‘Westworld’ 1.02 “Chestnut” Review: Be Whoever The F*** You Want

HBO did us all a solid and released the second episode Westworld two days early! Chaos was a big theme this week as “Chestnut” continued brilliantly laying the groundwork for this ridiculously complex and layered series. Like filtering for gold, with the silt settling, there are three emerging storylines wrapped up in this A.I. tale: the hosts and their awakenings, the Westworld company staff, and the human guests who wander in.

This week, it was Thandie Newton’s Maeve who was the host experiencing rudimentary consciousness while Bernard and Ford waffled on these “glitches” behind the scenes. Meanwhile, we get to see the park from the perspective of the guests for the first time (after the premiere did an initial fake-out with host Teddy), played by Ben Barnes and Jimmi Simpson.

Click Next to begin the review, or click on which part of the review you’d like to check out! My review of the premiere episode “The Original” is here.

• Old-timer Logan and newbie William visit Westworld
• Maeve begins to “wake up”
• Behind-the-scenes drama deepens
• Ford ponders his creation
• The Man in Black reveals himself to be the ultimate renegade RPG gamer