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proximoception) wrote2016-10-26 12:55 pm
proximoception) wrote2016-10-26 12:55 pm
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1.4:
1. What does Ford want with the man in black?
Ford seems to be pretty dismissive of guests who are there to exercise their love of power at a couple points, but likes the idea of guests wanting to be more than they are. I wonder if that can go both ways? Redemption through sin/violence? Seems against the grain of the show, but Ford and the show aren't necessarily on the same page. And the church he actually makes is black. Though on the other hand the little girl's line, surely scripted by Ford, is that the maze quest "isn't meant for" Harris. Since a path for someone willing to scalp, murder, threaten children etc. has nevertheless been provided, that's not quite true, but maybe the girl's grim and almost bored tone reflects Ford's. Maybe Ford will give Harris the closure he wants in some ironic way, like having him be the test case of whether Dolores et al. can kill a human who serves it - or will spare one for other than programming reasons or something. Wyatt represents a race that doesn't exist yet, for whom the park is meant, we're more or less told by Teddy, so that's probably a model for the awakened robots. Harris likes the sound of Wyatt's scheme, it seems (as well as Hector's philosophy, as though Hector were a step along that same path toward nihilism, just as freeing him (and killing to do so) seems to be a necessary step on the blackhat maze quest). But of course we've just learned that Harris runs a foundation that seeks to cure the sick, so maybe discovering a conscious robot will disturb him. He's let himself spiral down a bad virtual path, but whether that's changed - or even revealed - who he was before is unclear. Probably it has, which means the unreal can change the real, and also that Ford can program actual people to be whatever he wishes, meaning Bernard and the liason may indeed be human. Ford may just assume there's little difference, and maybe accurately. No idea yet if that means he has a lesson to teach Harris, or means to destroy him, or that he's just a cog in the present project, or that he's utterly indifferent to him. Harris wants to figure out the final "level" of the park - either "what it's all for" in the sense of what its provided endpoint is, or the secret objective of its creator(s) - and then, apparently, to die there. Both of those motives can be of use to Ford, hypothetically, since they mean he can be led anywhere and, if need be, sacrificed, without putting up a fuss. His hiring must be playing off his Truman Show and Snowpiercer roles, eh? Whereas Hopkins is here for possessing the ultimate poker face, I imagine. (Wright has made a career of ethically troubled middleman roles, Marsden I can't remember what he's even been in other than the unintentionally hilarious The Box, and Wood seems to be an HBO standby. Thandie Newton I assume you just take whenever she's available.)
2. Why does Bernard know about the maze quest and wish for Dolores to go on it?
We now get why he wants her to stay fully conscious, or at least on the road to consciousness, but why this? Suggests either the maze quest is long-standing, thus conceivably distinct from the black church one, or that Bernard has been working on it, thus that it has an overtt function other than the covert one of testing the robots. Maybe some sort of ultimate self-discovery quest for visitors that Bernard thinks might also help Dolores figure out who she is? Or a quest with an actual prize she could somehow use or trade to get her freedom? Ford has been careful to let Bernard think all of this is his own idea, though based on that of "Arnold," so he can't think Ford had intended it for robots. Arnold has been scrubbed from all records, according to Ford. Maybe Bernard dug around and discovered a disused quest with Arnold's name or m.o. somehow on it. And since it's strongly hinted, though a possible misdirect, that Ford has retro-invented Arnold entirely to make Bernard assume a paternal role toward the awakening hosts, this means Ford would have predicted Bernard would send Dolores on it. Setting her on a collision course with Harris, apparently, though we're not yet certain Ford knows this. The restaurant scene with the board liaison suggests there's little he doesn't know, though.
3. Why are there just three stars on the figure of Orion's belt?
Because the woodcutter had achieved the human-like ability to perceive and remember erroneously, I assume? Or is it that he saw it, or an image of it, when it was partly obscured? Or is this an error Ford has introduced into his environment, suggesting the sky, too, is fake?
