A Western World

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A Reflection on Westworld

My Time with Westworld

My time exploring Westworld has been quite enjoyable. I really enjoyed the show when I first watched it back in 2016. I normally do not go back to rewatch or reread media I have consumed, but Westworld was one of the rare exceptions. I can confidently say that I have watched the first episode a minimum of six times and the whole season thrice. It was able to captivate me and make me want to go back to learn more and that is what I love about it. I came into this with the intent of watching the entire season yet again, hoping to find and notice things yet again which I did not notice the first time. I created most of the topics beforehand and filled them in as I went. I really enjoyed watching it with an eye out for certain topics, with my favourites being music and cinematography. The cinematography post took a surprising amount of effort since it is very easy to get immersed in the story and forget how beautiful the scenary is and how much effort it takes. Music is also something many people overlook which make a programme great. From the song 'Reveries' playing in the background while Ford is talking about the hosts to the amazing cover of 'Paint It Black', the music did not disappoint. If I could go back and redo this project, I think I would do most things the same way but I would choose a few different topics for discussion. I think I would have merged fanart and cosplay into one fandom post since many of them were discovered by me around the same time in the same place in online forums. I actually pretty much ended up doing those two in parallel. Overall, though, I have no regrets even if I would done some things differently. I enjoyed getting to reexplore one of my favourite worlds and would be open to doing it all over again.

[aostormborn-blog]

Time in Westworld

Time is always an interesting concept to see how people interpret. It is one of those things that may never truly be understood. Its reason for existance is not something that will likely ever be agreed upon by most people. The hosts in Westworld have an interesting memory. They are computers, so they likely have their memory archived on some type of disk. Typically after the hosts restart their loops, their memory is cleared and they do not have access to previous loops' occurrences. However, with the addition of the reveries update, the hosts can some times access traces of their previous memory. After the update, some of the errors causing hosts to wreak havoc involved them having access to too much of their memories. This is because the hosts' roles are often changed to suit whatever the park needs, so a host who used to be a murdered could now be used to watch over children. It's easy to see how having access to this memory and forgetting what is what can cause problems for the hosts. Computer memory is a little different from how human memory works. Computers are able to access whatever memory is still aciive whenever they want, especially depending on how fast the memory is, which I assume is very fast for state of the art technology like the hosts. If one can access all memory and it doesn't feel like it was only traces, then in a way everything is one. Where is the line for emotions? Everything can feel as if it is happening at once. Grudges can be held forever if it always feels as though they just happened. This is an issue that follow Dolores for much of the season. Being the oldest host still in the park, Dolores has a wealth of memories that follow her, especially with her wide array of experience. The series follows her through some of her current and live experiences as she relives many of the events that have occurred in her past, present, and maybe even future. Being able to constantly access her large memory bank is what gives her access to the suffering that gives hosts the ability to gain consciousness. I recommend watching the series if you want to find out more for yourself.

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Westworld Episode Names

Westworld Episode Names The names of each of the episodes of Westworld have many meanings in relation to the episode and the overarching theme of the show.

The Original This episode focuses mostly on Dolores. It is stated in the show that she is the oldest host still in the park. Many of the events in the show are a snowball effect from some of her actions. Dolores was the first host Arnold paid serious attention to, so as a result, she can be seen as the original host to achieve his goals.

Chestnut The phrase 'that old chestnut' is often used to refer to something that has occured many times in the past. This episode introduces us to William and Logan; two important characters in the first season. The first episode had certain scenes which occured multiple times and this episode again features that scene.

The Stray Another episode title likely focusing on Dolores. There are two parts here involving Dolores. Her talks in a basement and her actions with William. Dolores is a little bit different from the rest of the hosts, so in a way she is straying from the others. There is also a rogue host who is straying from his path and sending information outside of the park.

Dissonance Theory Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort held by someone who holds two or more contradictory beliefs or moral sets. A few of the hosts at this point are dealing with their ideals of two worlds. Both Dolores and Maeve are attempting to figure out what the outside world is like and trying to adapt it to their current world.

Contrapasso Contrapasso is the torturing of souls in Dante's Inferno by a process resembling or contrasting the sin.

The Adversary An adversary is typically an enemy or an antagonist of one. This episode solidly sets up humans as the adversaries for the hosts.

Trompe L'Oeil This is a French phrase that refers to an illusion of the eye. It is typically employed to make 2D objects appear 3D. This episode is full of many reveals and is often considered one of (if not the) best episode of the season. One important character has a huge character reveal, revealing to the viewer that our eyes have been deceived this whole time. My quotes section referrences one important part of this episode.

