Decrypted: Westworld pulls us deeper into its violent mystery

Latest episode of Ars TV podcast discusses clues from original <em>Westworld</em> films and TV series

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[Hot Jupiter]

OK, I'm not playing your game anymore Annalee:

We were not privy to Bernard's questionable motives until E2 - which you spoiled in the first 'decrypted'- and I'm none too happy you have spoiled Williams' 'white hat' conflict -which has only been tempted by his "friend" in E2-


I'm not listening, I'm not reading anymore you have to write.

You have ruined the first 4 episodes with spoilers!

P.S. Wow... I suddenly feel like I just hacked Annalee and her narrative to know understand the story while I try to catch up; just like the Abernathys...

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Annalee[/url]":hsv4cqbq]

Hot Jupiter[/url]":hsv4cqbq]OK, I'm not playing your game anymore Annalee:

We were not privy to Bernard's questionable motives until E2 - which you spoiled in the first 'decrypted'- and I'm none too happy you have spoiled Williams' 'white hat' conflict -which has only been tempted by his "friend" in E2-


I'm not listening, I'm not reading anymore you have to write.

You have ruined the first 4 episodes with spoilers!

P.S. Wow... I suddenly feel like I just hacked Annalee and her narrative to know understand the story while I try to catch up; just like the Abernathys...

This is about episode two, where we see both Bernard's debugging of Dolores and William deciding which hat to pick. I'm not sure which episodes you watched, but these are spoilers only for episodes 1 and 2.

She talked about both Bernard's and Ford's 'agenda' in the last decrypted...

Along with "collecting scalps/maps" and the significance of the hat color.

So, you get that the first 'decrypted' had E2 spoilers...

...and 'maps' is not yet established so maybe E3 or E4?

 

[Hot Jupiter]

MichaelC[/url]":35uozek7]

Hot Jupiter[/url]":35uozek7]

Annalee[/url]":35uozek7]

Hot Jupiter[/url]":35uozek7]OK, I'm not playing your game anymore Annalee:

We were not privy to Bernard's questionable motives until E2 - which you spoiled in the first 'decrypted'- and I'm none too happy you have spoiled Williams' 'white hat' conflict -which has only been tempted by his "friend" in E2-


I'm not listening, I'm not reading anymore you have to write.

You have ruined the first 4 episodes with spoilers!

P.S. Wow... I suddenly feel like I just hacked Annalee and her narrative to know understand the story while I try to catch up; just like the Abernathys...

This is about episode two, where we see both Bernard's debugging of Dolores and William deciding which hat to pick. I'm not sure which episodes you watched, but these are spoilers only for episodes 1 and 2.

She talked about both Bernard's and Ford's 'agenda' in the last decrypted...

Along with "collecting scalps/maps" and the significance of the hat color.

So, you get that the first 'decrypted' had E2 spoilers...

...and 'maps' is not yet established so maybe E3 or E4?

All of those things are in ep1.


If you are doing an analysis or breakdown of an episode, you're going to be picking it apart. The Lounge thread had some of these things, going into questions about the MiB, his motives, what he is looking for and wtf is that maze in the robot's scalp? That was all in ep1.

Bernard and Ford have someting going on. That's in ep1.

White hats and blacks... not shoved in your face until ep2, but they are there in ep1. Look at which characters are wearing which hats. It's all there.

Ok; just let me ask:

Where in E1 does MiB say anything about a map other than -and I'm paraphrasing- "there is a deeper level to this game and you know games"? Then goes on about the inherent knowledge of ancient civilizations -allusion to Native Americans- then scalps the guy?

*edit* autocorrect changed inherent to internet.

 

[Hot Jupiter]

MichaelC[/url]":3fs3yto7]maze == map...

When I first saw it , the thoughts that went through my head were: that's a circuit tracing... it's a robot. But at the same time it also looked like a circular maze. What is a maze? What is an overview of the path of a maze? Perhaps a map of a maze?

Here's a simple question... Have Analee or Jennifer seen advanced screenings? Or are they watching these along with the rest of us? These Decrypted episodes are coming out after the episodes air. ep2 was released early on Thursday instead of Sunday because of the debates. HBO did that with a few of their shows that would normally air Sundays. So they've actually had extra days to view the ep and get together to do their analysis.

