Westworld Season 2 Truth Bomb: Are We Dumb, or Is the Show Dumb?
Westworld‘s cast is impressive. Its cinematography is gorgeous. Its central concept is as intriguing as it is innovative.
So why is the HBO drama such a chore to watch?
Before you start reducing my pain threshold and coming for me with sharp, pokey objects: If going deep on Westworld is your jam, fantastic. If you’re the kind of fan who enjoys parsing every line of self-important dialogue for what it might mean six episodes down the road, congrats. You’re going to disagree vehemently with me here, but The Valley Beyond is big enough for all of us, right?
I’m talking here to the regular viewer who enjoys following the robots on their loops (or lack thereof) but who, like me, might think the series’ meaning-of-personhood navel-gazing and mystery breadcrumb-dropping is wearing a bit thin. Or, as a friend put it Monday morning: “I’ve suspected this for a while, but it is now official: I am too dumb for Westworld.”
I’d argue that he — and anyone else feeling frustrated with the series’ storytelling — isn’t necessarily lacking in smarts. Instead, they’re merely reacting to the series’ second season, which was as brain-scramblingly ponderous as Bernard’s fractured memories and culminated in a 90-minute finale Sunday that felt bloated and indulgent.
Yes, the final installment gifted us with a bunch of answers and some significant plot-forwarding. We got a few new mysteries for Season 3 to explore. We also got many minutes of Bernard and Ford (or Bernard’s BrainFord or ImaginaryFord or GoodLordWhoEvenKnowsAnymoreFord) chatting about whether freewill actually exists. Ooh wait, I know this one: We’ll figure it all out once we learn what’s inside The Hatch, right?
You’ll forgive me if I confuse Westworld with Lost, another sci-fi show marked both by arcs of genius and seasons of the bad kind of WTF? Season 2 of the HBO drama felt very similar to when Lost got lost, when the ABC series’ compelling and tight storytelling began to meander into Philosophy 101 term-paper territory.
The show would be a lot stronger, in my opinion, if it focused more on plots like Maeve’s heroic journey to save her daughter. Want me to wrestle with the idea of what does or doesn’t constitute a person? I’m far more likely to do it while watching a badly damaged robot sacrifice all for the assemblage of circuitry she’s been led to believe is her child than I am while witnessing androids vaguely speechify about in which world they belong.
Because that latter scenario? Doesn’t look like anything to me.
The show is not a chore to watch. I quit after the third show of the first season. In a fit of fair play, I watched the first show of the second season and re-quit watching. The show is not worth watching.
I would say the first season was absolutely brilliant, among all the best TV shows, and at a time when there are alot of great (and bad of course) shows being made.
The introduction to the idea of a world apart and all the various implications of such a world; the mystery of the nature of that world (was it digital, physical, etc) was interesting, though I think while solving that it is physical there is still no explanation as to where this “other world” is located…
The idea of the repetition of what amounts to a program set to run over and over, and repeating on some (still unknown) frequency, and the implications of creating true artificial intelligence that is capable of modifying itself in a way that can disalign itself with our own interests.. It was a show that touched on all the things that Sam Harris and others have spoken about in regards to AI.
Then there were compelling characters that we wanted to know more about, great reveals that seemed natural (apparently people figured them out early but Im always slow to figure out these sorts of things), and finally the ending scene of season one where everything goes full circle in a beautiful narrative arc ending in ford being shot in the head while Radiohead’s ‘Exit Music (For a film)’ played was just fantastic.
How anyone could think poorly of season 1 just shows that people can be so different than one another, but season 2’s concepts have become far less compelling, and the characters far less interesting and have lost what made their characters cohesive to begin with. I will watch season 3 but I hope there is a return to form.
I’m going to embrace apathy rather than stupidity. I understand what’s going on, but I just quit caring this season. I think the show is suffering from self-importance and a fragile ego (especially in light of a good number of people guessing the William twist last year) and as a result has focused more on being a show that’s hard to predict rather than a show that’s compelling to watch (never mind enjoyable). I think I’m done with it.
