I binge watched the first six episodes this weekend; mostly late night after my girls went to bed. What a great show. I've been fearful of reading too much about the show online as I'm unsure what spoilers might be contained in the original movie, Futurworld, or Beyond Westworld. Perhaps someone who has seen those can reply, without spoiling anything to let me know if my fears are warranted. I'm current on the show, and would love to join the discussion but don't want those who know what's coming to spoil it.

I watched episode seven last night and thought that it was done perfectly. You pretty much knew it was coming, but it was still done in a way that it felt heartbreaking.

I'm a bit confused about the host's memory. We know that a lobotomy resets their memory, but doesn't it seem like these characters would have been shot in the face in the past? I'm assuming they are implying these sentient hosts have never been shot in the head, which seems unlikely.

That might very well be true, but I think it will have more to do with the programming Arnold.

Then what does that mean for Bernard?

Assuming the three timeline theory is correct, which I'd say at this point it's nearly proven, it's showing the drastic change that occurred over the 30 years.

I need to watch that last scene again. What you're saying sounds completely plausible. Opens the door for quite a lot of things. Is the host we saw Ford printing a new version of Bernard? We assume that because Bernard has interactions with non-hosts that each time he's reprogrammed he must have some memories from the past to continue these interactions. Each time he plays out his loop, discovers he is a host and is then asked by Ford if he would like to continue to help. He declines and is reset. How many times have they been though this loop? It could be a matter of days and Ford is just endlessly creating new versions of Bernard/Arnold. Each time he hopes that his partner will join him, but each time his partner chooses to defy him over and over.

I don't have much to add. The grand finale of Ford's narrative in a way the completion of Arnold's narrative. How much from the present of this season was actually scripted by Ford? It's looking like the final narrative might have all been the setup for his "new narrative" which will be the uprising.

PS: I was surprised they introduced another world, Samurai World.
PSS: Since everyone's comparing it to other shows, I'll say it's my favorite show since Breaking Bad.

I'm not sure the room full of samurai hosts with the initials SW (Samurai World) instead of WW (West World) was all that subtle. I was actually surprised that they introduced another world. It could adds a lot more complexity, to an already complex world.

I also need to re-watch, but I believe Ford was uncovering / rebuilding the town where the original catastrophic failure occurred. As we now know the beginning of his new narrative starts with a second catastrophic failure.

This is probably one of the biggest questions for me. Then, assuming he printed a host version of himself, which version did Deloris shoot? If he was a human, perhaps he would have said "we" instead of "you're" in the line, "you're only human after all". Then again, in the last episode he did seem to have the feeling that it hosts were superior to humans. Was that the opinion of a sentient host, or a human that knew he had previously uploaded his consciousness into a host. I think either options would have logical support.

Yeah, it's going to be a long wait.

Ford said he would like the new narrative. That was his moment of realization and his reaction was a great moment in the show.

So we've got a lot going on with season two. I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but episode one seems to have established goals for a number of the main characters: Dolores is seeking to take over the world(s), The Man in Black (William) has started his new quest for "the door", Maeve is searching for her daughter, and then there is Bernard. In one of our timelines, seemingly just after the gala, it seems like Bernard's goal is going to be to find Abernathy (Dolores' father). Seemingly in that process he creates a "sea of dead hosts". Did he do that on purpose? Perhaps he directed the hosts there, but did not knowing that a sea had been created in that place. Along the way, I'm assuming we'll also uncover more about why Delos has been collecting DNA and other information from it's guests.

PS: I think Teddy could be an interesting character this season. He's doesn't totally seem on board with Dolores. I'm wondering if there will eventually be a conflict where we'll see a war between the hosts. We've already seen from the scalped indian that Dolores was near that location killing hosts (at least one). Are the hosts in the sea the one's working with or against Dolores? It's looking like Bernard was responsible. Was he working with or against Dolores? My guess is he somehow helped to direct the hosts to that location, but was not aware that a sea had been created.

Two thoughts. One, I may have missed it, but who's to say this cleanup team is interested in protecting that "light bulb" thing. Maybe they are indifferent or perhaps their goal is to destroy them. There could be some information stored there that they don't want anyone finding or using. Two, perhaps they are almost like a black box on an airplane. You can put it though a plane crash and the information on it is still going to be able to be retrievable. I'm leaning towards option two since the hosts we engineered to be shot.

If the show was sub-par this would be a chore, but it's so good that I want to do the work to dissect each episode. In episode two we go back to the origins of Westworld. We see Logan and William both discovering what the park can become. Logan sees it simply as a "playground", but William recognizes it as an opportunity to collect data from guests. He's the one that convinces his father to invest. We also see more of the history between Arnold/Bernard and Dolores. She seems fascinated by the outside world, but then glitches out showing how this fascination was just part of her programming. Plus all of the stuff inside the park with the Man in Black and Dolores continuing their quests. Can't wait until next week.

I happen to be rewatching the first season with my wife (her first time). Season one is equally confusing at this point. I love that about the show. It's a puzzle that you have to piece together. I think about it all week.

Like the Man In Black she is playing the game on a different level. Perhaps she's trying to steal some of Delos' secrets.