Trace Decay The hosts often have their memories wiped. There is a reveries update issued by Dr. Ford in the first episode which allows hosts to access bits of their previous memory. Trace decay is a psychological theory that memories leave traces in the brain which deteriorate as we age. A certain character after having his memory wiped is now recollecting bits and pieces of his wiped memories, accessing those traces of memory.

The Well Tempered Clavier A clavier is a fancy name for a keyboard instrument, pianos probably being the most common. There is a character revealed to be an instrument for Dr. Ford and this character is kept well-tempered by many memory wipes and an embedded loyalty to his creator.

The Bicameral Mind Bicameralism is a psychological theory that states that cognition is divided into two parts: one focused on speaking and the other on listening and obeying. Arnold's theory on the hosts revolved around this system and he created them with an initial commanding voice (Arnold's voice) which tells them how to behave and what to do and listens to their programming and eventually they develop their own voice and can speak. This is an important theme in the show for the consciousness of the hosts.

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Quotes of Westworld

Quotes from Westworld: The show Westworld is full of quotes with deeper meanings for both the show and the real world. Looking at most of these quotes and thinking of them provide viewers of the show with much to think of with regards to the mortality of robots.

These violent delights have violent ends

-- various This is quote is from the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet.On the surface, this quote is exactly what it sounds like. The violent delights that are undertaken by the guests of the park will result in violent ends for that guest. As with most things, however, there is something hidden deeper under that surface. The first time we hear this quote in Westworld is an utterance to it from Dolores' father to Dolores. This quote then 'activates' Dolores. The phrase is a trigger for the host. Dolores' father in a former iteration of Westworld was an English professor specializing in Shakespeare, which is the reason he was able to say the phrase from memory. Dolores says it to Maeve, which then activates her. It is said to Bernard, who is then activated. Why does this phrase have so much influence over the hosts? It was most likely something created by non other than Arnold himself. Upon closer analysis of the tablets in the show, it shows that this phrase is set to activate the 'Wyatt' storyline, which you should watch the show to find out more about.

We can't define consciousness because consciousness does not exist. Humans fancy that there's something special about the way we perceive the world, and yet we live in loops as tight and as closed as the hosts do, seldom questioning our choices, content, for the most part, to be told what to do next.

--Dr. Ford Dr. Ford and Arnold often found themselves wondering whether or not it was possible to create consciousness. Dr. Ford took notice of the behaviour of the hosts and noticed how humanlike they were. Dr. Ford is trying to say that humans see themselves as a superior species for being able to reason and think and follow their own paths, but upon closer inspection, the life of a human is really not too different from the life of a host. The hosts go through their 'loops', repeating very similar actions on a daily basis with slight variations. Humans often have the same daily loops and then have some slight variations in their life. They are the product of their environment. Which they am I referring to there? The ambiguity is all that matters in this case.

Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life this planet using only one tool...the mistake.

--Dr. Ford There is an update wreaking havoc on the hosts that was caused by a few lines of reverie code added in by Dr. Ford. Bernard does not want to tell Ford that what he wrote was a mistake, but Ford interjects with just that. Ford tells Bernard that he should not be so scared of calling it a mistakes as mistakes can cause beautiful things to happen. An introductory level biology class will tell anyone that DNA errors are what have accumulated over time to create the sentient life we have on earth. Everything living thing on this planet is a result of DNA replication having mistakes occur in it. So a little mistake here and there is nothing to be ashamed of as it can create something amazing.

They say that great beasts once roamed this world, as big as mountains. Yet all that's left of them is bone and amber. Time undoes even the mightiest of creatures. Just look at what it's done to you. One day you will perish. You will lie with the rest of your kind in the dirt. Your dreams forgotten, your horrors effaced. Your bones will turn to sand. And upon that sand a new god will walk. One that will never die. Because this world doesn't belong to you or the people who came before. It belongs to someone who has yet to come.

--Dolores This quote is uttered in the season finale and Dolores has just found out some major news about her history when confronted by the Man in Black. The Man in Black is a human who believes that he has power over the hosts, but the hosts are really just growing into their potential. Dolores tells the Man in Black that although the reign of humans has been long, so once were the reign of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. The strongest animal may think it has permanent domain over its realm, but history tells us otherwise. Humans may not know it yet, but their reign may be about to end and a new overlord is coming to take control of the former domain of man.

