Decrypted: Westworld has the same problems as a tech company

In the new episode of our TV podcast, we talk economics and nuke fan theories.

Read the whole story

 

[pokrface]

(Apologies in advance for my audio—I've done this a billion times, but for some reason I could _not_ get a clean recording on my end, and we had to use skype audio rather than a pristine local recording. Tried a bunch of different fixes, but we ran out of time and had to get going with the recording. I promise I'll do better next time!)

 

[marsilies]

sapphir8[/url]":32o6f40x]I only saw the first episode. Heard great things about it. I don't get the show. Maybe I'll watch a couple of more to see what happens, but like Game of Thrones, it just doesn't get my attention.

Are you a fan of sci-fi or fantasy in general? No show can appeal to everyone, but sometimes familiarity/appreciation for the genre at hand can help.

 

[Timboman]

...and how the two most popular fan theories about Westworld just got nuked (bye bye, double timeline)

I will admit that I haven't listened to the podcast yet but I think that this is VERY premature. In fact I think that this episode does the most to CONFIRM the two timelines theory. Everything seems to point to William becoming Mr. Blackhat 30 years in the future. The most damning being the reveal that the Host we know as Logan is ALSO El Lazo. We have seen that Hosts are occasionally reassigned to different roles, but usually only to fill a hole left by another malfunctioning host or after they have been used in the same role for a while and the park wants to shuffle things up. I find it highly unlikely that the former would be the case here, even after Logan's demise, thus the latter seems more likely, implying a space in time between the two events.

There are more signs, The diffrent logos in each time period, different storylines seemingly overlapping the same physical space (Bounty hunter or War Recruiter) and even more than that.

From what I can glean, the Dolores we see in the "past" is following instructions left by Arnold to somehow set the Hosts free of their programming constraints and somehow William will be caught up in this and somehow "stop" it. This is the same thing that Mr. Blackhat mentions to Ford in the "future", about how he owes him for resolving his "problem". He regrets his actions and now wants to run through Arnold's Easter Egg to finally remove the constraints on the Hosts while Ford is actively trying to add extra steps and obstacles into the mix to hold him back (The Wyatt story-line being the most obvious one, but also possibly having a hand in trying to sabotage the trail that leads to the egg, shuffling hosts that had parts of the egg built into their design to different roles to obfuscate the path).

There are some unanswered questions still, but as far as I can tell things do seems to keep falling into place to confirm this theory.

 

[Adonis91]

Given that Lawrence is actively participating in the William/Deloris plot and the MIB plot, and he is killed in one and not in the other, it's quite clear that these two plots are not happening at the same time. We also know that the MIB has a special relationship with Deloris, and a special relationship with Lawrence, since he knows the latter's real name (which Lawrence only shares with close acquaintances). So, did anyone else get the vibe in this episode that William is the MIB the first time he visited WW?

Edit: Ninja'd

 

[pokrface]

Timboman[/url]":1ijwkl15]There are some unanswered questions still, but as far as I can tell things do seems to keep falling into place to confirm this theory.

When William and Logan enter Pariah, they discuss the park's long-ago troubles, the long-ago death of the mysterious co-founder, and the fact that the park almost went under.

Not trying to tell you how to feel, but the dual-timeline theory is dead. It was always fringe and kind of silly, but it's dead and buried now.

Different logos is silly. Every company I've ever worked for has had a brand book w/multiple logo styles. Red herring.

Dolores can't shoot a gun until she breaks out of her loop (partially thanks to her hallucinating being attacked by the MiB, which in turn might be triggered by Arnold's programming) and falls in with William.

Stubbs & the other control room tech were discussing in the previous episode how Dolores was off her loop, and they send the cop-host to bring her in—until the other host sees she's with William. This confirms William and Stubbs are in the same timeline.

The whole "dual timeline" thing was a fanciful idea that only hung together by a bunch of circumstantial half-clues and whispers. The show has a wonderful, complex narrative as it is—tossing in a multiple-timeline "twist" cheapens the narrative, imo. There's plenty going on without it.

You're welcome to keep holding onto it, but there's more than enough happening on screen to conclusively disprove it.

Adonis91[/url]":1ijwkl15]Given that Lawrence is actively participating in the William/Deloris plot and the MIB plot, and he is killed in one and not in the other, it's quite clear that these two plots are not happening at the same time. We also know that the MIB has a special relationship with Deloris, and a special relationship with Lawrence, since he knows the latter's real name (which Lawrence only shares with close acquaintances). So, did anyone else get the vibe in this episode that William is the MIB the first time he visited WW?

