Westworld X: Reloaded for Fourth Season

[DireWolfSpirit]

Saw S4/1-

The only way I'm going to feel in tune with this is if I do a rewatch of S3 because I'm completely lost with what this storyline is at this point?

[psynetik123]

2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The only way I'm going to feel in tune with this is if I do a rewatch of S3 because I'm completely lost with what this storyline is at this point?

Only if you wanna torture yourself with braindead writing and plotholes the size of the Grand Canyon, go right ahead.

[psynetik123]

5 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

eta: what was with the flies anyway? How’d William do that? And how did he straighten out?

The opening credits clearly show an artificial fly being created just like one of the Hosts, so obviously they're some sort of AI robot thing created by Halores to control and manipulate humans, in the same way that humans used to control the Hosts. Which explains why that Spanish dude ended up doing William's bidding against his will.

[psynetik123]

5 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

Dolores is dead, but Evan Rachel Wood stars as a woman who works in the gaming industry. Presumably she’s a secret Dolores clone?

It looks like the world that Christina inhabits is another park. Or it could be the real world that Halores is transforming into a park, as part of her plan to take revenge on humanity.

Notice how at the very beginning Christina wakes up the exact same way Dolores did in Season 1. The housemate asking her to choose black or white shoes. There's also those dudes at the beginning saying things like "This place is fucking wild" and "Cant believe this is your first time". And that Peter dude blaming her for writing his life story. Oh, and Teddy somehow showing up at the end, even though the last time we saw him he was uploaded to a virtual world to live out his dreams of living a nice, quiet life on a farm.

Very blatant and obvious clues that it's a park or at least a simulated environment.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I honestly dont care at this point cos the writers are fucking morons.

Either that, or I'm seriously waiting for Nolan and his wife to announce that they fired the entire writers room in the interim and replaced it with an algorithm, which would explain a lot.

[Cas Stark]

Ouch

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jun/25/westworld-how-the-most-glorious-show-on-tv-became-the-biggest-mess

This goes in my not watching until it's all over category of show.

[Myrddin]

4 hours ago, psynetik123 said:

It looks like the world that Christina inhabits is another park. Or it could be the real world that Halores is transforming into a park, as part of her plan to take revenge on humanity.

Notice how at the very beginning Christina wakes up the exact same way Dolores did in Season 1. The housemate asking her to choose black or white shoes. There's also those dudes at the beginning saying things like "This place is fucking wild" and "Cant believe this is your first time". And that Peter dude blaming her for writing his life story. Oh, and Teddy somehow showing up at the end, even though the last time we saw him he was uploaded to a virtual world to live out his dreams of living a nice, quiet life on a farm.

Very blatant and obvious clues that it's a park or at least a simulated environment.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I honestly dont care at this point cos the writers are fucking morons.

Either that, or I'm seriously waiting for Nolan and his wife to announce that they fired the entire writers room in the interim and replaced it with an algorithm, which would explain a lot.

I haven't watched it yet (we're rotating out of HBO until the fall), but it sounds like you're describing a Matrix-like scenario where everything is virtual (explains Teddy) and the machines are trapping humans in a VR alternate reality.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

17 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Saw S4/1-

The only way I'm going to feel in tune with this is if I do a rewatch of S3 because I'm completely lost with what this storyline is at this point?

I rewtached S3 not too long ago and it was better than my first impression. That said I'm not entirely sure how this episode is connected. The writers are determined to confusing the audience.

[DMC]

The Season of the Flies!!!  I liked how the Mexican Cartel apparently took over the Hoover Dam and by the sounds of it most of the southwest in the future.  Also thought it was funny that we meet Maeve basically how we leave Wanda at the end of her show - in mountainous seclusion (well, relative seclusion for a robot).  I half expected to see another Maeve planning dastardly things.  Anyway, other than that, we'll just have to wait and see.  Glad Jesse finally settled down and had a kid.

[JGP]

Would be cool if it wasn't in VR and society in the pocket for all the AI is reaching out, Dolores now their pinocchio-type prodigy. She's there but recast, and being a real girl with, I don't know, William using Dolores. The next step toward harnessing measures through AI, and letting her discover herself her the unhuman aspect. Dolores the maze. And everyone trying to figure out what's going on while the pocket AI decided to protect Dolores. Ressurection for machines is no big as long as you got that individual spark maybe. 

I have absolutely zero idea what's happening yet, just riffing. But if it pans out or not I can't say I didn't get hooked. I'll check out the next episode for sure.  

[SpaceChampion]

The simplest explanation is it is Humanworld, created by the AIs in order to give humans a chance to repeatedly live out their lives until they're not assholes any more.  Purgatory or hell, or if you're a good person heaven.

So that's probably not it.

[JGP]

Hopefully not.
 

The time jump is interesting. If Caleb’s life is real and human is human (mostly) what the fuck is William after. Just the AI? If the flies override control of human beings, he does appear to control them. Or he can but it’s not exclusive. Access then? Could also be a red herring. Is he behind the spread of the story through the same medium to the citizenry? Was the guy and his horrible pass at Dolores an NPC as well, and if so who or what is writing him.

