Just watched it last night, I'm all in. One question: the people running the park presumably have the ability to watch any human/host interaction and react accordingly to maintain order. Why would they continue to allow Ed Harris into the park if he's deliberately trying to figure out a conspiracy (unless none exists or Anthony Hopkins has indeed programmed something deeper into the park that only he knows about)?
Ed Harris is obviously working outside the rules. I think he is a robot but even if he isn't he could easily have Dr. Hannibal Lecter covering for him. Lecter is obviously the most gifted robot mechanic so could be doing things without anyone else knowing.
Spoiler: Ep 1 discussion Are you implying the MiB is not a Guest...or that Teddy was going against some rule already. We could say the question "Would you ever hurt a living thing?" was only a specific question to the Dolores role. She's pure and innocent. But to the murderous thieves role, they get a different question???? At the beginning, the Turing Test question to Dolores was "What if I actually told you that you can't hurt a Guest. But they can do anything to you." Slightly different question, but one they could ask Teddy as well. As to Teddy shooting Harris, assuming Harris is a Guest (imo, everything points that way), we are told that Hosts play along if the Guest instigates taking a narrative into a shootout situation. Harris actually told Teddy to take the first shot. Teddy didn't try to murder him. He was protecting Dolores, which the guest wanted. Dolores also pulled a gun on Harris from her daddy's holster. Seems just part of a programmed narrative to allow the Guests to experience real Western shootouts -- one of the things they pay money for. Harris says, "I didn't pay all this money because I wanted it easy. I want you to fight." It's a Wild West adventure park. I mean, why even pull guns on Hosts if they are programmed to not shoot. Then we have the Host who went buggy and shot everyone pouring milk all over them, and they had to shut down the entire scene and narrative ... he left two guests in the Saloon completely unharmed. So, even a buggy Host gone homicidal maniac left the Guests alone. (Btw: Lester the buggy Host was the first sign that the reveries were causing rebellious glitches. They said Lester always dies in the narrative. But that time he finally got his pent-up reverie revenge...big time. Can we call it a Reverenge! However, that was just Host on Host revenge. )
Spoiler: Episode 1 discussion All he did was quote Romeo and Juliet from one of his previous roles -- the cannibalistic Professor who liked to quote Shakespeare. But the choice of phrase was chilling, "these violent delights have violent ends." So, she wasn't lying about that, because how would she know what her daddy's previous role was in the park to quote Shakespeare. And she hadn't been wiped yet when they asked her what he said. Probably on purpose, because they wanted to know everything buggy daddy said. if y'all can't tell...I've watched this a few times. Totally hooked. I probably should stay out of this thread, before it creates obsessive and buggy behavior in me.
done btw: I know it's customary in Movie threads to wait a week or two for open discussion and only put Reviews in the open. I've never quite got the BBS etiquette for hiding discussion on weekly TV shows. Sorry, I should have spoilered for at least the same length of time as Movie Review periods, since this was the Premiere. My bad. When is an acceptable length of time to allow enough reviews to have come in before we can openly discuss episodes that have aired.
I think as soon as an episode airs just discuss it. If you have gone 4 days of DVR without watching it then stay out of the thread IMO. This isn't a movie. Spoiler tags are really annoying and stifle free discussion. I don't really like making crazy guess about what will happen but I read them. If this thread isn't discussing the show, what will it discuss? Going back and reading it next season will be a pointlessly huge spoiler clicking burn.
