Nope, it’s not Shogun World.
Westworldopened with yet another big surprise this week.
We’ve all been expecting to see much-teased Shogun World.
Credit: John P. Johnson/HBO
But let’s start with…
I’m not making that name up, The Raj is officially what this new world is called.
Not Raj World, but The Raj.
If you hurry, you could be the first to post aBig Bang Theory/Westworldmeme on Reddit.
Showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy want each park to have their own distinct cinematic feel.
The lush Raj looks like it’s from an entirely different show about 1930s colonial India.
Almost immediately, we get yet another surprise, this one on the soundtrack.
This song would have been a crazily perfect choice if only Delos had built seven parks instead of six.
Anyway, we now meet our sassy smart heroine.
Her name is Grace (at least, that’s what she was originally announced as).
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
It’s unclear why she’s at a Delos park yet is so concerned about this.
Perhaps she gave up robot sex for Lent?
Grace fires her gun at the guy as he starts to object.
He inadvertently passes her test, and they fool around.
Now, there’s been some confusion about how the guns work in the parks.
A popular question on Twitter during the season premiere was “who gave the hosts real bullets?”
The pistols in Westworld are very high tech and only look like antiques.
If aimed at a human, the gun will fire its projectile at a slower and non-lethal speed.
So their hookup must have taken place right before Ford flipped the switch.
The duo go for a safari adventure and discover the hosts are now rebelling.
Loverboy gets shot for real.
Grace flees, being chased by locals and a tiger.
This isquite literally in this sequence that’s a homage to 1930s movie serialsacliffhanger.
Who is Grace, anyway?
All I can say is she’s an important character and we’ll be seeing her again.
Not to mention: Delos and their parks aren’t exactly the heroes here).
Westworld: We’re back in the Wild West.
Charlotte and Bernard are hunting for Dolores' dad Peter Abernathy and his brain full of industrial secrets.
There’s definitelysomethinggoing on with Bernard this season beyond his obvious brain leakage.
That’s probably not accidental.
So Bernard and Charlotte find Abernathy held captive.
This is a nifty idea.
Bernard gets captured, however, and Charlotte takes off running.
Zombie Clementine drags up that QA solider that they dipped into the printer fluid last week.
Dolores gives the Confederado leader a high-tech high-capacity rapid-fire gun.
Like a true redneck, he swoons and will agree to just about anything to keep his new weapon.
They set the QA solider loose, tell him to run and he’s gunned down like Rickon Stark.
“These men are children, they need to be led,” Dolores tells Teddy.
Later, Dolores reunites with her glitching father.
Teddy doesn’t remember her dad.
This scene with Abernathy much have been tricky to pull off.
Actors Evan Rachel Wood and Louis Herthum do a terrific job.
Because what we’re seeing here is basically a malfunctioning robot, right?
So Abernathy’s affliction is played like a variation on dementia.
It’s genuinely affecting and disturbing to watch (particularly if you’ve had some experience with that).
Dolores gets captured Bernard to examine her dad.
Bernard says the files in Abernathy’s brain are protected by an “immensely complex encryption key.”
So he tries to solve it by trying different passwords andbeep-boop!the file is unlocked!
Bernard is shocked by what he finds, but he doesn’t really tell us what it is.
The QA team arrive and start gunning down Confederados.
Dolores screws over her newfound partners, closing the fort door to trap them.
From her perspective, she only wants worthy hosts in her revolution and the Confederados don’t qualify.
They’re basically Dolores' Deatheaters.
By the look of her, Angela’s current role is a host version of Stevie Nicks.
The QA team steal Abernathy from the fort.
Dolores goes full T-1000, firing away and taking bullet hits like they’re merely incoming data.
Still, Charlotte and the QA team get away with this prize.
Afterward, Dolores orders Teddy to kill the annoying Major Braddock and his men.
Teddy lets them go free.
Dolores sees this act of defiance and is not pleased.
Maeve: Maeve’s road trip continues.
They’re accosted by some Ghost Nation guys who want to add Lee to their collection of human prisoners.
They get back underground.
There’s a fun discussion about Maeve and Hector breaking Lee’s storyline rules.
As in our own lives, it’s complicated and hard to answer.
There’s a joke there somewhere.
Together, this motley crew continue their journey and walk into a snowy, mountainous new region.
And there, coming out of the darkness, a samurai.
Welcome to Shogun World.
And that’s it for this week.
HBO gave screeners for the first five episodes ofWestworldseason 2 in advance.
I can’t wait to write that recap.
Given the ending of tonight’s hour, you probably expect to dive headfirst into Shogun World next week.
But remember:Westworldis nothing if not unpredictable.