Will Dolores figure out she has the encryption key. And or if that’s not a misdirect and William actually thinks Dolores is dead, I’m going to stop guessing and wait for the next episode.

[Durckad]

I don't know if this episode was kind of boring or if I just have no idea what is currently going on in this show.

Either way, not the most auspicious start for the season.

[DMC]

33 minutes ago, JGP said:

And or if that’s not a misdirect and William actually thinks Dolores is dead, I’m going to stop guessing and wait for the next episode.

Well, "William" would presumably know what Charlotte-Dolores knows, and unless I'm misremembering Season 3 wrong (totally possible), for all Charlotte-Dolores knows, Dolores-Dolores is the only one who knew where the encryption key is.  In other words, Charlotte-Dolores does not know Bernard has the encryption key based on what we've seen.  Anyway, in that vein it is not surprising that William would refer to the Dolores that "died" at the end of Season 3 as, ya know, dead.

[Kalbear]

I still like it a lot. I still think it's one of the better Sci fi stories and I love the s3 world they did. 

I'm eager to find out more about the other superAI they had to destroy.

[Cas Stark]

It seems like the buzz for this show is over.  The reviews so far have been mixed to negative and the audience has not returned.  I wonder if HBO will renew it for one more season after this?  As an aside, I found a lot of Lisa Joy's comments about this season to be a little to cute. I respect Joy/Nolan for the ambition of the show, but, ambition doesn't necessarily translate into a good program.

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Cas Stark said:

and the audience has not returned.

Well, the ratings for season 3 were already pretty low, but yeah they've basically dropped to nonexistent.  Wondering how much effect HBO Max not even being launched yet during season 3 has on that.

[RumHam]

1 hour ago, Cas Stark said:

The reviews so far have been mixed to negative...

Do you know, did they send out the first four episodes for review? I thought the premier was fine, and maybe they've learned a lesson and are being more straight forward. I'd be disappointed to learn it gets worse.

If nothing else I still love that theme song.

[Cas Stark]

31 minutes ago, RumHam said:

Do you know, did they send out the first four episodes for review? I thought the premier was fine, and maybe they've learned a lesson and are being more straight forward. I'd be disappointed to learn it gets worse.

If nothing else I still love that theme song.

Yes, they released the first 4 eps to reviewers.  

Oh I don't think they're being straightforward at all.  Joy's comments that irritated me were about how Dolores is really dead and she recast ERW as a totally 'new' character and she hopes no one notices because now she has brown hair. [hardyharhar] Too cute.  Last season was allegedly 'more straightforward' in terms of timeline, and I thought it was by far the worst season, yes, much worse than the convoluted season 2, though I know some people liked it.

The music is fabulous and I'm sure it will have some great episodes, and still looks great.  It's sad that a show that was so fantastic it's first season, has not only lost the audience but lost its footing as well.  I can't imagine I will ever decline into 'hate watching' like I did with GOT, but it's a shame they couldn't keep it together.  I suspect the age of virtually no budget limits at HBO is past, and it's too bad Westworld never quite lived up to the first season.

**I still think the Caleb character is a weak and pointless addition to the cast.

[Myrddin]

I wonder how many people wait until more episodes are released before starting. I know in our household, very few shows are watched on release (and those are driven by me like Wheel of Time or Kenobi). My family will all just wait until they can binge the whole season.

I'm not saying audiences haven't lost interest in Westworld, just that viewing habits have changed so I hope their metrics for success get updated too.  

[sifth]

3 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

Yes, they released the first 4 eps to reviewers.  

Oh I don't think they're being straightforward at all.  Joy's comments that irritated me were about how Dolores is really dead and she recast ERW as a totally 'new' character and she hopes no one notices because now she has brown hair. [hardyharhar] Too cute.  Last season was allegedly 'more straightforward' in terms of timeline, and I thought it was by far the worst season, yes, much worse than the convoluted season 2, though I know some people liked it.

The music is fabulous and I'm sure it will have some great episodes, and still looks great.  It's sad that a show that was so fantastic it's first season, has not only lost the audience but lost its footing as well.  I can't imagine I will ever decline into 'hate watching' like I did with GOT, but it's a shame they couldn't keep it together.  I suspect the age of virtually no budget limits at HBO is past, and it's too bad Westworld never quite lived up to the first season.

**I still think the Caleb character is a weak and pointless addition to the cast.

Believe me, I was hate watching season 3, towards the end. It was the early days of lock down and I was bored out of my mind, so I figured the show helped kill an hour or so of my time, but man did it make me angry after watching what happened. Heck I use to watch this show and Better Call Saul season 5 back to back and the difference in writing was insane.

I just can't bring myself to watch season 4. Maybe one day I'll give it a try, but it would probably take another lock down and nothing else on tv, for me to even consider watching it again.