Westworld Review: Chestnut (Season 1 Episode 2)
The previously established universe of Westworld has taken a turn.
In “Chestnut” Season 1, Episode 2, we depart our familiar world with Delores and Teddy, and instead turn our attentions to the other Hosts, Guests, and adventures of the park. Much like Jonah Nolan’s other fare (Person of Interest comes to mind), Westworld set itself up as one type of show, and is now establishing itself as another.
The New Kids in Town
Two brand new characters join the show (Jimmi Simpson as William and Ben Barnes as Logan) much in the same way that we first met the original adventuring twosome in Michael Crichton’s original Westworld.
I suppose it is necessary to show the guest perspective of the park — after all, they are the audience the park is there to entertain — and I find myself grateful that the two new additions are at least mildly interesting, if not compelling.
Logan, for all his Alpha-male posturing and general unpleasantness, is casually and unabashedly bisexual, and is seen in the company (and beds) of both men and women. It’s rare to see a bisexual man on television in any capacity, so this dimension to an otherwise cliched character type is welcome. Whether he sticks around or turns out to be park fodder remains to be seen.
WILLIAM: Are you real?
ANGELA: Well, if you can’t tell, does it really matter?
The quiet William brings far more intrigue with him. Unlike Logan, who is fully aware of what the park offers and is in the mood for something a little darker, William is new to Westworld and curious to see what the park can provide. It seems his path is going to cross with Dolores’ in the upcoming episodes — but how will he fit into the robot revolution? Only time will tell.
The New Age
The cut and dry science fiction set up of the first episode is nowhere to be seen in episode 2.
Every new character beat and development comes with an “aha!” moment that then turns and leaves the audience on the back foot once more. Two particular plots stand out: Maeve’s rise against her programming, and Ford’s new direction for his creations.
Maeve’s awakening is something of a surprise. I was disappointed to see her relegated to “brothel madame” in episode 1, and assumed the show would keep her in that side role as just another interesting Host that may aid Dolores from time to time.
Happily, this is not the case. Maeve and her memories are arguably more interesting than Dolores’ — where Dolores is off exploring the little clues Abernathy gave her, Maeve is navigating her road to sentience alone. And what’s more, she’s figuring it all out faster than anyone else.
Maeve discerns that bringing herself out of a nightmare with a seemingly innocent routine is actually the programming installed inside of her to bring her from idle mode to consciousness. Maeve is brilliant.
The horrors she experiences waking up mid-surgery and witnessing behind the curtain of her fake existence don’t leave her, and neither do the memories of an atrocity The Man in Black brought upon her and her family not so long ago.
It’s troubling to see a black woman so utterly at the mercy of a foreboding man in “power,” which can only lead me to hope that Maeve rains vengeance down on The Man in Black when next they meet.
FORD: The guests don’t return for the obvious things we do, the garish things. They come back because of the subtleties. The details. They come back because they discover something they imagine no one had ever noticed before. Something they fall in love with. They’re not looking for a story that tells them who they are. They already know who they are. They’re here because they want a glimpse of who they could be.
Outside of the park, Ford rejects a new flash in the pan guest storyline with deeply, deeply troubling racial implications (the ol’ Cowboys vs Indians gag is better left in the 20th century, and that comment goes for the entire show). Instead, he leads Bernard out into a part of the park he reserves for his own private wanderings and reveals that he’s been working on his own storyline that will obviously play out throughout the rest of the season.
The dismissal of the “new” park storyline is an interesting commentary on modern entertainment. Many creators think they know what the audience wants: they want sex, they want violence, they want to discover who they are through what they consume.
Ford, however, offers a different perspective, one that respects both the park goers, and the audience watching Westworld beyond the fourth wall: a person does not want to be told who they are while being entertained, they want to discover who they can be.
Who can Westworld’s audience be? What can they learn from what the show is trying to teach them? Artificial intelligence and robotics are not science fiction anymore — they are science fact. They exist in the world with us.
What will we do with them after seeing how far humans will go to abuse them to suit their own needs?
I’m ready to find out.
Stray thoughts:
- The “sexy robot there for your every desire” thing can only go so far before it becomes tedious, and I think Westworld is already hitting its limit there. It also doesn’t help that almost all of the sexy robots are females serving at the pleasure of men.
- Ford has a small robotic friend that he wanders around the desert with and talks to about life. Is it him as a boy, a son he lost, or just a random beloved creation? My bet is on the first one.
- Bernard and Theresa are apparently a thing, and I’m super here for it in a big way. Casual (yet intimate) sex between co-workers can only end well, right?
- Okay, we get it, Man in Black, you’re not my beloved Yul Brynner, you’re not the Gunslinger rebelling against his programming to go on a homicidal rage against all humans. But you’re evil in a boring way and cruel in an even more boring way, so when is the casual murder and rape of women going to stop? Here’s hoping someone else makes it to this “maze” before he does. Yikes.
What did you think of this episode of Westworld? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Westworld airs Sundays at 9E on HBO.
Brittany Rae
Brittany is a writer and avid TV blogger hailing the infamous year of 1989. She trained at Vancouver Film School in screenwriting for television and film, and has gone on to become a graphic designer and blogger in her free time. When she’s not watching the Food Network, she’s trying to consume every bit of sci-fi television she can get her hands on (current favorites include The 100, Person of Interest, and Doctor Who). She’s always up for female-led dramas and, of course, a literal interpretation of the phrase “Netflix and chill."