The second episode of HBO’s exciting and groundbreaking new series Westworld, “Chestnut” screened on Monday, and despite a few nuances it picks up perfectly where the previous episode dropped us off.
We are given two new guests to the park in the form of Logan played by Ben Barnes (Narnia and Stardust) and William played by Jimmi Simpson (House of Cards). We get a fantastic insight to how guests enter the park and choose all the gear for the character they want to portray. The train ride into the park (Hunger Games anyone?) and the guest’s entry into the park themselves. While William seems to be the more humane and down to earth nice guy (we have been fooled before) Barnes’s Logan is a foul, spoilt little brat that has been given a gun and a licence to leave all his humanity at the door, stripping himself down to his primal form.
The man in black (Ed Harris) is still looking for answers to ‘The Maze’. Riding around with a scalp of a host on his horseback. The scalp has a picture on its inside showing a maze and he wants to find the entrance.
Within the confines of this Wild West theme park, he says, everything makes sense. All of the little details add up. Everything has meaning. But the big question on my mind and I am sure most viewers is, if the man in black is a guest why would he want to spend all his time slaughtering hosts to find an exit? Just hop on the train and go home.
The man in black is known to be one of the park’s most frequent guests, one man states “That gentleman gets whatever he wants”. Maybe he’s another host? Another A.I. construct and fixture to the place that has been programmed to think he is a guest and it seems he cannot be harmed the same as a guest. His memory doesn’t reset the same as the others? That is my theory and I am sticking to my guns. Wouldn’t it be cool if he was A.I and looking for a way out?
Besides all that we have what seems to be a virus that is effecting all the hosts very slowly. By the looks of it, I believe it may be the simple words ‘These violent delights, have violent ends’ that trigger something in the A.I. It’s really exciting and if you have seen the original Westworld, you know what is coming! Also, I would be keeping a closer eye on programmer Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and whatever Ford (Antony Hopkins) has in store for us, as he shows a little more backstory, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.
It really is intriguing to see what humans could be capable off if they are given such things to toy around with. I am amazed that there isn’t some form of military unit that watches over this like a new weapon that can be used and abused. Maybe we will see something like that come out of it in the future. It is highly unlikely a facility like this exists with no government or military input. I guess that is what makes a genre like this so exciting and open to all sorts of interesting story arcs. Bring on episode three.
Westworld screens on Foxtel’s Showcase on Mondays at 12pm and 8:30pm, same time as the U.S.A.
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