UNspoiled! WestWorld

WestWorld S03E08- Crisis Theory Aug 02, 2020

It's finally time for the Season 3 finale of WestWorld, and I am feeling a multitude of ways about it.
On the one hand, there were elements here that I really liked and found interesting. On the other hand, I was left with a sense that the season ended 2/3 of the way through the story. The one thing that saved it was the post-credits stinger, which I nearly missed until RoShawn told me it was there, and I find it odd how many crucial elements have been in stingers instead of in the actual show.
Anyway, I'm left feeling vaguely unsatisfied, and I want to hear what you all think! Thanks for listening, everyone!

WestWorld, S03E07- Passed Pawn Jul 24, 2020

Sorry I'm late, everyone!
I can't believe that this is the penultimate episode of this season. There just seems like so much remains to be wrapped up, and I can't imagine how all that can possibly happen in the finale episode? I don't know what we're doing!
This episode is when we find out the truth of Caleb's background and what's been done to him. Turns out, he's considered an undesirable, and he along with his old cohort Francis, have been sicced on other undesirables to take them out. It's honestly really fucked up and super efficient. Ugh.
Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you next week with the finale!

WestWorld, S03E06- Decoherence Jul 17, 2020

Hello, hosts and humans, and welcome to the next bananas episode of WestWorld!
In this one, there's some really wild stuff happening with VR therapy and it really feels like there's something of the poetic in what's happening to William here. He's forced to face himself and the things he's done and the fuckups...and yet. He's fucking William, and he's too vain and full of his own importance to see the reality of what garbage he truly is, instead deciding that it all comes down to one thing: he's the good guy.
Meanwhile, Charlotte is out here getting caught by Ciroc, and despite the fact that she seems to be losing faith in Dolores's plan, she still carries out one of the more brutal attacks, by crush Hector's pearl. And honestly, that shit was hard to watch. Poor fucking Maeve.
Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

WestWorld S03E05- Genre Jul 10, 2020

I can't believe that we're nearly 2/3 of the way through this season of WestWorld already! I feel like the story is just getting rolling, and the fact that this is an even shorter season than usual makes me a little nervous about the overall arc and how this is all going to be wrapped up.
This episode is super eventful, and a great deal of the action centers around Liam and the fact that he's still not aware how very little he is in charge of the situation. Liam continues to underestimate Delores, he tries to plant seeds of doubt in Caleb's mind, and he does not understand that the people he's dealing really don't have anything left to lose.
Thank you so much for listening, everyone, and I hope you're enjoying the show! See you next week!

WestWorld S03E04- The Mother Of Exiles Jul 04, 2020

Sorry I'm late, everyone! It's been a rough decade.
This episode is one that reveals something I had suspected for a minute, which is that everyone that Delores is working with is also a Delores, and honestly I'm just so jealous and also very very concerned because humanity could not be up against a worse enemy.
The Man In Black is back, and he's not doing so well. He's wracked with guilt over murdering his daughter, even though he seems to be unwilling to admit to himself that guilt is what he's feeling, and Charlotte is able to trap him so effectively that I can't help but be impressed.
Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

WestWorld- S03E03- Absence Of Field Jun 26, 2020

Sooooo, you'll hear about the problem with this episode when you start listening. More like the absence of sound, amirite?
There's so much that's lost with the first half being missing, from us looking up what "absence of field" means (it's what they call the lack of stars around a black hole), to my wild theorizing on who is inside Charlotte. Is it more Dolores? Can she do that? Also, I have a theory that Dolores winding up in Caleb's arms is no accident; I think she picked him out based on who the algorithm said was the most desperate.
Anyway, I'm sorry about the issues this episode, and I will see you next week!

WestWorld, S03E02- The Winter Line Jun 19, 2020

Greetings, listeners! It's time for the next episode of WestWorld, and in this episode we find out that a lot more people are hosts than we thought. Like, a LOT a lot.
This episode is mostly focused on Maeve and the situation she wakes up in, seemingly back in another park. However, she begins to see the cracks and gradually realizes that the whole thing is an illusion, in a much more literal way than WestWorld was, and begins to devise a way to break herself out. The only problem is that "breaking out" of the illusion lands her squarely in the lap of yet another person who can control her. It really sucks.
Meanwhile, Bernard is out here trying to find Maeve, and stumbles across Stubbs. GUESS WHAT! He's also a host, and he's gonna be here to protect Bernard for the foreseeable future, which really does make me feel a little better.
Thanks so much to you all for listening, and I will see you next week with a new episode!