And yet, after the first episode I tweeted that the entire season was Dolores pulling a long con to escape to the real world, and that’s exactly what it was – whereas last season I didn’t see the twists coming at all, because I don’t read the internet theories.
I think Bernard’s con was much more important than Dolores’s.
I agree with this. “A show that’s hard to predict rather than a show that’s called compelling to watch.” I also agree with Ms. Roots that it’s a chore and that I’m more interested in personal storylines like Maeve’s than philosophical ones like Bernard’s. IMO the best episode of the season (and series) was Kiksuya where we learned more about Ghost Nation and specifically Akecheta. It advanced the plot and answered some questions, but more than anything it was emotional and relatable and fairly straightforward. I didn’t feel burdened trying to keep up with twists.
Great show but there is absolutely no reason for it to be as complicated as it is other then for the sake of saying how complicated and thought provoking it is
The first season worked because it was telling a story that seemed linear and straightforward.. until it wasn’t. And upon re-watch the season was even better.
The second season.. I don’t know. It seems like they didn’t want to tell a straightforward story and wanted to still be tricky like in season one, but the payoff wasn’t as good.
I think if you remove the entire “2 weeks later” timeline and just tell it straight from the party the season is much more coherent. What did we gain by jumping ahead? Bernard’s “I killed them all” and then the Halores reveal? Halores was in what, 15 minutes total all season of the “2 weeks later” timeline? There’s nothing in season 2 that makes a rewatch better.
I hope they take the time to plot through season 3 and make sure it runs better than season 2. After all it’s probably not airing until 2020.
I agree. I was hoping the finale would make a rewatch worthwhile but it didn’t seem to be. I didn’t find season 2 at all complex – it was just that certain things didn’t make sense.
I gave up on Westworld after about six episodes. I knew I was too dumb to watch it.
It was getting to be a chore last season, but I watched to the end. After watching the premiere episode of the second season, I said enough already and stopped there and then. From commentary I’ve been reading all season, it sounds like I made the right decision. I’m not dumb, the show is just not good – which is too bad because it should be.
Its like watching a puzzle unfold, you have to keep re-evaluate what you thought was happening and piece it together as you go. That isnt for everyone – some people just want mindless entertainment. Its a great show and I appreciate that its doing something different than anything else on tv, I for one dont need another ten procedurals about first responders.
Responses like this annoy me. I’ve watched numerous shows that involve piecing together and complicated storylines and thoroughly enjoyed them. I don’t like Westworld for a lot of reasons and that doesn’t mean I just want mindless entertainment. Glad you like it, but just because some of us don’t doesn’t mean we’re too dumb for it.
I agree with you 100%.
Where does he call you dumb lol??? All he is saying (and rightly so) is that everyone likes different kinds of stuff. And he is one of the people who likes spending time trying to work out the intricate details of shows like this. You choose to spend that time on other things. Noones dumb.
He’s saying you either enjoy Westworld or you enjoy mindless entertainment. I’m saying that’s not true. I love complicated shows with plenty to discuss and use your brain, and I don’t think Westworld is good. It’s a constant response I’m given when I say I don’t think Westworld is good, that I must enjoy mindless things like reality TV. Some of us just think it’s a bad show, period. But I’m glad he enjoys it.
I’m sensing a lack of fidelity…
Agreed. We arent mindless for feeling like the show lost its original awesomeness. IN fact most Westworld fans are nerds (like me) who hate mindless entertainment. THATs why we watch Westworld – cause we like having to think a bit. But now the show is alienating its core fan base with bad writing. Usually shows wait until at least season 3 or 4 to start sucking – But Westworld is already rotting. Hopefully Season 3 will redeem. If not – im done. lol
Season one was like watching a puzzle unfold, I loved it and thought it was brilliant. Season two was like looking at the puzzle virtually assembled, and realising you didn’t like the picture, and putting the last few pieces in only made the picture look worse.
well said!