I agree with not needing to spoiler discussions about an episode once it has aired. If I don't get a chance to watch it live and I don't want spoilers I have enough sense not to come in here and look around. With that said I am going to spoiler the next bit because it is my ramblings on what I think may happen. It will probably be 100% incorrect and I don't want to influence anyone with my thoughts. If you are interested and want to discuss it fine, but know that the following is based purely on speculation and things I perceived in the first episode. Spoiler 1) I think Delores will be an antagonist. I think they are setting her up to cause mass chaos among the hosts and I think she will align with someone outside the park and attempt to form some sort of uprising. 2) I'm not sure what I think about Teddy. He is obviously tied to Delores and I am conflicted as to how I think that will play out. I think he will either be convinced that to change his "scripted to lose" programming he must join her, or he will not be convinced to join her and be her antithesis. 3) I think Ed Harris will turn out to be a good guy. I think he suspects something devious is going on (more about that shortly) and he is trying to stir up who or what is behind it. I think he is a human but I also think they will leave that as a mystery for a while. I think he will be played up as the villain like he was in the first episode but will eventually be revealed that he is trying to uncover the sinister element of the park. 4) I think Anthony Hopkins is the person on the outside stirring it up. He created the reveries, he is the one causing them to recall the memories and I think it is intentional to cause them to break free from their scripts. Most of all I think he is a robot. I think the reference to Lazarus was a nod to the fact it had already been done. I think he found a way to transfer his memories and consciousness into a host and recreate himself. He furthered evolution by becoming immortal. That whole conversation in the storage area seems to foreshadow this fact.
I agree that no spoilers are needed after a show airs. However, I thought Deckard was asking because this was the show's Premiere episode. so fwiw: I would agree that it is polite to have a Review of the Show period were discussion is spoilered and you only post reviews out in the open. But after that initial Premiere episode period -- no more spoilers -- except of course for times when spoilers are always expected (something actually leaks on the internet about an actor, character or upcoming episode). example: The day after it came out, I did come here to read reviews and hide my eyes if discussion was occurring. I was going to watch it anyways, be the reviews made me watch it immediately. The reviews of Luke Cage made me skip it entirely. etc cheers
rented the movie before taking on the show. West World ( 1973 ) : 8/10 This was very good. Almost like a mix of Jurassic Park and Terminator, well before either came into being. Top notch performances from this Yul Brenner guy and James Brolin. Richard Benjamin not as good, some bad acting I think, but put in a good 20 minutes at the end where his performance nicely turned as the movie turned dark. So there was good contrast there intentional or not. And when the movie did turn it was brilliantly done as the drama and darkness could be felt. Sound effects a little weird, but movies shift was sharp, contrasting, well done. Made you think first about what would you do in a world like that for fun, and was great yarn, and then made you think more about what you would do in that situation when it all goes to hell. Some thought provoking stuff there. Much better than Jurassic Park in that regard. And the theme of tech turning seemed well ahead of it's time. Think the only flaws were the concern over the snake bite was followed by a complete lack of concern over the punches thrown in the bar fight. And then how did the guy know how to get into the tech staging area at the end. But overall, solid movie there I had never seen or even heard of until now. Good stuff!
Heads up: The 2nd episode is up on the various HBO platforms (and non HBO platforms) 3 days early because of Sunday's Presidential Debate. What fortune.
One thing I noticed in my city is those boxes they have at intersections which contain all the hardware for running the stop lights (don't call them smart stop lights...cause they are still effen stupid even if they tried to enhance them imo...they still require some idiot technician to set up the timing and it's always messed up timing-wise imo) ...they put painting-like roll-on pictures on some of them and one of them is Yul Brenner dressed as a gunslinger. I think it is of his character from another Western that is "The Magnificent Seven" instead of "West World". But, I found it amusing they were doing that. I guess they are trying to liven up the intersections cause people waste half their lives sitting at them. Hooray! Doh!
I was being sarcastic with that post. I think both of those shows are top quality. Although I can see at least how you could lose interest in The Wire. It's a bit more subtle and multiple story lines going on in different seasons. I watched the first 3 waited a few years and started over at the beginning and finished it the second time. Breaking Bad though I would not have able to stop watching that if I tried.
I wish they would do stuff like that all around the city for stuff. I'd rather see cool art or interesting pop culture visuals than a blank concrete wall everywhere. We may live in a concrete jungle but we should be able to make it look less concrete.