Edit: Ninja'd

No, I think it's far more likely that the MIB has run the entire set of Pariah stories himself at some point in the past ~30 years. He says he's run every narrative in the park, after all.

Seems a lot less far-fetched that once Lawrence/El Lazo fell in with the MIB, the control room dispatched a duplicate El Lazo back to Pariah so that town's storylines could continue. After all, it's the place where the highest-paying guests are.

Multiple timelines is just far too complicated. William != MIB.

 

[sapphir8]

marsilies[/url]":2m1fnrbt]

sapphir8[/url]":2m1fnrbt]I only saw the first episode. Heard great things about it. I don't get the show. Maybe I'll watch a couple of more to see what happens, but like Game of Thrones, it just doesn't get my attention.

Are you a fan of sci-fi or fantasy in general? No show can appeal to everyone, but sometimes familiarity/appreciation for the genre at hand can help.

Very much so. I tolerate Harry Potter, I enjoyed Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit movies. I guess I just don't click with this show. Like I said, I will give it an episode or two more.

 

[DoomHamster]

Pokrface[/url]":396r0xtc](Apologies in advance for my audio—I've done this a billion times, but for some reason I could _not_ get a clean recording on my end, and we had to use skype audio rather than a pristine local recording. Tried a bunch of different fixes, but we ran out of time and had to get going with the recording. I promise I'll do better next time!)

I bet a transcript would be nice and clear.

 

[deus01]

Pokrface[/url]":3tuxl4k6]

Timboman[/url]":3tuxl4k6]There are some unanswered questions still, but as far as I can tell things do seems to keep falling into place to confirm this theory.

When William and Logan enter Pariah, they discuss the park's long-ago troubles, the long-ago death of the mysterious co-founder, and the fact that the park almost went under.

Not trying to tell you how to feel, but the dual-timeline theory is dead. It was always fringe and kind of silly, but it's dead and buried now.

Different logos is silly. Every company I've ever worked for has had a brand book w/multiple logo styles. Red herring.

Dolores can't shoot a gun until she breaks out of her loop (partially thanks to her hallucinating being attacked by the MiB, which in turn might be triggered by Arnold's programming) and falls in with William.

Stubbs & the other control room tech were discussing in the previous episode how Dolores was off her loop, and they send the cop-host to bring her in—until the other host sees she's with William. This confirms William and Stubbs are in the same timeline.

The whole "dual timeline" thing was a fanciful idea that only hung together by a bunch of circumstantial half-clues and whispers. The show has a wonderful, complex narrative as it is—tossing in a multiple-timeline "twist" cheapens the narrative, imo. There's plenty going on without it.

You're welcome to keep holding onto it, but there's more than enough happening on screen to conclusively disprove it.

They don't actually mention that the death and parks troubles were long ago, just that that it happened. In fact if Arnold's death did happen thirty years ago in the William timeline it seems unlikely that the park would be hemorrhaging money for that long.

EDIT: To expand on some of your other comments, they also mention in one of the episodes that weapon restrictions were put into place recently. So it's possible that Dolores could have shot the other host in the past (or something else happened). It's pretty clear that events in the show are not taking place in order so the real question is exactly how much time has elapsed between them. The way the show uses cuts is at least still leaving the two timeline theory somewhat unresolved, so depending on how you feel about it you'll either see evidence supporting it or refuting it.

 

[pokrface]

deus01[/url]":dj0pby3m]They don't actually mention that the death and parks troubles were long ago, just that that it happened. In fact if Arnold's death did happen thirty years ago in the William timeline it seems unlikely that the park would be hemorrhaging money for that long.

It's clearly mentioned in the terrace cafe conversation between Cullen and Ford (and other places, too) that the park is in financial distress and the board is antsy. The park doesn't have to be in a 30-year financial freefall for there to be one timeline, since that's one of the main points of Ford's new narrative—to pump some dollars back into things.

Again, hey, you're welcome to believe what you want to believe, and the show certainly is ambiguous about a number of things. But I will quite literally eat a puke-inducing soylent bar on camera if the dual-timeline theory turns out true. It just ain't so.

 

[Adonis91]

Pokrface[/url]":2qiyixqf]

Timboman[/url]":2qiyixqf]There are some unanswered questions still, but as far as I can tell things do seems to keep falling into place to confirm this theory.

