Photo cc:// HBO
As we hit the one month (+) mark in our quarantines, many of us are looking for escapes through shows that have a heavy amount of action or drama to keep our attention. In my last post I gave you a great list of comfort shows to watch that can ease you through this time. Now, I want to give you something else: a show that is currently airing with plenty of bingable episodes that will capture your attention and provide the perfect amount of escapism you need.
WESTWORLD is truly one of my all time favorite shows and the only reason I haven’t written about it before is because it is one of those shows that is so confusing, so mind boggling, that it’s difficult to try to even begin to explain each episode. You’re left mentally drained in the very best way. Think of it as LOST, but actually really good without a disappointing ending. Westworld is an exclusive theme park where the wealthiest people can buy a ticket and live without limits, surrounded by lifelike robots that pass for humans called hosts. These hosts allow guests to live out their fantasies (whether good or evil) in the park for a hefty price tag. As with any sort of show that has lifelike robots, they are of course going to be playing with the idea of robots and consciousness, good and evil, and so much more.
Thanks to The WING coworking space, they have been hosting Zoom chats with actors in different TV shows where the fans are able to watch and submit questions. Last night I got to get a behind the scenes look with Evan Rachel Wood, who plays the main character of Dolores on Westworld. (If you are not up to date with the latest Westworld episodes, there are some spoilers below!)
Firstly, I feel like this season (three) of Westworld has garnered the reaction of either love or hate. It is immensely different from the first two seasons in that 1) we haven’t seen Westworld (other than flashbacks) 2) the tables are turned and Dolores is now acting as if she were a host in our (humans) world 3) it has a very futuristic feel. I absolutely love that they shot this in Singapore, the architecture is beautiful and the perfect landscape for such a futuristic world (and ironically, this world actually exists right now—with some CGI sprinkled in there).
Now moving into the behind the scenes look, Evan Rachel Wood said that “the point of the show [Westworld] is a cautionary tale that is rooted in the reality of spying, data mining technology.” This season in particular she says it makes you think “what happens when we don’t understand the tech we’ve built anymore? Or we’ve inherited it? And not tried to understand it. That’s when it turns on us and our own ignorance.” This is a perfect summation of exactly what we’re seeing this season.
When asked about anything she struggled with on Westworld, Evan said that it was difficult for her to film any sort of violence, "because violence is not something that they’re inventing on set, it’s something that exists in our world." She further added a line from the season, “we believe the things that help us and we write our own stories.”
Evan Rachel Wood admitted that working on this show has made her very nervous about things like having an Amazon Alexa (she refuses to get one). She also said that working on this show and watching it as an audience is “keeping us aware of the things that really make us human, and begging people to ask questions about the world around us.”
I can’t wait to see where the rest of season three takes us, I for one am in the “love” category of loving this season so far even though it is so different from the others. Plus, having Aaron Paul join the already incredible cast is a huge plus.
Also, considering that just in the most recent episode Dolores decided to send all Rehoboam data to every human, I don’t see this show ending anytime soon. Everything is about to come crashing down and the invisible war that was being waged between humans and robots (mainly multiple Doloreses) is now going to become a tangible one. (Reminder: Rehoboam is the supercomputer with the power to predict and mold future events AKA God built by Serac, the supervillain of the season).
I’m sure we will get a massive cliffhanger ending and then have to wait for the next season! If you’re still reading and are totally confused, that’s okay. Just take my word for it and check out one of the best shows on TV!