TV Review: Westworld - Series One Episode Nine "The Well-Tempered Clavier" SPOILERS

"Never Place Your Trust In Us. We're Only Human. Inevitably, We'll Only Disappoint..." 

And that's what you get for asking questions. Sorry Elsie, my constant need to know every loose end has obviously resulted in your demise, a demise orchestrated by the megalomaniacal Dr. Ford yet carried out by the unknowing Bernard, who this week was confirmed as a reincarnation of the infamous unknown entity that is Arnold, a theory which was coined by many early into the series. Although this didn't come as much of a surprise, what this revelation did ensure was a mind-bending segment in which we witness parallel time structures in which Delores was ever present in her attempt to access the ambiguous maze. Although the Delores scenes this week seemed rather flashy and important, her particular plot line is unashamedly baffling, and  in a world where baffling plot lines are more than ripe, it's hardly surprising. The revelation of the Bernard=Arnold equation ultimately led to the self-inflicted murder of such, a resolution which was either there to save Bernard's mind from the info dump he had just experienced or to save Dr. Ford's behind, yet with the murderous rampage our beloved creator is on, it's hard to sway away from the latter.

As for the real Arnold, the realisation that Delores was responsible for his untimely demise only adds to the series' confusion. Why and what does this mean? What is the show's endgame? These are questions that are constantly asked when I sit down and watch the newest entry of Westworld and with only one episode to go, I'm not really any closer to finding out. Like the maze our heroes and villains are attempting to seek out, Westworld is a endless, baffling mystery. But boy is it addictive. Add into the mix some more background regarding The Man in Black, with it being highlighted his influence in the running of the park, as well as Teddy's storyline slowly falling into its' inevitable place and next week's episode has a barrel load to squeeze in. Where Game of Thrones threw spanners in the works primarily in its' penultimate episode, Westworld is leaving it to the very end to show its' hand, and whilst the latter is nowhere near the heights of the former, it still is tasty entertainment. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: A United Kingdom

"No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master of Themselves..."

Carrying on in the footsteps of Allied, A United Kingdom, the third feature film from Amma Asante after A Way of Life and the heavily costumed drama, Belle, is another example of a film endangered by the severity of its' plot leakage within its' trailer, a trailer which not only has circulated the cinematic spectrum for months now, but is indeed another case study in how revealing too much just isn't worthwhile to the overall enjoyment of the film as a whole. Within the two-plus minutes of the trailer for A United Kingdom, the film's narrative is not only explained two-fold, albeit a formality of any teaser for an upcoming movie nowadays, but shows all of the film's highlights, highlights which when seen in the extended and fulsome picture just begs the question whether it was worth extending that 120 seconds into just under 120 minutes. Thankfully for A United Kingdom, the film ultimately does manage to pull through this fundamental issue and becomes a sweetly smart romantic drama, led primarily by the enormous acting talent of David Oyelowo who attempts to swerve the film away from near over-sentimentality and sort of succeeds amongst a string of two-dimensional portraits of characters that surround him.

Amongst the positives within Assante's latest, Oyelowo is undoubtedly the stand out performer, taking one tear-inducing scene in particular in his stride and giving the sort of performance similar to the much lauded and critically praised one in Selma. With Oyelowo in the driving seat, Pike is strangely underused in some way, resorting to the archetypal stranded mother character without having much chance to stand up and take control aside from a short scene in which we are meant to believe a quick detour to help out the locals completely wins over the puzzled masses. Although the film does begin in a rather hokey fashion, as soon as it departs into Botswana, the narrative does pick up and takes a satisfying dramatic turn, mixing in social issues, politics and romance, accumulating in a film which is strongest when it explores the overarching issues rather than the romance entwined within it, resulting in a somewhat messy outcome, but one which was enjoyable for the most part with Oyelowo's performance one of the main reasons to seek it out. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Allied

"Being Good At This Job Isn't Very Beautiful..."

