Westworld has a tendency to court this kind of wild speculation, and there are already Reddit theories that the Los Angeles we saw in Westworld's premiere is fake. Even Hector has been shuttled into the programming in order to play on Maeve’s well-documented affection for the guy, and as she starts to clue in to the fact that things aren’t right, she once again refuses to be duped into being a pawn.īefore “is this a simulation or the real world” threatens to eclipse “is this person a human or a host” as the season’s prevailing mystery, any potential ambiguity is clarified by a small but crucial device: the simulation is presented in a different aspect ratio, making it instantly obvious which is which, and presumably neutralizing theories about whether other locations and plotlines are real or simulated as well. It’s an elaborate simulation - one manufactured to deceive Maeve into leading its creators to the Forge. It soon transpires that War World is not simply another Delos theme park in which robots think they’re human. A remote rural village under Nazi occupation, War World is a corollary park to Westworld and Shogun World, replete with its own iteration of Hector Escaton. The episode begins in War World, where we glimpsed Maeve in last week’s post-credits scene. But in light of the changes heralded by the premiere, this episode mainly seems dull in comparison. Perhaps this digression is needed to orchestrate the action to come. Leaving behind the near-future Los Angeles that was the first episode’s vivid new backdrop, we return instead to the Delos parks and their sleek chrome laboratories, populated by anonymous-looking technicians, submachine gun-toting security guards, and statuesque host bodies hanging around in the nude - the customary fixtures of Westworld circa Seasons 1 and 2. The characters, locations, and fascinating developments that were introduced over the course of the premiere have been temporarily abandoned, in favor of some necessary but tedious exposition and the hurried rearrangement of the show’s component parts. Westworld’s third season commenced so boldly that seeing it lapse into familiar rhythms only one week later is a major disappointment. This review contains spoilers for Westworld Season 3, episode 2, "The Winter Line." To refresh your memory of where we left off, check out our W estworld Season 3 premiere review.
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January 2023
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