Let's start with some big words: this might be the best written show I've ever watched. Better than GoT's first 2-3 seasons, better than The Wire, better than Breaking Bad. In a way. And as mentioned, there will be spoilers, though I'll try to be vague. But ultimately what makes this show so fantastic can't be discussed without mentioning the specifics of the finale.
See, all the other shows I mentioned still are stronger in other areas in terms of writing: GoT serves as a brilliant deconstruction of the fantasy genre, and in subverting the viewer's expectations. The Wire has perhaps the most brilliant ensemble cast of excellent characters I've ever seen. And Breaking Bad is a fantastic character study in greed, ambition, power, and their cost. Not to mention the dialogue in every one of those shows is like a 7-meal course in a 5-star Michelin restaurant.
But when it comes to storytelling, or more specifically, how precisely the story was planned out and how complete it felt by the end, no other show has ever made such an impression on me as Westworld. And that is where we get into spoiler territory.
In other things not related to the spoilers, I'd seen a lot of talk about how HBO's supposedly planned this to be their next big hit show, but frankly I don't see it. Game of Thrones is still fairly easy for the "average" TV watcher to get into because it's got simple concepts on the surface: castles, swords, knights, oh lookie hey, lotsa titties! Westworld from the outset is operating on more cerebral concepts. The premise alone can be a bit hard to get into, let alone buy in the first place. GoT is fantasy, and as such a greater suspension of disbelief is in use before even watching it. Westworld is supposed to take place in our world. GoT has more, let's call it "low-brow" content, to keep the more casual viewer's interest: blood, sword fights, sex, titties, Tyrion making funny jokes. Westworld has characters grappling with issues like dead children, trouble in the workplace, questions about humanity and ethics instead. Sure there's some boobs and blood thrown in there, but in much lesser quantities than GoT.
Anyway, there's my initial thoughts on the show. Comments?
See, all the other shows I mentioned still are stronger in other areas in terms of writing: GoT serves as a brilliant deconstruction of the fantasy genre, and in subverting the viewer's expectations. The Wire has perhaps the most brilliant ensemble cast of excellent characters I've ever seen. And Breaking Bad is a fantastic character study in greed, ambition, power, and their cost. Not to mention the dialogue in every one of those shows is like a 7-meal course in a 5-star Michelin restaurant.
But when it comes to storytelling, or more specifically, how precisely the story was planned out and how complete it felt by the end, no other show has ever made such an impression on me as Westworld. And that is where we get into spoiler territory.
See, what I absolutely didn't expect going in was that this would turn out to be one of those "need to watch it at least twice" type of things. I'm more used to seeing that in movies, and when I've seen it on TV, the style's been more abstract and artistic, like Serial Experiments Lain. What added to that was that the show didn't make near as much of a splash as Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, and as such there were fairly little hype and clickbait articles about it.
Which is why the twist about the Man in Black (or Ed Harris as I called him, because Ed Harris was Ed Harris-ing it up big time) came about, I was absolutely blown away. It felt like I'd been watching a 10-hour version of The Prestige with a payoff to match that length. Combined with the reveals about both Arnold and Wyatt suddenly everything clicked into place: all the recurring elements, the little hints, Ed Harris' seemingly simplistic motivations for his cruelty, the disorganized information about the park's past, the seeming inconsistencies about the characters' locations and especially Dolores. The way all the seemingly tangentially related plot threads were woven together into a single whole was nothing short of phenomenal. It was simply brilliant, and now I can't wait for season 2.
Which is why the twist about the Man in Black (or Ed Harris as I called him, because Ed Harris was Ed Harris-ing it up big time) came about, I was absolutely blown away. It felt like I'd been watching a 10-hour version of The Prestige with a payoff to match that length. Combined with the reveals about both Arnold and Wyatt suddenly everything clicked into place: all the recurring elements, the little hints, Ed Harris' seemingly simplistic motivations for his cruelty, the disorganized information about the park's past, the seeming inconsistencies about the characters' locations and especially Dolores. The way all the seemingly tangentially related plot threads were woven together into a single whole was nothing short of phenomenal. It was simply brilliant, and now I can't wait for season 2.
And that's the Maeve storyline. It was... how to put it mildly? FUCKING RETARDED! I forced myself to think that Felix and his partner were both hosts as well, and just part of Maeve's new narrative, because no fucking adult in the fucking cosmos fucking is this fucking stupid!!!
"Hey, this host just woke up for seemingly no reason", "Oh well, instead of getting security or tech guys in here or trying to restrain her ourselves, let's just keep talking to her. Oh hey, why don't we tell her that her existence is a fabrication. Let's show her around the lab shall we? Whatever, let's just give her full 10s in all her stats while we're at it. It's not like we're running a multi-billion dollar business that's exceedingly vulnerable and any anomalies like this should be extremely disconcerting. Now let's keep helping her after she tried to murder one of us and has recruited other hosts to gun down personnel by the dozens."
And nowhere are things like security, surveillance, double checks, tracking devices or anything like that to be seen.
It is beyond baffling that in a show otherwise so exquisitely written could such ham-handedness have slipped past. It has to be deliberate. Has. To. Be.
"Hey, this host just woke up for seemingly no reason", "Oh well, instead of getting security or tech guys in here or trying to restrain her ourselves, let's just keep talking to her. Oh hey, why don't we tell her that her existence is a fabrication. Let's show her around the lab shall we? Whatever, let's just give her full 10s in all her stats while we're at it. It's not like we're running a multi-billion dollar business that's exceedingly vulnerable and any anomalies like this should be extremely disconcerting. Now let's keep helping her after she tried to murder one of us and has recruited other hosts to gun down personnel by the dozens."
And nowhere are things like security, surveillance, double checks, tracking devices or anything like that to be seen.
It is beyond baffling that in a show otherwise so exquisitely written could such ham-handedness have slipped past. It has to be deliberate. Has. To. Be.
In other things not related to the spoilers, I'd seen a lot of talk about how HBO's supposedly planned this to be their next big hit show, but frankly I don't see it. Game of Thrones is still fairly easy for the "average" TV watcher to get into because it's got simple concepts on the surface: castles, swords, knights, oh lookie hey, lotsa titties! Westworld from the outset is operating on more cerebral concepts. The premise alone can be a bit hard to get into, let alone buy in the first place. GoT is fantasy, and as such a greater suspension of disbelief is in use before even watching it. Westworld is supposed to take place in our world. GoT has more, let's call it "low-brow" content, to keep the more casual viewer's interest: blood, sword fights, sex, titties, Tyrion making funny jokes. Westworld has characters grappling with issues like dead children, trouble in the workplace, questions about humanity and ethics instead. Sure there's some boobs and blood thrown in there, but in much lesser quantities than GoT.
Anyway, there's my initial thoughts on the show. Comments?