4. Could the liaison still be a robot?
Knowing about her childhood memory could just mean he's good at spying on people within the confines of the park, but of course he could have instead created that memory. There's a potential double meaning to his "there have been a lot of you" talk - could mean he's had to reboot her a bunch, or that other robots have filled her role. Things get weird, here, if so: does this mean a) that he's planted robots in the human population that he knew the corporation would hire so that he could always minimize their meddling? or b) could it mean there essentially is no corporation oversight - whitehat and his employer confirm that there's one owning it, but Ford could run it or have long since wrested full control of the park from it - and he just wants everyone to think there is? She doesn't know about the representative being sent, who could be a real one or could be a plausible-looking replacement ... or could be sent there to distract her, or get her hiding things to save her job, thus involuntarily protecting Ford. That last possibility works well if she's human, but seems odd if she isn't. Anyway, short answer to the question is "yes." But of course at no point can we dismiss the possibility that any or every single person, including Ford, is one. Still, it's interesting when this possibility seems to be either deliberately highlighted and/or obscured, as it's been with her, Bernard, and the security guard ("yet they give you a gun," "maybe it's part of my backstory" etc.). We're supposed to think about how hard it is to tell, among other thoughts. Witnessing how thoroughly people can be manipulated or role-determined minimizes our sense of our specialness, makes the gap between conscious and not seem bridgeable or blurred or nonexistent.
5. Could whitehat, too, be part of Ford's plan?
He does seem to be helpful to getting Dolores where Ford wants her to go, as park security don't question why a visitor would run off with a woman. The whitehat seems to have been pressured into coming as a work thing by his wealthy fiancee (or was it wife?) and her brother, who are apparently stakeholders and considering investing even more, so Ford may have manipulated them to make that happen, much like Gatsby may have done with Nick. Almost seems like he's brewing up a Good, the Bad and the AI confrontation, perhaps so Dolores can see that not all humans are bad before she makes her choice of joining Wyatt or repudiating him (his followers wear the skin and flesh of the people they kill, ignore pain and don't fear death etc., so model the feared human-replacing robo-apocalypse). The jackassy brother tells whitehat that the park knows who he is and is playing off that ... and a large percentage of the dialogue here has an ironic second level of meaning, so there's also that.
More soon, doubtless.
1. What does Ford want with the man in black?
Ford seems to be pretty dismissive of guests who are there to exercise their love of power at a couple points, but likes the idea of guests wanting to be more than they are. I wonder if that can go both ways? Redemption through sin/violence? Seems against the grain of the show, but Ford and the show aren't necessarily on the same page. And the church he actually makes is black. Though on the other hand the little girl's line, surely scripted by Ford, is that the maze quest "isn't meant for" Harris. Since a path for someone willing to scalp, murder, threaten children etc. has nevertheless been provided, that's not quite true, but maybe the girl's grim and almost bored tone reflects Ford's. Maybe Ford will give Harris the closure he wants in some ironic way, like having him be the test case of whether Dolores et al. can kill a human who serves it - or will spare one for other than programming reasons or something. Wyatt represents a race that doesn't exist yet, for whom the park is meant, we're more or less told by Teddy, so that's probably a model for the awakened robots. Harris likes the sound of Wyatt's scheme, it seems (as well as Hector's philosophy, as though Hector were a step along that same path toward nihilism, just as freeing him (and killing to do so) seems to be a necessary step on the blackhat maze quest). But of course we've just learned that Harris runs a foundation that seeks to cure the sick, so maybe discovering a conscious robot will disturb him. He's let himself spiral down a bad virtual path, but whether that's changed - or even revealed - who he was before is unclear. Probably it has, which means the unreal can change the real, and also that Ford can program actual people to be whatever he wishes, meaning Bernard and the liason may indeed be human. Ford may just assume there's little difference, and maybe accurately. No idea yet if that means he has a lesson to teach Harris, or means to destroy him, or that he's just a cog in the present project, or that he's utterly indifferent to him. Harris wants to figure out the final "level" of the park - either "what it's all for" in the sense of what its provided endpoint is, or the secret objective of its creator(s) - and then, apparently, to die there. Both of those motives can be of use to Ford, hypothetically, since they mean he can be led anywhere and, if need be, sacrificed, without putting up a fuss. His hiring must be playing off his Truman Show and Snowpiercer roles, eh? Whereas Hopkins is here for possessing the ultimate poker face, I imagine. (Wright has made a career of ethically troubled middleman roles, Marsden I can't remember what he's even been in other than the unintentionally hilarious The Box, and Wood seems to be an HBO standby. Thandie Newton I assume you just take whenever she's available.)