Brad Pitt. Marion Cotillard. Robert Zemeckis. Add into the mix screenwriter Steven Knight, best known for Eastern Promises and Peaky Blinders alongside a range of lesser work such as Burnt and last years' unbelievably dire Seventh Son, and Allied could be regarded as a much anticipated meeting of the majestic, with all factors of the film's main quartet being able to hit full stride when needed. Unfortunately for Zemeckis and co,. Allied isn't exactly a work of cinematic art, in fact, it is far from it, with the film's impressively strong beginning being offset by a shabby middle and end, alongside some strange plot decisions and an ending so fluffy it wouldn't be amiss in a Disney movie. As for the film's narrative, Allied follows the relationship of Max (Pitt) and Marianne (Cotillard) who fall in love after their success during a mission within German-occupied Morocco in the height of the second world war. After returning to London, Max is told some grave news regarding his recently wed wife, grave news which shakes his life to the core. 

As is the perils of modern day cinema, if you've seen the trailer for Allied, which wouldn't be much of a surprise seeing how it seems to be absolutely everywhere at the moment, you've basically seen the majority of the film, albeit the movie's climax, a climax which isn't entirely much of a shocker in itself, and this is a fundamental issue regarding the film's overall quality. IF the big reveal wasn't blasted at the audience before they'd even set foot into the cinema, maybe the attraction of Allied would have been less so but this may have been made up for in terms of shock factor when the reveal was made in the actual film. Who knows, and more importantly, who cares. Allied isn't the best work to come from the likes of Robert Zemeckis, the man behind fantastic work such as Back to the Future and Forest Gump, and instead is rooted somewhere between the likes of What Lies Beneath and The Walk. A solid, if rather hokey, thriller sums up Allied but hey, hokey is good sometimes. 

Overall Score: 6/10

TV Review: Westworld - Series One Episode Eight "Trace Decay" SPOILERS

"You Speak Like You Own This World..."

So we finally have some sort of answers regarding The Main in Black this week with Ed Harris deciding to blast us with an unexpected exposition dump regarding his rather unfortunate past which included a dead wife, a hateful daughter and the willingness to vent his anger upon the hosts of Westworld. Does this add up to the now anticipated reveal of the Man in Black=William equation? Who freakin' knows and like many have stated, Westworld is in danger of having more plot lines than Lost and although last week's twist had repercussions seeping into this week, with Bernard distraught with his violent actions, "Trace Decay" resorted to leading the big reveals until its' final two episodes. Smart move? Yes and no, with Westworld's continual baffling nature indeed not for everyone and for those who have stuck by it like some love-struck stalker of an ex-partner, we can only hope the mysteries do eventually pay off. 

Scene of the week was handed to Maeve who with her newly found powers in the land of Westworld pretty much reenacted that scene from Bruce Almighty when Jim Carey walks around and flashes his newly acquired god-like abilities. Instead of blowing up water mains and putting the wind up skirts however, Maeve completely changed the design of her commune by that of language alone, altering the programming of the hosts around her to do whatever she desired. Uprising? You said it and with hosts going seemingly against protocol across the park (Teddy's capture of TMIB, Delores's extreme visions and of course, Maeve herself) the beginning of the end is nigh for those unfortunate to be at the wrong end of the hosts' anger. After two episodes of no info whatsoever also, what on earth has happened to Elsie? At the end of episode six we saw her being attacked by an unknown assailant which in the time of Westworld must be a week or so at least which enhances the notion of a hole in the overarching plot. Will she reappear? One would hope so. Solid this week once again with more questions that answers; that's right guys, it's Westworld. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

"This Is Mr. Scamander, He's Lost Something, I'm Going To Help Him..."

Being of an age in which the two main film franchises entwined with my youth was Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, the knowledge of an extended glance into the land of the former was an interesting premise, albeit a premise which included zero of the franchises' earlier cast members and a premise which undoubtedly was a huge risk after the success of the earlier movies. Stealing David Yates as director, the man responsible for the last few HP movies, and having J. K. Rowling herself as screenwriter, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, inspired by the book of the same name by Rowling back in 2001, is a completely new view of the Potterverse, one which takes place in 1920's New York and follows the menacing tribulations of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) who, much like the title says, loses a substantial amount of his fantastical beasts en route to Arizona and is then tasked with locating such creatures alongside the "no-maj" baker-to-be Jacob (Dan Fogler) and former Aura, Tina (Katherine Waterston). 

