We Have Many Feelings And More Questions About HBO's "Westworld"; Come, Discuss

HBO's newest gamble, Westworld, debuted on Foxtel's Showcase channel yesterday, and we have feelings about it. Many feelings.

Set in the near future, the action takes place in a Wild West-inspired theme park called Westworld, where robot "hosts" (unaware of their robot-ness) answer to the whims and often deranged desires of its human visitors.

Needless to say, it gets real.

The TV adaptation of Michael Crichton's 1973 sci-fi flick comes with a $US100m price tag, making it one of the most expensive shows since Game of Thrones.

That's no coincidence. With Game of Thrones closer to its end than its start, HBO is betting big on Westworld, in the hope that it will fill GOT's shoes when that epic series shuffles off this mortal coil like so many Stark family members before it.

As The Hollywood Reporter tells it, the pilot for Westworld - ironically titled, "The Original" - cost about $US25 million (making it even more expensive than Thrones' first episode, though, it should be noted, the GOT pilot was scrapped and retooled entirely - even resulting in the recasting of Daenerys - so really, HBO still spent more on getting George R.R. Martin's saga off the ground).

With nine more episodes of Westworld to come and ratings still to be revealed, it'll be a while before we can truly declare it a contender for GOT's crown - or merely a pretender to the throne.

However, what we can do right now is talk about its nutso debut. Spoilers, obviously, ahead.

So: Huh?

Those who came to Westworld unaware of the original film's premise would have likely been left puzzled by what went down in the show's first 70 minutes. We begin on an olde-timey ranch, which in actuality is a live-action, android-filled simulation on a constant loop, with visiting humans - dressed up like gunslingers - gawking at the authenticity of it all. Nearby, the robot's developers/screenwriters watch over proceedings, tending to any bugs (represented by literal flies) that might afflict their creations.

But, of course, this is all coming from J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan (brother of Christopher Nolan), so that information is dribbled out in deviously slow and enigmatic fashion.

Those already familiar with Westworld's basic plot could immediately luxuriate in the intricate settings and period costumes (all $US20m of it) and balk at the show's often disturbing bursts of violence. Though there was nothing in it as shocking as the climax of GOT's pilot - which ended with a bit of incest and a child being pushed out of a window - there was still plenty to rankle viewers.

Did it go too far?

HBO's been roundly criticised for its reliance on sexual violence as a plot point in its shows, and Westworld, which opens with the suggested rape of female android Delores (Evan Rachel Wood) by the Man in Black (Ed Harris), certainly fits that unfortunate mould.

Wood, for her part, has defended the show's usage of rape, telling THR: "I don't like gratuitous violence against women at all, but I would wait for the context in which it's being used."

"As the show progresses, the way it's being used is very much a commentary and a look at our humanity and why we find these things entertaining and why this is an epidemic, and flipping it on its head," she added.

Certainly, a show that wants to explore the grave cost of humanity's unfiltered desires and seemingly consequence-free sinning - against artificially intelligent humanoid robots - needs to plumb these disturbing depths. However, HBO's been to this well many, many times, and it's not unfair for critics to say enough is enough. Time will tell if Westworld can indeed flip this epidemic of sexual assault as entertainment "on its head".

But seriously, what's going on?

Part of the fun of following along with a television mystery - provided it can actually deliver the answers down the line coughLostcough - is musing on its lingering questions.

So, here's a bunch we have from the end of "The Original":

The latest update to the androids' OS is making them alternately access long-erased memories of past "lives" and feel even more human. When will our iOS do the same for us?

Why did that one robot have a map on the inside of his scalp?

Where does the map lead?

How did the Man in Black know it was there?

What is the "deeper level" to Westworld's "game" that the Man in Black is trying to find? (Is it about becoming a kind-of god within the theme park's "reality"? Or, just like, a staircase to the basement?)

Since when is there a Luke Hemsworth?

How long until all those naked, decommissioned robots in the underground freezer wake up and revolt?

What was up with that android surrounding his dead buddy with empty bottles after giving him a milk bath in the street?

Anthony Hopkins does TV now?

If most of the robots have a one-day narrative that cycles over and over again, why did the British screenwriter say he sped-up the arrival of the bandits by a couple of weeks to entertain the guests? Shouldn't that happen at the end of every day?

Can guests stay in Westworld for more than one day at a time?

Who would bring a child to Westworld, a theme park whose allure seems to be exclusively conscience-free murder and sexual violence?

Dolores, despite having told her creators during a diagnostics check that she would never hurt a living thing, seemed pretty chill about killing that fly on her face in the final shot. We don't have a question here. That was just a cool thing that happened.

James Marsden is in this. Why isn't James Marsden in more things, generally?

Share your questions, theories and emotions below.

Photo: HBO.