Of the crew chiefs behind the scenes, Lee Sizemore, the park’s creative director, may be vulgar and narrow-minded, but his instinct to make Westworld more theme park-like seems wise with regard to its long-term viability. Played by a cheerfully lusty Simon Quarterman, Sizemore announces a splashy new attraction, a story line that “will make Hieronymus Bosch look like he was doodling kittens.” Titled “Odyssey on Red River,” the story introduces an assortment of Wild West synthetics to the grounds, in support of a bloody cowboys-and-indians scenario that involves “self-cannibalism” and other such acts of depravity.
The guests will love it, Sizemore predicts, because “they will have the privilege of getting to know the character they’re most interested in — themselves.”
Based on the first episode, and now Episode 2, Westworld has reached a crucial inflection point in its existence. Sizemore envisions a bigger and better ride than guests have ever experienced, like the new stand-up roller coaster at your local Six Flags. But he’s on the losing side of a philosophical battle over what people really want from Westworld. In flatly rejecting Sizemore’s story line, Dr. Ford, the creative director, says “it’s not about giving the guests what you think they want.” If it were, Dr. Ford suggests, the guests would have no reason to pay gobs of money. We can see that restlessness in William’s companion, who warns him away from following the canned adventure offered up by an old man they encounter in the streets.
The more evolved Westworld is less like a theme park than a “sandbox” video game, an open environment in which interactions are subtler, less predictable and more determined by the guests’ impulses. As it stands, longtime visitors like Ed Harris’ nefarious “Gunslinger” have already become so bored by the park that they’re cutting it open with a scalpel, probing for the source code. The “Gunslinger” drags a condemned man to the far reaches of the Westworld universe to inquire about where to find the entrance to “the maze” he finds himself in. He tortures and kills his way into a cryptic answer from the man’s daughter (“Follow the blood arroyo to the place where the snake lays its eggs”), kicking some “Lost”-like revelation down the road, but it’s his behavior that matters. Dr. Ford is predicting that Westworld’s future lies in creating a richer environment with more layered characters, rather than bigger and bloodier adventures.
Then again, maybe his agenda goes deeper than that. And maybe his motives, too. Dr. Ford is playing his own game, that of the creator-god, and it’s as gratifying to him to watch from above as his children evolve as it is for the park’s guests to slake their thirst for depravity. “Westworld” will have answers for his hubris.
Paranoid Androids:
• The other major thread in this episode involves Maeve, the madame in a Sweetwater bar, played by Thandie Newton. Like Dolores and other hosts, Maeve has been experiencing a memory glitch that’s approaching an A.I. existential crisis and affecting her ability to carry out her duties. The guests are picking up on odd cadences in her standard spiel, which is leading to a drop in sexual interest, and she’s flashing back to a violent scene in which she and her daughter are under attack. The source of that memory — a previous construct, possibly, or perhaps a previous life — is left open for speculation.
• The player-piano sampling of Radiohead’s “No Surprises” syncs nicely with the malaise that blankets the show, which is about people searching for an experience to animate their dormant lives.
• Line of the night goes to Theresa Cullen, who offers this dry assessment of the news that all the hosts are back to normal: “Good. I wouldn’t want anything disturbing our guests from their rape and pillage.”
• James Marsden’s Teddy appears only briefly in the second episode, but it’s a good reminder of how many guests are not that sophisticated about how they navigate Westworld. Teddy is just talking to Maeve and minding his own business when a guest randomly decides to plug him a dozen times where he stands. And with that, he clocks out early.
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