HBO remakes Westworld into tv series...Abrams / Nolan

[hepcat]

And the reason they have to strip the robots naked anytime they're outside the simulation is?

Did you approve of the show's answer to this question in Sunday's episode?

Sorry, just saw this. I do appreciate them addressing it. I still think it wouldn't actually happen like that (human modesty and all that), but at least there's some commentary on it.

On another topic:

I just read a theory (that's mostly debunked now) that blew my mind about two of the characters.

Spoiler:

I guess there was a theory that white hat William was actually the Man in Black and that we were seeing two different timelines when they appeared.

Sorry if that one has come up already. If so, I missed it. But I thought it was such a cool theory.

[GreenGoo]

I actually missed the discussion on robo-nudity so I'm not sure what the theory is.

Through ep 2 and 3 and at the start of ep 4 the "maze" felt too literal and seemed to be there just for the audience to have something to wonder about. At the start of ep 4 I was "ugh, I think the bloom is off the rose" but then the rest of the episode was still interesting so I'm still hooked.

It just felt like something Twin Peaks or Lost would add when they ran out of actual story to tell, except in this case it seems to be almost the entire story. It's so artificial (and directed at the viewer, it seemed). That annoyed me.

Watching the robos detect anomalies and try to figure it out is fun. You just knew there were going to be multiple drawings under the floor board.

Hopkin's character is awesome. Fingers crossed the writers down let me down.

I think the discussion of VR rape fits in nicely with the last decade or so of discussion of gamer morality with regard to griefing, ethics and whether screwing someone over in a game actually reflects on the player as a person. This ties in with episode 4 where the two business "friends' see the game quite a bit differently. One sees it as an amoral playground where anything goes and the other sees it as a fantasy setting allowing him to be a hero. I mean, this is not a new concept. Anyone who has played an MMO for any period of time understands this. Whether it's screwing someone in a trade through fraud or killing someone and looting their corpse (where killing and looting is not the designed gameplay).

Anyway, it's not a serious indepth discussion but it does touch on it.

[pr0ner]

And the reason they have to strip the robots naked anytime they're outside the simulation is?

Did you approve of the show's answer to this question in Sunday's episode?

Sorry, just saw this. I do appreciate them addressing it. I still think it wouldn't actually happen like that (human modesty and all that), but at least there's some commentary on it.

No worries on the delay. I remembered your comment when I was watching the ep and Hopkins started berating the tech for covering the host he was working on, which is why I wanted to ask.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Count me as another also enjoying this show immensely. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it's among my favourite shows currently running.

While the pace of the show is not fast, which plainly frustrates some viewers, it's a story of incremental change and is consistently always advancing. Personally, I remain sufficiently intrigued to see just how it all plays out. From my perspective, a number of significant clues were dropped in the fourth episode:

Spoiler:

Several times in this episode it's strongly implied that the timeline isn't what it seems. First there was Dolores waking up in the camp, implying the opening conversation between Bernard and Dolores was a flashback (though to when remains a mystery), which could be significant. The hooker's collection of sketches also makes you wonder how long her awakening process has been going on. We're previously given the sense that everything we were seeing was perhaps occurring over the course of several days, but the number of sketches she possessed makes me wonder if it's been going on for a significantly longer period of time, which is more difficult to distinguish within the confines of Westworld. The clue the MiB discovered about Wyatt's involvement with the Maze also raises significant questions about the timeline. We're previously led to believe that Wyatt was a new element that was only recently added to Teddy's backstory. But Wyatt's apparently also part of the Maze puzzle the MiB is so ardently engaged in, a seemingly long-buried secret perhaps originally created by Arnold.

Plenty of additional hints were dropped in the scenes involving the MiB, too. For the first time, the MiB is revealed to be a guest within the park, whom the folks behind the curtain are certainly well aware of, as illustrated by the scene in which he escapes from the jail cell. The guest with whom he meets up with also disclosed some intriguing insight into his background. When the guest tried to thank him for his foundation literally saving his sister's life out in the real world, it suggests the MiB is/was some sort of philanthropic humanitarian outside of the park. The MiB's response was quite interesting too, and made him seem less like the nihilistic evil character he's thus far been portrayed as, and more like a LARPer getting cross with those daring to break character mid-game.