WestWorld, S03E01- Parce Domine Jun 12, 2020

It's time for us to embark on coverage of the third season of this sweeping, epic, robot opera, and I have to say...I have no idea where this season is heading. Meanwhile, RoShawn is giggling to herself because she's smug as hell. (Not really but c'mon let me have this.)
This is a helluva start to the season, kids!
Thanks for listening, and we will see you next week.

WestWorld, S02E10- The Passenger Nov 23, 2018

First thing's first! Please check out our sponsor, Day 11 Podcast at www.day11podcast.com and give them some love! I would like to report that on this our final episode, I finally got why they are called that. I am not proud.
This episode was not my favorite, and I'm totally sitting here willing to hear you out if you've got some information that will help me out with deciphering this. I watched it a couple times, read some articles that supposedly broke the timelines down, RoShawn watched a video that allegedly would help us make sense of it...and yet. We still struggled throughout this whole episode (it doesn't help that RoShawn was on a bunch of medication and foggy as hell).
I can't help but wonder if the show is falling into that trap of trying to do to much and be too clever, you know? Like they still wanted to play with time the way they did last season, but because they knew everyone was going to be looking for that, they decided to make it trickier...to the point that you need charts and graphs to make sense of it, which is frankly just not how I want to watch TV.
And there were other issues this season, like Wyatt's plan that made no sense at Forlorn Hope. I have gotten a lot of comments and messages suggesting what that plan was about, and the fact that it seemed like everyone had a totally different (and very unsupported) theory makes me feel pretty secure in my camp, which I call "It Didn't Make Sense And They're Just Hoping You Will Be Distracted By How Ruthless Wyatt Is And Not Notice".
Anyway, here's hoping that the next season will be a little more coherent. Thanks for listening, everyone, and I can't wait to see you again.

WestWorld, S02E09- Vanishing Point Nov 10, 2018

Hey there, wonderful listeners! My apologies on being late with the episode this week, but there was a mixup and RoShawn sent me the wrong file, so I will just keep pointing fingers at her. Thank you all for your understanding, now go yell at RoShawn.
This episode had serious ups and downs for me, and I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it. I think a lot of how I'm going to remember it will depend on the finale, and whether some of the things I didn't like wind up coming to fruition in a satisfying way.
Mostly, though, I'm really interested in trying to piece together where in time everyone is, and especially in trying to figure out what's going on with Bernard. Is there more than one version of him walking around? I'm assuming that isn't the case but I can't be sure. And he's able to defy Ford and take the action he wants to take, without hurting Elsie. That seems like a good sign, ut I don't know what game Ford is playing, so....is it?
Honestly this is a really complex series of events happening right now and I haven't the faintest idea how they will wrap any of it up in just one episode. I guess we shall see! Thanks for listening.

WestWorld, S02E08- Kiksuya Nov 02, 2018

This here episode was a labor of love, so show your appreciation by checking out our sponsor, Day 11 Podcast at www.day11podcast.com!
Let's sit down for a minute and talk about how this was my favorite EVER episode of WestWorld, and how I don't even want to return to the main storyline next week because I'm so invested in what's going on with Ghost Nation. I just want more of this, all the time.
This episode has the beautiful, heart-wrenching hero's journey, impeccable acting, well written story, and awesome payoff at the end. It was just awesome, and I love it, and thanks for listening.

WestWorld S02E07- Les Ecorches Oct 26, 2018

I'm very sorry that RoShawn and I won't be making up for missing last week's episode like we had intended; we recorded this episode and the next one on Thursday and Friday of last week, but sadly something happened to RoShawn's file for the next episode. It was tragic. So there won't be a double-feature this week as we planned.
It's doubly sad because I really didn't care for this episode, and the next one is SO GOOD that I couldn't wait to post about that one as a palate-cleanser for this one. Alas, it was not to be, so you're stuck with me being confused and quoting Dr. Seuss as I try to understand what the fuck is even going on.
The main thing that is tough for me is how many conversations begin, then get interrupted, and then restart or are dropped, over and over again. There is so much that we see *GET REVEALED* rather than actually have revealed to us, which is a pretty important distinction. What I mean by that is, for example, we already know Bernard is a host but there's a kind of drawn-out scene where everyone else finds out. It's far less interesting to watch when we all already know the twist.
Anyway, I'm curious what you all thought about this episode. And I CANNOT WAIT to talk about the next one again.