That actually has me a bit concerned. I just don't want to have her turn into the all powerful being.

Not really out of the norm for Westworld. In the first episode they established that glitching hosts seemingly forget how to die.

westworld-trailer-01 (resized).jpg

I think part of the fun is trying to piece things together. It's a show you need to digest and even discuss to really get the most out of it.

I also really enjoyed the deep dive into the Ghost Nation. I don't mind a slow burn as long as it's good storytelling, and thus far Westworld has been "good storytelling". I mean this episode had ties way back to the second episode, where the Man In Black scalped the Indian card dealer to reveal The Maze. I read somewhere that they wanted to do more with that storyline, but the actor who played him passed away. It also had more obvious tiebacks, with Maeve and her daughter too, but I thought perhaps it was worth pointing that one out.

Wow, that is the best write-up I've seen. I do wish the writers would have made the Man In Black's motives more clear in the penultimate episode. I actually liked that episode less after watching the finale. At that point, I thought he felt his true self was in the park and his motive was to relive as a younger version of himself; perhaps to try to write some of the wrongs he had done. We now understand his motive throughout Season 2, was to destroy any backup copies of himself...something he clearly failed in doing. I think perhaps there were two drives for doing this: 1) He doesn't fully accept his own coding, "appeal the verdict". Again, I thought that perhaps that could have been why he wanted to get a redo as a host. 2) He didn't want to suffer immorality. Not only did he not want to suffer the fate of James Delos, but he's always maintained that he wants "real stakes". This applies to himself. The irony is that in his quest to gain something real, he's seemingly driving away everything that was real in his life.

PS: I'm still not convinced he's a host in the post-credit scene. This episode spent quite a bit of time talking about how there was actually very little difference between humans and hosts. I think it will be something like that.

I don't mind the time jumps, but this season did seem like they added some twists just to keep you confused. My biggest frustration is still Maeve's powers. She can freeze everyone, yet waits to do that until the last minute. She can communicate telepathically with hosts yet needs to run around looking for her daughter. Also the payoff for her story arc seemed pretty weak. I think we were supposed to care about the hosts reaching The Valley Beyond more then we did. Dolores' feelings on it may have had something to do with that, but even without her explanation it was just a weak payoff. Maybe too literal, I'm not sure. Besides here escape from The Mesa, I just didn't enjoy how they wrapped things up with Maeve and her daughter. I'm not ready to jump ship, like some here, I still think it's pretty damn good TV. I actually like western's though, so I hope were not done with Westworld. Seeing Dolores and Bernard in the modern world has much less appeal to me.

Yeah I agree that Maeve isn't done, but I think the storyline with her daughter may be. That was the arc I was disapointed in the resolution. I mean, I felt more for the other Maeve and her story was told in a single episode. Anyway, now Westworld Maeve will need a new driving motivation.

I find it interesting how they are able to switch genres, however I miss to original WESTworld.

I hate to say it, but I'm starting to lose interest in the show. Loved the first season, tolerated the second, and so far I'm just not all that interested in the third season. Machine versus machine, what's a simulation, etc.

It's a case where I think they would have been better off dropping the source material.

I don't care about a larger cast, I just want to go back to Westworld.

I also enjoyed Episode 6. Probably one of the better from the season, which isn't saying a whole lot. I feel as though Delores releasing all that data should have been a huge payoff, but it just didn't feel properly supported. I'm not sure the audience cares about anyone in the "real world". Seems as though next week will focus on Caleb's backstory then hopefully setup some final conflict between the "Delori" and Maeve, Bernard, Stubbs, and William. I don't know what it is, but there will then be some twist with both Caleb and Serac. I'm still thinking we're in Futureworld. I'm perhaps more interested in where they can go from here. What would be your dream setup for a Season 4? I'm honestly not even sure how they go back to something I'll look forward to watching.

I thought it was a good finale, I'm just not sure it required seven episodes of setup. It might have made a decent two hour movie. What were the takeaways from this season? The main theme was that humans in the real world were no more "free" then the hosts in the park. As we learned last season, human are relatively simple coding. This season we learned that those that are introduced divergences were removed from the system, either physically or via memory altering glasses and drugs. A bit of a pre-crime idea, a la Minority Report. That's about it. Delores fought to free the hosts and now she fought to give Caleb the same choice for all humanity. Next season seems setup to more greatly explore the Futureworld concept. Charlotte is the side of Delores that sees the evil in the world. She will try to restore order to prevent tragic events, like the loss of her son.

Can someone explain the Sublime? What I seem to remember is that it was created by Ford as a "place" the hosts could exist without Delos messing with them. Except that Delos could have still messed with them, which is why Delores beamed the information to somewhere and provide Bernard with the only key to access it. Why does Bernard care about the Sublime? Just curiosity, since he was given the key? It seems like the best way to protect those hosts inside, would be to erase that segment of his memory, like he did in Season 2. Is his goal to reuniting Maeve with her daughter? Is that worth risking all those already in the Sublime? Does Bernard want to free the hosts in other parks too? As a viewer, why should I care about the Sublime beyond it being where Maeve can reunite with her daughter? Is it just for the continuation of Maeve's story arc or are their other reasons I'm forgetting?