The power lunch scene between Cullen and Dr. Ford was also highly intriguing. Who's the as-yet-unknown Board Representative Dr. Ford stated was already in the park? At this stage, I suspect it's either the MiB or perhaps William's douchebag corporate pal, Logan.

Based upon what was hinted at in this episode about the MiB and the Maze, the Board of Directors, and Arnold's involvement, it seems the Maze likely provides a means to fully unlock the hosts and set them free so they can operate unrestricted, potentially put into place by Arnold prior to his demise (perhaps also causing it?). After thirty years of visiting the park, the MiB seemingly wants to unlock the Ironman Mode of Westworld, wherein the hosts shoot back for real (hence his comments about setting the hosts free, and how he’s never going to leave the park).

Also, food for thought on the mysterious Native Americans and their folklore within the show: if this Wikipedia entry is accurate, there's a history in Native American folklore and cosmology of a creator god known as the Man in the Maze. Coincidence? Bugger if I know.

[GreenGoo]

The pace of the show perfectly matches the theme music, which of course is no coincidence.

I'm in no rush, other than waiting for the next episode. While I'm watching the thought of being impatient never enters my mind. In fact I find the "awakening" to feel rushed, or at least faster than I expected.

[Toe]

Some good points Anonymous Bosch. Another significant clue I felt was

Spoiler:

The fact that Bernard told Dolores about the maze and that if she figures it out, she will be "free". That ties back to when the child told MiB "Its not for your kind" or something like that. This implies that the creators put the maze in place as a test for androids to explore their sentience (or a way to weed out troublesome ones(?)). Along with that, I suspect, based on Ford's comments and a few other clues, that Bernard is an android that solved the maze. Though it would kinda suck that being "free" just means you become a standard corporate lackey, heh. Guess thats better than being raped/killed every day.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Some good points Anonymous Bosch. Another significant clue I felt was

Spoiler:

The fact that Bernard told Dolores about the maze and that if she figures it out, she will be "free". That ties back to when the child told MiB "Its not for your kind" or something like that. This implies that the creators put the maze in place as a test for androids to explore their sentience (or a way to weed out troublesome ones(?)). Along with that, I suspect, based on Ford's comments and a few other clues, that Bernard is an android that solved the maze. Though it would kinda suck that being "free" just means you become a standard corporate lackey, heh. Guess thats better than being raped/killed every day.

Interesting idea!

Spoiler:

I did notice that the main girl said the same thing as Bernard about the pain being the only thing left after you've lost someone...

One issue, though, is that we see Bernard talking to his (ex?) wife about their son. So she would also have to be fake?

[Anonymous Bosch]

That's a reasonable hypothesis, Toe:

Spoiler:

While it could be entirely coincidental, I don't think we've yet seen Bernard actually using the glasses that seem to perpetually rest upon the end of his nose.

Given the questionable timing of the conversations between Bernard and Dolores, I also wonder if their conversations are actually all just prologue. Also, if they're both hosts, perhaps Bernard hasn't been surreptitiously removing Dolores from the park at all, and they were instead communicating wirelessly (or "telepathically", so to speak).

[GreenGoo]

man, this thread is going to be nothing but spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

The child seems to be the only robohost with conscious knowledge of the maze. Given that I assume the robohost who smashed his own head in did so to protect the whatever awakening information it contained (including the maze) it seems weird that a robohost is just sitting around waiting to be asked about it. Any sort of diagnostic of the little girl would reveal information that seems hidden at great effort elsewhere

For me I'm not overly interested in exploring the mysteries in great depth. I'm, mostly, content to simply let the story play out as the writers planned and not speculate too much.

That's not a criticism of those that want to and enjoy doing so, it's just me realizing how I feel about it myself and writing it out.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

[Hamlet3145]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

Yeah, I wasn't on that train at all until this episode, but now I'm not sure. There does seem to be something weird going on with Delores' timeline/timeframe though I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm going to re-watch the episode later this week and try to pay attention to just that.

Also, in the preview for next episode:

Spoiler:

William is holding a knife that looks an awful lot like the one the MIB has.

