No matter what happens to Dolores over the course of a “narrative loop,” her memory gets reset, so she can return just as fresh-faced and naïve for the next group of guests.
Dolores is the archetypal good girl whom guests can save from bandits or attack alongside the bandits, depending on their preference. The first person we meet in Westworld isn’t a person at all, but rather a host named Dolores Abernathy (Rachel Evan Wood). You can do anything you want to them with impunity, because they aren’t real. In such an environment, the hosts serve a crucial purpose: Along with a rich narrative, they provide moral cover for everyone’s darkest impulses. Every guest in Westworld is essentially in “ God mode” - they can never be harmed, and the only limits to their behavior are the limits of their fantasies. In the less family-friendly areas of Westworld, that means not just visiting brothels or killing bad guys in shoot-outs, but beating, torturing, and even raping any host unfortunate enough to show their face. What often makes games like these controversial is the same thing that makes them so appealing: Not only can you go wherever you want, you can do whatever you want - to anyone.
#Westworld season 1 ep 1 series
It’s what the video-game industry would call an open-world game, much like the Grand Theft Auto series (or Red Dead Redemption, if you want to stick with the Western theme). Instead, they can go where they want and choose their own story line. This is a world where guests (or players, if you prefer) aren’t forced down a particular path.
#Westworld season 1 ep 1 android
What makes Westworld special is its population - not actors, but android “hosts” who are painstakingly programmed to provide “over 100 interconnected narratives” to the guests who visit. This is no ordinary Old West reenactment, though. Set at an unspecified time in the future, Westworld is a futuristic amusement park that is something of a playground for the wealthy. “The Original” sets the tone by presenting a different kind of cerebral fantasy: We’re invited to peer behind the curtain of the violent entertainment we enjoy - often on HBO - giving us opportunity to feel like we understand it for what it is, even as we enjoy it.
If this first episode is any indicator, the series will offer a self-aware critique of escapism itself. Of course, Westworld isn’t just selling escapism. It’s an appropriate setting: With an alleged $ 100 million price tag, Westworld is itself a very expensive Western fantasy world whose most visceral thrills revolve around the same potent brew of sex and violence that helped make Game of Thrones such a controversial hit. Welcome to Westworld, HBO’s big-budget drama about an Old West–themed resort that lavishly caters to the sometimes dark desires of its clientele. Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather.