The Puppets Are Awake

"Westworld" began its second season on April 22. The series, created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, is based on the film from Michael Crichton, and is poised to be HBO's next big dramatic series. Each week I'll be exploring the episodes through recaps of season two.

Dolores: What is real?
Bernard: That which is irreplaceable.

HBO has long been the home of prestige drama series. Whether "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under" in the past, the critical favorite "Deadwood," or now "Game of Thrones." The network clearly has hopes that "Westworld" will be the next big chapter in that history. The show was announced well before it premiered in October of 2016. The first season was met with great expectations and a decent critical and audience reception. But the show didn't return in 2017. Production took a long time and, it actually likely worked out better for HBO, which had a season of "Game of Thrones" last summer but won't have its signature series in 2018. And "Westworld" perfectly slides into the mid-April timeslot that had typically been the launch pad for "Game of Thrones" in years past. It's hard to imagine that's not what HBO is going for, and they have to be hopeful that the show has a slow build, too, which allows it to continue to grow.

I was incredibly excited for "Westworld" to debut, and I enjoyed season one, even if at times I didn't think it was perfect. But it's right up my alley. I am a fan of Nolan's work. He worked with his brother, Christopher, on the "Dark Knight" trilogy, and later worked on the small screen on "Person of Interest." Both those presented interesting ideas and explorations. So, too, does "Westworld," which he does with his wife, Lisa Joy.

In addition, the series is based on the 1970s film from Crichton. Crichton has long been one of my favorite writers, and his stories always focused on advancements in science and technology, but often from a cautious point of view. That is the case with "Westworld," too. Whether in Crichton's original vision, or the incredibly well produced version Nolan and Joy have created, this is a world set in the future where a company has figured out how to use technology to create a sort of interactive theme park where people can act out their most base desires. Really it's six  theme parks, as we learned last night and will presumably get to see more of. But "Westworld" is a recreation of the old west. There Hosts, which are artificial lifeforms created to serve the whims of the guests. They were meant to be wholly controlled, and able to be erased so they wouldn't remember anything but the part they were asked to play in the sick, twisted, and violent fantasies of those they served. But it turned out the hosts, and their consciousness, was more complex, and less able to be completely controlled, than those in charge thought.

In fact, the park's creator, Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins), foresaw and welcomed and awakening, something he ushered in as the first season drew to a close. And the question has been, what comes next.

The idea that we can't fully control things we create has long been a theme in Crichton's work, and it's something that Nolan and Joy built on well with this series. The idea of the creation turning on the creator is something that happened frequently in Crichton's work, most famously in "Jurassic Park" where John Hammond is literally consumed by his creation. In some ways, Ford's assassination to close the first season mirrored that moment, as the Hosts took control, or at least seemed to take control.

The other aspect the series seemed intent on exploring in the first season was the darker impulses of human nature. This was especially present in the Man in Black (Ed Harris), who we learn through the course of the season is actually sweet William (Jimmi Simpson), the man who seemed smitten with Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) when he came to the park 30 years prior. The journey of how William became the vicious and vindictive Man in Black is one that is only partially explored in season one. But what is clear is that the hosts and their awakened sense of consciousness seem to have more empathy and compassion than any of the humans at the park. The becomes even more abundantly clear when it's revealed that good guy Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) is actually a Host, too. One made to replicate Ford's partner, Arnold.

So season one of the series ended much where the movie ends, with the Hosts now conscious and having taken control at the expense of their guests (in this cast much of the board of directors getting rich of exploiting the hosts). The question has long been where we go from here.

In the premier, "Journey Into Night," we begin to get some of those answers. Bernard, whose secret is still kept from his co-workers, is found alone on the beach and joins the group brought in to regain control of the park. We learn two weeks have passed, but we don't know how we got to that point.

But the episode begins with an exchange between Bernard and Dolores, a piece of which is captured above. He talks about a dream of the ocean. She asks what is real, and Bernard gives the reply above. What is real? What is Bernard doing? Why is he struggling to remember? What became of the Hosts these last two weeks? Those are all mysteries to unlock the next nine weeks.

But what we do know is Dolores is out to find freedom for herself and her friends. Maeve (Thandie Newton) is out to find her daughter. And Bernard has learned that Delos, under the direction of Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), is up to something new with the Hosts.

There are a lot of holes to fill in, but I was excited by the premier, the way it picked up story threads and set new ones into motion. A showdown is coming between the Man in Black and Dolores. It must. And I can't wait to see what form that takes.

And as the episode ended, and the great sea of Hosts was revealed, it is fair to wonder what role Bernard really played in that fate, how it came to be, and what it means for the future. In a world where nothing is what it seems to be, Bernard's role in all this might be the biggest mystery of all.