Reviewed by Ramona Prioleau

Based on the novel and 1973 film by Jurassic Park director Michael Crichton, Westworld began airing on HBO in 2016. Intended to be the studios flagship show following Game of Thrones conclusion, the series is a high-concept, high-budget science-fiction story that takes place in the near future.

The first season takes place in an Old West theme park where high-payings guests are able interact with robots and artificial intelligences in worlds and scenarios that are developed and written by the park’s various departments. As the world of the park and the world its developers began to change and overlap, characters from both spaces, automaton and not, begin to uncover a series of sinister plots plaguing the land of Westworld. Later seasons explore other parks and other mysteries in the outside world.

The show honors and takes heavy inspiration from its science-fiction source material, but it is not beholden to it. This, for the most part, is a good thing, as it allows the series to change and grow in directions that no audience member sees coming. Occasionally the show can go completely off the rails (even for a series about a fully-automated, fantasy-fulfilling theme park populated by artificial intelligence), but it stays surprisingly grounded most of the time. Real moments of drama arise as characters ponder what it means to be human and what it means to have choice, and a series of mysteries should be more than enough to keep most viewers binging.

Westworld utilizes its top-tier cast to great effect while at the same time making stars out of its lesser known characters. Hollywood veterans like Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins are given unique, mysterious roles, but they are from cameos or billing intended to get audiences to the door. There’s a lot of meat on the bones for both actors to chew on, and both characters reveal themselves fully over the course of the whole first season. They have real arcs, as do the rest of the show’s characters. Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton give career defining performances, and character actor Jeffery Wright adds yet another perfect supporting performance to his growing list of them. Aaron Paul, Luke Hemsworth, and Tessa Thompson all make a lasting mark on the show in various seasons as well.

Westworld has lost some of its original audience as it continued into its later seasons, but that does not stop it from being one of the most original and unique shows on television today. M

June 2020