When the information got here out that HBO had canceled Westworld after its fourth season, followers of the formidable sci-fi sequence have been rightfully enraged. In any case, creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Pleasure had a fairly clear plan on how they have been going to wrap issues up on Season 5. Moreover, Season 4 ended with a fairly large cliffhanger regarding a future conflict between humanity and hosts. Nonetheless, from a enterprise standpoint, there have been fairly good causes to off the present: the prices have been excessive and the viewers had been dwindling ever because the finish of its first run in 2016. And, to be frank, it’s not laborious to know why.
It’s at all times unhappy when a present is killed earlier than its time, particularly when there have been already plans for a neat wrap-up within the close to future. Nevertheless, in Westworld’s case, the sequence had already met its pure ending lengthy earlier than its cancelation. To be extra particular, the present ought to’ve ended after its very first season. From then on, what began as an ideal piece of tv steadily became a complicated mess that utterly misplaced contact with what made it so nice to start with. Certain, perhaps Nolan and Pleasure had plans for a five-chapter e book, however, in actuality, Westworld ought to have at all times been a brief story.
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Season 1 of ‘Westworld’ Is a Good Miniseries
Picture through HBO
The primary season of Westworld is a nice instance of how nice storytelling may be achieved via tv, and one which stands completely by itself. It’s a narrative concerning the nature of humanity, about oppression, and concerning the darkish path that grief takes us via. It’s the story of an previous man, Ford (Anthony Hopkins), who turns into disillusioned with humanity after the dying of his associate and decides that it’s time for a brand new sort to take over the world. It’s additionally the story of a bright-eyed younger man, William (Jimmi Simpson), who discovers the darkness in him via his many visits to Westworld, and the story of The Man in Black (Ed Harris), who believes himself to be a god, the middle of the universe, solely to be confirmed flawed. Lastly, it’s the story of two ladies, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wooden) and Maeve (Thandiwe Newton), and their journey in direction of consciousness and liberation. All of that is neatly wrapped up in a basic “us versus them” narrative about people and robots — or, slightly, hosts.
The story is split into two timelines. Previously, we meet William throughout his first go to to the Westworld park, by which he falls in love with a bunch named Dolores. All through his travels along with her, he turns into satisfied that she has a thoughts of her personal and, subsequently, is totally different from all different hosts, who merely observe their programming. This perception is rapidly destroyed when he returns to the park solely to find that Dolores doesn’t bear in mind him anymore. Her thoughts has been erased, identical to a pc’s reminiscence.
Years later, William returns to the park as The Man in Black, a vicious killer solely in a single factor: discovering the middle of the Maze, a secret sport hidden within the depths of Westworld. What The Man in Black doesn’t know, however will quickly sufficient discover out, is that the Maze isn’t meant for him or every other friends of the park. In actuality, the Maze is a path created for Dolores and different hosts to succeed in consciousness.
The primary season of Westworld ends with Dolores lastly turning into conscious of her nature and of all of the violence dedicated in opposition to her sort by the human friends of Westworld. With the assistance of different hosts, she conducts a bloodbath within the park and pronounces the rise of a brand new species. That is revealed to be all a part of Ford’s plan: the creator of Westworld turned so disillusioned with individuals after seeing how they behaved in a world with no actual penalties that he determined it was time for humanity to finish.
Whereas Dolores enacts her personal model of Judgment Day, one other host, Maeve, makes plans to flee the park complicated, believing herself to have achieved consciousness. Nevertheless, her escape was additionally a part of Ford’s plan, having been conceived as a decoy to permit the hosts in chilly storage to hitch Dolores’ forces. Upon realizing this, she achieves true consciousness and free will by deciding to return into the park to search out the daughter that she misplaced.
