With the first season of the new HBO hit series Westworld coming to an end, I thought it fitting I do my best to convince anyone with HBO access to give it a try. Spoiler: both the writing and acting are phenomenal.
In Westworld, there exists a park populated by artificially intelligent "hosts" where those with enough money can visit the wild west. Sci-Fi meets Western is a pretty basic description of the series, which is riddled with complex story lines which pay off more and more as each episode reveals a new twist. I almost wonder what the experience would have been like had I waited to binge watch the whole series instead of watching weekly.
I do regret, however, reading a bit into the myriad of fan theories the internet had given birth to. It would have been much more interesting to have nothing but my own thoughts as I watched my favorite characters learn who they were to become. Regardless, it was incredibly worth 10 hours of my life, approximately, I spent investing in this world brought to life by Jonathon Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Nolan has made his mark with the series Person of Interest, as well as a writer working with his brother, Christopher Nolan on numerous well known films such as Interstellar and The Dark Knight trilogy. Joy has previously worked on Burn Notice and Pushing Daisies.To tip the talent scale even further, J.J. Abrams lent his talent in the form of executive producer. In case if you aren't familiar with his work, he's the guy behind Lost as well as last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I don't know about you, but this knowledge was enough for me to at least give the series a try.
If that is not enough, now since you have waited until the culmination of the first season, you have the privilege of knowing the show has an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 9.2/10 on IMDB. These ratings of aggregated data should not be taken lightly. For some perspective, Breaking Bad, a series I highly regard as the best television of our time, received 95% and 9.5/10 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, respectively. Game of Thrones (GoT) is rated at 94% and 9.5/10.
While many will attempt to compare this show to GoT, (and I must admit, Westworld did accomplish to fill the giant void in my life for a few months while I wait for season 7 to debut sometime next year), it is undoubtedly an entirely different beast of its own. While extreme violence and the often presence of nudity are commonalities between the two HBO titles, the ties between them end there.
GoT draws you in quickly with unexpected plot twists which continue to build upon each other. In contrast, Westworld slowly unravels its plot from the beginning, revealing small sums of the whole in each episode until it finally comes together towards the end. Both methods of storytelling are extremely effective in their own respective ways.
I will make my final point before you decide to drop what you are doing and turn on HBO Go and watch Westworld.
I have always been interested in the potential future of artificial intelligence, in particular with the abilities of IBM's Watson supercomputer and the possibilities which lie ahead. If you are anything like me, the experience of watching a television series in which the writers cleverly play with the concept of artificial intelligence and the road to consciousness is one that should not be missed.
Do yourself a favor. Go to HBO. Borrow your friend's password if you have to. Watch Westworld in its entirety. Thank me later.