Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?
That’s the question HBO's Westworld poses to viewers in its pilot, “The Original,” which serves as a confident and thrilling first episode.
The show, based on the 1973 film of the same name, marks HBO’s foray into both sci-fi and western genres, and has a fairly complex premise. Westworld takes place in a simulated Western theme park populated by robots called “hosts” and visited by wealthy guests called “newcomers.”
The simulation is essentially an endless loop that is overseen by a group of developers, who program the robots and invent new storylines and dialogue for the park’s characters.
The story mostly focuses on the life of Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood), a young woman “host” who lives with her father and encounters another robot, Teddy Flood (James Marsden), as a potential love interest.
But the episode hinges on the moment when Dolores is removed from the simulation and asked questions about how she conceives her reality. Though she hasn’t become aware of the simulation yet, the scene shows the beginning of much to come for the main character.
The subtle reversal of normal Western tropes in the episode was refreshing. The episode begins with cliches: a gunslinger arrives at a Western town, walks into a saloon and eventually meets a beautiful woman in distress.
But we see these stereotypical storylines begin to break down, such as when the sadistic “man in black” (Ed Harris) kills Dolores’ father and Teddy, or when her father finds a photo of a woman in modern day Times Square.
The episode leads viewers to question who is real and who is synthetic; the robots are completely lifelike, so it’s difficult to discern. It even led me to question whether any of the developers working in the control room are robots, too.
On top of that, the episode had much thematic depth. In the show, artificial intelligence is just beginning to turn against humanity, evidenced by when Dolores’ father threatens revenge against his creator.
One moment I also liked was when Dolores points out the “Judas steer” in a herd of cattle, who leads the cattle to slaughter. The steer likely symbolizes Dolores, who may eventually break from her programming and lead the other hosts.
The pilot was also aided by an excellent soundtrack, combining typical Western music with darker electronic synths. A highlight of the episode was a scene that featured an orchestral version of “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones.
And the episode never felt slow, despite the fact that it barely scraped the surface of its overarching story of robots becoming self-aware. We see hints of that through the malfunctions within Dolores’ father and other characters, who break down and go against their programming.
The show has a massive scale and an overarching sense of confidence, raising questions and suggesting that there is much waiting to be revealed. And there is: its creators have mapped the show out up to five seasons in advance, according to Entertainment Weekly.
If the show becomes successful, which it has every opportunity to do given the immense popularity of HBO’s Game of Thrones, I expect this pilot will stand out among other pilots in television history.
Needless to say, I’m excited to see what comes next.
