Don M

I’d give this show ten stars if it were possible! Not just five. I’m not a big “Western” fan so it took me a while to get to watching this but once I did, the sci-fi geek in me fell instantly in love! And it’s not just the sci-fi aspect that makes me love this show. It is also completely amazing on so many other levels. As far as HBO series, I think it’s the best. Yes, even over Game of Thrones, which was great...until the poor let-down of an ending. Westworld delivers excellence all the way throughout until the very last episode. It took two years each to release a season of this show, which should tell you something about the work put into it. This has, by far, become my favorite show, maybe of all time. If you liked the concept behind “The Matrix”, you’ll probably find this show interesting. It has similarities, but instead of humans being unaware and caught in the machine, the machines are unknowingly in the fantasy, in the real world. And then, they begin to wake up. It poses the questions of what consciousness is; what is sentience, or the soul? Whether in man or machine, should it be protected, at any cost? This show has everything you could ask for: exceptional writing, directing and acting, haunting dialogue, romance, very complex and evolving characters, surprising twists, breathtaking visuals, well choreographed action scenes and special effects that are cutting edge. The story is deep and enthralling and the plot progresses very efficiently in interesting directions as the characters evolve in huge ways throughout. It’s all set against breathtaking scenery with extremely intricate sets and costumes, enhanced with color and lighting that really exhumes emotion. I particularly enjoyed the “Shogun World” episodes. Yes, there are Samurai in Westworld. But no, none of it seems tacky or cliche to me. It was beautiful, in line with everything else in Westworld. The show is never so blunt as to say, “here is the legendary, two-sword wielding ronin, Miyamoto Musashi”, but the character named simply “Musashi” is clearly based on the real world legend. There is one scene in particular that backs up my theory. It would make sense that the human creators of Westworld drew inspiration from real legends. This is just another example of the depth of this show. Maybe you can spot more similarities to real legends in the parks? Another cool facet of this show: the story sometimes jumps forward and backward in time in such beautifully stitched together sequences, you may be echoing one of the characters at times: “is this...now?” Yet, it still doesn’t feel repetitive or too confusing at all. There is a point to it all. It’s very interesting and intense, then eventually it comes together, and I was just in awe of the almost poetic complexity of it all. The final season, set in the “real world” of the future was just mind blowing for a sci-fi lover like me. It was that good! If you’re on the fence, give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.