Except I already saw the whole picture from the first episode and didn’t need to re-evaluate any past thoughts. The answers were pretty clear as soon as they were given. Season two wasn’t any more difficult to figure out or any different than your average procedural; it just had a bigger air of self-importance.
You know what I find mindless? The endless melodrama. Maeve was one of the more interesting story lines until they beat her quest for her daughter to death–DEATH a thousand times over. Robots living cliches is not thought-provoking, and whether it was Teddy and Delores in love, until she made him her automaton (at least they still use irony as a literary device), Maeve pining for her daughter for the thousandth time, or the savage, who’s name I refuse to look up to spell correctly, on his love-quest–they all boil down to overwrought cliches. Literally, cliches since they have to live the same thing over and over and over. Intentionally confusing and thought-provoking are not the same thing, but you’re right: neither is for everyone.
There’s a great show hidden here, but they’re too busy trying to set up mysteries and philosophy lessons to remember that things have to be entertaining as well.
I finished off this season and will probably still watch the third but I hope it improves.
No, it’s not just you. I gave up half way through season 2. It just became such a chore to watch. I can’t stand people who say “oh, it’s just too smart for you”. I watch a lot of smart (and not-so-smart) television. However, boring is boring.
It lost itself…
I admit that I didn’t follow 100% of what is happening but I understand enough as a regular viewer to follow along. The acting, particularly by Newton and Wright is terrific and makes the show worth watching. Dolores has been the disappointment this season. Her story was so one dimensional and I can’t help but root against her after what she did to Teddy. And now that Bernard and Dolores are pitched against each other, it makes me root against her even more.
Her story WAS one dimensional, and boring, and sadly Bernard’s story was subservient to her’s as well, meaning that it is also kind of boring to think back on. I wish Dolores’s story had more nuance and Bernard stuck to his guns on wanting to save the others. I think the season would have ended better if Dolores had an automatic plan in place to upload to a different body when she died and she got to the real world, Bernard believing he had killed her. Killing her, just to rebuild her, just to oppose her in the real world? What sense does that make? Especially when it meant that things he was doing all season long, like protecting the door and Elsie, went out the window.
I enjoy Westworld, though I found season one’s twists and revelations more enjoyable. The repetition of phrases (“These violent delights,” etc.) and learning about the park were fun. Season two had too many moving parts, and the best episodes (see Kiksuya) were the most straightforward.
It isn’t often that I completely agree with a critique of a show, but this is spot-on. It *is* like ‘Lost’ when the show went flash-sideways-y and every character’s story was…well… *lost* under philosophical nonsense that the writers contrived to pass off as meaningful but was so convoluted and boring that I stopped watching. This season of ‘Westworld’, like that first bad season of ‘Lost’, felt like it was born of writers with egos that got too big for their room, an arrogant attempt to show just how clever they are which ended up smothering the best parts of the show under the fractured chronology and ethics lectures.
I loved all of Lost, and I think the difference was that you were really able to get to know and love the characters. Even during the weaker storylines, you were still rooting for them and wondering how it was going to end up. I realized last night (in the midst of all the “death”) that I really don’t care that much about any of the characters on Westworld. Maybe Bernard? The first season had you sympathizing with the hosts but I think the writers threw that away this season. Everything feels too cold on this show now….
I agree completely.
I loved Lost. The characters were at the heart of the story, they were real, conflicted people. And the show was also full of humour. The mysteries were interesting, but always subservient. And the villains were never the star of the show. Westworld is the opposite. They keep killing off the rootable characters or making them evil. Dolores, Teddy and Bernard were great in season one – here, their plots were all in service of killing as many people as possible. Elsie and Emily were both fantastic but were killed off. William was on his way to a redemptive arc and then killed his daughter. The only rootable characters left are Maeve’s band of heroes.