[Toe]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

Spoiler:

Nothing directly that I can think of as long as white hat ends up getting a jaw/chin transplant down the road, heh. But seriously, at first i was thinking about old androids, like Bill, that seem to have very limited capabilities when compared to the the ones 30 years later (remember, even a handshake could give them away to the guests). We even saw Bill this episode balk at a question that current ones would not seem to have a problem with. None of the androids in white hat's timeline seem limited in those terms. But we did have Dolores go off on her own this episode, so if you look at it from her perspective, she may not be "allowed" to notice how robotic other robots are, therefore we don't see it either, even though that does not explain the starting scenes where it was just white hat and no Dolores around. Was his initial hostess real, if not, she was extremely life-like I would say, but it could just be his perception of it back then. So not enough to disprove the theory.

Stuff that leads some credence to the theory would be.
1) He is in middle management of what seems to be a massive corporation. So it is very plausible he climbs the corporate ladder to run the company, especially after being verbally put in his place by his coworker.
2) We have not seen him or his buddy with any known live characters yet.
3) Obviously we have seen that the androids can have massive lapses in their perceptions of events due to their programming.
4) Reuse of Lawrence robot from/to standard guy to head of mexican outlaw town.

[Daveman]

From my perspective, a number of significant clues were dropped in the fourth episode:

Spoiler:

Plenty of additional hints were dropped in the scenes involving the MiB, too. For the first time, the MiB is revealed to be a guest within the park, whom the folks behind the curtain are certainly well aware of, as illustrated by the scene in which he escapes from the jail cell.

Small correction, but that wasn't the first tip about the MiB...

Spoiler:

In the previous episode, either after he kills the posse hanging that guy he saves, or later when he shoots up that guy's home town, we see the control room and a technician mentions to the head of security something along the lines of "Wow that guy just killed a bunch of hosts, should we do something?" and the security guy looks at the screen and says "No, that guy gets to do whatever he wants".

Thoroughly enjoying the show, I was away this weekend so I need to catch up with the latest. My wild speculation about the greater meaning of things...

Spoiler:

The supposedly dead co-creator of the park is in the maze, having found a way to transfer himself into the system and/or a host. Clinical immortality! Just what a wealthy, aging man would be desperate to find.

[Dogstar]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

The only small piece of evidence I'm going to hold out in contradiction is

Spoiler:

that MiB says that the farmer's daughter has been taken, which is how he motivates Teddy to get going. If that's the direction that they're heading and it's the same timeline, the MiB would have to encounter the MiW. Moreover, Delores' evolution seems to be occurring in the MiW's timeline -- which means that when the scene with the MiB occurs in the first episode, all the progress she's made would have to have been wiped.

And if that last part is true, that means the android revolution came and went thirty years before Hopkins had the conversation with the MiB, meaning that the facility and staff probably had to have been completely repopulated by then. Plus, that would place the MiW's timeline (assuming it's separate) right around the time that Arnold died. I'm not saying the show runners couldn't do that, but man, would that make it complicated to sort out.

I did like this piece of dialogue from Delores last night when MiW asked her how she did something:

"You said this was a place where people came to change their lives. I just imagined a life where I wasn't the damsel in distress."

[GreenGoo]

Watched the original Westworld on the weekend. Nothing too special. Typical sci-fi from that era, although they did try to "explain" things a bit more than some other movies.

Anyway, it was interesting. It was nice to see some scenes that have been recreated in the TV series.

As far as the movie plot goes, it's a straight up subservient robots suffer a malfunction and chaos ensues.

[Anonymous Bosch]

From my perspective, a number of significant clues were dropped in the fourth episode:

Spoiler:

Plenty of additional hints were dropped in the scenes involving the MiB, too. For the first time, the MiB is revealed to be a guest within the park, whom the folks behind the curtain are certainly well aware of, as illustrated by the scene in which he escapes from the jail cell.

Small correction, but that wasn't the first tip about the MiB...

Spoiler:

In the previous episode, either after he kills the posse hanging that guy he saves, or later when he shoots up that guy's home town, we see the control room and a technician mentions to the head of security something along the lines of "Wow that guy just killed a bunch of hosts, should we do something?" and the security guy looks at the screen and says "No, that guy gets to do whatever he wants".

Yeah, you're right, that was poorly phrased on my part. Also, I could be mistaken, but my recollection of the earlier episode you mentioned was that:

Spoiler:

Stubbs the security bloke said "The gentleman gets what he wants," implying that was just how it would go for anyone, given the emphasis on the park existing to fulfill every guests' desires and fantasies.

I didn't make much of it when it was said, as I took it to be more of a standard customer satisfaction situation.

