A WILDER WEST
Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood, “True Blood”), Maeve (Thandie Newton, “ER”) and Teddy (James Marsden, “X-Men,” 2000) welcome you to a whole new “Westworld” on Sunday.
The concept of androids has permeated social consciousness since the 1800s, but it wasn’t until 1984’s sci-fi hit “The Terminator” graced the screen that people genuinely feared the prospect of “the singularity,” and a world where humans would become ruled by machines.
While most films and novels have suggested that the robot rebellion will be brought in with a bang, “Westworld” proved that a whimper was equally, if not more, effective. This soft realization leads to some formidable action, however, with the hosts ready to venture out and discover the many layers of the park when season 2 begins Sunday, April 22, on HBO.
The premise of “Westworld” is somewhat familiar, due to the popularity of the android sentience trope in science fiction. The series origins stem from the 1973 Michael Crichton film of the same name, upon which it is loosely based.
Season 1 introduced viewers to Westworld, a theme park in the not-too-distant future that allows society’s wealthiest to indulge in the ultimate immersive experience. Though other locations are alluded to, the bulk of the show’s first season takes place in Sweetwater, a frontier town complete with saloons, gunslingers and an eerily recognizable piano score. Given the choice of black or white hat, humans can either experience a kinder, gentler version of the Wild West, or delve deeper into a gritty world of vengeance and violence, allowing themselves to express all manner of taboo, morally questionable acts.
This experience is only a success due to the plethora of android hosts that populate the parks. The freshman season introduced us to the saloon’s madam, Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton, “ER”), whose recurring dreams about a daughter from a past storyline (pre-madam) gradually led to her becoming self-aware. Teddy Flood (James Marsden, “X-Men,” 2000) isn’t quite that cognizant, with the heroic gunslinger propelled more by love than self-realization to assist another host on her quest. That host is the enigmatic Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood, “True Blood”). No host still operating has endured the life Dolores has, seen what she’s seen, or would be a more likely candidate for becoming fully sentient.
In fact, the rebellion so impeccably orchestrated in promotional material for season 2 of “Westworld” seems largely to fall within the hands of Dolores and Maeve, both of whom are now ready to help their kind rise above and usurp the technological throne from their creators. Although season 1 gave us the first step in this direction, season 2 promises even bolder and more confident hosts, no longer willing to play nice and be trampled upon by the guiltless whims of humanity. Each of the main androids is forging his or her own path along the outskirts of the frontier, venturing into the park’s other “worlds” in search of greater freedom and a deeper truth.
As season 1 established, leaving the park entirely won’t be easy. It will, in fact, require the help of humans. Dolores and the hosts must therefore decide: stake their claim over the park itself, or find a way to move beyond its borders, to map out a life for all of their kind in a brave new world.
Although “Westworld” isn’t the first big series about androids to captivate audiences around the globe, no other series has managed — so far — to explore the prospect of the singularity in such a thoughtful and layered way. In drawing out the self-awareness of Dolores and her fellow hosts, series creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan were able to humanize these androids, giving them a softer voice. Viewers understand and support their motivations, because they’re able to see themselves in the struggles and hardships endured by the hosts at the hands of their own decadent, careless species.
Newton opened up about this in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. When presented with the script for season 2, Newton admits that she was “completely shellshocked” by the direction in which Joy and Nolan were taking the series. “It was absolutely not what I thought was going to happen,” she said.
Newton was quite tight-lipped regarding what would or would not be occurring during the second season, whether on the macro level regarding the entire world of the series, or at a micro level when discussing her character Maeve and her own motivations: “As far as I know — because I really don’t know — as far as Maeve knows, she has a degree of command over what she’s doing.”