Dolores can't shoot a gun until she breaks out of her loop (partially thanks to her hallucinating being attacked by the MiB, which in turn might be triggered by Arnold's programming) and falls in with William.

Good observation Lee. I neglected that bit.

Adonis91[/url]":2qiyixqf]Given that Lawrence is actively participating in the William/Deloris plot and the MIB plot, and he is killed in one and not in the other, it's quite clear that these two plots are not happening at the same time. We also know that the MIB has a special relationship with Deloris, and a special relationship with Lawrence, since he knows the latter's real name (which Lawrence only shares with close acquaintances). So, did anyone else get the vibe in this episode that William is the MIB the first time he visited WW?

Edit: Ninja'd

No, I think it's far more likely that the MIB has run the entire set of Pariah stories himself at some point in the past ~30 years. He says he's run every narrative in the park, after all.

Seems a lot less far-fetched that once Lawrence/El Lazo fell in with the MIB, the control room dispatched a duplicate El Lazo back to Pariah so that town's storylines could continue. After all, it's the place where the highest-paying guests are.

Multiple timelines is just far too complicated. William != MIB.

Yeah or maybe he was killed just in time to get him fixed and back to Pariah. I agree there is no need to over complicate the plot with multiple timelines, but I'm not very astute, and wasn't even aware of the multiple timeline fan theory, nor was I familiar with the MIB=William theory. This was the first I heard of them, and yet I distinctly got that vibe last night. So even if that's not part of the story, the direction was toying with us last night.

 

[Annalee]

Pokrface[/url]":22slnca4](Apologies in advance for my audio—I've done this a billion times, but for some reason I could _not_ get a clean recording on my end, and we had to use skype audio rather than a pristine local recording. Tried a bunch of different fixes, but we ran out of time and had to get going with the recording. I promise I'll do better next time!)

Most of what you're hearing in the podcast was Lee in analysis mode. I also requested a lack of emotional affect. I think it turned out well.

 

[deus01]

Pokrface[/url]":39qtulqt]

deus01[/url]":39qtulqt]They don't actually mention that the death and parks troubles were long ago, just that that it happened. In fact if Arnold's death did happen thirty years ago in the William timeline it seems unlikely that the park would be hemorrhaging money for that long.

It's clearly mentioned in the terrace cafe conversation between Cullen and Ford (and other places, too) that the park is in financial distress and the board is antsy. The park doesn't have to be in a 30-year financial freefall for there to be one timeline, since that's one of the main points of Ford's new narrative—to pump some dollars back into things.

Again, hey, you're welcome to believe what you want to believe, and the show certainly is ambiguous about a number of things. But I will quite literally eat a puke-inducing soylent bar on camera if the dual-timeline theory turns out true. It just ain't so.

It's possible for it to have financial troubles at multiple points in it's existence. It seems unlikely that something that happened over 30 years ago would be the major source of financial problems for the company today though. I don't really like William = MiB theory, but based on the non-continuity of other parts of the show I'm inclined to believe that we are seeing events separated by a roughly 30 year period and that Dolores is repeating the loop she made back then.

EDIT: As an example of the non-continuity we can be almost certain that Dolores interviews with Ford/Bernard are not occurring at the times they are shown. We know that hosts can't be easily removed and that employees can't just appear anywhere in the park at will based on how they need to track down the rogue host. That would make it impossible to have removed Dolores from William's company easily and especially not without breaking immersion (something which they are very against). There are also other issues with Dolores' memory, so it becomes difficult to parse when the events we experience through her are happening as some of them are clearly at another time. When she was in the town talking to Lawrence's daughter (who disappears) the weather changes from raining to clear during her various flashes.

EDIT2: You better make sure you have a vomit inducing Soylent bar on hand because we're going to hold you to your promise if the two timelines theory turns out to be true.

 

[Ladnil]

I don't think 30 year gap theory is dead yet, but man, I'd really hate if it were true. Man in Black having no name but lots of money and history in the park is just screaming for a secret identity twist so blatantly that it would actually be more compelling if all he turns out to be is exactly who he seems to be. A guy who's rich as hell and thinks he can unearth Arnold's secrets in the park.

 

[Adonis91]

deus01[/url]":ncw1534y]

EDIT2: You better make sure you have a vomit inducing Soylent bar on hand because we're going to hold you to your promise if the two timelines theory turns out to be true.

As hilarious as it might be to see him eat one of those vomit inducing Soylent bars on camera, I'd hate for him to get sick and rather not hold him to it, simply as a precautionary measure.

