Reflections on WW

Published June 6, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

First Shat On TV is very nicely done. How four of you manage, in some combination, to present such well-considered commentary three times a week, plus actually listening to voicemails and reading posts and emails is remarkable to me. So thank you for your efforts.

I try not to read too much into a given scene for its symbolism, but rather is it true to the world created by Joy and Nolan. Then I try to piece together the forward movement of the series (always hoping the show was conceived with the Completion Backwards Principle, that they started with their vision of the climax and then worked on how they got there). The implication being that th series is not written from topsy but rather with a strong point that is being logically rolled out, the meta-narrative of the series itself.

We analyze Shakespeare after we read a sonnet or play, then go back to pick apart the scenes and dialog. Since we can read or view a play in a few hours, the analysis stage comes quickly. On the other hand, tearing apart a series like Westworld on the fly, where the cliffhangers are varied and plentiful and it is a week or years for some resolution, is also fun. The surreality of this series gives us elbow room for ongoing interpretations and predictions.

So far, Westworld is excellent science fiction, like an Ursula K. LeGuin novel. But a five-season series over ten years demands an extraordinarily engaging story.

My hope is too look back on the story and analyze it for its meaning and view of the human condition, much as I do Shakespeare’s plays or Battlestar Galactica. I always ask, does this story say something universal about our common humanity that energizes and informs the reader/viewer, me. I have no complaint now.

Steve Morse

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