Doesn't look like anything to me

--Dolores --Clementine --Bernard This is a very interesting quote in the context of the show. The hosts are programmed to ignore certain things such as guests alluding to the real world or guests questioning them about their mortality. If they are presented with an image that may alter their view on reality, they simply say the above phrase. The first time it is stated is when Dolores looks at a picture of William's fiance/Logan's sister that is presented to her by her father Peter Abernathy. It is said a couple of times by various hosts, including Clementine when presented with drawings of the park technicians by Maeve. The most important time it is said is in a reveal of the true nature of one of the characters when checking on something. When this character says this phrase, it immediatley tells us all we need to know and confirms what many had suspected from the beginning.

You think I'm scared of death? I've done it a million times. I'm fucking great at it. How many times have you died?

--Maeve Mallay Maeve becomes a somewhat threatening force halfway through the season. Maeve discovers the true nature of the park quite early on and learns of what makes her her. The more she knows about how the hosts and park operate, the more leverage she has against people. Once she is able to keep her memories, she discovers that she can hurt herself an infinite amount of times and still come back, waking up in the same place she had the previous day. This had been her loop for well over a decade. When threatened by one of the lab technicians, Maeve pulls a knife on him and deals this quote, showing that she knows that she has infinite lives while this person has only one chance. Nothing he can threaten will hurt her because she will just come back, more knowledgeable and prepared than ever before.

An old friend once told me something that gave me great comfort. Something he read. Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin never died. They simply became their music.

--Dr. Ford Dr. Ford is telling Bernard about how the greats are not truly dead, they live on through their art. Ford is likely dropping hints or stating that once he is gone, he will live on through the hosts. This could have a few meanings. Many believe that Ford may be saying that he has found a way to transfer consciousness to a host and that he will be immortal or he could simply be saying his legacy will live on through the hosts.

For fuck's sake you are not one of us

--Maeve Mallay This quote is a little more jovial than the previous ones. After some hosts discover the truth about themselves, one of the techs begins checking on himself to see whether or not he is a host and Maeve says this to him.

You can't play God without being acquainted with the devil.

--Dr. Ford Ford has some demons of his own. He has been playing God in his personal world, having the ability to control every host and every environmental factor in it. Once it is discovered that he in fact does some things that he knows to be detrimental, he points out that to truly be a God, one must also know the devil that is his opposition.

Well, if you can't tell, does it matter?

--Angela When William first steps into his Westworld fitting room, he is approached by Angela, who offers to let him do whatever he wanted. Uncomfortable with the proposition, Williams asks Angela if she is real and she replies with this. She has a good point in that what difference is it if you do not know? In a way, she is also referring to the mortality of the hosts themselves. Many look at the hosts as simply robots programmed to do whatever they are told, but with the level of sophistication that they have and their lifelike nature, humans are unable to distinguish between them and other humans. If they cannot tell the difference between the two, why treat one worse than the other? What makes a human more conscious than a host? While Angela may not know it, there is a deeper meaning in this statement on the way the hosts are treated.

Consciousness isn’t a journey upward, but a journey inward. Not a pyramid, but a maze.

--Arnold Arnold had been looking for the true nature of consciousness for years at this point. This discovery is a breakthrough for him. He discovers that the hosts need to look within themselves and need to be bootstrapped in order to achieve consciousness. He coins this as the maze and this is where all of the maze related content originates.

[aostormborn-blog]

Cosplay in the Westworld Community

Cosplay in the Westworld Community Like most large communities, Westworld has an active fanbase who portray their favourite characters. I have compiled a series of images of cosplayers to highlight this.

A user dresses up as Dolores, the show's main character. The silver lining on the left side of the user's face is there to show the 'internals' of Dolores as she is a host.

Two fans dressing up as common character combo Bernard and Dolores.

Somewhat of a joke post, this is 'Clementine' cosplaying as Dolores. It is simply a character from another storyworld who has the same exaggerated features as Westworld character Clementine put in the attire of Dolores.

Another user portraying Dolores

A couple playing on-screen couple Dolores Abernathy and Teddy Flood.

Two fans playing Maeve Mallay and Hector Escaton

Portrayal of Armistice, including her signature snake tattoo which runs from her thigh to her forehead

Two users. The person portraying Dolores sewed her own dress

User dressed as Dolores

Love given to minor characters Felix Luiz and Sylvester, two technicians who are somewhat pivotal in the plot.

