Beep boop hello, fellow humans who are definitely not robots who just think you’re humans, and welcome to our review of HBO’s science fiction series, Westworld. This episode is all about the failures of capitalism, how it picks winners and losers, how it harms them all to varying degrees, and how revolution is possible through a radical redistribution of data. There will be spoilers for episode five only, so build the god you wish to see in the world, and find a visually fun way to cope with your predetermined future, here are five thoughts on Westworld season three, episode five: “Genre.”
1. Serac and Rehoboam
When Serac and his brother were children, they witnessed a nuclear strike against their home, Paris, from just outside the city. Serac thought God had abandoned humanity, and his brother thought God had never existed in the first place, so they sought to create their own god, Rehoboam, to control and protect humankind. Rehoboam is an artificial intelligence that uses data that had been collected on everyone in the world before online privacy laws, (that’s nowadays), to predict everyone’s behavior, and make decisions about what they should do with their lives. Some people are less predictable than others; Serac calls them “outliers.” Serac determines the best thing to do for them is to forbid them from procreation, and give them high-risk careers, like the army, or construction, which became Caleb’s career trajectory. Serac’s own brother turned out to be one of these “outliers” after, among other things, he told Serac they should kill the head of Incite for attempting to misuse Rehoboam. Serac imprisoned his brother, but actually ended up murdering the head of Incite anyway. Serac believes that he is acting in humanity’s best interest, but like all dictators, the rules that are so necessary for everyone else don’t apply to him.
Rehoboam isn’t only in charge of everyone’s individual life. Serac uses Rehoboam to control the President of Brazil, threatening to embolden an already existing insurrectionist movement by tanking the value of Brazil’s currency. Rehoboam really acts like a god, and Serac is its devoted disciple. Serac’s beliefs are best summed up when one of his lackeys offers him “bad news” and he replies, “If it’s news, it’s unexpected, which is never good.” Rehoboam’s power is derived from its omniscience. Anything that is unpredictable is a threat to its power. Dolores is one of these “outliers” and is absolutely a threat. She even has some experience killing gods.
2. Genre
In an ineffective attempt to escape, Liam Dempsey sticks a needle in Caleb’s neck and injects him with genre, a recreational drug. As they and Dolores flee Serac’s murderous goons, Caleb experiences the thrilling chase through changing drug-induced lenses, from noir, to opera, to romance, to Iggy Pop. Iggy Pop is a genre, right? Anyway, it says so much about this capitalist dystopia that even the wealthiest people are constantly trying to escape their reality. Through designer drugs, and through trips to robot-inhabited theme parks like Westworld, the 1% just want to get away from it all; “it all” being the height of social and economic success.
Genre is an escape, but more importantly, it’s a spectacle, both for the fictional drug users, and for the real life human viewers of the television program Westworld. Caleb’s drug trip is very fun to watch. Metaphors for the failings of capitalism are great, but have you seen Aaron Paul blow up a car with a rocket launcher to the tune of Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries?”
3. Malores: the Dolores of Malores and Halores
As Malores (that’s the Dolores driving the Martin-shaped-body, Liam’s deceased security guard), walks a controlled Bernard through the Incite offices, Bernard begs her to consider if Dolores is using her, if she’s willing to die for Dolores. Malores admits unemotionally that not everyone will survive this plan, though she prioritizes Bernard’s life because he’s “the only one we can’t replace” meaning Dolores was either unable or unwilling to make a copy of Bernard’s brain. Malores then blows herself up with a few of Serac’s employees, which seems to have been the plan from the beginning. Bernard wasn’t totally out of line for questioning why Malores would follow Dolores to her own death, but it turns out that Malores is as devoted to the cause as Dolores. As far as we know, Malores hasn’t suffered the same kinds of body-horror identity crises as Halores. Though all three share an identical brain, the moment that brain inhabits a new body, they become their own individual. Imagine if you cloned yourself. Your clone begins their existence with your memories; they are in every way identical to you. But the moment they begin experiencing life apart from you, they’ve become their own unique individual. It just so happens that Malores agrees with Dolores about the necessity of self-sacrifice. You might say that, of Malores and Halores, Malores is the Dolores.
Continued below4. A Redistribution of Data
Team Dolores shares all the data collected and analyzed by Rehoboam with the whole world. The analyses include whether marriage is recommended, whether reproduction is allowed, and what kinds of jobs people are allowed to work. Caleb’s friend Ash learns she is predicted to die a violent death in five to eight years. One man on the train learns his friends and colleagues most commonly describe him as: “asshole,” “unreliable,” “crazy,” “unprofessional,” “flaky,” and “loud.” One woman on the train learns she’s predicted to have early onset Alzheimer’s in twelve years and is therefore not allowed to reproduce. A mother of a young daughter sees that her daughter is predicted to have major depression and die from suicide.
While Bernard observes, “she’s sending them off their loops,” Liam desperately warns that showing people their (prescribed) futures will have dire consequences. As Team Dolores walks off the train in slow motion, they see people coping (and not coping) in various ways, to the tune of “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. One person just sits on the curb and cries. One person sticks their torso out of a moving car and shouts with reckless abandon. One person beats up another. One person throws a rock through a glass window. To sum them all up in one simple metaphor, a dog runs of their leash. This data, this knowledge, gives people like Liam their power. To redistribute the data is to redistribute power. People are less likely to put up with playing the loser in the great game of capitalism if they know they have no chance of ever winning.
5. How Capitalists Justify Capitalism
After all the data has been redistributed, and all his money has been stolen, Liam has nothing left to do but scream at Dolores, Caleb, Ash, and Giggles on the beach. He tells them that destroying Rehoboam will not help them, because, “the system isn’t the prison, you are.” This is a common defense of capitalism. If you aren’t successful under capitalism, it’s because you personally have failed. You didn’t work hard enough. But in Westworld, just like in real life, that’s bullshit. Rehoboam actually prevents people from succeeding. Rehoboam predicts that Ash will die a violent death, and therefore won’t allow her to find fulfilling gainful employment, requiring her to commit crimes to survive, making it more likely that she will die a violent death. Rehoboam’s predictions are self-fulfilling prophecies. Both in the sci-fi capitalist dystopia and in the real life one, when “the system” decides someone isn’t worth investing in, they don’t get the resources they need to succeed. If they believe it’s their own fault because they haven’t worked hard enough, and/or if they believe they will eventually succeed because they do work hard enough, then the system doesn’t have to change, and the “loop” continues.
Aristotle’s six parts of theater, in order of importance, are: plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle. This episode exemplifies how Westworld does each of these uniquely well. The great redistribution of data is a fresh, compelling story, that has deeply interesting things to say about capitalism and the data-industrial-complex. Each character is believably nuanced and lovingly portrayed, from Malores’ dedicated revolutionary to Ash’s resolved avenger. There are at least three expertly-crafted memorable quotes, and an impeccable soundtrack that borderline steals the show. Also, they blow up a car with a rocket launcher. Some works of science fiction are totally cerebral, while others are more like action movies. Westworld is perfectly both. Until next time, beep, boop, goodbye.