[GreenGoo]

I don't remember the exact phrasing, but the meaning was definitely "that guy is special, he gets what he wants. period."

[Anonymous Bosch]

I don't remember the exact phrasing, but the meaning was definitely "that guy is special, he gets what he wants. period."

It was definitely either "The gentleman gets what he wants," or "That gentleman gets what he wants." If it was the latter, that would certainly speak more to the MiB's VIP status.

I already deleted that episode from my DVR though, otherwise I'd try rewatching the relevant scene with closed captioning turned on, just to be certain.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

The best evidence to me against it:

Spoiler:

Why would they go to all the trouble and expense of making Anthony Hopkins seem thirty years younger using digital technowizardry, but cast Jimmi Simpson as a young Ed Harris? Realistically, there's very little resemblance between them at all. While I suppose it could be explained away as the older, wealthier William/MiB having had some major cosmetic surgery done, that seems like a rather feeble contrivance. Visually, that theory has never made much sense to me, and seems incongruent with the overall visual approach of the series.

[cheeba]

Things are finally starting to move along! Couldn't help but think of the South Park Game of Thrones wiener song throughout.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

The best evidence to me against it:

Spoiler:

Why would they go to all the trouble and expense of making Anthony Hopkins seem thirty years younger using digital technowizardry, but cast Jimmi Simpson as a young Ed Harris? Realistically, there's very little resemblance between them at all. While I suppose it could be explained away as the older, wealthier William/MiB having had some major cosmetic surgery done, that seems like a rather feeble contrivance. Visually, that theory has never made much sense to me, and seems incongruent with the overall visual approach of the series.

Spoiler:

The young Hopkins was on the screen for all of a minute or two; I think doing that CGI for a main character who is on the screen for 20+ minutes an episode would be a budget killer. Plus, if you knew the younger guy was the MiB, that would spoil a lot of the (potential) surprise.

As for the conversation about the MiB, I took it to mean that he was special and thus got whatever he wanted. The idea is supported in the last episode when

Spoiler:

Hopkin's character personally visits him and they seem to know each other pretty well.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

The best evidence to me against it:

Spoiler:

Why would they go to all the trouble and expense of making Anthony Hopkins seem thirty years younger using digital technowizardry, but cast Jimmi Simpson as a young Ed Harris? Realistically, there's very little resemblance between them at all. While I suppose it could be explained away as the older, wealthier William/MiB having had some major cosmetic surgery done, that seems like a rather feeble contrivance. Visually, that theory has never made much sense to me, and seems incongruent with the overall visual approach of the series.

Spoiler:

The young Hopkins was on the screen for all of a minute or two; I think doing that CGI for a main character who is on the screen for 20+ minutes an episode would be a budget killer. Plus, if you knew the younger guy was the MiB, that would spoil a lot of the (potential) surprise.

Spoiler:

Well, my point wasn't that they'd necessarily use CGI to digitally make Jimmi Simpson look more like a young Ed Harris, but that since they took the time and trouble to make Hopkins seem thirty years younger, I strongly suspect they'd likely have cast someone else if they truly wished to plausibly convey William as a younger MiB. It just seems like a visually incongruent casting decision, for no other purpose than to fake-out viewers, given the visual approach of the series in other areas. It just strikes me as a needlessly complex presumption in the sense of Occam's Razor. (I know, I know: "William of Occam was a 13th century monk, he can't help us now, Bernard. He would have us burned at the stake.")

[Anonymous Bosch]

No comments on the great twist in Episode 7!?

Spoiler:

"It doesn’t look like anything to me."

I'm curious as to the identity of the host being created in Ford's secret printer. A new Theresa Cullen seems like an obvious choice, but that only makes me think it'll almost certainly turn out to be someone else entirely.

Any theories on what happened to Elsie? I suspect it was Bernard that apprehended her, and perhaps convinced her to go into hiding voluntarily, due to the danger of what she'd discovered. I certainly don't think we've yet seen the last of her, despite the revelation of Bernard's brutal efficiency as Ford's Terminator.

I also noticed during the scene in Ford's private host-fabrication lab, all of the sketches Cullen discovered clearly had names except Bernard's sketch, for which they were careful not to reveal a name. That now makes me wonder if Bernard could perhaps be Ford's attempt to recreate Arnold following his death, so perhaps the name on the sketch would've been "Arnold," which may explain why it wasn't yet shown. Particularly since Bernard's been the one apparently empowering Dolores (and, much like Arnold, seems to posess a strong empathy towards the hosts).