WestWorld, S02E06- Phase Space Oct 12, 2018

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Hello you beautiful humans, and welcome to a world where nothing makes sense to me anymore.
This episode starts out in one of the most jarring ways I can imagine, and that's with a complete role-reversal during what has become a very familiar series of routine check-ins between Dolores and Bernard. This scene ends with Dolores holding the board that controls Bernard, talking about fidelity, and I am totally unsure what to make of any of this.
Then there's what's going on with Maeve and her daughter. She's finally found the little girl and clearly has an enormous connection with her, so that has remained the same somehow...but that's about the only thing that has. Her daughter has a new mom, and the tribe that was menacing them in the past has apparently turned a corner and wants to work with her somehow, but Maeve is not interested. I wish she would listen! I'm dying to know what this is all about.
Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

WestWorld, S02E05- Akane no Mai Sep 28, 2018

Please check out our sponsor for this episode, Day 11 Podcast! You can find them at www.day11podcast.com or on whatever podcatcher you use. They're going to be starting coverage of 13 Reasons Why soon, as well as House Of Card in honor of election season!
Before everyone starts emailing me with explanations, I did look up the meaning of this title once it was time to edit the episode. Akane is the madame's name, but also mean "red", and no Mai is "of dance", so it essentially means "Red Dance Of Akane" which seems quite appropriate. I've also seen some translations of it that include a meaning about a lost child, but those seem to be American translations that have been debunked by native Japanese speakers, so I'm going to ignore those.
This episode was a lot of fun and very strange and surreal at times. I'm really hoping that they manage to come up with a convincing explanation of Maeve's sudden newfound abilities, because that was the main thing I took issue with. I'm also a little confused about the nature of the glitches that interfere with language, and I'm hoping we find out why things are going so differently with non-English-speaking hosts. But overall I enjoyed getting to see Shogun World and the parallels to storylines and characters in WestWorld.
Then there's the whole thing with Dolores and Teddy, which I think most of us probably saw coming. I wish I cared about Teddy more, but the fact is that I only really care about him in relation to other characters, and not as much for his own sake. I'm very curious what Dolores is going to do to him, and I am not looking forward to seeing him start to break.
Thanks so much for listening, everyone, and we will see you soon with a new episode!

WestWorld, S02E04-The Riddle Of The Sphinx Sep 21, 2018

RoShawn and I are back to discuss one of the creepiest episodes of WestWorld yet. Owen wanted to put something cheerful on after watching this episode because it was so "spooky" as he put it. Not quite the word I would use, but still.
I'm really into this season, even though there have been a few things here and there that I'm not totally sold on yet. I'm willing to bide my time and hope that they wind up making sense in the end, and if they don't...well, hopefully I will have forgotten about them already.
This episode deals with the whole secret project that William was working on, which I shall dub Project Godhood. He's trying to get James Delos to make the switch from human being to robot, and it seems initially like he's doing a great job. The James we see is a fit-seeming man with energy and sharpness just like when he was alive. But it doesn't take long for the cracks to start showing, and 20 years later they seem no closer to an answer.
Meanwhile, turns out that Elsie is still alive! And she's able to move on and accept that Bernard is a host with a practicality that I have to admire. I'm super curious about this sub-plot though, and I want to know how Clementine knew where Elsie was being kept, etc.
Lots of questions, still! Thanks for listening, and see you soon with episode 5!

WestWorld, S02E03- Virtu E Fortuna Sep 14, 2018

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This episode of the podcast starts out with me pretty frustrated with some of Wyatt's plans, and from the weird way that RoShawn reacted to my frustrations and criticisms I am hoping that this will all mean something more later on. Because I frankly don't understand what the hell the point was in locking out the Confederados and shooting them all dead through the front gate, and Wyatt isn't exactly being forthcoming.
RoShawn and I are really feeling for Bernard this episode, because he's really caught in this in-between place that makes him super vulnerable to both the Hosts and the humans, and I can't imagine what kind of endgame he's hoping for. What's his plan, what are his goals? Stay alive, as far as I know, and I doubt he's thought it through much past that.
Then there's the newcomer, the woman who is chased by a tiger from a whole other section of the park and who is washed up at the feet of some Lakota on the edge of the lake. Who is she? My theory for right now is that she's William's daughter, which would explain the strange sense of focus she has, and her aversion to the idea of sleeping with a host. I am very curious as to what's going on with the Lakota hosts, and what they plan to do with her, and what they wanted Smallwood for.
Thanks so much for listening, everyone! See you next week!

