to go on holiday there.

 

This weeks reel piano music, not sure now if it means anything or is just a cool Easter Egg thing

Spoiler

Radiohead No Surprises (which is on Paranoid Android !), to add to Black Hole Sun and Paint It Black

 

Lots of Thandi Newton in this weeks episode too

 

Spoiler

Loved how her character played the same story several times over with her settings slightly tweaked, something she pulled off very well

 

Only frustration is old style viewing - this is something I want to binge in a couple of days as I love it.

 

Also what I thought was a nice throwback line too to an old western

 

Spoiler

Ed Harris talking about it being a squeeze in the grave for them all reminded me of Charles Bronson saying 'you bought two too many' in once upon a time in the west

 

[Mentazm]

Two episodes in and I can safely say this is my new favourite show. Apart from the english guy. The female exec is fine though.

[Nespresso]

Really enjoyed the second episode as well. However some of the more practical stuff is starting to nag me though and I'm not usually the type that has issues with suspension of disbelief. They should do like an orientation bit similar to the one in Jurassic Park where they briefly explain:

• How much a host costs to build (especially as they seem to recall them every second)
• How they managed to buy up/section off such a big piece of land for the park
• Where the funding comes from
• How much a ticket costs
• How guests are able to distinguish between other guests and hosts
• How they 'reset' events and/or clean up

They don't have to answer any of this of course as it won't really impact the story whatsoever nor would it my enjoyment of it. But then again, 5 minutes is all they need to address some of these questions. Also I have to agree with what Ann Coulter said about the facilities where they build the hosts looking rather disappointing. It was almost completely empty and not at all what you'd expect a mass producing facility to look like where they have to build hundreds of robots every month/week/day. 

 

Oh well, roll on episode 3! Am still not really sure what they were hinting at with that new narrative. 

[Gotters]

I think key to my early enjoyment is that this feels crafted and like a narrative is unfolding.

 

nothing turns me off quicker than something that feels like its being made up from week to week, teasing things you know they can't explain (like that polar bear on the lost island)

[Tezcatlipoca]

Loving this so far

 

Great cast, great production. I'd also not read much about it beforehand, so was pleasantly surprised to find it was from Person of Interest's Jonathan "Brother of Christopher" Nolan.

 

Also nice to see Borgen's Sidse Babett Knudsen again.

[the_debaser]

Considering the amount of money spent on this show, they could've picked some better actors than the sweary English guy and the sweary executive woman. 

 

I didn't particularly enjoy the first episode, I get the impression is going to be bullshit layered on top of bullshit. I'll come back to it when the series is over to see if it has improved. 

[Laine]

Surely the thing stopping people from stabbing / shooting / otherwise hurting other humans in the park is that its no different from doing it out in the street so they would just get arrested and sent to jail for a very long time? Am I missing something about why this is even an issue?!

 

Oh my GOD. Sorry I have completely been an idiot.

[Nespresso]

33 minutes ago, Laine said:

Surely the thing stopping people from stabbing / shooting / otherwise hurting other humans in the park is that its no different from doing it out in the street so they would just get arrested and sent to jail for a very long time? Am I missing something about why this is even an issue?!

How do you know the person you are stabbing is a host or not?

 

Am I missing something? 

[Laine]

43 minutes ago, VN1X said:

How do you know the person you are stabbing is a host or not?

 

Am I missing something? 

 

Bloody hell.

Can I blame sleep deprivation? I read it as though whats to stop humans beating up some other humans, like deliberately! What an idiot I am.

[Nespresso]

Phew, for a minute there I thought I was suffering from sleep deprivation.

 

[g wings]

18 hours ago, the_debaser said:

Considering the amount of money spent on this show, they could've picked some better actors than the sweary English guy and the sweary executive woman. 

 

I didn't particularly enjoy the first episode, I get the impression is going to be bullshit layered on top of bullshit. I'll come back to it when the series is over to see if it has improved. 

I'm not normally a snob about these things but the english guy is terrible and totally messes up the show. Even my wife commented on his lack of acting ability (trust me, that says a lot)...

[Mr Cochese]

It's funny, because you can only assume from this that Americans automatically believe that all British actors are really good, but somehow lack the cognisance to tell the difference.

[Harsin]

That bit where he was announcing his new expansion pack for the park he did quite effectively channel the spirit of annoying awkward overzealous devs at E3 conferences.

[Mr Cochese]

Did he stand with his hands awkwardly in front of him like a T-Rex, because the PR people told him not to stuff them in his pockets?

[Garibaldi]

On 08/10/2016 at 11:53, Goose said:

Couple of things about the episode 

  Reveal hidden contents

I assume the little boy with Hopkins was a robot? I'm hoping they haven't dealt their hand too early because it was blatant that Wright's character has messed with the programming in some way - which seems to be allowing the robots to recall their old memories and previous storylines. The fact he's sleeping with someone who seems to be readying herself to take over the company also adds up to more. Interesting though, that Hopkins seems to have a storyline of his own in the works, which perhaps might throw their plans. Delores seems to have a new found independence now too.

 

 

 

The boy was a robot as he appeared to power down/wipe when Ford said some manner of 'command phrase.' As to Wright, I'm not sure that he has messed with the programming. His character seems to take great fascination in observing, at times to an almost autistic degree, so what's unfolding among the hosts could be covered up by him just because he wants to see where it goes. He's a somewhat difficult character to read, for sure, but I think there's some heavy depression/ennui there, which combined with his analytical obsession could have just caused him to totally lose perspective. This is the first thing that's really interested him for a while, and I suspect he also thinks Ford is responsible, who he sees as a bit of a father figure. Someone he covered for earlier by not revealing the reveries were likely responsible for glitches.

[Valver]

I watched Ep2 on Sunday. Brilliant, better than the first one I thought.  Totally sold on the show concept now.  More please!

 

Spoiler

So what are the odds that the gun that Dolores digs up, is a hacked model that she can start bumping off human guests with?

 

[Harsin]

The end of the series is a shock reveal that Ed Harris actually works from IGN and only gives it 7/10 due to lack of a decent endgame content. It ends with a slow zoom on a tear running down Anthony Hopkins' face as an old timey piano version of Everybody Hurts plays.

 

[Stig]

I wonder if theres any significance in Hopkins

 

taking a black hat when he went for a walk, especially after they made a point of the guest choosing a specific colour earlier in the show.

 

Maybe he's not really a decent guy and his new idea is to cleanse his park of the sadistic guests. We saw the church at the end, so maybe he's going to create religious nutters do the cleansing or something. Hes so old now that he doesn't care about the consequences and maybe thats why he's planted a real gun for Dolores to find. She did say "here?" like someone was instructing her to find it.

 

Or maybe I'm just reading into it too much and he just wanted to make something new but totally harmless that they'd not done before. I feel this is going to be a show that has us all throwing out theories and guesses every week on what's going on and where it's going. Very Lost-esq.

 

[macosx]

That English sweary guy is a fantastic actor

[Fireproofradiator]

Said Guy Richie's casting agent.

 

I loved the first episode but second and third episodes left me q bit cold. Having seen fourth ep I stil haven't felt anything's reached heights of episode one's Ford/Abernathy confrontation but it seens like two and three were setting up new plot lines. Four has been much more compelling.