Annalee and last week's guest had seen up to E4.

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Crito[/url]":2linbhts]

Annalee[/url]":2linbhts]
Episode 1 ends with MIB scalping a guy and showing us a map on the scalp.

@AnnaLee - Your patience is applaudable.

@HotJupiter - What else do you a call a drawing underneath a scalp, where someone talks about "levels" and "how to get there"? Perhaps there's another m-word (e.g. "maze"), but even then the drawing would be a map of said maze. I saw/heard nothing that seemed beyond reasonable speculation, but since you raised the question...

@AnnaLee - Out of curiosity, do you get early access to the episodes?

Edit: Ninja'd by Michael C...

well since I saw the Sheriff 'scalped' I figured it was nothing more than a core part of the programming at most... But that was in the second time I watched since it comes before MiB scalps someone..

In E2 I found out some hosts have secondary knowledge. e.g. The daughter of the wanted man.

 

[Hot Jupiter]

phillyboy[/url]":hmhqes8n]

Annalee[/url]":hmhqes8n]

Hot Jupiter[/url]":hmhqes8n]

MichaelC[/url]":hmhqes8n]maze == map...

When I first saw it , the thoughts that went through my head were: that's a circuit tracing... it's a robot. But at the same time it also looked like a circular maze. What is a maze? What is an overview of the path of a maze? Perhaps a map of a maze?

Here's a simple question... Have Analee or Jennifer seen advanced screenings? Or are they watching these along with the rest of us? These Decrypted episodes are coming out after the episodes air. ep2 was released early on Thursday instead of Sunday because of the debates. HBO did that with a few of their shows that would normally air Sundays. So they've actually had extra days to view the ep and get together to do their analysis.

Annalee and last week's guest had seen up to E4.

Yes. So had dozens of other critics who wrote about the series.

I'm not going to rant anymore...

The word "map" had best not be in E3 nor E4....

The hell is wrong with you? I've never seen anything prior and it wasn't hard to pick up between episodes 1 and 2 that the scalp was some sort of a map.

I think we'd rather you apologize for blowing up half the discussion so far with your "no, nevermind" ranting.

We'll see...

I actually called it out last 'decrypted' and, politely, asked her to ensure there were no more spoilers...

Then she brings up Williams' 'white-hat?'...

Is it dubious already?

I'm sorry I see her bringing her 2 episode advantage into this discussion... I'm sorry I actually like figuring things out on my own...

Im sorry I just Crustytheclowned and Six Degreed this thread...

I'm out.

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Pokrface[/url]":1ql77yj9]

maximara[/url]":1ql77yj9]I think that the guns work in a manner similar to the way they worked in the movie:

"The gun has a sensing device. lt won't fire at anything with a high body temperature. Only something cold, like a machine."

That creates a pretty annoying inconsistency, too. In the movie, it's established that the only way to tell a robot from a human is by checking the undersides of their fingers—they have big ridges around their finger-joints (I'd dig up a pic or youtube clip, but the influx of HBO Westworld stuff has made it really hard to find). But that means the robots have normal (or near-normal) human body temperature, because otherwise that would be an obvious tell. You'd definitely notice if you got a robot into bed on Wednesday night for some Business Time and it was cold.

I guess "the robots aren't precisely the same temp as a person and the guns' sensors are that sensitive" is an acceptable out, but peoples' external temps vary over a pretty huge range, and if you've got on a coat or jacket, the surface temp of your outer clothing isn't much higher than ambient. I'm happy to chalk this up to a Movie Mistake(TM) and move on.

Besides, we don't have to wonder about how it works in the show. Nolan explicitly told Rotten Tomatoes that the guns fire "simunitions":

“It’s not the guns,” Nolan said. “It’s the bullets. We thought a lot about this. In the original film, the guns won’t operate guest on guest, but we felt like the guests would want to have a more visceral experience here. So when they’re shot it has sort of the impact. They’re called simunitions. The U.S. military trains with rounds like the ones we’re talking about. But there’s a bit of an impact, a bit of a sting. So it’s not entirely consequence-free for the guests.”

