Westworld is back
Blood, guts and wiring, and with luck the odd Sartre quote, are the hopes for the new season of ‘Westworld’.
Last year the smash hit television series Westworld answered one of life’s fundamental questions. As it turns out, robots don’t dream of electric sheep, their reveries are far more deranged.
In case you missed it, Westworld is the quasi-philosophical Emmywinning drama about a theme park in which wealthy humans inflict their desires on a docile herd of incredibly lifelike androids. Everything starts to go to hell in a hand-basket when the robots begin gaining consciousness and deciding that they don't much like their lot in life.
The entire fun of the show is how it plays with our ideas of God, free will and morality. For example, Anthony Hopkins is essentially God. He is the creator of the androids and puppet master behind all of their moves, but in a Nietzschean twist of events, some of the androids begin to plot to kill God. To cut a spoiler-free story short, there are more twists than a Russian gymnast.
Season two is set to start tomorrow and if it is anything like its predecessor, it will leave us asking any number of existentially disturbing questions of ourselves for the entire season. Expectations are always a slippery slope when it comes to television, but with enough luck, this is what we are hoping season two of Westworld gives us:
A Rebellion
When we last left the show, Maeve (Thandie Newtown) was close to escaping and slipping undetected into the human world. The androids in the park, however, were all going through some or other form of existential crisis and starting to realise that they’re stronger, smarter and more badass than their creators. With enough luck this precipitates a full-blown android rebellion in season two, choked with blood, guts and wiring. If necessary they can even throw in the odd Sartre quote.
More Great Writing
The problem with shows that have a stellar first season is following it up. The first time round no one really knows what to expect and so every plot twist hits with the intensity of a fresh heartbreak. Come round two and the viewing audience is a little more savvy. We’re treading cautiously through the places the danger came from before and we have an idea of what the villains may look like. Thus it might be much harder to wow an audience but it would be a pity if we weren’t because between a diverse cast of strong leads and a clever plot this has all the potential of young love.
More of the other Worlds
In the final episode of season one we caught a tantalising hint that Westworld may only be one aspect of a much bigger park. Perhaps there is an Eastworld, set in feudal Japan or a Southworld set in the un-ruined city of Mapungubwe. The world is filled with enthralling cultures that could be presented in a way that is conducive to the android revolution.
Answers
Last season ended with a lot of unanswered questions and raised a whole bunch of new ones. It would be nice if, in their haste to be clever, the show’s writers remembered to tie up the remaining loose ends.
Binge-ability
This is a little bit like asking for the moon in your pocket, but 2018 years after Jesus died one would expect that we could watch a television show at our own pace.
Waiting until 10pm every Monday seems tedious.
Sure, the series will be available on Showmax and if you wait long enough you can watch the series all at once — but that means many weeks of avoiding spoilers.
Season 2 of Westworld starts tomorrow at 10pm on DStv channel 101. Catch up on season 1 on Showmax