[TV] Westworld

[Ayirasi]

Ah, OK. Caleb was stuck in a loop similar to William's dad, and broke free. Kinda. Nice. And thank you, time skip, for yadda-yaddaing annoying daughter into lady.

[Koriani]

I won't block it out as I realized that's not 'for this thread' but for those who might be behind - I will put this -

SPOILER WARNING BELOW! =D


I really appreciated the "twist" - totes didn't realize we were dealing with the two separate timelines up until the reveal so that was cool.

I'd been waiting for the 'reveal' of Caleb being a droid (and just not knowing it himself) since we got the first flash, in the first episode, of him 'bleeding out' in the sand. I had thought that was when they were going to reveal he was droid-i-fied and it was Maive "saving him" and then not telling him. So good on the show for making it NOT that particular moment. But Very BUMMED Maive was "killed" - hoping/thinking they are bringing her back 'alive' since they dug her out, and not just harvesting her parts =D. She's my favorite character.

And if I'm understanding the twist - that does mean that ALL humans, outside of those in the desert, are Fly-Mind-Controlled by the giant sound-wave-maker (for lack of a better term =D). So the "modern day Delores" real person is one of them, though, with her recent 'wierdness' and the image she painted on top of her regular painting in the last episode, are obvious signs she's 'breaking out' of that mind control (? best guess anyway). And possibly her roommate too, with that nightmare of hers - but that could also just be a redirect/distraction by the HIVEMIND (general term) in control.

And DID Caleb "break free" or is this just the moments of clarity they allow him before they re-boot his brain and put him back in the "re-live the horrible because we want to torture you" mind-chamber. And is there another point to doing that to him - because I really didn't quite get the "why?". WHY have him relive all this 250+ times, and why are they (the Hivemind/Android side) trying to get him to "wake up?" out of it. Or did the Superior Android just turn full psycho-movie-villian and that's their only motivation (to make him suffer)? I'm still fuzzy on the POINT of all that time/resources on a single human (Caleb) - but maybe that too will be explained more as we go.

SPOILERS DONE

[Iain]

I think the hivemind is using Caleb as training in a simulated arms race. See how long they can control him until he breaks free, and then tailor the settings based on what the learned for the next iteration.

I really appreciated the "twist" - totes didn't realize we were dealing with the two separate timelines up until the reveal so that was cool.

Yeah exactly. Was a good idea to ease off on all the twisty stuff in the third season. That way it became a palate cleanser for this season. And I'm enjoying seeing so much stuff that I expected to happen in the 3rd season to finally play out anyway.

[Evaddon]

Yeah, and there are still quite a bit of returning characters we need to be brought back up to speed on. Hoping the next few episodes don't feel as disjointed.

E2 open up some fun possibilities, even if it might remind me of every TNG holodeck episode with Picard playing a gumshoe. That's not a bad thing.

Previous poster was right. What was turning into an interesting E3 spin became everyone's a Cylon. Oh! Daniel Wu!

It seems very fast pace still...like the reveal we just had would've took a whole season of exploring

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone still watching? Ep 4 was finally something worth of Westworld. Worth the build-up.

It was a good twist, that we had theories on...but it still feels like the show is just speeding through things right now its not really trying to explore what it builds..atleast yet maybe they just needed this reveal before getting to the deeper ins and outs

[Djaye]

really digging the 'Age of Ultron' vibe with season 4. it has grabbed my attention quite completely.

love that delores basically became Ultron

[Iain]

Well the acting is really taking a leap off a cliff. These actors all can do better. Did they hurry the production or something?

At least the plot and the ideas are sufficient to carry the show. But geez, this isn't HBO standards.

[RH92]

This season has been quite a pleasant surprise, it made the messy third season worth something actually.

My only suspicion is they are just wasting the remaining episodes to set up a next season as it slowed down quite dramatically after the big plot twist. For example a lot of the Caleb scenes could have been cut in half and still make the same impact storywise.

I think the show is at it's best when it debates about human nature, artifical intelligence and free will. Not really following individual characters.

[fakaroonie]

This season has been quite a pleasant surprise, it made the messy third season worth something actually.

My only suspicion is they are just wasting the remaining episodes to set up a next season as it slowed down quite dramatically after the big plot twist. For example a lot of the Caleb scenes could have been cut in half and still make the same impact storywise.

I think the show is at it's best when it debates about human nature, artifical intelligence and free will. Not really following individual characters.

True, this latest episode though... holy cow!!! On par with S1 ending for me. Actually. Best episode of the show by far.

[Koriani]

After watching the Season 4, Episode 5 (so two episodes ago now I guess lol) - all I could think was:

"...its a better Matrix IV than Matrix IV."

Really awesome episode, so far the best episode (to me) in the last two seasons. As RH92 said above - show is best when its digging into the big philosophical stuff.