 

[Schizoid]

I would really be disappointed if an otherwise smart series resorted to some hackneyed Twilight Zone reveal.

 

[pokrface]

I FEAR NO SOYLENT

edit And, yes, Schizoid said what I'm thinking. It's the same reason why I also think everyone who we've been shown to be a human is a human. A "s/he was a robot all along!!!ONE111" reveal would be cheap and silly. The show is so amazing and we're exploring so many fun, smart, fascinating things about the nature of consciousness that the story doesn't need the cheap stuff.

 

[mrscott75]

The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

 

[deus01]

Adonis91[/url]":ao75iwq6]

Pokrface[/url]":ao75iwq6]

Dolores can't shoot a gun until she breaks out of her loop (partially thanks to her hallucinating being attacked by the MiB, which in turn might be triggered by Arnold's programming) and falls in with William.

Good observation Lee. I neglected that bit.

Though when she wakes up in William's camp she doesn't have the gun with her. The scene with the gun in drawer also shows a gun that looks like it has been weathered significantly after being buried for a long time. I won't expand on this more because you can read about this (and evidence against it) to your heart's content on reddit. There are also plenty of completely insane theories there which you may find entertaining (or you know... crazy).

 

[deus01]

mrscott75[/url]":1twn7i63]The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

Dolores does pull a wire out of her arm in one of her flashbacks. It's unclear if this is a mechanical wire or something like the tracking device that was found in the rogue host.

 

[Ladnil]

mrscott75[/url]":xw7ms5wv]The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

You can sort of see that even the old hosts with parts were covered with a layer of flesh, so presumably that layer would bleed a bit. After all, if you're doing a theme park with old west gunfights and sex, you're going to make sure at least some of the bodily fluids seem realistic.

 

[deus01]

Schizoid[/url]":2i4mc3i5]I would really be disappointed if an otherwise smart series resorted to some hackneyed Twilight Zone reveal.

That's why I don't think they will play the guess who's a robot game. The two timeline theory does leave room for an interesting story though in my opinion, especially since they seem to so far be doing a good job setting it up but still leaving it vague. Then again JJ Abrams is involved, so they'll probably screw it up.

 

[MobtownDave]

The theory of two time line was not refuted by anything in this episode and you offer no good reason why it cant be on mars.

The stuff that the Man in black is referring to could very well being playing out right now with Delore's awakening as the initial steps.


Thanks for playing.

 

[Schizoid]

deus01[/url]":cntesef4]

mrscott75[/url]":cntesef4]The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

Dolores does pull a wire out of her arm in one of her flashbacks. It's unclear if this is a mechanical wire or something like the tracking device that was found in the rogue host.

I think that a lot of what we see Dolores experiencing are memories, visual metaphors, and outright hallucinations.

 

[deus01]

Schizoid[/url]":777vv99z]

deus01[/url]":777vv99z]

mrscott75[/url]":777vv99z]The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

Dolores does pull a wire out of her arm in one of her flashbacks. It's unclear if this is a mechanical wire or something like the tracking device that was found in the rogue host.

I think that a lot of what we see Dolores experiencing are memories, visual metaphors, and outright hallucinations.

While that's possible, and may explain a number of cases, it's also a convenient way to dismiss the two timeline theory by just saying the evidence is a metaphor/hallucination. At the end of the episode William and Lawrence disappear from the train. Is that an artistic way of showing how Dolores experiences her inner monologue/Arnold or is she on the same loop but in a different timeline? We have no way of knowing for sure!

 

[Schizoid]

As for the setting of Westworld: since this is the future, we don't know what shape the Earth is in. Rising sea levels, earthquakes, whatever, could have created islands where none exist now.

 

[JWoody907]

deus01[/url]":2jhsgz9l]

mrscott75[/url]":2jhsgz9l]The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

Dolores does pull a wire out of her arm in one of her flashbacks. It's unclear if this is a mechanical wire or something like the tracking device that was found in the rogue host.

I have to counter though that when we see the attack on the wagon with the Union soldiers, there is blood etc there. Therefore we can assume that the original assertion is correct - hosts around William and Logan are bleeding when shot, and not acting like the mechanical hosts we've seen.

I would further point out that Logan is certainly leaving behind plenty of evidence in every episode that the robots they are encountering are the latest models, not older mechanical versions.