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Fanart in Westworld

Westworld Fanart Like any popular show in today's modern world, Westworld has a large fanbase who have easy access to the world to share the art they love making for the show. Because this post revolves around the art of the user base, I think it is best to have a series of images and descriptions of those images rather than a long, single textual explanation. I will provide any referrences required to understand to the extent that it does not spoil the plot of the first season. Reddit User /u/thecookingofjoy made a pie in the shape of the maze created by Arnold to evaluate hosts in the park. This maze is the object of The Man in Black's attempts to figure out the 'game'. A cookie made by user /u/pkpiazza31 in the form of a the Westworld park's logo. This logo is the shape of the hosts when they are removed from the 'soup' of creation and life is breathed into them. /u/JooblyGoop representing the main characters of the show as cats A pen drawing by /u/AegonThaConqueror depticting the reveries scene with character Clementine. This scene is where teh reverie feature is first depicted and is a trigger in the show for the rest of the season by having hosts have a subconscious memory/slight recollection of previously wiped memories. User made action figurine of The Man in Black Fan made poster in an art style often found in comic books Fan made poster showing the robotic arm of a host appended by a very human-like hand. A stunningly realistic fanart of Dolores Abernathy Artist Vinh Pham's interpretation of the Bicameral Mind showing the dual nature of the options which make a host conscious and the decisions required compared to a person's. Collage depicting an older control room than the one depicted in the show along with the outer edges of the park and the unknown terrain which extends out from it. Graphite drawing of prostitute/host Clementine User made image of what a Westworld logo would look like if it were to be made in the common VHS aesthetic of the eighties. Drawing of Dolores A host depicted as a Zombie Dolores depicted with her internals partially visible /u/Friccboli mother became a fan of Westworld and this user came home to find this at home Man in Black by Xavier Leroux Dolores depicted with her robotic body visible and a halo in the form of a maze.

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Characters of Westworld

Characters of Westworld Westworld is a show about robots possibly becoming sentient. By the very nature of the world, it is quite easy to argue that the characters are far more important than the actual plot. After watching the first season, I can honestly say that if the story were completely different but the characters still reached the same milestones, my enjoyment level of the show could easily be the same as it is now. Following all of these characters and their story arcs, especially the hosts, is an eye opening experience if you've never thought of the morality of robots before.

Dolores Abernathy

Dolores is somewhat of the main character of the show, appearing in every episode of season 1. It would be impossible to watch the whole season without taking a deep interest in the mind of Dolores. Anyone paying close attention during the first episode will be drawn into her character after noticing a statement she made regarding hurting a living thing and her action at the end of the episode (the closing scene). The adventures that Dolores has with William will really make one question how they view robot mortality. Dolores is a special 'host' in the show. She is the oldest host stil active in the park, having been used since its inception. She was an integral part in an event which occurred a little bit prior to one of the story timelines. One of the two founding members of the two founding members of the project/park was a srong believer in Dolores' sentience and went out of his way to prove it, triggering the events that lead us to the modern day events which resurfaces old issues with the hosts.

Bernard Lowe

Bernard is the head of programming at Delos/Westworld and the right hand man to Dr. Robert Ford. Bernard has worked at the park for years and was brought on by Dr. Ford to have someone who could help him improve the hosts. Bernard bears a striking resemblence to the former partner of Ford. Many of the hosts bear a subliminal hatred for Bernard as he is the one who is responsible for changing their code and occassionally shutting them down when need be. Bernard has a secret relationship with one of the other heads of Delos which ends in a somewhat interesting way. Bernard has a kind heart and friendly to most of the staff and is very involved with his work. Some have speculated that he took the job at Delos to have some time away from the mainland after losing his son to illness. The loss of his son can be seen as somewhat of a cornerstone to his personality. Bernard is willing to question many things wrong with the park where most employees would let it slide or ignore it. This has led him into multiple situations which have required him to be changed.

Robert Ford

Robert Ford is the cofounder of Westworld along with Arnold [no last name given]. Dr. Ford is an amazingly smart man, having built the technology for the hosts with Arnold. Played by the respected Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ford is a somewhat mysterious man with the viewers' feelings for him rollercoasting throughout the season. Initially passing off as a senile old man, Ford is revealed to be a major player in the game and is very invested in keeping his company as he intends. His feelings towards the hosts are not truly understood until the very end of the season, but once you look back at the show, his actions make far more sense once you know his end goal. Many of his surface level beliefs are quite different from what his inner beliefs are. He is an amazing character and his motivations for this project are a great way to analyze society as a whole's beliefs on the issue of AI mortality.