Being a solid fan of anything remotely Harry Potter, it comes as a deep disappointment that Fantastic Beasts for me was a resounding mess of a movie, a film which had very little engagement in terms of its characters alongside a strange sense of nonexistence in terms of any sort of narrative which made the film rather tedious at times, particularly during its' sloggish first hour and the movie's cop-out conclusion which seemed to have more endings than Return of the King. With the wasting of prestigious talent such as Jon Voight, Ezra Miller and Colin Farrell, the movie focuses most of its' attention on Redmayne in the movies' lead role, a performance which takes the fundamental kooky nature of Redmayne and ranks it up to eleven, resulting in a character which was actually rather boring to be with. Whilst the film does boast some creative digital effects and a cute loot-obsessed niffler, Fantastic Beasts can only be described as a mildly inconsequential addition to the lore of Harry Potter, a film which begins the cycle of FOUR more movies with a whimper rather than a bang, and a film which really nosedives with the most obvious twist since Inferno, in the addition of Johnny Depp as the real protagonist of the series. Shame really, as Colin Farrell was one of the film's positives. For every cloud I suppose...

Overall Score: 5/10

TV Review: Westworld - Series One Episode Seven "Trompe L'Oeil" SPOILERS

"We Need To Demonstrate Just How Dangerous Ford's Creations Can Be..."

And boy did we get a demonstration. Alas, this week's episode of Westworld was undoubtedly the best of the bunch so far with a twist ending that not only confirmed many's suspicions regarding the presence of Bernard but also highlighted that Dr. Ford himself adheres to the belief that the world in which he has created has violent delights which ultimately lead to violent ends, with Theresa being the subject of the "blood sacrifice" that, ironically, herself and Charlotte attempted to create in order to overthrow Ford yet this was indeed not the sacrifice she had in mind. As soon as Bernard stated the unwary words of "what door?" we knew something big was set to occur and although the big reveal had been coming for a while now, not many would have predicted these exact events. Not only does this seemingly seem like the beginning of something rather nihilistic, Ford's decision to murder his competition as well as revealing his control over Bernard begs a wide range of new questions regarding events that we have witnessed so far. 

With Bernard being under the control of Ford from the offset, this not only settles the whole Bernard-child loss plot but also the mysterious presence behind Delores' secret talks with Bernard. Surely Bernard's questioning of Delores was orchestrated by Ford in order to reveal certain things regarding Arnold but it doesn't exactly clear up the real burning questions at the centre of the show that have been there since the start. What the twist at the end of this week's episode does cement is the murderous and power hungry mind of Dr. Ford, who may even have been behind the disappearance of the infamous Arnold in an attempt to take full control, and whilst we have only three episodes left, all these indecisive plot strands and loose ends surely can't be solved in just under three hours? Alas, with the news that Westworld has been renewed for a second season this week, I highly doubt it will be. Still, for now, revel in the show's best episode to date with the immortal words of "what door?" set to haunt the minds of fans for weeks to come. 

Overall Score: 9/10 

Film Review: Nocturnal Animals

"Do You Ever Feel You're Life Has Turned Into Something You Never Intended..?"

With only his second feature after A Single Man, designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford returns to the cinematic spectrum this month with Nocturnal Animals, a gripping, white-knuckle thriller featuring a stellar cast on top of their form and a film which not only develops the reputation of Ford as an intelligent and sophisticated filmmaker but a film which resonates with you long after you arise from your sweat-covered seat and leave the cinema. Not only is Nocturnal Animals one of the most original films of the year, it is undoubtedly one of the toughest thrillers I can remember seeing in a long time, producing scene after scene of unbearable tension all the while mixing between a wide range of genres in an effective and unashamedly top-notch fashion. With an unbelievable bunch of A-List stars such as Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal and the always brilliant Michael Shannon at the film's core, Nocturnal Animals is an essential movie for anyone tough enough to withstand its' scorching sense of nihilistic suffering. 

After receiving the first print of former husband's latest novel "Nocturnal Animals", fashion designer Susan Morrow (Adams) begins to delve deep into the dark and twisted story that her former lover has created, all-the-while reminiscing not only her own, personal life struggles but the way in which her relationship with former husband Edward Sheffield (Gyllenhaal) came to an end. Mixing in a somewhat Lynchian nihilism to developments as well as a wide range of thrilling yet hard-going set pieces, reminiscent of films such as Lynch's Blue Velvet and even films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in terms of the film's relentless darkness, Nocturnal Animals will indeed not be for everyone, yet much like Winding Refn's The Neon Demon earlier this year, some will revel in its' extreme genre crossing boundaries; myself included. Whilst the film's rather off-kilter and entirely misjudged opening title sequence prevents the movie from being anything close to perfection, Nocturnal Animals is one of the most refreshing and original movies of the year.