The guns used by hosts are printed; just like the hosts.

Did you notice the the upper receiver of the p90s used by security were red?

 

[Hot Jupiter]

MichaelC[/url]":863tuo9h]maze == map...

When I first saw it , the thoughts that went through my head were: that's a circuit tracing... it's a robot. But at the same time it also looked like a circular maze. What is a maze? What is an overview of the path of a maze? Perhaps a map of a maze?

Here's a simple question... Have Analee or Jennifer seen advanced screenings? Or are they watching these along with the rest of us? These Decrypted episodes are coming out after the episodes air. ep2 was released early on Thursday instead of Sunday because of the debates. HBO did that with a few of their shows that would normally air Sundays. So they've actually had extra days to view the ep and get together to do their analysis.

Annalee and last week's guest had seen up to E4.[/quote]

Yes. So had dozens of other critics who wrote about the series.[/quote]


I'm not going to rant anymore...

The word "map" had best not be in E3 nor E4....[/quote]

The hell is wrong with you? I've never seen anything prior and it wasn't hard to pick up between episodes 1 and 2 that the scalp was some sort of a map.

I think we'd rather you apologize for blowing up half the discussion so far with your "no, nevermind" ranting.[/quote]

We'll see...

I actually called it out last 'decrypted' and, politely, asked her to ensure there were no more spoilers...

Then she brings up Williams' 'white-hat?'...

Is it dubious already?

I'm sorry I see her bringing her 2 episode advantage into this discussion... I'm sorry I actually like figuring things out on my own...

Im sorry I just Crustytheclowned and Six Degreed this thread...

I'm out.[/quote]

in ep1 the very first conversation they have between 2 guests is the first train ride heading into town. They show Teddy Flood staring out the window and two men a couple seats down are talking. One man is talking about his first visit in which he wore a "White Hat". That he went fishing with his family. The other asks "What about the next trip?". The man replies "I went all evil". And then he says something about that being the way to go. And hes wearing a back hat this trip.

Guests wear white hats and blacks in ep1. Everything is there. Look, the show has some subtleties. And some things are thrown in your face. But it's all there to dissect.

/edit: plus Lee's post above this one... note that he has not seen any advance episodes.

Should we bring up the flies? Are you aware of the significance? ep1 begins and ends with a fly and it is significant.[/quote]


I cannot fix the quote... On a tablet.

I noticed that the last 'decrypted' made a lot of noise about flies freaking out hosts but I only saw the Sherrif freak out and it 'might' have something to do with a fly - given the eye roll- but why could they not restore him when there was no fly back to the facility and they scoped him?


Look


I'll stay away but just don't ask me to stay away with a question...

 

[Hot Jupiter]

MichaelC[/url]":1lprzgx7]That's not the significant part.

At the beginning of episode 1, they are debriefing and resetting Delores. On Delores' face is a fly. The fly walks right onto Delores' eyeball and Delores does not blink. Delores does not even react to the fly at all.

Later in the episode Bernard and Cullen are discussing the broken Sheriff robot. Bernard talks about its core being intact and that it cannot harm a guest; "in fact it cannot even harm a fly"

At the end of ep1, after Delores completes is debrief and they even ask Delores if it can harm anyone. It says it cannot. So the next shot is the new day. Delores starts the day like it does any other day. This time there is a different robot playing the part of father. Delores walks to the edge of the porch. A fly lands on Delores. It crawls along Delores' neck. Delores swats the fly.

I've already written about all that in'decrypted' 1 ...

*edit* not just in d1 but in some of the other "Westworld" threads..

 

[Hot Jupiter]

MarcAurelius[/url]":3lf7jt3j]Seems to me that the maze on the scalp (or map) looks identical to the circular structures that appear to 3D print (or create) the androids with that unknown white substance. At center of the 'maze' you see a person in the classic Vitruvian Man pose just like we see them in Delos creation laboratory.

I'm also convinced we are watching 2 very different time periods in the show and they've intended them to appear seamless and chronological. Can't decide if the scenes from the park (some or all) are flashbacks to 30 (or maybe just 5-10) years ago or if the scenes from within Delos are the real flashbacks.

