Westworld
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You ever play pub trivia and they have a tiered question round?
Yeah, thats howWestworldapproaches storytelling.
Tonight it even verbalized this MO directly to us.
With that, there is no doubting thatWestworldis the most unapologetically left-brain narrative on television.
But at least it plays its game fairly.
It doesnt lie or pull punches.
It always wants you to dig deep, to figure it out, and to enjoy the guessing game.
So its likely no accident that the shows storytellers seem to have an authorial kinship with Ford.
But the simple, inescapable truth is that Ford is also completely wrong.
Watch: How Close Are We To Real-Life Westworld Robots?
That isntthepleasure of a story.
In fact, theres a reason left-brain puzzle stories tend to be much more rare within the narrative landscape.
Dramatic storytelling is largely about the pursuit of the opposite effect on the viewer.
Its about letting them knowexactlywhats going on and thus getting them to dread the result.
Luckily, things start tense and stay tense, starting with Timeline No.
4, where the cats now out of the bag and everyones discovered that Bernard is a host.
Specifically what happened to Pa Abernathys brain cortex key thingy.
Sure, Clementine goes out in a blaze of glory.
Angela seduces and then explodes the cradle.
Too bad she gets faked out of actually doing sotwiceby random distractions.
(I genuinely counted at least eight instances.)
But instead, were treated to more bad guys, more bullets, and more missed chances.
All part of the endless interruption and delay in comparison to growth and dexterity.
Worse, putting her immediately into the same scenario with her daughter cant help but feel a little pat.
It only serves to leave them both bloodied and alone.
Its amazing how much weight Anthony Hopkins brings to this show.
But the real glory of his presence is that we finally get an articulation of his plan.
What Ford wanted was to to make a better, more noble humanity.
And thus it all comes together.
Doloress team blows up the cradle.
Time to blow it up and not look back.
But then it became a new story …
The story of the fire itself.
Everyones still fighting the same demon.
Were simply on our way to another destination, another story point, another linchpin, another standoff.
Random Thoughts
I already want more of Delores and Maeves interactions.
I feel like theres a deeper, more interesting story here thats being avoided for nothing more than delay.
I get that its TV, but it even seems to be pushing the bounds of this particular show.
Have you guessed whats going on with Bernard in Timeline No.
Nice,Westworld, nice.
