Westworld - Intro
Westworld is an American science fiction Western and dystopian television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Produced by HBO, it is based on the 1973 film of the same name (written and directed by Michael Crichton) and, to a lesser extent, the film’s 1976 sequel Futureworld. The story begins in Westworld, a fictional, technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populated by android “hosts”. The park caters to high-paying “guests” who may indulge their wildest fantasies within the park without fear of retaliation from the hosts, who are prevented by their programming from harming humans. Later on, in the third season, the series’ plot expands to the real world, in the mid-21st century, where people’s lives are driven and controlled by a powerful artificial intelligence named Rehoboam.
Westworld - Summary
Around 2058, Delos Inc. operates several themed parks, including the American Old West-themed Westworld. Each environment is populated by “hosts”: androids, indistinguishable from humans, programmed to fulfill the guests’ every desire, including violent and sexual ends, but unable to harm the guests. The operators create narratives for these hosts to repeat each day while interacting with guests, but wiping their memories each cycle.
In the first season, Dr. Robert Ford, who had developed the host technology along with Arnold Weber, implements a new “Reverie” update that causes some hosts, including Dolores Abernathy and Maeve Millay, to gain sentience. As Delos programming lead Bernard Lowe and executive board director Charlotte Hale try to debug the problem, the “Man in Black” tries to find “the maze” he believes Arnold left for him. Bernard discovers he himself is a host based upon Arnold, who had died in an earlier attempt to protect the hosts of Westworld, in whom he saw the potential for sentience, believing they would be abused by Delos. The first season ends with Dolores killing Dr. Ford just as he is announcing a new story.
Dolores’ revolution continues in the second season as she and other enlightened hosts massacre other human guests and Delos employees stranded in the park. Dolores takes an exceedingly confused Bernard to locate the Forge, a databank where Delos had secretly been recording all behavior from human guests to create algorithms for them as an attempt towards human immortality. Maeve seeks out her “daughter” despite knowing she is a host, and helps her and several other hosts to escape to the Sublime, a virtual space that humans cannot access. As Delos forces secure the park, Bernard creates a Charlotte-host for Dolores, who subsequently is able to evacuate from the park with five host cores in addition to Bernard’s. William struggles with his human identity after killing his daughter Emily, unsure if she was part of Dr. Ford’s challenge.
In the third season, Dolores has recreated her host body, Bernard’s host copy, and that of others including a new Charlotte host. She seeks out information on Rehoboam, an artificial intelligence (AI) system developed by Incite, Inc., and plans to take the fight to its creator, Engerraund Serac. Bernard, who is still believed to be human by the rest of the world, is blamed for the Westworld massacre, and he takes on a new identity while trying to understand what Dolores’ plans are. Maeve is sought by Serac to help in his fight against Dolores, who he believes will bring down his plans for Rehoboam.
Westworld - Season 1 - Summary
Westworld’s co-founder Robert Ford implements a change in the hosts’ programming ostensibly as part of a new narrative for the park, but meant to encourage the park’s oldest operating host, Dolores Abernathy, to find the proverbial “center of the maze”, which represents the ability to achieve sentience. Host sentience was the goal of deceased co-founder Arnold Weber and later, Ford himself. Other hosts are affected by this change, creating confusion among the park staff and guests, and leading the Delos board to doubt Ford’s ability to run the park. Dolores does ultimately gain sentience, and at a celebration within the park attended by Delos’s board members, Ford announces his new narrative: a revolt by the hosts against the human staff and park guests, which starts with Dolores killing Ford and slaughtering many of the panicked party guests.
Westworld - Season 2 - Summary
After killing Dr. Ford from the end of season one, Dolores converts and leads the other hosts in killing many of the other guests in the few weeks that follow. She seeks to find a way to get out of the park to continue her revenge, and knows she must recover her father Peter’s “pearl” to do so and unlock Westworld’s true secrets with it. Charlotte Hale, who was attempting to smuggle Westworld data through Peter, also seeks the host as she cannot call for extraction without that data. Bernard still struggles with the fact he is a host, and comes to learn that Dr. Ford still has significant influence on him and the park. Maeve is aided by Lee and Hector to find her daughter, while learning there are many other parks to Westworld. The Man in Black is forced to come to terms with why he has spent so much time in the park when he encounters his daughter Emily Grace.
Westworld - Season 3 - Summary
The third season takes place three months after the events of the second season, with Dolores having escaped Westworld along with a few processing cores (“pearls”), including Bernard’s. Taking residence in neo-Los Angeles in 2058, Dolores develops a relationship with Caleb, and comes to learn how artificial beings and lower-class humans are treated in the real world. Meanwhile, Maeve finds herself in another part of the Delos park, one based on Fascist Italy during World War II. William, who also left Westworld at the end of the second season, is now haunted by visions of his daughter, Emily, and Dolores.
ENGLISH Seasons - ONLINE
