Westworld

Based on the 1973 film from the story of Michael Crichton, Westworld was the new blockbuster series of HBO this fall.

And what a rollercoaster this 10 episode long series was.

Westworld is an amusement park where artificial lifeforms, called "hosts" populate a replica of the Wild West.  In here, they serve any need and frill of the guests to make it a real adventure.
There are multiple storylines going on at once, and once a host is killed, he is remade and re-entered into the story.  This life work by Dr Ford (a superb Anthony Hopkins) is under revision from the board though, and together with his friend Bernard he must look for a possible spy within the organisation.

So far so good, but in the meantime a couple of older hosts start remembering things from their previous lives, and one of them even manages to enter the "real world" outside the stories.  More and more revelations come into the series, and just when you think you saw them all... wait until you see the series finale and the explanation of the mysterious black clad man in his search for "the Centre of the Maze"...

It was a truly fantastic series, an worthy of the high level productions HBO is turning out ever since the Sopranos.  It has been renewed in the meantime for a second season of 10 episodes... but going by the finale, this might become something totally different from what we have seen so far...

Rating: 8.5 / 10