Westworld hit Sky Atlantic last night, the next big thing according to all the advertising pumped out by Sky but the first look at this HBO flagship show left me unexcited with fingers crossed for better viewing in the future.
If you have seen the Yul Brynner film the setting is a wild-west theme park where the robots die for you, play with you although in the episode there was little of that. However, being HBO that will surely come later. There as already protests from various groups about the use of rape in Westworld. Last night within the first fifteen minutes, there was an implied intended rape (Dolores’s mother), an actual off screen rape of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood). I was surprised they were implied. Normally HBO leave little to be desire when it comes to sex in there shows.
A quick little bit of a spoiler. A software upgrade by the inventor of the whole Westworld set up Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) is found to have a glitch. The upgrade was to make them even more life-like, but some of the robots start acting strangely and maybe, perhaps, be on the verge of self-awareness. We soon get the idea somethings wrong and the technicians start to recall the 10% of the robots who received the new upgrade.
HBO have thrown a lot of money at Westworld it also looks stunning. They are hoping it will be the new Game of Thrones, which finally ends next year. A film yes, I doubt it will make for a long ongoing successful TV series like the Game of Thrones. Ultimately, Westworld doesn't quite do enough that's new, with all of its themes and key moments having been well trodden in science-fiction film and television. Not just the classic film, but also the recent Channel 4 show Humans set in the modern time. While Westworld is engaging enough, it's not half as smart or original as it likes to think it is.
Instead, it's a glossy and reasonably repackaging of familiar subject matter – one that'll need to start asking some new questions if it wants to hook an increasingly savvy TV audience.
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