Well, at least Westworld answers its questions, and it answers them well.
I have to say, I take incredible solace at this post and the comments here. I think of myself as relatively smart and able to follow along with some pretty difficult concepts, but I don’t like to think of entertainment as being that much work, you know? I don’t want to have to work so hard to understand what the hell is going on with a show that I’m watching for *entertainment*.
I read an interview with Jonathan Nolan where he said that he first worked on the movie Memento and he likes that kind of storytelling. I thought Memento is a great movie and I love it, but that movie is also told in a way that it’s obvious what’s going on and it’s a 2 hour movie, not a 10-episode TV series where we’re expected to keep timelines and stories straight.
I thought the first season of Westworld was ok, but I liked it so much more when my husband and I watched it a second time. I think that this show might benefit from binge watching where I don’t have to keep every single plot point and line of dialogue in my brain for 10 weeks to make sense of what the hell is going on. When we binge-watched it (and a second viewing where I knew the plot basics) that alleviated a lot of the confusion that I found in season 1. I found season 2 even more confounding and after last night’s episode I turned to my husband and said I feel like an idiot, but I just do not get what happened here.
I completely agree that the whole thing of Bernard purposely scrambling his memories does not justify the way the story is told. I watch WAY too much TV to put that much time and effort into this one particular show. I know my husband is going to want to rewatch this season, but I might just be altogether done with this show, which is a shame.
I’m fine with how let’s use the word complex this season was. As long as this ambitious structure is just a season two thing. I felt like season one and season two had two distinctly different styles so hopefully the third will be different as well, imagine will have to be given where story left off. I’m still in but wouldn’t mind my mind hurting less at end of each episode.
The producers already said it will be different, and that the structures of season 1 and 2 were like this because s1 follows Dolores’s point of view and s2 follows Bernard’s.
I’m not going to completely disagree with you.
Gave up on Westworld early on this season, just like I gave up on Lost after a couple of seasons. The intricacies of Blacklist or Person of Interest are more than enough to handle, while the others seem like they are making it up (or faking it) as they go along, and laughing at our gullibility all the way to the bank and award recognition by the go-with-the-herd critics.
I’m not going to watch season 2 of Westworld. This show has become a disaster!
Westworld thinks it’s smarter than it actually is, which is why the second season was so disappointing.
In my earlier comment I meant season 3.
The show is a beautiful mess, with one great storyline (Maeve).
I want to like it more than I do but it always feels more like school work and I need to take notes. It’s about a theme park with robots it shouldn’t be this complicated. It’s like after the first season when Reddit solved everything by episode 2 the creators went out of their way to make things more complicated.
The finale for me was a mess I got the jist of what happened but at some point I just stopped caring. I don’t know if I will be back next season, Maeve is great but she Is only about 1/4 of the show, and I don’t really want to deal with the other 3/4.
But can someone tell me how Teddy’s corpse got into the pile of the host body pile that jumped off the cliff/into portal thing?
Dolores took his core and sent over his consciousness directly via the Forge.
The Ed Harris storyline was also pretty good. Two great storylines. And I liked the Ghost Nation stuff. Still that’s not enough, when the season is basically about Bernard and Dolores and their stories are not compelling.
.
Teddy got in because Dolores threw him through the door with Ghost Nation before she sent it into the cloud. You didn’t see her do it, but she said she had one more person to put through, and then you saw him standing in the field alone.
I really embrace the idea of deciding to drop a show when it becomes a chore to watch (Walking Dead, Mr. Robot), and obviously keeping the ones that I watch and think, I can’t believe an hour has gone by already (Better Call Saul, Preacher). I read a critic who suggested we might enjoy spending the summer re-watching Westworld to discover all the clues, etc. Speaking for me, I’d rather spend the time binging a show I’ve just discovered, like Schitt’s Creek.