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: Westworld - Series One Episode Six "The Adversary" SPOILERS

"If You Could Only See Your Son Again, Bernard, Would You Want To...?

Plunging the perils of that thing called the internet this week, I came to an agreement with the most plausible fan theory regarding Westworld, in that there seems to more than just one time structure occurring throughout the series with its' main focus on that of Delores and the path laid out for her so far. Ironically, this weeks' episode was the first which decided to not include her character at all, a decision which may have been regarded as wrong at the start of the episode yet come the end, allowed the more mediocre plot lines of Westworld to expand and deliver perhaps the meatiest movement of the series so far. Whilst Teddy and The Man in Black continued their journey into the mysterious maze, all the while taking the time to destroy half a settlement with a Gatling gun, the key areas of the episode all took place back at Westworld HQ where our beloved theme park controllers began to experience a changing level of artificial intelligence. 

Unbeknown to Bernard, his search into Section 17 prompted him to find more than a couple of rogue hosts with him instead finding an entire family, a family designed by the mysterious Arnold for Dr. Ford who has continued to keep them in pristine condition in secret away from the rest of the park in order to preserve their, and presumably his own, memories. Discovering such can only resort in Bernard attempting to do something similar regarding the loss of his child, yet with Dr. Ford discovering the murderous and treacherous desires of Arnold's hosts, such an outcome can only lead to an unexpected sticky end. Perhaps the most interesting development of the episode came with Thandie Newton's Maeve, who upon realising the outcome of death leads back to the control room, decided to have a peek around her constructed life, resulting in forcing her creators to improve her capped level of intelligence. Revolution away? One would have thought and after a couple of weeks of slacking in terms of plot development, this week's episode of Westworld was a much needed return to the top form the series began with.

Overall Score: 9/10

Film Review: Arrival

"What Do They Want? Where Are They From...?

As a self-expressed movie geek, now and then you often come across a film which makes you optimistic regarding the future of cinema, a film which takes away all the pain of sitting through hours upon hours of absolute tosh during a fair portion of the year and most importantly, a film which makes you grateful for having access to the medium of cinema and the minds of those behind an achievement such as Arrival, the latest from Denis Villeneuve, of whom I am a massive, massive fan of; a director who has not put a foot wrong so far in his career, with films such as Incendies, Prisoners, Enemy and last years' white-knuckle thriller Sicario, all being part of an already impressive body of work. Based upon Ted Chiang's short story, "Story of Your Life", Arrival is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year, if not recent cinematic history, with a mix of intelligent and captivating science fiction alongside a melancholic drama at its' core, Villeneuve's latest only further cements his skill as one of today's most impressive cinematic minds.

After the arrival of twelve mysterious objects, each taking their place in separate areas of the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is tasked with scientist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) to effectively communicate with the alien beings in order to understand the logic behind their arrival on Earth. With each of the twelve countries in which these mysterious objects have landed attempting to do the same, Arrival is a captivating take on the age-old story of first contact, one which has no problem in taking its' time to tell a story and one which relies on effective characterisation and a storming performance from Amy Adams to achieve a feat of pure cinematic wonder. With an effective and powerful screenplay from Eric Heisserer alongside Adams's performance the real big selling points of the movie, it would be easy to disregard the many other positives associated with the film including Johann Johannsson's score, one that encompasses both the subtle use of dream-like whispers with epic howls of thunder and one that continues the successful pairing of Johannsson and Villeneuve after their collaboration on Sicario. 

