Next World
After an explosive Season 2 finale, where could Westworld go next? Empire’s most self-aware androids offer suggestions
DON’T KNOCK IT OUT OF THE PARK
With Dolores, Bernard and whatever consciousness currently inhabits Tessa Thompson now in the real world, we could conceivably move away from one of the other stars of Westworld: the park itself. With a less fantastic canvas to paint on, it would be easy fall back to a more generic, ‘us versus them’ story in Season 3, and the show would be all the poorer for it. Standout episodes like ‘Akane No Mai’ showed just how much scope there is for compelling, tangential narratives within other artificial worlds. Shogun World, like Westworld, was a stunning microcosm of our history; while Raj World worked less well, we’ve been told there are six parks in total, with three as-yet unrevealed. Delos’ master plan for the parks may now lie in tatters, but viewers aren’t done with their playground just yet.
JAMES DYER, DIGITAL EDITOR
GIVE US SOMEONE TO ROOT FOR
The concept of heroes and villains is not one Westworld puts much stock in: there are only greyhats in this show. Yet such moral murkiness, psychologically plausible though it may be, makes it hard to care much about what happens to anyone; even the similarly ethically blurry Game Of Thrones has given us Starks to cheer for and Boltons to boo. Now that Lee Sizemore, the park’s most relatable (ie cowardly and sarcastic) character, has gone to the giant saloon in the sky, it’s more necessary than ever that the show gives us some hiss-worthy baddies and people to champion.
NICK DE SEMLYEN, FEATURES EDITOR
DON’T LOSE THE HEART
Episode 8 of Season 2, ‘Kiksuya’, was Westworld as its best. It simply and devastatingly told the story of (the until then nameless and faceless) Ghost Nation and the warrior Akecheta — of all he’d sacrificed and lost. It took us back to the very heart of what Westworld is, the questions about what it is to be human, and examined the consequences of being inhuman. Free from mind-melting timeline shifts and multiple, layered subplots, the storytelling, the heart of the show, shone. This is what we need more of in Season 3. Make us feel, as well as think. TERRI WHITE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF