Is Westworld’s Complexity Going to hurt it?
Westworld may go down as HBO’s most complex series, but that could come at a cost.
Whenever a new season of Game of Thrones rolls around, fans all over the world desperately try to follow every step. That obsessiveness if part of what makes Game of Thrones, though it’s far easier to follow (outside of remembering all of those names) than Westworld is. The series has tapped into a sense of mystery that is reminiscent of the first season of True Detective — it feels like the world is waiting on answers. But that can also make the show feel unapproachable and, in a way, predictable.
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Don’t get us wrong, Westworld is a popular show. Its’s doing well and will be back for a second helping. The forums are lit-up with theories as to what’s actually going on. That’s all part of the fun, but it’s also what makes the show feel a little too calculated and difficult to grasp. This is not a show that it’s easy to jump into. If you haven’t been watching from the start, the fervor surrounding it is confusing. One of the things that Westworld is known for is its complexity, and that’s something that could come back to hurt it, especially if it delivers weak answers, or worse, doesn’t deliver them at all.
The problem with this type of series is that it hinges on those secrets. Viewers need to be carefully led into those secrets, and they need to be engaging. It’s a hook, basically. It’s what could keep Westworld from being one of HBO’s greatest offerings in the future. In a certain way, Westworld is obsessed with itself. It flaunts its world, its mysteries, its depths. A criticism we’ve leveled against it before is that it lacks subtlety most of the time, and that has remained true throughout the first season.
Next: Here is what we want from the Westworld finale.
Right now, Westworld is easily one of the best dramas on television. It’s going to need to fight for that title every season in a way that other drama don’t have to. Without slowing down a little, it’s only as engaging as its secrets are. We need to know them. That is going to attract new fans and also drive people away. It’s too early to tell, but right now Westworld has an addictiveness not unlike Lost. And we all know how that turned out.