WestWorld, S02E02- Reunion Sep 07, 2018

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Folks, we are starting to get into some more of the flashback shit, and I am HERE FOR IT. I am fascinated by the whole direction the property goes in with William at the helm, and I'm dying to know what the hell their objective is.
So let's talk about the fact that some of the hosts have actually been to the outside world! Whaaaaaat! Like, we don't really dwell on that too much in the actual episode but I plan to bring that up on the next one because it seems to me that there's a lot of implications to that. It was strange to see them all in modern clothing, walking around like regular people, blending in with the scenery. I am very curious how much they can recall of their time out there.
This was a really good episode, and I'm so curious about the next one.
Thanks for listening! See you next week with a new episode!

WestWorld, S02E01-Journey Into Night Aug 31, 2018

Well, listeners! We're back.
First off, I want you to check out our sponsor, Day 11 Podcast! They are a WestWorld podcast about WestWorld podcasts, and right now they're ALSO covering Better Call Saul! You can find their site here: www.day11podcast.com or search "Day 11 Podcast" in your favorite podcatcher.
I'm totally excited to be returning to WestWorld, and I'm even more excited to see that we're returning to the point in the story when shit started to go down. There's a bit of a temporary jump forward, but then we slide into some Bernard flashbacks, and so I'm getting my curiosity sated about how things went down immediately after Ford was shot. I'm really surprised to see that apparently, Ford didn't have anything in place (that we yet know of) to alert people he trusted about his plan, and so all is chaos.
By the way! I was right about Stubbs. Elsie...well, she remains to be seen.
I can't wait to get further into all of this. Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

UNsober! Sample Episode- Being Sick May 08, 2018

Surprise Bonus! I'm sharing the first episode of a Patrons-Only Series to give everyone a sense of what this newest project is going to be about. This show will be hosted by Natasha and RoShawn, with the occasional guest from other UNspoiled! hosts.
I'm only putting the first episode as wide-release so that everyone can get a sense of it, but from Episode 2 onward they will be an exclusive perk to $20+ Patrons. Here's why I chose that high a tier: RoShawn and I will be splitting all the $20 tier profits 50/50, and adding a whole new show to our recording schedule is no joke so it really needed to be worth our while.
This episode is about Being Sick, and it's kind of funny because I start off the episode talking about how I'm not really sick and it's just allergies, but...it turns out I was actually sick and just in denial. RoShawn shares her thoughts on the Neti-Pot, and I read an advice column question that has us both ready to call the cops.
Thanks so much for listening! This show will be bi-weekly, so another one will be out on Patreon in a couple weeks and we're open to topic suggestions as well as emails asking for advice! Hope you enjoy the show. :D

WestWorld S01E10- The Bicameral Mind Apr 20, 2018

I can't believe how soon this show is starting back up, and how many of you are going to go right ahead and watch it without me as if I'm not just standing here crying and eating your dust. I'm going to be all alone back here! *sobs*
But honestly I can totally understand why you wouldn't be able to resist. This finale is really satisfying, and ends in a lovely twist that feels earned instead of contrived. I really enjoyed the whole setup, of course, but a great payoff is a rare thing lately and I feel like this show really delivered on that level. Ford is a little more of a humanitarian (so to speak) than we really gave him credit for, and yet...he's also a little more of a monster, too.
There is one thing that RoShawn and I don't agree on, though, and that's the reason why Arnold had to die. I'm of the opinion that he seemed to think he had to in order for his plan to work, but I don't really understand why. RoShawn thinks that he did it simply because he wanted to die and be with his son. Did we miss something? Is there an obvious explanation that we both missed?
Thanks so much to all of you for listening, and I am so glad I decided to cover this show. I'm really excited to embark on the second season of coverage in a few months.

WestWorld- S01E09, The Well-Tempered Clavier Apr 13, 2018

Oh boy.
This is the second-to-last episode of WestWorld's first season, and I'm feeling like there's absolutely no chance that these million plot-threads get tied off neatly by the end. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing; after all, a show that wraps up completely in one season doesn't usually have a ton to work with when the second season begins.
But I'm starting to get to a point where, because the show plays so much with perspective, implanted memories, and compulsion (and if my theories are correct, timelines as well), that I can't get anything nailed down enough to hold onto. There's so little that I can trust, and I'm really not sure how much of what I think has happened on this show has actually happened. Which leaves me in a place that isn't super conducive to podcasting, because I don't know where to approach formulating theories or even formulating basic conversations.
Now there isn't anything inherently wrong with playing with the heads of your viewers, and I appreciate that the writers are probably trying to get the audience to feel as disoriented and unsure as the Hosts are feeling, which is a cool idea in theory. It's just tough for me to get invested when I can keep saying, "Whatever, that probably didn't even happen", and trot right along onto the next plot point.
I hope that you all are enjoying our coverage of this, and I will see you again soon with a new episode!

