‘Westworld’ 1.01 “The Original” Review: Violent Delights, Violent Ends

Like the consciousnesses of its robot hosts, Westworld came online slowly at first, then all at once. “The Original,” the first hour of HBO’s new sci-fi drama, an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 film, hit all the right notes its premise and marketing advertised. While dense and perhaps even impenetrable to some viewers (a similar criticism lobbed at the early seasons of Game of Thrones), it came alive as the story touched on ideas of artificial intelligence, human nature, and the how consciousness comes to be. These ideas are at the center of the human experience and, make no mistake, they are the real stars of this show. The question now is: can the season follow through on the promise of this episode?

Oh, and the sweeping intro cut to the music of Ramin Djawadi? That’s not only epic music, that’s the the sound of HBO playing the Thrones–Westworld connection to the hilt.

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• Welcome to Westworld
• Anthony Hopkins as God
• Ed Harris as Satan
• What’s going on behind-the-scenes?
• Westworld the TV series is to Westworld the film as Jurassic World is to Jurassic Park