Ivory Rudolph

Just finished the first season. Unlike other 'AI awakening' movies or shows, Westworld has a disorganized nebulous approach to their androids sentience and rebellion. I can appreciate the feeling of insanity that breaking from programming inspired in the androids, how disorienting and abysmal their awareness could be, but it was very inconsistent. I could never tell if an android was actually independent/sentient based on their presentation, they were subject to code or commands and couldnt choose to disobey half the time which made no sense, as they left program plenty of times in other settings or at different times in similar settings. A lot of the ways the story is presented/edited was intentionally confusing with big twists coming over and over and over to the point that it was difficult to feel confident in my idea of what was going on. That made the show frustrating to watch for me. The finale was good but also didnt satisfyingly explain why or how or in what ways specifically the AI was growing or breaking away from programming. The way the show is set up seems very abstract so that they can write whatever they want without worrying about contradiction because they never explicitly say anything. It makes it hard to celebrate any accomplishments of the androids because they seem to always be one verbal command or 'actually' moment away from 'ope no, they are still subject to a part of their code... bleh bleh bleh'. It's written to be surprising, emotional and entertaining which doesnt make it a bad show, but it doesnt create enough of a system for me to enjoy it personally. There was enough complexity to really peak my interest but i never got the explanation that made it all click into place. the show moves in a direction i wasnt interested in after season 1. Not my cup of tea. I'd compare it to D&D in that the mechanics and rules and written, albeit loose, limits enhance the story and give foundation to the fantasy as opposed to a fully ungrounded spiralling narrative. The concept of the show gave me the idea that itd be the first but it ended up being the second. Nothing wrong with that but it wasnt enjoyable to me.