Does Westworld have an Actual Villain?
The lines of Westworld are as grey as you can get, with no easily placed antagonist in sight.
If there is one thing that can be said about HBO’s drama programming, it’s that they love shows with difficult to pin down characters. Morally grey characters are the calling cards of some of the best shows that HBO has ever produced, and Westworld is now no different. Two episodes in, the actual antagonist is not so easy to point out.
The easiest pick would be The Man in Black. He has spent 30 years coming to Westworld, and after all that time he has become bored. He doesn’t want to play the same scenarios over and over, he wants to get to the real heart of the park. Yes, he is cold and ruthless. He fully buys into the fantasy and dispatches Hosts with no remorse. But his actions are at least semi-condoned by Westworld management, as we see in the second episode. He’s not quit the outlaw that he appears on the surface to be.
The Man in Black wants to sow chaos and unearth the park’s deepest secrets, but that doesn’t make him the worst of the worst. There is also Robert Ford, the creator of Westworld and designers of the Hosts. He is a man with a vision, one that includes endless sex and violence while searching for something deeper. But does that make him a villain? Perhaps. It certainly doesn’t make him a boy scout.
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There is also Sizemore, the frustrating (and annoying) story architect. Make no mistake: there will be some sort of uprising, and he will be front of it. But for now he’s just an egotistical jerk.
Finally, there are the Guests. That is, the human visitors. Westworld is where they let their hair down in some of the worst ways imaginable, all perfectly acceptable within the confines of the park. If the Hosts are to be our protagonists (specifically Delores,) than it would be fair to say that the Guests are their opposition. It’s also worth noting that an antagonist doesn’t have to be inherently evil; they just have to be on the opposing side.
Next: The other world won't be making an appearance on Westworld.
The fact that an antagonist isn’t clear is a perfect representation for how Westworld functions as a series. It’s a show that seeks to examine the morality of A.I and its place in human society. Nothing is clear-cut — nothing can be taken for granted.