Westworld

This show is a sort of what-if: what if highly advanced robots were developed, ostensibly to populate a theme park? Different characters react according to their personalities. To Dr. Ford (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who keeps a copy of Michelangelo's CREATION OF ADAM in his office, it is the creation of a new species. To Bernard Lowe, it is a fascinating experiment to take his mind off personal tragedy. To the pompous writer Sizemore, it is a new artform as he composes narratives for the robots to carry out. To visitors William and Logan it is wish-fulfillment, whether it is William's search for love or Logan's vulgar thrill-seeking. To Theresa, it is just a business, and she complains that Dr. Ford's attempts to making robots more lifelike and unpredictable will eat into profits. The robots themselves, who are supposedly rebooted after each "show", aren't supposed to think or feel anything -- but they are starting to do so. The show has numerous artistic references -- Dr. Ford's Michelangelo painting, the logo parodying Da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" drawing, Debussy's REVERIE, plus references to old-fashioned Westerns. It is refreshing to see a show where there is attention paid to character and ideas as well as action.