It’s an ideal ending for a narrative that was all about what it means to observe our hearts’ need. Two hosts reached consciousness. Nevertheless, one in all them — Dolores —, merely enacted the massacre that her former grasp wished upon humanity. Did she actually wish to do that? Or was it simply a part of her programming? What’s the distinction, in the long run? Alternatively, we now have Maeve, the one who was actually in a position to surpass the needs of her creators and search for love as a substitute of homicide. Humanity will meet its destiny, however not via her palms. And, thus, will it meet its destiny actually via the palms of hosts, or are hosts merely one other weapon created by people?
Increasing the Universe of ‘Westworld’ In the end Did not Work
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The Westworld Season 1 finale leaves many questions up within the air, however not of the sort that must be answered later by the creators. They’re questions that viewers are imagined to suppose on and are available to their very own conclusions. And, but, in 2018, Westworld acquired itself a second season that appeared to reply all the viewers’ doubts about what occurred after Dolores’ bloodbath.
Now, there are many good arguments as to why Westworld ought to’ve truly ended after Season 2. Significantly, the sequence’ second run presents a neater conclusion for the storylines of Dolores and Maeve. Nevertheless, are these conclusions truly crucial? Let’s study them a bit of nearer, we could?
On the finish of Season 2, Dolores escapes the park, one thing that we already knew she would do after she killed everybody within the Season 1 finale. In the meantime, Maeve discovered her daughter, however was as soon as once more separated by her in an try to save lots of different hosts from Dolores and the Clementine (Angela Sarafyan) virus — a really unsatisfying ending for a personality whose major goal was to be reunited with the life that she misplaced due to the whims of her creators. As a substitute of an individual along with her personal needs, Maeve is became merely a foe for Dolores. This turns into an excellent higher downside in Seasons 3 and 4, by which Maeve has completely no goal in addition to stopping Rehoboam after which Dolores from controlling humanity.
One other downside that emerges in Season 2 that may turn into even higher in following seasons is simply how complicated the plot acquired only for the sake of being complicated. The writers appear to have mistaken structural complexity with narrative and thematic depth. The 2 timelines from Season 1 have been introduced again only for the sake of it, which pressured us to spend so much of time with the individuals working the park — characters we didn’t even care that a lot about to start with. New layers have been added to Ford’s plan to interchange humanity with a brand new, robotic sort, and now there was an excellent convoluted scheme to repeat human minds and remake them into hosts. By Season 4, this all had led to Dolores turning the entire world right into a park for former host to play in as friends, torturing people now disadvantaged of free will.
By Diving Into the Actual World, ‘Westworld’ Misplaced the Pleasure of the Park
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However maybe the best crime of Westworld Seasons 2, 3, and 4 isn’t the messy plot, however how they abandon the park for a extra generic sci-fi narrative. A fantastic a part of what made Westworld enjoyable to look at was how the present subverted Western tropes via using science fiction parts, making us surprise concerning the extra complicated undertones of the tales that we inform ourselves. The Western setting additionally gave the sequence a novel look that set it other than different exhibits of the style. By selecting to depart this old-timey environment behind, Westworld turned almost indistinguishable from all different tales about robots attempting to take over humanity.
Granted, Season 2 nonetheless had plenty of moments set within the authentic park, and so they have been fairly nice. Nevertheless, they have been solely half of the story. The opposite half was only a bunch of individuals wearing common darkish clothes talking technological mumbo-jumbo identical to in any unimaginative, run-of-the-mill sci-fi story. In Season 4, they tried to recapture a few of this magic by having Maeve and Caleb (Aaron Paul) journey to Prohibition World, however that didn’t final lengthy.
Now, to be truthful, Westworld Seasons 2 via 4 aren’t fully irredeemable. Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) and Bernard’s (Jeffrey Wright) journeys in direction of consciousness have been nearly as thrilling to look at as Dolores’ and Maeve’s. Caleb’s combat in opposition to Rehoboam was additionally fairly attention-grabbing, although it could actually have felt extra at dwelling in a wholly totally different present. Ultimately, there have been attention-grabbing concepts scattered all through the later seasons of Westworld, they only didn’t match properly sufficient with what the sequence initially was. And contemplating simply how nice and cohesive Season 1 was, they ended up cheapening what would have in any other case been an ideal story.