I watched the first two episodes of Westworld after witnessing the general enthusiasm for it around here. Good thing I check out the television threads every now and then.
It is pretty good so far. I love the amorality of it all, of course, and the « What if no consequences » premise of the park. It is all so delightfully twisted, I might just hang on for the sole sake of watching what kind of new tortures and unusual abuse the newcomers come up with, even if the plot becomes subpar.
Only an American company would have made this an Old West setting. I wonder what other countries would have come up with. An occupied Moorish town in Portugal ; an Inquisition period village in Spain ; a Versailles-style court in France ; a Roman setting in Italy, complete with orgies et all ; a collection of wild colonies on course of being "civilised" in Britannia ; German tribes at war East of the Rhine ; samurai stuff in Japan ; an ancient construction site in Egypt, complete with the appropriate amount of slaves ; in Australia...well, just regular Australia.
I would love to have a whole episode just dedicated to the economics of this company. Their operating costs are clearly colossal, with the constant repairing of the hosts and the sheer size of it all. How much must it cost to spend just a few days there ?
About the hosts, are these technically robots ? There does not seem to be any mechanical component in them. Their flesh is clearly synthetic, and their minds can be interacted with like a computer's, but how does that work ?
Back to what actually happens. The writing has some low points. Some twists or reveals are just a tad too expected or cliché. Some things make little sense: it cannot possibly be legal to bring children along to rape-land.
The plot seems to be heading into an achievement of sentience and hidden deeper purpose direction. The first one is a staple of robot narratives, so I hope they will keep it original. And am I the only one who thinks those fleas are related to the hosts "awaking" ?
Also, this has the best opening credits since The Night Manager.