Westworld

A very satisfying first season. Badly written, western scenery absolutely beautiful, contrasting with Harris as the killer. Hopkins is wonderful. The diagnostics in the finale, or Talking About God and Shakespeare with Dad is chilling. More and heavier… 1: A huge, thoughtful metaphor for the life that we live today. Narratives written by big corporations, puppets living in a loop of going work and awakened people trying to escape from the grips of manipulation. Nolan and his wife have revived the sci-fi classic from 1973 with such sensitivity that the result is fresh, while also traditional. The awakening of artificial intelligence is a classic topic set in the ritual of regular lives, the loop turning the androids into human beings. The Matrix back to front, where machines suffer under the domination of people. Abrams’ supervision helps the mysterious atmosphere and huge scale, because, despite all the breathtaking action scenes and opulent apparitions, it remains primarily a thoughtful conversational drama, playing heavily with the perception of time. The star-studded casting isn’t just for show. Ed Harris is diabolical, Evan Rachel Wood pretty as a picture. The scenes where Anthony Hopkins appears have the viewer’s eyes glued to the screen. Clever dialogs, conversations with a reason and a story about the importance of the story and the truth lying within. Dosage of information, the timing and the final bait to make you look keen for the potential next season are all performed with the utmost care. At times it didn’t look like it, but Westworld is the event of the year and you’ll want to watch it again. 2: Incredibly pumped series, full of unexpected twists, just the conclusion is maybe unnecessarily too elaborate. We are still on a search of human psyche and what we see is not exactly flattering. All characters have lines able to bring the best out of them (great transformation of Teddy) and the narration through flashbacks is mastered fantastically. The glance at the Dark Tower and the original Westworld at the end is just the icing on the cake. I hope that the third series will retain the high quality and that we will be finally able to see the three remaining parks. 3: The robot rebellion moves from the park to the city and completes the dramatic arc – bad for the bad, good for the good. Nolan subtly uses the topic of the ability to calculate the future and arranges them on the central theme of life in loops. He elegantly presents heroes as villainous and villains as heroic. Dolores looks great in the real world; the visual world is visually enchanting and beautifully clean. The finale of course leaves room for another season, but the main story has been told. This year, I liked Devs much more. P.S. A couple of episodes are very weirdly directed and draw attention away from the story. (11.12.2016)

A very satisfying first season. Badly written, western scenery absolutely beautiful, contrasting with Harris as the killer. Hopkins is wonderful. The diagnostics in the finale, or Talking About God and Shakespeare with Dad is chilling. More and heavier… 1: A huge, thoughtful metaphor for the life that we live today. Narratives written by big corporations, puppets living in a loop of going work and awakened people trying to escape from the grips of manipulation. Nolan and his wife have revived the sci-fi classic from 1973 with such sensitivity that the result is fresh, while also traditional. The awakening of artificial intelligence is a classic topic set in the ritual of regular lives, the loop turning the androids into human beings. The Matrix back to front, where machines suffer under the domination of people. Abrams’ supervision helps the mysterious atmosphere and huge scale, because, despite all the breathtaking action scenes and opulent apparitions, it remains primarily a thoughtful conversational drama, playing heavily with the perception of time. The star-studded casting isn’t just for show. Ed Harris is diabolical, Evan Rachel Wood pretty as a picture. The scenes where Anthony Hopkins appears gets the viewer’s eyes glued to the screen. Clever dialogs, conversations with a reason and a story about the importance of the story and the truth lying within. Dosage of information, the timing and the final bait to make you look keen for the potential next season are all performed with the utmost care. At times it didn’t look like it, but Westworld is the event of the year and you’ll want to watch it again. (06.12.2016)

A very decent start. The poorly written western setting contrasts beautifully with Harris's killer. Hopkins is brilliant. The final diagnosis, or talking about God and Shakespeare with dad is chilling. Give me more! (03.10.2016)

Incredibly pumped up series, full of unexpected twists, just the conclusion is maybe unnecessarily too elaborate. We are still on a search of human psyche and what we see is not exactly flattering. All characters have lines able to bring the best out of them (great transformation of Teddy) and the narration through flashbacks is mastered fantastically. The glance at the Dark Tower and the original Westworld at the end is just the icing on the cake. I hope that the third series will retain the high quality and that we will be finally able to see the three remaining parks. (25.06.2018)

An excellent parallel of how things are these days. I like the narrative style, jumping from one thing to the next and retroactive explanation of the past as if determined by the time-frame of season two - 11 days. In acting terms perfect again; the absence of Hopkins doesn’t yet matter. I hope they introduce more parks. (23.04.2018)

The robot rebellion moves from the park to the city and completes the dramatic arc – bad for the bad, good for the good. Nolan subtly uses motifs involving the ability to calculate the future and arranges them on the central theme of life in loops. He elegantly presents heroes as villainous and villains as heroic. Dolores looks great in the real world; the visual world is visually enchanting and beautifully clean. Of course, the finale leaves room for another season, but the main story has been told. This year, I liked Devs much more. P.S. A couple of episodes are very weirdly directed and draw attention away from the story. (04.05.2020)

The shaky directing is disappointing. The finale perhaps disses the villain too much, although it is understandable. The two post-credits scenes perhaps give away unnecessarily much about which way the series is going. I hope that the next season will have the balls to be original. I missed the narrative style, jumping from one thing to the next, and Tony Hopkins. (04.05.2020)

Hard to say if this is the final or the penultimate season, maybe both. It certainly keeps the quality bar high. Despite the occasional stilted dialog, this still is a great watch with wonderful pace, especially in the first half. Ed Harris pulls out all the stops and reversing the roles between machines and people is precisely the type of revenge I would have expected from Delores. The ending tries almost too hard to steer everything toward an ending which, while being rather depressing, promises something like hope. (27.08.2022)