Although the cinematography by Bradford Young is more than satisfying, you do feel a sense of regret that Roger Deakins isn't behind the shoot, particularly after thinking back to Deakins's work on both Prisoners and Sicario, yet even without the distinct style of the Devonian legend, Arrival is still a stunning picture to admire, with the opening discovery of the cloud-smothered UFO rivalling the shot captured in Sicario in which we watch FBI agents disappear into the descending sunset. Venturing into the realms of sci-fi before his work on the upcoming Blade Runner sequel, Denis Villeneuve has once again created an astonishing piece of work, one which continues the successes of Sicario and takes it one step further. Heartbreaking come the end, Arrival will no doubt require repeat viewings like any true work of effective science fiction, science fiction which is not only intelligent, but is handled in such a way that is knows not to spoil the audience and simply blast the plot at you like many blockbusters tend to do in this day and age. Quite simply, Arrival is the best science fiction film of the year and one which needs to be witnessed in the biggest screen you can find without resorting to spoiler-filled reviews first. Instead, let the film's magic come to you organically and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did. Villeneuve, you are in the Nolan-esque realms of legendary status already. 

Overall Score: 10/10

Film Review: The Accountant

"Sooner or Later, Different Scares People..."

Call it Taken meets A Beautiful Mind, Gavin O'Connor's latest, The Accountant, is a wild ride of genre bending drama, focusing primarily on the titular accountant, Ben Affleck's Christian Wolff, who aside from being a mathematical genius relies too on his skills as a stone-cold killer to protect himself in the land of illegal book cooking for infamous criminal organisations. Sound preposterous? It sure is, and whilst a film such as Taken and the subsequent B-Movie-esque action thrillers that have seemed to take note of its' success in recent times tend to dwell on their fundamental silliness, The Accountant seeks to look deeper into the characterisation of its' leading character, a figure who is bound to the weakness or strength, depending on how you look at it, of his autistic nature and uses such to become the cold and calculated killer in the heart of the picture. Does this added air of differentiation result in the movie being more than just another throwaway action movie however? Um, not exactly.

Aside from being half an hour too long and featuring yet another annoying add-on character in the form of Anna Kendrick, following in the footsteps of the similarly annoying add-on character in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back recently, The Accountant is a film which tries to balance ambiguity with exposition for its' plot whilst trying to tangle together too many plot lines in order to seem much more complex than it really is. Do they work? Not entirely, yet once the film does get going and into the realms of the B-Movie action genre it really wants to delve into, The Accountant becomes a much more enjoyable ride, one which doesn't scratch above the surface of its' silliness and just becomes another Taken, Jack Reacher and all the other recent action movie throwaways that have somehow become bankable franchises. All in all, The Accountant is pure baloney from start to finish, and the added mystery of its' titular character's differences only adds to the movies' sheer silliness. It doesn't break new ground but doesn't dent the foundation either, it's just too long and too ordinary to be anything special. 

Overall Score: 6/10

Film Review: I, Daniel Blake

"When You Lose Your Self Respect You're Done For..."

Although not exactly the self-proclaimed lover of all things Cannes related, my awareness of this years' winner of the prestigious if rather sanctimonious Palme d'Or was brought to my attention when it was announced Ken Loach had won the award for the second time, only the ninth filmmaker to win the award more than once, with his first win being for The Wind That Shakes The Barley in 2006. With his most recent award winning venture. I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach has created a down-to-earth, sociopolitical drama which takes the continual perils of life in modern day England into the hands of Dave Johns' titular Daniel Blake who explores the desperation and downfalls of the British state with the film portraying one person's view regarding the maligned and wholly disenchanted nature of the welfare system in the UK as a whole. Although the film has no chance to admire both sides of the coin, with Ken Loach focusing primarily on the benefactors, or in this case, lack of benefactors, I, Daniel Blake is indeed a powerful drama, one which has a succession of heartbreaking scenes throughout, but one which is also questionable in its' own notions and statements regarding society today. 

When it comes to the good stuff, even the great stuff, the now infamous scene in the food bank is sure to bring tears to the eyes of anyone with an inch of empathy, whilst any scene in which Haley Squires' Katie takes to the screen adds the real sense of depth that makes I, Daniel Blake the powerful drama that is eventually becomes. Where the film does falter is scenes in which Dave Johns' takes out his frustrations on the lowly workers of the welfare system, those who carry out the rules and regulations of the state without being directly involved in creating them, resulting in a film which takes a leaf out from the ideologies of Ken Loach's and argues the blame of today's issues in society lies solely on everyone even slightly connected to the key rule-makers. Although this might not be the case, the film certainly seemed to argue such a point and it is this that makes me appreciate the movie to a large extent but also prevents me from loving it like many critics have seemed to do. Powerful at times, questionable in others, I, Daniel Blake is effective to a large extent but also suffers from some controversial ideas that conflict with my own, which in itself is the true test of whether a true drama really works; controversy. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: The Light Between Oceans

"One Day This Will All Feel Like A Dream..."