[RunningMn9]

I'm getting more on board with the hypothesis that

Spoiler:

the man in the white hat is the young version of the man in black.

Have we seen any evidence that contradicts that yet?

Just to address this, since I've watched the whole series again with my wife:

Spoiler:

There's a scene in the episode where Dolores breaks out of her loop. When she is in the barn and takes the gun from her attacker and he throws her onto the pile of hay. While she's got the gun on him, she flashes to the scene with the MiB standing over her, talking to her. It seems *really* unlikely (to me) that the show would suggest that olden times Dolores would be able to hallucinate new times Liam McPoyle.

Now, the caveat to that is that after shooting the attacker, she runs out of the barn and one of the guests shoots her in the stomach. She looks down and sees blood spilling out over her fingers. Then she snaps too, she hasn't been shot, and she hops on the horse and breaks out of her loop and goes until she finds McPoyle. Due to the hallucination, I'm not sure if the same thing has happened to her twice or not.

The other evidence in the "two very different timelines" camp is that in McPoyle's timeline, Clementine appears to be the brothel owner. Teddy and Maeve have not appeared in a single scene with McPoyle. They make mention when Maeve is going haywire that they can just put Clementine in charge, because she's done it in the past.

The vision that Dolores has right before gunning that guy down is literally the only thing stopping me from wholesale belief in the McPoyle == Ed Harris narrative. McPoyle Dolores knows about the maze, so we assume that McPoyle knows about the maze - can I accept that MyPoyle would wait (Age of Ed Harris - Age of McPoyle) years to actually start looking for the maze - and to do it without Dolores? I cannot accept that (yet).

[Daveman]

No comments on the great twist in Episode 7!?

Didn't look like anything to me.

Another great episode... what a wonderful surprise this series has turned out to be. Good news... it's been picked up for a 2nd season! Bad news... probably won't air until 2018

Spoilerific!

Spoiler:

I love all the tiny little details and already want to go back and watch episodes again from the start. A few things that stand out to me:

1. Early on Bernard made a comment about Theresa's facial expression and how he wanted to record it for study. Cute little comment from a programmer/boyfriend or robo-Bernard already collecting data to replace her?

2. The oddly framed photo Ford showed Bernard in the house of Ford and his father. From the shot there's clearly room for another person in the picture but we're seeing it through Bernard's eyes so we don't really "see" it?

[Anonymous Bosch]

After having recently rewatched the original Westworld movie, one nifty easter egg I noticed in the prior episode:

Spoiler:

When Bernard is exploring the creepy basement level of Delos Corp, there's a definite nod to Yul Brynner's Gunslinger from the original movie shown as he walks by with his flashlight:

[Hrothgar]

Great episode. It's building nicely.

Spoiler:

Once Bernard said, "What door?" I thought, oh no, she's dead. I presumed that both the board member and Ford mentioning a blood sacrifice implied some sort of agreement between them. Was I the only one?

I realize I'm more of a prude than most here, but the nudity still seems excessive. Of course, the orgy scene was so over the top it makes everything else look tame. It reminded me of the that it's not porn video (NSFW due to explicit language).

Still enjoying the show. I'm starting to get worried that we won't get many satisfying answers by the end of season 1. And we keep getting more questions.

Good catch on the easter egg. I missed that.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I'm on board with the

Spoiler:

Bernard = a host version of Arnold theory; it makes a lot of sense. I would guess that Ford is making a host version of Theresa; otherwise, won't her disappearance be pretty obvious?

As to who grabbed Elsie, I have no idea. It could have been Bernard, except that what she was reporting back seemed to implicate Theresa rather than Ford. Maybe it was the other security guy?

On another note, any chance the hot board member is a host?

[Anonymous Bosch]

Great episode. It's building nicely.

Spoiler:

Once Bernard said, "What door?" I thought, oh no, she's dead. I presumed that both the board member and Ford mentioning a blood sacrifice implied some sort of agreement between them. Was I the only one?

I took that particular line to be more about the following:

Spoiler:

Ford's echoing of the Board Rep informing Cullen of the need for a "blood sacrifice," was a chilling demonstration of his status as the true master villain. After Cullen thinks she's outwitted him by pointing out Bernard isn’t under his control because he brought her to his secret lab, Ford disabuses her of that notion in no uncertain terms. While that line was only said between the Board Rep and Cullen, there was a host on the bed behind them when it was said; meaning Ford clearly had access to it, too.

