Howdy, fellow humans who are definitely not robots who just think you’re humans, and welcome to our first review of HBO’s science fiction series, Westworld. Why are we reviewing a show that aired four years ago? Because, humans, though I was bitterly disappointed with the recent season three finale, I love this show, and I can’t stop quoting it. I will passive aggressively refer to the finale, but heavy plot spoilers are for episode one only. So gaze into the majestic hills and question the nature of your reality, here are five thoughts on Westworld season one, episode one: “The Original.”
1. Our Robots, Ourselves
I love stories about robots. The dramatic question at the root of every robot story is, what does it mean to be human? We are presented with an entity that is very much like a human in many ways… but isn’t, and we’re meant to question, why isn’t it human? Could it be human? Where is the line? So it is with Westworld.
Westworld is a theme park populated with robots so life-like… they just might be alive. They’re capable of improvisation, just like us humans, but for the most part they stick to their programmed loops, unlike us humans… or is it so unlike us? We logically thinking humans have probably never experienced this in our own lives, but we at least know someone else who repeats behavior that is… not in their own self-interest, if not outright self-destructive. The robots of Westworld allow us to contemplate how human they are, and how robotic we humans are. Not that we are robots. We are humans. You can tell because of how often I say so.
2. These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends
This quote originally comes from Romeo and Juliet where the friar tells Romeo to love more moderately and less passionately, but the quote serves a very different purpose in West World. Peter Abernathy, Dolores’ father, has come across a photograph of a woman in a modern city. As a robot programmed to believe he is in wild-west-times, his inability to process what he sees leads to a mental breakdown. In his confusion, he whispers to Dolores, “These violent delights have violent ends.” Seemingly, it’s referencing how the guests of Westworld will face retribution for their delight in violence. How awful! Can you imagine such a thing, fellow humans? Being entertained by violence? Ugh!
Westworld critiques the way our culture consumes violence. The park guest who shoots Hector and gleefully poses in front of his coffin is clearly meant to be frowned upon. It’s wrong to take such delight in murdering someone, even pretend-murdering someone. However, Westworld simultaneously does the thing it’s critiquing. It depicts gruesome violence to entertain us, we the real-life human viewers. HBO is famous for graphic depictions of sex, violence, and sexual violence. It’s as if the show is telling us we’re bad people for watching it. The difference between we the real-life human viewers and the fictional park guests is that they are perpetrating violence against sentient beings, and we are watching a dramatic creation. No actual sentient beings were harmed in the making of Westworld the show… but that’s what the park guests think too.
Our real-life human culture has a very twisted and often contradictory relationship to violence. It’s okay to be entertained by fictional violence in film, television, and wrestling. It’s okay to play violent video games. Torturing plastic dolls isn’t a crime, but… it’s creepy. It’s socially unacceptable in a way that the Grand Theft Auto franchise isn’t. Westworld offers us the opportunity to think critically about what we find so enjoyable about fictional violence… while we enjoy some fictional violence.
3. That doesn’t look like anything to me
When Peter Abernathy shows Dolores this photograph of a woman in a modern city, Dolores replies, “That doesn’t look like anything to me” which is what all the robots are programmed to say when they see something anachronistic. Counterintuitively, the line is reflective of the deeply human practice of ignoring unwanted information however conclusively presented. (Again, while all of us logically thinking humans have never done this in our own personal lives, we all know some other less enlightened humans who have). It’s an example of how human cognition is not so dissimilar from computer programming.
Continued belowThis oft repeated quote is not only a timeless reflection on a common flawed mode of thinking, it’s also a timeless reflection on how this human weakness is exploited by authoritarian governments. Recall, humans, the classic tale by Hans Christian Andersen, The Emperor’s New Clothes, in which a pair of tailors convince The Emperor that they’ve sewn him magical robes that are only visible to the wise. Because of the Emperor’s status, and the fear that they’d be perceived as unwise, nearly the entire capital looks directly at the clearly naked Emperor and declares that he is wearing beautiful robes. By convincing, or programming, the robots of Westworld to disbelieve the truth as it stares them in the face, the humans of Westworld maintain control. When this episode aired in October 2016, the lesson was prescient, and four years later it is even more so, as governments in the United States and around the world rely on disinformation campaigns on social media to become increasingly (or to remain stagnantly) despotic.
4. A Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose
Under interrogation regarding his breakdown, Peter Abernathy is asked his name. He initially replies, “A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” The poetry-loving humans among you may recognize this famous poem by Gertrude Stein. The line is often interpreted to mean, things are what they are, or as Lauryn Hill would put it, “everything is everything.” Gertrude Stein has also said that she meant to show how the word “rose” itself evokes everything that a rose is, in our minds. She doesn’t have to say that it’s red, or that it’s petals are velvety. We already know, just because she said the word, “rose” and that is the exact picture we imagined. Peter Abernathy, struggling with “reveries” about his past life as a cannibal, cannot answer the question “what is your name” straightforwardly, because unlike the nominal rose, to say his name is not to evoke all of who he is. His identity has been so thoroughly tampered with, he himself is confused. Part of him is a homicidal cannibal, and he’s also a sheriff, and also a quiet cattle herder with a wife and daughter. The very question of what his name is, is absurd. Additionally, roses in reference to names reminds us of another quote from Romeo and Juliet, in which the titular lovers are forbidden from being together because their families are at war. Juliet thusly bemoans, “What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Her parents might not like Romeo’s last name, but he’s still a hottie and he seems real nice, so why get so hung up on an arbitrary name? For Peter Abernathy, or whatever you want to call him, his name is truly meaningless. His identity is too unknowable to be named. Like all things too complicated to understand, the humans of Westworld stick him in cold storage, and try not to think about him anymore.
5. The Beauty in This World
“Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world, the disarray. I choose to see the beauty. To believe there is an order to our days.” Dolores repeats this phrase several times throughout this episode. Though this line will come back to haunt us in the most confusing way possible in the season three finale, let’s pretend we don’t know that yet, and dissect it in it’s original context. Firstly, fellow humans, note that she says “this” world, not “the” world. She isn’t cognizant of another world existing outside of her own, but whoever wrote this line for her is, and they decided that Dolores should see the beauty in this specific world, this Westworld, if you will. First we hear Dolores recite this line to a backdrop of a stunning landscape, begging us human viewers to agree, this world is indeed beautiful. Then we hear Dolores recite this line in voiceover while she’s being brutalized by a guest in the park, or held captive, naked, interrogated, in a creepy windowless laboratory. Here the human viewers are begged to disagree. This world, specifically, the one where Dolores is routinely treated, for lack of a better term, like an object, is not beautiful. We the human viewers don’t want Dolores to look past this ugliness; we want her to confront it and overcome it. When she says “there is an order to our days,” she means that she believes she serves a greater purpose, but we the human viewers know that the order to her days is a lot more specific than she thinks it is, and that the purpose this order serves is horrific.
With fascinating themes, gorgeous cinematography, brilliantly nuanced performances, and an endlessly quotable script, Westworld delivers a masterpiece pilot. Re-watching it so soon after the utterly nonsensical season three finale gave me serious quality-whiplash. Deciding how you feel about a beloved prestige show that has let you down is a deeply personal journey. For me, unlike Lost and Game of Thrones, the successes of Westworld outweigh its failures, and it’s a show I am happy to return to despite its flaws. I’m also happy to share this journey with you humans who are almost certainly humans and not robots. Until next time, the center of your maze awaits.