 

[deus01]

JWoody907[/url]":1xn5jee3]

deus01[/url]":1xn5jee3]

mrscott75[/url]":1xn5jee3]The fact that MiB mentions how the hosts used to be made up of parts - but are now made up of flesh, bone and blood seems to disprove the dual timeline theory. When William and Logan shoot a host - do they not bleed? If William was the MiB, wouldn't the hosts be more robot like?

Dolores does pull a wire out of her arm in one of her flashbacks. It's unclear if this is a mechanical wire or something like the tracking device that was found in the rogue host.

I have to counter though that when we see the attack on the wagon with the Union soldiers, there is blood etc there. Therefore we can assume that the original assertion is correct - hosts around William and Logan are bleeding when shot, and not acting like the mechanical hosts we've seen.

I would further point out that Logan is certainly leaving behind plenty of evidence in every episode that the robots they are encountering are the latest models, not older mechanical versions.

Well we don't know what happens when you shoot the mechanical versions. They are also supposed to also be lifelike so could be covered in a layer of flesh.

 

[Doc Spector]

Keep in mind, there's no reason to assume that each host is unique. There may be multiples of any character confirmed as a host, and there may even be multiples of characters confirmed as not hosts. (one human + robot doubles).

 

[deus01]

Doc Spector[/url]":2jr6jenw]Keep in mind, there's no reason to assume that each host is unique. There may be multiples of any character confirmed as a host, and there may even be multiples of characters confirmed as not hosts. (one human + robot doubles).

Then it's just Battlestar but in the Wild West, which no one wants.

 

[Doc Spector]

deus01[/url]":gvr59p5a]

Doc Spector[/url]":gvr59p5a]Keep in mind, there's no reason to assume that each host is unique. There may be multiples of any character confirmed as a host, and there may even be multiples of characters confirmed as not hosts. (one human + robot doubles).

Then it's just Battlestar but in the Wild West, which no one wants.

Westworld is from the 70's. It could be "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but in the Wild West.

If you really wanted to piss people off, you could end the season with Patrick Stewart saying in voiceover "computer, hold program, arch!"

 

[JWoody907]

Doc Spector[/url]":2v411iuo]

deus01[/url]":2v411iuo]

Doc Spector[/url]":2v411iuo]Keep in mind, there's no reason to assume that each host is unique. There may be multiples of any character confirmed as a host, and there may even be multiples of characters confirmed as not hosts. (one human + robot doubles).

Then it's just Battlestar but in the Wild West, which no one wants.

Westworld is from the 70's. It could be "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but in the Wild West.

If you really wanted to piss people off, you could end the season with Patrick Stewart saying in voiceover "computer, hold program, arch!"

And that's how they launch Star Trek: Discovery

 

[Schizoid]

Doc Spector[/url]":2x22im18]

deus01[/url]":2x22im18]

Doc Spector[/url]":2x22im18]Keep in mind, there's no reason to assume that each host is unique. There may be multiples of any character confirmed as a host, and there may even be multiples of characters confirmed as not hosts. (one human + robot doubles).

Then it's just Battlestar but in the Wild West, which no one wants.

Westworld is from the 70's. It could be "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but in the Wild West.

If you really wanted to piss people off, you could end the season with Patrick Stewart saying in voiceover "computer, hold program, arch!"

If you really want to piss people off, you could end the series before anything is explained.

 

[Schizoid]

Annalee[/url]":9iwtb36p]

Pokrface[/url]":9iwtb36p](Apologies in advance for my audio—I've done this a billion times, but for some reason I could _not_ get a clean recording on my end, and we had to use skype audio rather than a pristine local recording. Tried a bunch of different fixes, but we ran out of time and had to get going with the recording. I promise I'll do better next time!)

Most of what you're hearing in the podcast was Lee in analysis mode. I also requested a lack of emotional affect. I think it turned out well.

Was he naked?

 

[pokrface]

Schizoid[/url]":l1isc37h]Was he naked?

I'll never tell.

 

[Azethoth666]

Pokrface[/url]":asj4ogc4]

deus01[/url]":asj4ogc4]They don't actually mention that the death and parks troubles were long ago, just that that it happened. In fact if Arnold's death did happen thirty years ago in the William timeline it seems unlikely that the park would be hemorrhaging money for that long.

It's clearly mentioned in the terrace cafe conversation between Cullen and Ford (and other places, too) that the park is in financial distress and the board is antsy. The park doesn't have to be in a 30-year financial freefall for there to be one timeline, since that's one of the main points of Ford's new narrative—to pump some dollars back into things.