Of the two previous Derek Cianfrance movies so far in his impressive career up to now, The Place Beyond The Pines was perhaps the one that impressed me the most; the multi-layered crime drama famous for pulling a Hitchcock and knocking off top-billed Ryan Gosling around 40 minutes into the picture and then focusing on the mistakes of the parents and the effect it has on the next generation. With Cianfrance's latest picture, The Light Between Oceans, the gloomy sense of tragic melodrama current throughout his filmography is rife once again with a fairy-tale storyline and long-winding arcs bearing a wide range of similarities to The Place Beyond The Pines but also has enough meaty plot difference to be enjoyed as a completely separate body of work. Although the storyline is gripping at times, the movie's constant need to invoke a solid state of complete, unrelenting melancholia is downright tough, ultimately leading to a piece of cinema which can easily be admired but can also easily be dismissed as just too much of a downer to be effective.

As with all Cianfrance movies, The Light Between Oceans benefits mainly from its' impressive cast, with Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, two of current cinema's most consistent actors, leading the way in performances that are immediately believable and are responsible for adding real heart and soul to the drama unfolding on-screen. Add into the picture cameos from the likes of Rachel Weisz and The Light Between Oceans definitely has the acting stance on point throughout. Subsequently, the acting performances are unfortunately subsided by the sometimes plodding pacing of the movie which in itself is dampened by the latter two-thirds of the movie when the tone is unrelenting depression from the characters on-screen and the audience watching. What Cianfrance has with The Light Between Oceans is a perfectly solid drama, one which has stand out performances from its' two leads but one which suffers from a range of problems including its' melancholic attitude which encapsulates the drama throughout.

Overall Score: 7/10

TV Review: Westworld - Series One Episode Five "Contrapasso" SPOILERS

"Your Humanity Is Cost Effective, So Is Your Suffering..."

If one issue bears similarities between both Westworld and Game of Thrones, it's the notion that during the halfway mark, both shows tend to rely more on filler than that of actual substance. With last week's episode this was inherently obvious yet this week, Westworld gave us some much needed plot development resulting in answers to at least some of the questions that have been brought up since the shows' inception. Most interestingly this week, with Delores now indeed becoming more and more aware of her artificial existence in the park, alongside William and Logan, the trio ventured into the town of Pariah, perhaps the most Game of Thrones influenced setting yet with mass orgy's and enough on-screen genital flashing to fill HBO's quota for at least another year or two. Within the town however, Logan paid the price for delving deep into character whilst William helped unleash the freedom within Delores who stated she no longer wanted to play the "damsel in distress". Interestingly, in an alternate time structure, Delores delved deep into the secrets of Arnold, the mysterious co-creator of Westworld, who tells Ford of Arnold's wishes regarding the entire destruction of the park before his untimely death.

With Delores obviously set to be the host front and centre in the inevitable AI uprising, the middling plot-lines of the Man in Black's search for the maze as well as the discovery of a satellite within the broken body of the stray from a couple of episodes back all seem rather strange and stuffy. Of course, one does hope these plot lines all come together come the end of the series yet with five episodes left, the need for more answers becomes stronger by the week. One question hanging over the entirety of Westworld is "how long can this show actually last?". Will it be just a one-off Game of Thrones filler or a long-lasting serial? Who knows, yet the endgame still isn't comfortably in sight and although constantly hitting the audiences with AI-inflicted visions is one way of attempting to say, "hey, something is going to happen here," after a while, they do become rather tedious. Take Delores' shooting skills at the end of the episode for example; we all know her capability to kill even though it is against her coding yet why was it shown as if it was such a huge surprise? No idea. The fact that one can delve as deep as this into just one episode of a show does in some way show the annoyingly addictive nature of Westworld, a show which continues to ask questions without giving away too many answers in return. 

Overall Score: 8/10