[RH92]

True, this latest episode though... holy cow!!! On par with S1 ending for me. Actually. Best episode of the show by far.

Yeah, this one was great. I've been on the edge of my seat for entire episode.

I am really excited for the finale, so many questions waiting to be answered. Honestly can't wait.

I wonder what is the deal with Teddy, isn't it kind of weird he suddenly shows up and knows all this stuff?

[fakaroonie]

Underwhelming finale... felt like a series finale, which I hope it is, because they can't turn it around after that.

They should've ended it apocalyptically and with the final words: These violent delights have violent ends. It would've fit much better than 'we will free ourselves'... from who?

[Polyxo]

It's super bleak but pretty interesting how they're kind of setting up a SOMA ending season.

[RH92]

Underwhelming finale... felt like a series finale, which I hope it is, because they can't turn it around after that.

They should've ended it apocalyptically and with the final words: These violent delights have violent ends. It would've fit much better than 'we will free ourselves'... from who?

I somewhat disagree... The show comes full circle I think, the whole show might have been just one of the simulations in the end.

I think the ending was fitting, because it's really the one thing you can't answer. Does the artifical intelligence really has a free will when it is bound by encoded human emotion? The hosts in the show repeat the same mistakes as human do and the question is whether they can free themselves from being vengeful, petty and vain bastards. It was an exercise in whether hosts can be better than humans and 'transcend'.

[Sorshen]

This season has very wild quality swings between episodes, like Bernard has the ability to do all these calculations and yet he can't find a solution to a realistically small technical problem that the MiB-host creates? I thought they had something more than what I saw in this last episode, I'm more disappointed in this season finale than the season 3 arc.

[Natta Lmo]

Am I the only one getting confused by how they are picking the time something happens? Why do they keep switching so much between past and present without stating if it's present or past?

[Skizzit]

Am I the only one getting confused by how they are picking the time something happens? Why do they keep switching so much between past and present without stating if it's present or past?

Because it was used to good effect in the first season with the Man in Black reveal, so they tried to continue to use it in each season after to varying levels of success.

[Polyxo]

Just realized that William's super melee is totally the same thing as Samuel L Jackson's thing in the 'freebird'/'give it up' scenes from Kingsmen.

[Progenitor Aquarius]

Oh, I remember this damn movie when there was a scoring competition in 2020 and the 8-bit soundtrack won. Everyone was so angry. Hahaha!

[Ophenia]

I'm a bit late to the party here as we had to rewatch Season 1-3 to be in the proper mood

I'm not really sure what to think about S04 tbh. It had great ideas, a good-ish execution until Episode 4-5 imo, but the end of the season was kinda... meh. Most of the time I had no idea what happened there and what were the stakes, until that Episode 8 where not so many things made sense anymore. If anything, Episode 7 was a better ending than 8 which felt unnecessary and went all over the place.

Maeve was hyped up for nearly nothing, and the fact deaths don't mean much anymore kinda narrows the point down. Teddy died from a bullet in his head in Season 02, yet it doesn't seem to be deadly in Season 4 at all, as long as you can get the pearl - gotta wonder why Dolores didn't take Teddy's then instead of crying all night.
Even "normal" gunshot wounds are inconsistent - sometimes Bernard takes them like a real Chad, sometimes it brings him down completely.

So yeah, definitely it lost a lot of traction since Season 01 (difficult to maintain the expectations I guess), but the rhythm feels weird in Season 04

[Delever]

I'm a bit late to the party here as we had to rewatch Season 1-3 to be in the proper mood

I'm not really sure what to think about S04 tbh. It had great ideas, a good-ish execution until Episode 4-5 imo, but the end of the season was kinda... meh. Most of the time I had no idea what happened there and what were the stakes, until that Episode 8 where not so many things made sense anymore. If anything, Episode 7 was a better ending than 8 which felt unnecessary and went all over the place.

Maeve was hyped up for nearly nothing, and the fact deaths don't mean much anymore kinda narrows the point down. Teddy died from a bullet in his head in Season 02, yet it doesn't seem to be deadly in Season 4 at all, as long as you can get the pearl - gotta wonder why Dolores didn't take Teddy's then instead of crying all night.
Even "normal" gunshot wounds are inconsistent - sometimes Bernard takes them like a real Chad, sometimes it brings him down completely.

So yeah, definitely it lost a lot of traction since Season 01 (difficult to maintain the expectations I guess), but the rhythm feels weird in Season 04

This sums up my complaints about how the show has evolved past the first 2 seasons as well.

I feel like nothing matters anymore and nothing is taken seriously. To add to the list of things you mentioned, telling a host to cease motor functions also completely lost any meaning whatsoever since season 3 where hosts seem to be aware that they stop motor functions and continue from that the moment they are back on making snarky remarks about it.