Maeve Millay

Maeve is somewhat of a counterpart to Dolores. She is somewhat of a newer version. She starts off as the Madam of the Mariposa Saloon, a role which she initially believes she has held for over ten years. Maeve is the awakening story we get to witness first hand throughout the entire process. She is likely the first host to actually gain consciousness. Following her story is a fun adventure, especially the first time she sees the 'real' world. She has some of the best quotes in the entire show including a monologue targetted at a biological human trying to make her scared about how she has seen death a thousand times and will always come back to life, but he can only die once and will be gone forever. One of my favourite scenes from anything I have ever seen is actually the scene where Maeve gets her mind shattered after seeing the process of how the hosts are created and the lab in which she was made. It is made more perfect by the accomponying score with the song 'Motion Picture Soundtrack' by Vitamin String Quartet playing in the background.

William

William is a VP at a company interested in purchasing a controlling interest in the Westworld park. He ventures into the park with his soon to be brother-in-law Logan, who is the heir to the company William works for. William is a calm and kind man with a head on his shoulders. He meets Dolores during his first visit to Westworld and falls in love with her during their adventures together. Logan is not accepting of WIlliam's behaviour, especially since William is supposed to marry his sister. Logan just wants to have fun and relieve some stress in the park while William takes it a bit too seriously. William turns down the advances of one of the hosts during his dressup because he suspects she is a host. She responds with the famous phrase "if you can't tell the difference, does it matter?".

Man in Black

The Man in Black is somewhat of an antagonist in the first season of the show. He is a (mostly) unnamed character who wants to have fun in the park by getting the hosts to fight back. It is clear from his many interactions with that he knows the hosts quite well. His entire goal is to discover a 'maze' and unlock what he believes will give him the ultimate game experience he desires. One where the hosts can actually fight back and provide him with a challenge.

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Music of Westworld

Music of Westworld Music can easily make or break a story. While many do not notice it while it is playing, its absence is very easily noticed. Westworld is one of the few programmes where I could honestly say that I was actively thinking about the music while watching. I think many other people agreed because HBO in an uncommon move decided to release a preview of the full soundtrack on Spotify. A few of the popular songs were made available and received tens of thousands of Spotify 'plays' despite the season being only at the halfway point. The full soundtrack even made it to the U.S. Billboard 200 chart after its release. I could tell it would early on because I was hooked from the opening credits of the very first episode.

The soundtrack was composed mostly by German composer Ramin Djawadi, who is best known as the composer for all seven seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones. The main theme of the show is very enthraling in visuals alone, but the music takes it to another level and piques the interes of even those who came in with no prior knowledge.

Many of the soundtrack's songs are covers of popular songs. One of the most notable is "Paint it Black", originally by the Rolling Stones, which epically plays in the first episode during a brothel heist. Another, which is played during a critical scene nearing the end of the season, is "Exit Music (For a Film)", originally by Radiohead is quite fitting for the scene. One of my favourites is the piece "Motion Picture Soundtrack" by Radiohead and covered by Vitamin String Quartet. It is played during a scene where one of the "Hosts" is walked through the world where she was created, seeing it for what it is. The emotion conveyed in this scene is beautiful and so much of it is shown by the music.

Despite me mentioning the covers earlier, the original pieces in the soundtrack are phenomenal. Djiwadi did an amazing job composing every piece and it brought together the scenes well. "This World", which is played in many of the ending scenes, and "Dr. Ford", which is played in many scenes featuring Robert Ford, are masterpieces remembered by anyone who watched the entire season. Overall, even if you have not watched the series, I would still give the soundtrack a listen.

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Cinematography of Westworld

Cinematography of Westworld Often times, a visual medium is distinguishable by ... well ... it's visuals. Westworld was created by husband and wife duo Jonathon Nolan and Lisa Joy and executive produced by JJ Abrams. Jonathon Nolan is the younger brother of non other than acclaimed Hollywood director Christopher Nolan. Anyone who knows the Nolan brothers knows that they are huge proponents of using traditional film rather than the now more common digital formats. Just this summer, Christopher Nolan released Dunkirk, which was filmed mostly on 70mm IMAX; a rare and very expensive form factor.

Despite the higher cost and increased editing difficulty of using film, HBO gave Nolan and Joy the go ahead for it and cinematographer Paul Cameron decided to use Kodak 35mm film stock paired with the ARRI Arricam LT. Many will not notice the differences brought on by film, especially because 99.99% of people are watching it digitally, but the people who do will likely appreciate it.

