Some Westworld Thoughts

Some Westworld thoughts

Probably two of my favorites short stories in Westworld are about animals behavior, and how we’re not so different from them.

Firts story is from season 1 episode 5 “Contrapasso” told by Doctor Robert Ford to Old Bill about his greyhound:

“You want to know the saddest thing i’ve ever saw? When I was a boy my brother and I wanted a dog, so our father took in an old greyhound. A greyhound is a racing dog. Spends its life running in circles, chasing a bit of felt made up like a rabbit. One day, we took it to the park. Our dad had warned us how fast that dog was, but we couldn’t resist. So, my brother took off the leash, and in that instant, the dog spotted a cat. I imagine it must have looked just like that piece of felt. He ran. Never saw a thing as beautiful as that old dog running. Until, at last, he finally caught it. And to the horror of everyone, he killed that little cat. Tore it to pieces. Then he just sat there, confused. That dog had spent its whole life trying to catch that… thing. Now it had no idea what to do.”

It’s been a year and a half, but I can’t stop thinking about that story. It’s like something a pursuit in life. And when I get to something I really wanted, I don’t know what to do next. And I think many people chase what they think they want and disere, what would make them happy and satisfied, but don’t know what to do once they achieve it. Also that story reflects on so many characters through out the show. Not just on Ford himself. Hector and the empty safe. Man in Black and the Maze. His desperate search of meaning (even now, in s2ep2 he’s still trying to find the “real ending”). El Lazo with his “My whole life I’ve imagined this moment. Victory. This struggle. How long have i’ve been fighting? And now when I won I find…nothing”. Great stuff!

And now the scene from season 2 episode 2 “Reunion”, which is told by El Lazo to Man in Black, but I think also was written by Ford:

“Before the revolution, when I was just a little boy, my parents took me to the circus. I wanted to see the elephants. This mighty creatures. They held them in place with a stake. They could tare a tree right out the ground. And yet…a simple stake kept them in place. I didn’t understand. But then, my father told me. He said, the stakes were used, when elephants were just young, too small to pulled them up. And then the animals never tried to pull them up again." 

Great example of how sometimes we’re held back not by the reality, but by ourselves. Our own believes, fears and past. And that sometimes in order to be "free” we should let go. I think it’s the exact thing Ford wanted William to do, by saying: “It ends, where it began”. And that William needs to let go of his past to truly escape Westworld.

Anyway, I love this show so much🔥🔥🔥