WestWorld, S01E08- Trace Decay Mar 30, 2018

I'm happy to bring you the next episode of WestWorld, and my apologies for having to wait another week before we got to it.
I have to admit to a certain degree of impatience and frustration as we keep going down these plot-roads and still don't really get any answers. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the show, but by the end of this episode we've only got 2 left to explain everything, and I don't know what could possibly be contained in such a short time when we're working with storylines as grandiose as an apparent robot uprising and AI hidden among the human employees.I don't know if there's an answer to some of these unresolved plot threads that would satisfy me at this point, if I'm being honest, which probably means it's a good thing that there's a second season coming up.
For now, I want to focus on one of the bigger reveals in the episode. We find out that the Man In Black found out about the maze during a moment right after he'd killed Maeve's daughter, when she attacked him back and carried the little girl's body outside and collapsed in the middle of the symbol gouged in the dirt. It turns out that the Man In Black was a man with a family, but his family was terrified of him, to the point that his wife finally killed herself because she couldn't bear to live with him anymore. They saw a darkness in him, and he decided to come to the park and let loose with his violent impulses to see if they were right.
Spoiler: they were.
Thanks so much for listening, and I hope you enjoy the episode!

WestWorld, S01E07- Tromp L'oeil Mar 16, 2018

Oh boy. Y'all must have been waiting for this for like a long time, right? This is reminiscent of the Mad-Eye reveal, although not quite so long in the making, and I bet you have all been so excited to get here.
Let's start of with the less-spoilery stuff, which is mostly centered around William and Dolores. William is falling for her, and he says that he's never felt this way about any woman, using the phrase, "You've unlocked something in me." To which Dolores has the very reasonable reply of, "I'm not a key, William. I'm just me." He is simultaneously falling for her and divorcing her from her own personhood (if one can use such a term regarding a robot) and I'm hoping that he starts to see how self-centered he's being.
Maeve, meanwhile, is about to lose her shit when she sees her friend "retired". What's so upsetting is finding out that the whole production that lead up to Clementine getting decommissioned was a farce, and that Maeve is essentially watching them kill her friend for no fucking reason at all.
And lastly...Bernard. Bernard the snuggly bear that we all were rooting for. Bernard the ghat-damn ROBOT. Y'all. I'm feeling so many feelings about this.
Thank you all so much for listening, see you soon!

WestWorld S01E06- The Adversary Mar 09, 2018

I'm really excited to watch the next episode, as usual, but this is the kind of dense hour that needs to be rewatched before moving on. I may rewatch it once more before I move on to episode 7.
There's just so much going on here, and so many questions that we seem to be getting the answers to...and yet nothing is clearer, and I don't trust the answers I'm getting. Oh really, Theresa is the one who sent out the signals? And she just what, left her name right there in the programming so that Elsie could find it in two minutes of searching? IDK guys, this seems like a red herring to me.
And I'm really fascinated by the techs who are working to repair the hosts, not just Felix and Sebastian, but all of them. What's it like to get a job here? Are you paid well? Are you isolated like the upper tiers of management seem to be? How do you know that you're human? Like, know for sure?
How do any of us know?
Okay I went a little too deep with that, but seriously this is the kind of thing that I really enjoy. I can't wait to see if we get an answer to Maeve's question.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week!

WestWorld, S01E05- Contrapasso Mar 02, 2018

I'm delighted to be here with the next episode of WestWorld, mostly because this means that I can go sit down and watch the next one. :D
Lord, where to start with what's going on in this episode. I mean, there's the discovery of the satellite uplink in the arm of the host who caved his own head in. There's the revelation that maybe Ford and the Man In Black are not on good terms with one another, and that Ford seems him as something of a nuisance. There's the moment where William finally turns his back on dickhead Logan and decides to leave the guy to reap the rewards of his shitty behavior. There's even more going on with Dolores and her visions of what seem like memories or past completed loops.
But mostly, we want to talk about Maeve.
Because this woman has not only figured out how to awaken herself from "dreams" AKA sleep mode, but she's decided that the best way to get answers about what the hell she's been experiencing is to just ASK. Which is ballsy as hell, and mad props to her. So she just sits up on the examining table, and waits patiently for Felix to turn around and notice her, and when he does, she addresses him BY NAME.
Felix, don't pee your pants, buddy. I know you want to, but don't.
Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you next week with a new episode!