Again, hey, you're welcome to believe what you want to believe, and the show certainly is ambiguous about a number of things. But I will quite literally eat a puke-inducing soylent bar on camera if the dual-timeline theory turns out true. It just ain't so.

There is a specific mention that 30 years ago something actually went wrong in the park. Dolores remembers a conversation with Arnold at 32.something years ago.

A basement conversation: (Theresa iirc): "If it breached it has to be put down". This hints at an AI breaching into consciousness. This would be a bad thing either in the park or in the outside world as well. Perhaps that is what happened to Arnold? Arnold was the first AI, created by Ford, then put down by Ford during the event 30 years ago? But Arnold, being an AI, had enough time to plan another breach attempt in the future? Or the breach was caused by Arnold's quest for robot consciousness and sadly he got killed during the event and or downloaded and destroyed in the process. No matter Arnold's original nature he is partly or wholly residing in Dolores and possibly other park systems. The fact that almost nobody knows who he was makes me think he was not an actual human.

Now bringing that all home I agree that it has become unlikely that we are actively watching two timelines. MiB may be hopping around a bit in time to show his path as he homes in on getting to the Maze. Or we are simply seeing him acting out the final path. It sure felt that the boy fetching water was new to him. Also, it sure seems like the boy is Ford's avatar in this world.

So the show is as expected about AI, AI rights, AI emergence and the interactions between maker and new life form.

 

[Schizoid]

Pokrface[/url]":13scg4sx]

Schizoid[/url]":13scg4sx]Was he naked?

I'll never tell.

I'll take that as a yes.

 

[bittermann]

Schizoid[/url]":1g5i15zw]

Doc Spector[/url]":1g5i15zw]

deus01[/url]":1g5i15zw]

Doc Spector[/url]":1g5i15zw]Keep in mind, there's no reason to assume that each host is unique. There may be multiples of any character confirmed as a host, and there may even be multiples of characters confirmed as not hosts. (one human + robot doubles).

Then it's just Battlestar but in the Wild West, which no one wants.

Westworld is from the 70's. It could be "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but in the Wild West.

If you really wanted to piss people off, you could end the season with Patrick Stewart saying in voiceover "computer, hold program, arch!"

If you really want to piss people off, you could end the series before anything is explained.

Or drag it into the ridiculous and stupid ending like Lost.

 

[cygnus1]

deus01[/url]":m8xiy6jf]

Pokrface[/url]":m8xiy6jf]

deus01[/url]":m8xiy6jf]They don't actually mention that the death and parks troubles were long ago, just that that it happened. In fact if Arnold's death did happen thirty years ago in the William timeline it seems unlikely that the park would be hemorrhaging money for that long.

It's clearly mentioned in the terrace cafe conversation between Cullen and Ford (and other places, too) that the park is in financial distress and the board is antsy. The park doesn't have to be in a 30-year financial freefall for there to be one timeline, since that's one of the main points of Ford's new narrative—to pump some dollars back into things.

Again, hey, you're welcome to believe what you want to believe, and the show certainly is ambiguous about a number of things. But I will quite literally eat a puke-inducing soylent bar on camera if the dual-timeline theory turns out true. It just ain't so.

It's possible for it to have financial troubles at multiple points in it's existence. It seems unlikely that something that happened over 30 years ago would be the major source of financial problems for the company today though. I don't really like William = MiB theory, but based on the non-continuity of other parts of the show I'm inclined to believe that we are seeing events separated by a roughly 30 year period and that Dolores is repeating the loop she made back then.

EDIT: As an example of the non-continuity we can be almost certain that Dolores interviews with Ford/Bernard are not occurring at the times they are shown. We know that hosts can't be easily removed and that employees can't just appear anywhere in the park at will based on how they need to track down the rogue host. That would make it impossible to have removed Dolores from William's company easily and especially not without breaking immersion (something which they are very against). There are also other issues with Dolores' memory, so it becomes difficult to parse when the events we experience through her are happening as some of them are clearly at another time. When she was in the town talking to Lawrence's daughter (who disappears) the weather changes from raining to clear during her various flashes.

EDIT2: You better make sure you have a vomit inducing Soylent bar on hand because we're going to hold you to your promise if the two timelines theory turns out to be true.

There's nothing stopping the interviews from happening at the same time. Ford/Bernard could be talking to just a copy of Dolores. If they have replacement copies of hosts either all the Dolores' could be linked and have a shared consciousness (cloud linked storage?) or all the Dolores hosts could be linked to a central computer that runs their program and the host is just a means for interacting with that computer.