[hepcat]

This show reminds me so much of the Battlestar Galactica reboot. It keeps me guessing with every new reveal. The scene with Bernard and the door was what made me realize something was going on, by the way.

[GreenGoo]

Haven't seen eps 7 yet, but I enjoyed 5 and 6.

[Daveman]

Another good episode, although I'm getting worried about how many answers we're going to get by the end of the season at this rate.

One brief moment that stood out to me:

Spoiler:

Obvious "maze" imagery. Maybe all the maze is is a listing of certain sectors on a certain host that contains... whatever? Presumably something Arnold put there, also presumably Dolores?

[cheeba]

Loving the show. Happy that my original fear of it not moving along didn't come to fruition. Anthony Hopkins is just brilliant. I think I said this before, but I'm really struggling to think of a show that has had better acting.

One quibble I have, though, is with the Asian dude who is tending to the madame (I'm so bad with names). The blackmail that she is threatening them with doesn't seem enough to motivate them to do all these crazy ass things with a host.

[Daveman]

We've seen that the Asian tech aspires to do more than the scrub work they're doing (improperly taking the damaged bird and trying to repair it) and I think he recognizes Maeve is evolving. He's genuinely curious to see a host become self aware.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

But maybe

Spoiler:

they are also hosts!

But as Ford as said, nothing goes on with the hosts that he doesn't know about or can't control. So maybe the whole Maeve going rogue thing is actually a loop Ford programed for her...

[GreenGoo]

One quibble I have, though, is with the Asian dude who is tending to the madame (I'm so bad with names). The blackmail that she is threatening them with doesn't seem enough to motivate them to do all these crazy ass things with a host.

Ditto.

Spoiler:

I'm like "you're dooming all of mankind because a) you were doing a little programming on the side and b) orange head was running a necro-brothel?"

Just freakin' murder her in her sleep and write "oops" in your report. It's not like they aren't retiring hosts all over the place anyway. There's an entire room of obsolete/unused hosts in the basement.

Walking her around and explaining each department to her was a bit much, but when she said "give me my smarts" and I was like "hell no". "Hell to the fucking no". Just pretend to do it and nuke her from orbit instead. That magic tablet can do anything. Why not stop her instead of turning her into Skynet?

[Anonymous Bosch]

One quibble I have, though, is with the Asian dude who is tending to the madame (I'm so bad with names). The blackmail that she is threatening them with doesn't seem enough to motivate them to do all these crazy ass things with a host.

Ditto.

Spoiler:

I'm like "you're dooming all of mankind because a) you were doing a little programming on the side and b) orange head was running a necro-brothel?"

Just freakin' murder her in her sleep and write "oops" in your report. It's not like they aren't retiring hosts all over the place anyway. There's an entire room of obsolete/unused hosts in the basement.

Walking her around and explaining each department to her was a bit much, but when she said "give me my smarts" and I was like "hell no". "Hell to the fucking no". Just pretend to do it and nuke her from orbit instead. That magic tablet can do anything. Why not stop her instead of turning her into Skynet?

Yeah, that was definitely one of the weaker plot elements for me, particularly because:

Spoiler:

There was nothing preventing the two techs from simply adjusting all the settings on Maeve's Host Attribute Matrix to their lowest levels, instead of providing her with the boosts she demanded. That would've turned her into an utterly inept and imbecilic weakling, completely negating whatever threat she posed.

[Jag]

One quibble I have, though, is with the Asian dude who is tending to the madame (I'm so bad with names).

The techs are named Felix and Sylvester. Coincidentally also the name of two cartoon cats.

The madame is called Maeve. After the Irish Queen Maeve or "she who intoxicates" It also means someone with strength and beauty.

[Odin]

After having recently rewatched the original Westworld movie, one nifty easter egg I noticed in the prior episode:

Spoiler:

When Bernard is exploring the creepy basement level of Delos Corp, there's a definite nod to Yul Brynner's Gunslinger from the original movie shown as he walks by with his flashlight:

I almost jumped out of my chair when I saw that. Scared the hell out of my wife, haha. Such a nice touch.

[Chaosraven]

Marathon today!