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4 April 22 - 28, 2018
El Dorado News-Times
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Strange new frontiers
Sentient hosts stake their claim over ‘Westworld’
By K.A. Taylor
TV Media
The concept of androids has perme- ated social consciousness since the 1800s, but it wasn’t until 1984’s sci-fi hit “The Terminator” graced the screen that people genuinely feared the pros- pect of “the singularity,” and a world where humans would become ruled by machines.
While most films and novels have suggested that the robot rebellion willbebroughtinwithabang,“West- world” proved that a whimper was equally, if not more, effective. This soft realization leads to some formidable action, however, with the hosts ready to venture out and discover the many layers of the park when season 2 begins Sunday,April22,onHBO.
Thepremiseof“Westworld”issome- what familiar, due to the popularity of the android sentience trope in science fiction.Theseriesoriginsstemfromthe 1973 Michael Crichton film of the same name, upon which it is loosely based.
Season 1 introduced viewers to Westworld, a theme park in the not- too-distant future that allows society’s wealthiest to indulge in the ultimate immersiveexperience.Thoughother locations are alluded to, the bulk of the show’s first season takes place in Sweetwater,afrontiertowncomplete with saloons, gunslingers and an eerily recognizable piano score. Given the
choice of black or white hat, humans can either experience a kinder, gentler version of the Wild West, or delve deeper into a gritty world of vengeance and violence, allowing themselves to express all manner of taboo, morally questionable acts.
This experience is only a success due to the plethora of android hosts that populate the parks.The freshman season introduced us to the saloon’s madam, Maeve Millay (Thandie New- ton, “ER”), whose recurring dreams aboutadaughterfromapaststoryline (pre-madam) gradually led to her becoming self-aware.Teddy Flood (James Marsden, “X-Men,” 2000) isn’t quite that cognizant, with the heroic gunslinger propelled more by love than self-realization to assist another host onherquest.Thathostistheenigmatic DoloresAbernathy(EvanRachelWood, “True Blood”). No host still operating has endured the life Dolores has, seen whatshe’sseen,orwouldbeamore likely candidate for becoming fully sentient.
In fact, the rebellion so impeccably orchestrated in promotional material for season 2 of “Westworld” seems largely to fall within the hands of Dolo- resandMaeve,bothofwhomarenow ready to help their kind rise above and usurp the technological throne from theircreators.Althoughseason1gave us the first step in this direction, season 2 promises even bolder and more confi- dent hosts, no longer willing to play nice and be trampled upon by the guiltless whims of humanity. Each of the main androids is forging his or her own path along the outskirts of the frontier, ven- turing into the park’s other “worlds” in search of greater freedom and a deeper truth.
As season 1 established, leaving the park entirely won’t be easy. It will, in fact, require the help of humans. Dolores and the hosts must therefore decide: stake their claim over the
park itself, or find a way to move be- yond its borders, to map out a life for all of their kind in a brave new world.
Although “Westworld” isn’t the first big series about androids to captivate audiences around the globe, no other series has managed — so far — to explore the prospect of the singularity in such a thoughtful and layered way. In drawing out the self-awareness of Dolores and her fellow hosts, series creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan were able to humanize these androids, givingthemasoftervoice.Viewersun- derstand and support their motivations, because they’re able to see themselves in the struggles and hardships endured by the hosts at the hands of their own decadent, careless species.
Newton opened up about this in a recentinterviewwithEntertainment Tonight.Whenpresentedwiththescript for season 2, Newton admits that she was “completely shell-shocked” by the directioninwhichJoyandNolanwere taking the series. “It was absolutely not what I thought was going to happen,” she said.
Newton was quite tight-lipped regarding what would or would not be occurring during the second season, whetheronthemacrolevelregarding the entire world of the series, or at a mi- cro level when discussing her character Maeveandherownmotivations:“As far as I know — because I really don’t know — as far as Maeve knows, she has a degree of command over what she’s doing.”
She admits that, whether being instructed to or otherwise, holding back information is essential to the viewer experience, though, because “it’s de- layed gratification” that allows us to “enjoy discovering” what will happen next with the series.
If the first season of “Westworld” left audiences with one primary lesson, it’s this: truth is entirely abstract. Hosts we believed to be self-motivated were long manipulated, those we thought to be human only acting so.A creator’s relationship with his own creation is often multifaceted and seldom one- dimensional. Everything that Dolores, Maeve and the other self-aware hosts believe they know about humanity will be tested as they try to forge their own paths in what may simply be yet an- other maze they’re being coaxed to run by their master’s hand.
Thandie Newton as seen in “Westworld”
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