West World is a Science Fiction Western Thriller based off the Michael Crichton movie of the same name from 1973. It airs on HBO where it just finished up it's first season while a second season is already on order. It follows the going-ons of a futuristic, western-themed park where all the attractions are life-like robots called "Hosts." Guest to the park, called "newcomers," are encouraged to do whatever they want to the park, the story and the Hosts themselves.

The pilots episode opens with a lonely cowboy named Teddy (James Marsden), on a train heading into West World. Once he gets into town he gets a drink, exchanges some words with a sex worker and eventually runs into his love, Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood), who he left behind. Their story, this time, ends with "The Man in Black" (Ed Harris) killing Teddy and dragging Dolores off for some implied rape. Through this scene we also learn that Hosts, which Teddy and Dolores are, can not hurt guests like The Man in Black. And then we start over again.

This time we are introduced to the people behind the scenes. Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), a programmer of facial expressions and interactions is admiring the work of his colleague Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins); Ford has, without approval, added a feature to the Hosts which allows them to access previous memories in order to create new and unique gestures. While Bernard is impressed Elsie (Shannon Woodward), a rising star in the programming division is rightfully concerned. Bernard and Theresa (Sidse Babett Knudsen), who represents "management," have some arguments over the direction of the park while the head writer, Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman), annoyingly pops in and out to remind us that he too doesn't care about the Hosts and just wants to tell a good story, preferably with more Native Americans.

We go back to our Hosts and Newcomers where the actual events aren't important so much as what they represent; a bug in the system. One Host locks up while taking a couple out in to the wilds while another Host refuses to die despite the bullet holes throughout his body. While this is going on there is an attempt from the higher-ups to figure out what is happening and eventually it is decided that all Hosts who have recently been upgraded need to be brought in to be rolled back. While this is all going on we are shown glimpses of what the Man in Black is up to but we aren't quite sure what it exactly means. In order to bring in all the malfunctioning Hosts the higher-ups plan a large shoot-out. Sometime before the shoot out Dolores's father Peter (Louis Herthum) finds an image of a girl in New York City which causes him to malfunction. He starts speaking in verse, mainly Shakespeare, and eventually tells Dolores something that causes her to run into town looking for a doctor.

As everyone comes together the shoot-out outside the saloon begins and a very large number of Hosts are "killed" including, again, Teddy. Dolores cries over his body as some newcomers take pictures with the body of the Host they just killed. The Hosts are taken away and eventually interrogated and sorted. Dolores's father is decommissioned and placed in the basement while Dolores tells the interrogators that her father told her "These violent delights have violent ends," a quote from Romeo and Juliet. Or a warning of things to come? The show ends with a scene of Dolores once again waking up, saying hello to her father (now played by another actor/Host) and watching the sun rise. A fly lands on her neck and she kills it.

these violent delights have violent ends

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