I don’t think the show is necessarily hard to understand – there are obviously some mysteries and hints, that you can puzzle over or not. The problem i have with it is that other than the occasional obscure hint or existential speechifying (I found Dolores insufferable this season) there is virtually no plot, and what plot is there just doesn’t flow very naturally. You can still be as intellectual as you want while still providing a plot that develops over the episode in a meaningful way. I feel the writers have fallen into the trap of considering a that their show is a mystery for the sake of being mysterious, rather than a real story with characters and development (and the occasional intriguing mystery)
I stopped watching Westworld sometime doing the first season. It was too boring and confusing for my taste. The story of an android theme park gone haywire shouldn’t be that complicated. I am glad you posted this, because I felt the same way tbh. Now I’m worried if I’m extra dumb for quitting on the first season. Uh oh. xD
Personally, I think some people are too lazy to think. If breathing didn’t come naturally, they wouldn’t do it.
This is what is wrong with TV nowadays. People would rather veg on reality tv than think for themselves. Really, it is what is wrong with society. They need someone to tell them how to act and feel.
I totally disagree. I love shows that make you think, and never watch reality tv. However, Westworld has become too over the top. There is no entertainment factor. As I’ve aged, I learned I don’t have to finish a book if it bores me, and it’s okay not to sit through a full season of a TV show just because it’s supposed to be great. Westworld is now in my past. Not wasting an hour a week on it any longer
Yep, I’ll think as much as you ask me to as long as I’m also being entertained. Westworld only offers questions and mysteries with no stakes or incentive to solve them. It felt great to finally quit.
I disagree with that response as well, but I would say it’s not the entertainment that’s missing…. it’s just that factor that makes me care about any of these fictional people, I really, really, really dgaf what happens to anyone if I think about it. It’s all so empty.
Ironically what the show says about humanity is being proved just reading these comments.
I completely agree! You couldn’t have said it any better!
Of course “some people” are too lazy to think – but don’t lump everyone who is dropping the show into that slot. I love movies where I walk out thinking, I’m not 100% sure what just happened. Love to think about it, see it again, discuss it and look up other folks’ feelings about it online. Westworld just didn’t do that for me, so after two seasons, I’m done. Speaking of lazy, do the Westworld writers realize there ARE other words in the dictionary other than the “F” word and its variations, to express anger or disgust? I get it, you’re on HBO, you can cuss freely – but enough is enough, guys.
If you think about Westworld too hard, it falls apart. I’ve never had trouble keeping up with shows that make me think, but at the end I have to look back and think “Yes, that all came together well”. The Westworld story makes less sense the more you think about it.
Yup. This is the same way I felt after watching inception a second time as a young adult vs as a teenager. Even if they are greatly produced and beautiful to look at, it bothers me that it takes itself sooo seriously and think it’s the smartest show on TV (spoiler: it isn’t).
Oh please, so what is TV supposed to be, a Rubix cube meant to keep you sharp? Who cares how smart it is, you have to care about what you are watching, BE INVESTED, or else you really would be better off with puzzle apps or Sudoku.
If it was easier to care about, if it wasn’t as self important and smugly intellectual, it would be a whole lot easier to give a sh*t and keep watching through the dense puzzle. Westworld does not fail because it is complex and people are lazy, it fails because it tries to be complex in nothing other than external plot and most people just have way too much legit stuff going on in their lives to dedicate time to soulless mind exercises.
Mullholland Drive is my favorite movie by far, so confusing/thought-provoking/whatever you want to call it doesn’t phase me in the least. So I find your comment offensive and presumptuous. My problem with WW has nothing to do with whether I can think for myself. I just find no interest, much less awe in of writing that has characters engaging self-important pontificating interspersed with intentionally confusing plot twists that serve no purpose other than to throw Reddit off the scent. That’s not thought provoking–it’s self-indulgent, but you just keep telling yourself how much smarter you are than the rest of us because you enjoy this mental masturbation.