2. Why does Bernard know about the maze quest and wish for Dolores to go on it?
We now get why he wants her to stay fully conscious, or at least on the road to consciousness, but why this? Suggests either the maze quest is long-standing, thus conceivably distinct from the black church one, or that Bernard has been working on it, thus that it has an overtt function other than the covert one of testing the robots. Maybe some sort of ultimate self-discovery quest for visitors that Bernard thinks might also help Dolores figure out who she is? Or a quest with an actual prize she could somehow use or trade to get her freedom? Ford has been careful to let Bernard think all of this is his own idea, though based on that of "Arnold," so he can't think Ford had intended it for robots. Arnold has been scrubbed from all records, according to Ford. Maybe Bernard dug around and discovered a disused quest with Arnold's name or m.o. somehow on it. And since it's strongly hinted, though a possible misdirect, that Ford has retro-invented Arnold entirely to make Bernard assume a paternal role toward the awakening hosts, this means Ford would have predicted Bernard would send Dolores on it. Setting her on a collision course with Harris, apparently, though we're not yet certain Ford knows this. The restaurant scene with the board liaison suggests there's little he doesn't know, though.
3. Why are there just three stars on the figure of Orion's belt?
Because the woodcutter had achieved the human-like ability to perceive and remember erroneously, I assume? Or is it that he saw it, or an image of it, when it was partly obscured? Or is this an error Ford has introduced into his environment, suggesting the sky, too, is fake?
4. Could the liaison still be a robot?
Knowing about her childhood memory could just mean he's good at spying on people within the confines of the park, but of course he could have instead created that memory. There's a potential double meaning to his "there have been a lot of you" talk - could mean he's had to reboot her a bunch, or that other robots have filled her role. Things get weird, here, if so: does this mean a) that he's planted robots in the human population that he knew the corporation would hire so that he could always minimize their meddling? or b) could it mean there essentially is no corporation oversight - whitehat and his employer confirm that there's one owning it, but Ford could run it or have long since wrested full control of the park from it - and he just wants everyone to think there is? She doesn't know about the representative being sent, who could be a real one or could be a plausible-looking replacement ... or could be sent there to distract her, or get her hiding things to save her job, thus involuntarily protecting Ford. That last possibility works well if she's human, but seems odd if she isn't. Anyway, short answer to the question is "yes." But of course at no point can we dismiss the possibility that any or every single person, including Ford, is one. Still, it's interesting when this possibility seems to be either deliberately highlighted and/or obscured, as it's been with her, Bernard, and the security guard ("yet they give you a gun," "maybe it's part of my backstory" etc.). We're supposed to think about how hard it is to tell, among other thoughts. Witnessing how thoroughly people can be manipulated or role-determined minimizes our sense of our specialness, makes the gap between conscious and not seem bridgeable or blurred or nonexistent.
5. Could whitehat, too, be part of Ford's plan?
He does seem to be helpful to getting Dolores where Ford wants her to go, as park security don't question why a visitor would run off with a woman. The whitehat seems to have been pressured into coming as a work thing by his wealthy fiancee (or was it wife?) and her brother, who are apparently stakeholders and considering investing even more, so Ford may have manipulated them to make that happen, much like Gatsby may have done with Nick. Almost seems like he's brewing up a Good, the Bad and the AI confrontation, perhaps so Dolores can see that not all humans are bad before she makes her choice of joining Wyatt or repudiating him (his followers wear the skin and flesh of the people they kill, ignore pain and don't fear death etc., so model the feared human-replacing robo-apocalypse). The jackassy brother tells whitehat that the park knows who he is and is playing off that ... and a large percentage of the dialogue here has an ironic second level of meaning, so there's also that.
More soon, doubtless.