Westworld, The Best Show for Quarantine ~ Nick Ventresca

Now as some of you may know, this month's blog post topic is current events. In an attempt to not be like every single other person on here and write about coronavirus (not trying to be mean, I'm just tired of hearing about it), I've turned to one of my favorite pastimes: TV. Now I'm sure that in an attempt to not die of boredom during this seemingly never-ending quarantine, you've all found your fair share of television shows that can keep you entertained.

Well, I'm here to tell you, that you need to stop whatever show you're watching right now and start watching HBO's Westworld.

Westworld is a television show based on the 1973 film of the same name. It follows the comings and goings of a theme park called Westworld. The park itself is a western-themed world where visitors can live exactly like people in the old west used to. They can choose to be heroes in this world by fighting off bank robbers and saving the town, or they can choose to be villains by helping the robbers and getting away with the loot. Anything and everything that the guests want to do, they can do.

The perfect fantasy that the park provides is only possible because of the hosts. Hosts are the robots that live throughout the park and seem exactly like the guests they entertain; the only issue being that these hosts believe that this really is their world. The hosts of the park don't understand that they aren't real, and they have no knowledge that their only purpose is to entertain the guests in whatever way the park feels necessary. For all intents and purposes, they are actors, who don't even realize that they're living a lie. The reason the park uses hosts rather than humans is that the guests can do things to them that they wouldn't feel comfortable doing to real people. For example, when a guest robs a bank, they're more likely to shoot an investigative sheriff because no one will be hurt.

The whole premise of the show is incredibly interesting in it itself, but there's more to it. One of the shows' main characters is a host named Dolores Abernathy. Dolores' role in the park is that of the
damsel in distress. Guests that stumble across her "narrative" (as it's referred to in the show), can choose to save her from robbers who have just killed her family or leave her to die. Every time Dolores "dies" she is fixed up by the park maintenance staff and relives the same painful events every single day of her life, with no recollection of the fact that it has happened before. As the show progresses, characters within the show begin to question if Dolores and the hosts are exactly what they seem, or if there may be something more to these machines.

Now let me get into why it's great. Westworld has some of the best-acted scenes that I've ever seen. Actors and actresses including the likes of Evan Rachel Wood (Frozen 2, True Blood), Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, Thor Trilogy), Thandie Newton (The Pursuit of Happiness, Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Ed Harris (The Truman Show, Apollo 13) bring this show to life in a way that very few other shows are able to. I find myself either rooting for or against their characters more intensely than any other show.

There's also the music. The score of the show is composed by Ramin Djawadi, famous for his work on HBO's Game of Thrones. Djawadi is able to compose music so brilliantly that there are songs in this show that literally shift in mood as the plot progresses. One song in particular titled "Sweetwater Stride" in particular starts out as a bright cheery melody, but as the viewer learns more and more about the park, its meaning subconsciously shifts and before you know it, you dread what was once a sweet little tune. It's ridiculous.

Then there's the plot. The plot is ridiculously good. It deals with very serious topics and the show itself is not for people looking for a light-hearted time. This show has some of the darkest moments I've seen on television. Still, the plot twists that occur make it all worth it. It's a lot of fun to try and guess what''s going on or theorize about what's about to happen as the showrunners leave enough clues to figure it out.

All in all, this show is fantastic. If you have nothing better to do (which, let's face it, none of us do), you have to give it a try. The third season started airing on March 15th and it is still better than ever with new mysteries to try and figure out and new characters that you can try not to get too attached to. This show is perfect for the quarantine and everyone should at least give it a try.