The "Odyssey on Red River" pitch seems to have actually been created/implemented given Maeve's recollection of being scalped by what looked like one of Sizemore's creations and this leads me to believe at least some of the Delos scenes are not 'present day' in the context of the show so to speak.

Lastly, the disclaimer on the HBO marketing site is definitely interesting and ominous.

"6. PRIVACY: You are guaranteed absolute privacy while using The Service as outlined in this document, and all guest activities connected with use of The Service remain strictly private and confidential.
[...]
(b) By entering the Delos Destinations Port of Entry, you acknowledge that Delos, Inc. controls the rights to and remains the sole owner of, in perpetuity: all skin cells, bodily fluids, secretions, excretions, hair samples, saliva, sweat, blood, and any other bodily functions not listed here. Delos, Inc. reserves the right to use this property in any way, shape, or form in which the entity sees fit."

https://discoverwestworld.com/
^ Just click 'Enter Your Email' and then theres a link to the Terms of Delos Destinations.

OMG!

I've already said I thought one 'host' was human...

Who is the only host that wears red in the present and white in the flashbacks?

The same host I thought was human...


P.S. OH! ...and Ford hopes to ressurrect the dead...

30 years ago someone died....


Now, I'm excited!

P.P.S.

You are totally right!

'cause who is the center of all this? Delores...

How long has she been there?

Long enough... She's an original... "repaired so many times she's 'practically' new...

I do so love Ars!

<goes to store; buys lots of popcorn>

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Pokrface[/url]":1rqwyrsa]

MarcAurelius[/url]":1rqwyrsa]I'm also convinced we are watching 2 very different time periods in the show and they've intended them to appear seamless and chronological. Can't decide if the scenes from the park (some or all) are flashbacks to 30 (or maybe just 5-10) years ago or if the scenes from within Delos are the real flashbacks.

I have a hard time believing that. After The Man in Black saves Lawrence from hanging, he mentions that he and Lawrence had spent time previously fighting Ghost Nation Indians, and there's a big "GHOST NATION" section on the Westworld map on the Delos website. The "injuns" aren't confined to Sizemore's "Red River" narrative—they're a standard component of the park.

Additionally, we know that characters are cycled through multiple roles, that the park has been in operation for at least 30 years, and that the new "reverie" functions allow the guests to access old memories awaiting overwrite. And we saw Dolores "infect" Maeve with the "violent delights" signal phrase.

It seems very straightforward: Maeve is now infected and is reliving past memories from a previous role in which she played a homesteader who was attacked by Ghost Nation Indians in a narrative. She also probably had at least one visit from the Man in Black during that time period, since we know from his convo with Lawrence he was traipsing around the ghost Nation.

The narrative fits together well enough without there being two timelines—that seems just unnecessarily complicated.

Two? Multiple?!?

Then why did the writers mention she was an original? It's not because of the reverie, recent hosts were confounded by that.

It is a waste of script if we are not being yanked around.

Come on Lee...!

The MiB is scalping hosts and nothing is mentioned 'in the present'? That would be a major fucking problem, eh?

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Mazzicc[/url]":2mc5udxp]

Hot Jupiter[/url]":2mc5udxp]


I'll bet a month of silence the word "map" is not used until E3 or E4...

It doesn't need to explicitly be said, but my first reaction as soon as I saw that shot was "whoa, why is there a map under his head?". I was kinda surprised when I went online and saw people freaking out saying "OMG SPOILERS HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW ITS A MAP".

I'll agree more with the black/white hat reveal, but given the pretty blatant color imagery in Ep1, it's a logical conclusion.

My biggest gripe with any sort of spoiler was actually the reveal about what we do/don't know about who the MiB is.

Spoiler

I want to know who he is. Knowing he doesn't have a name through Ep 4 is annoying.

Spoiler

What Ars readers 'know', because of spoilers that only someone with 4 episodes 'knows', that we should still be speculating about:

We know MiB is collecting scalps because they are maps. Incomplete maps... We 'know' he is going to end up with more than the one. That has not been forshadowed at all.
We 'know' Williams will become conflicted and it will be apparent by E4.

We knew, too early that hat color was a choice and not a metaphor...

