Some 30 years before the events of the TV show, Dr. Robert Ford, played by Anthony Hopkins (and named, rather ominously, after the infamous 'coward' who shot the outlaw Jesse James). Westworld itself is the brainchild of Dr. Want to drag Dolores, that cheery daughter of a retired lawman, into a barn by her hair and rape her? That-as we see in the premiere's most horrifying scene-is also an option. Want to wander around shooting anybody who gets in your way? That's an option. Want to spend your whole day hooking up with eerily lifelike robot prostitutes in a brothel? That's an option. To borrow a cliche you would probably see in one of their commercials, Westworld is limited only by your imagination.

You might even get the chance to play the white hat yourself, saving the town by drawing a pistol and shooting a group of bandits down.īut that's not your only option. Or you might bump into Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood), the cheery daughter of a retired lawman. When you arrive in town, you might get stopped by a sheriff, asking if you'll join a posse formed to track down a dangerous outlaw. Westworld-the theme park at the center of the compelling new HBO series of the same name-promises its guests the opportunity to act out that fantasy. And when the hero shot the villain, it was always bloodless-and always justified. When the villain shot the hero, it was just another opportunity to show how tough he was by shrugging it off. The heroes wore white hats, and the villains wore black. In its earliest incarnation, no genre relied more on a black-and-white, good-vs.-evil morality than the western.

Westworld season 1 episode 1 review