Is talking about ‘Westworld’ more fun than bingewatching ‘Westworld’?
BRETT Lovejoy spends about eight to 10 hours a week watching ‘Westworld’.
Watching, in this instance, doesn’t simply refer to sitting in front of a television screen. He’ll replay the episode once or twice, but mostly the 27-yearold West Virginia native spends that time reading through and contributing to online forums dedicated to dissecting every sequence of the show for hidden meaning.
This isn’t unusual. A. Ron Hubbard, co- anchor of the podcast “Watching Westworld”, spends about 15 to 20 hours with the show each week. Craig Carter, who was so taken by the drama that he started ‘Westworld: The Podcast’, dedicates a weekly five to 10 hours.
What drives a person to spend upward of 12 per cent of each week on a single hour-long episode of television?
The show’s premise is this: At some point in the future, technology advanced to the point that we can create robots that are indistinguishable from humans. So a company called Delos creates an Old West-themed adventure park filled with robots. Tourists mostly seem to enjoy either having sex with or killing these robots. Eventually, the machines become sentient, realise they don’t enjoy being literal objects of humanity’s sexual and violent fantasies, and they revolt.
When ‘Westworld’ debuted, it had a lot riding on it. HBO needed a show to capture the zeitgeist a la ‘Game of Thrones’, especially as that unprecedented fantasy began winding down. A twisty, sci-fi-western mashup from the imagination of Michael Crichton, and in the
capable hands of Jonathan
Season 2, which wrapped up on Sunday, saw lesser ratings than the debut season ... A. Ron Hubbard, co-anchor of the podcast ‘Watching Westworld’
Nolan and Lisa Joy, seemed to be just the ticket. But this plan hasn’t entirely worked. Season 2, which wrapped up on Sunday, saw lesser ratings than the debut season, “in contrast with shows like ‘Game of Thrones,’ which grows every season,” Hubbard said.
Rather than inspiring a wide breadth of fandom, ‘Westworld’ has inspired a depth of it.
Most of the fans who spoke with The Washington Post pointed to the direction and performances as a draw. After all, it features powerhouse actors such as Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton and Tessa Thompson. But what keeps the fans talking about it all week is the mystery-box nature of the show.
Nolan and Joy employ a great deal of narrative sleight of hand to create mystery. It’s often unclear who is a robot and who is a human being. The show is told in several timelines, but rarely does the viewer know which is on- screen at any moment. Certain details are withheld to create narrative tension.
Fans like Lovejoy spend those hours trying to figure out what’s going on. They swap theories and tirelessly scan episodes for hidden references. Kurt Vonnegut books, for example, have recently popped up in the background of a few scenes. All of these Easter eggs extend the show’s life, keeping it at the front and centre of Lovejoy’s consciousness all week long.