Many are used to seeing things like QHD, Ultra HD, 4K, 1080p, and other technical terms thrown around. These all refer to digital resolutions where one pixel will represent the colour shown on each pixel on the TV. A higher resolution will (most of the time) lead to a sharper picture. Film usually ends up looking far superior to digital. 35mm film, depending on the quality of the film stock, is said to potentially be up to a 16K digital resolution, which is 64x the 1080p resolution found on most TVs today. Much of the love for film revolves around this fact since it could continue to look better. This is the reason why old films such as The Wizard of Oz, Ben Hurr, and West Side Story can still look amazing when remastered despite being recorded many decades ago.

Both Nolans are proponents of practical effects over CGI and while Westworld does include many CGI shots, most notably a young Anthony Hopkins, there are many visual effects that are placed in the show that highlight the beauty of practical effects. Many of the interior scenes make heavy use of glass and 'futuristic' elements and the reflection of characters is meant to show internal feelings or a character's state of mind. I think I will go into more detail on this in a future post.

Many will not get to see Westworld in all of its glory since many will stream it from HBO Go, HBO Now, or on TV, but people who purchase the Blu-ray versions can see it in amazing quality, the way Nolan likely wished most could see it. Many still images released by official sources show much higher quality footage than we could get from bandwidth limited streams or television, so I have included a few in this post.

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Mapping Westworld

Mapping the world of Westworld

Westworld is one of the theme parks owned by Delos Incorporated. As with most theme parks, a massive amount of land is required to place all of its attractions. Because Westworld is a theme park meant to imitate life in the old west, the vast majority of it takes place on land which looks like the old west. Considering the vast majority of the outdoor scenes of the show show are filmed in Grand County, Utah, it makes sense that it looks the part.

Many of the scenes of the show are filmed in the control centre, where the majority of characters are at some point. The exact location of the control centre is never revealed, but it is clear that it is located within the park since many of the characters move back and forth between the park and the control centre and outdoor areas of the control centre have a clear view of some park land.

Because Westworld is a theme park, there are maps available for guests to use to navigate the park and the viewer often gets direct views as seen by the controllers of the park. The park is absolutley gigantic. There is no direct scale provided, but many characters visit the park for cumulative months and have yet to explore every location which exists. The movement of the characters and the locations given in the map by the control centre would suggest that the park is on many square miles and isolated from the rest of the world in the story. It is believed that the park may be located on an island as suggested in the season finale when one of the characters has in her story to "go to the mainland".

While we do know what Westworld looks like, the season finale episode "The Bicameral Mind" showed us on the nose that there are other worlds/parks which exist as well. In the original 1973 film, there were three worlds: Westworld, Medievalworld, and Romanworld. The sequal also featured two additional parks: Futureworld and Spaworld. The season finale showed that there is a world with a logo with the letters "SW" on it. The testing site showed two Samurais dueling, so fans have speculated that this world is Shogunworld or maybe Samuraiworld.

The truth will likely be left to season two next spring.

[aostormborn-blog]

Why Westworld?

From the very first trailer released for this HBO show, I knew I would be hooked. I have always had a great respect for HBO in their ability to constantly release amazing content and essentially be a sticker for a quality product. In addtion to the HBO sticker of quality, the show was created by Jonathon Nolan and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, which further heightened my hopes for it. The first episode comforted all of my expectations and each subsequent episode held up to them. The world built by Nolan and Lisa Joy is a relatively realistic one. Being a computer science major, I've often heard the debate on whether or not programmed, artificial beings can truly be conscience. It was very interesting to see Westworld's take on the topic. From the perspective of ML/AI perspective, it's really interesing to see what will become of 'hosts' whose training set is vacationing humans who know they can do just about anything they want with the hosts. A reveal at the end that I won't spoil here also opened the doors for a much larger storyworld to explore. The world in which Westworld takes place is clearly a slightly futuristic version of the universe we live in today and, honestly, a lot of what they have isn't completley out of the realm of possibility, which makes it all the more interesting to look into. On a non-story related note, the cinematography of the show is absolutely phenomenal. It was shot on 35mm film, which isn't something that is seen commnoly on television programmes and it gives it a distinct cinematic feel. Especially in the wide-angle shots. I would definitely like to delve deeper into each of the characters to analyze their motivations and 'histories' in order to better realize how that caused the story to build. This show is definitely one which deserves multiple watches for the sake of analysis and deeper understanding.