Now we got this from the contributor whom got the plot of "Suicide Squad" completely wrong...

We should be discussing what the scalps are -antenna, maze, any number of things but it will come to the surprise to no one here when it is revealed MiB is collecting scalps because the maps are incomplete...

You know what we have yet to see? A second scalp much less a collection... I did not see a scalp when the outlaw was being lead around but MiB had his first in reach in E1 - as a map should be-... Speculation leads to multiple timelines.

We should still be guessing not looking in hindsight to defend a contributor that could not even get the plot of "Suicide Squad" right, on the off chance she is just that good at putting the clues together.

My

Spoiler

MiB is looking for the corporations motivation and that is true immortality and perpetual youth. Unlike the immortality Ford speaks of..

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Gigaflop[/url]":v8e2qtjt]I really hope the bullet thing isn't this whole "gun detects difference" crap because that seems really lame and EXTREMELY prone to failure.

I simply assumed that the fake bullets on impact with a robot, trigger the robot to blow holes in itself. This would have a two fold benefit. 1) Zero chance of failure in detection on the gun and killing a human. 2) the robot designers can limit the amount of damage the robots take since they are actively in control of the damage (and thus would dramatically reduce manufacturing and repair costs). Obviously MIB going around knifing and scalping robots is causing additional damage beyond that, but their cost structure seems to be able to absorb pretty significant damage to the bots.

MiB mentions that Native Americans are an ancient race civilization...

Just to put the date in context.

I doubt the guns are fake in the sense you imply; they are definitely 3d printed as shown in the opening and I'll bet good money the bullets are 'smart' nanotechnology and can determine targets mid-flight and lose cohesion if a boatload of parameters are not established...

The clouds are real enough that MiB finds them annoying enough to glance away from....

 

[Hot Jupiter]

alastairmayer[/url]":1fsl25op]

Mazzicc[/url]":1fsl25op]

Globalcop[/url]":1fsl25op]Yes. Exactly! I've been tweeting HBO asking for clarification on the use of edged weapons in Westworld. It is a MASSIVE plot hole.

Wickwick[/url]":1fsl25op]What I want to know is, how do they make sure one guest doesn't knife another or push them off a cliff? If you can't tell hosts from people what's to prevent an accident?

That was my big problem with the bow and arrows in the flashback to the attack Maeve remembered. If you have hosts firing arrows at you, how do you avoid fatal injuries?

You program the hosts to aim to miss.

I've never seen a Host miss... Have you?


I've seen two hesitate:

Dolores' BF -yes, I've forgotten his name- and the blond chick at the brothel robbery....

...and as I wrote above: it is clear that BF is on target when shooting at MiB... The puffs of nanites are clearly on target.

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Ronin007[/url]":k3fpzm0x]

Gigaflop[/url]":k3fpzm0x]I really hope the bullet thing isn't this whole "gun detects difference" crap because that seems really lame and EXTREMELY prone to failure.

That's why I've come to largely ignore park technical details as minutiae - what's seen & been explained wouldn't work in a real world setting. I used to go to WestWorld, until I took an arrow to the knee... Or consider blade weapons, violence between guests... The Simaritan rule won't be able to cover every possible interaction. Or consider a saloon fight - is a bottle or chair going to know the difference between host & guest? VR makes way more sense.

What worries me is that something pivotal is likely to happen that will be explained with a hand-wavey gesture.

I hope you are wrong...

I'm going to be very disappointed if this a "willing suspension of disbelief" show...

 

[Hot Jupiter]

Xzyl[/url]":3lpvzkjr]Bladed weapons could probably be handled the same way theatrical bladed prop weapons are done. Retractable tips and edges. Throw in a little advanced tech like memory materials and a sensor to fill in the gaps. I am not sure what type of sensors could be viable. Ultrasound, something that detects the electrical properties of human skin on contact, combination? I guess it would depend on response times.

Arrows could work similarly.

In case anyone was wondering what type of revolver MiB had it was a LeMat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeMat_Revolver

<tear>

Okay... There can be no rebellion if knives, arrows and - eventually- red guns are not available to Hosts... ...and there is definitely going to be a rebellion emergence..

Just say'n...