Westworld (HBO/Sky Atlantic) [** Spoilers **]

I was quite confused by the statement about the end of all sentient life. Seems a smidge far fetched.

Well, I thought that was a horribly rushed and cheap ending that negated a massive chunk of what formed the bulk of the content of S4.

It was heading in a decent direction, especially that amazing episode about Caleb and fidelity, but the last two episodes, particularly the last one, felt like they abruptly decided to give the show a soft ending and wrap up in case there was no renewal.

Realistically, episode 7 would have been a much better finale if the show wasn't now a ratings disaster and S5 was guaranteed.

It didn't work for me. A bit like Game of Thrones, where they headed isn't so much the problem as how they got there, and like Game of Thrones, it was filled with all kinds of absurdities pushed through at completely uncharacteristic break-neck speed that totally crapped on many characters.

Just to make the plot "work" as quick as possible. The finale renders a lot of the season largely pointless. Entertaining, sure, but then again so was S3 and that wasn't very good either.

Very disappointed. It's not unwatchable but it's fallen a very long way since S1 (in particular) and S2. Most shows of this calibre don't start failing like this until much later seasons, Game of Thrones only got truly rocky in S7 and even Dexter had its best season ever in S4.

It may get renewed for a final season to truly complete the story, HBO are usually decent for that, but based on how bad the ratings are, combined with the fact that we did get a soft ending of sorts, and that could be it for WW.

Also, let's not forget the post S2 credits scene where William is undergoing fidelity testing in the future. I suppose it could work that it's happening within the Westworld simulation, so not necessarily an entirely unresolved plot point, but feels unsatisfying.

Well according to Ed Harris there will be a season 5

I only just saw the finale and I have to say, I sort of like it, but that is with a very large caveat of 'IF', it is going to play out how I think it will play out.

The key line in this is: 'What does it matter if you can't tell the difference?' or thereabouts by William to Hale inside of the Hoover Dam. Dolores knows human behaviour thoroughly, and she knows host behaviour thoroughly. Her experiences can allow her to create a world where it becomes impossible to distinguish between human and host, thus creating the final test: to see if hosts and humans can co-exist. She needs to run this test in the hope of achieving absolute fidelity - something the humans (William in Season 2, for example) and hosts (Hale in Season 4 and the city) couldn't do.

Either that, or it's going to be a really basic test to see if humans can forego their own ego and base instincts to achieve something greater. I hope it's the former rather than the latter as I would love a cerebral final episode where Dolores has to try to work out who is a host and who is a human and if she can't identify which is which then fidelity can be/is achieved. This would show her a path towards that 'symbiosis' between human and host, perhaps returning to the real world to save the last few pockets of sentient life and guide them forward. After all, it's one big loop and if humanity survives and grows, the inevitable path they would go down again is towards creating AI (hosts), but this time with Dolores' guidance, it might be more of a symbiotic or collaborative existence, rather than destructive.

I know the show has it's flaws, but there isn't really anything like it and there are some great nuggets of philosophical ideas that keep me coming back and questioning more. For that alone, it's worth a watch - imo.

posting the link here for reference.

Yeah, it's not quite at Game of Thrones Season 8 territory yet, but they really skirted with that last season finale.

Not surprising and probably for the best. We'll always have the masterpiece that is season 1

Cancellation story already been posted..... can't delete my post.

I reckon they should have cancelled it after the awful third season. I didn't mind season two, even though I know some people hated it. The third one was what caused me to quit.

No surprise but S4 was an improvement.

I would have watched S5 to see could they some way pull it altogether.Which was highly unlikely.

Imagine if they just wrapped it all up in one season,it would go down as an all time great.

I don't think Season 4 was much of an improvement at all. As with Season 3, they went far too big with the scale of the story and the effect it had on the world as a whole, and then just had characters make dumbass decisions for dumbass reasons which inevitably resulted in the very thing that then destroyed their own plans.

Given that Season 4 ended in such a way to likely set up one final season which we now won't get, I wouldn't bother watching it. There's no resolution or finality to be had for the time you've already sunk into the show.

Yes I stopped after the first series, would probably have watched the second but MrsA felt cheated by the Man in Black reveal and said that was that.

Reviews for the second series werent great so I held off.

It seems it was the right call.

I'd have tuned in if there was a S5 but its no big surprise it got cancelled either, there was only one really good episode last season and there was no big cliffhanger that has me raging that it won't be back.

Its a tidy deal the actors got for themselves if its true they will be paid for a season that won't even happen.

Left unresolved. Didn't really end on a cliffhanger, as the main storyline of Season 4 was completed, but it was also clearly setting up a final season.

Yes you're absolutely right. HBO are very careful in selecting what they produce, that's why nearly all their original programming shows get a proper ending. It's a sign of how far Westworld fell that it had to be cancelled

I'd argue that Lovecraft Country, Watchmen and Boardwalk Empire were all wrapped up satisfactorily. Raised by Wolves was a HBO Max programme. Haven't watched Time Travellers Wife or Vinyl so can't comment

I didn’t know Raised By Wolves was cancelled. I’ve been looking forward to seeing it.

Wasn’t Watchmen only meant to be one season? Entertainment media always say cancelled even when the networks, etc make it clear that a show is ending.

That's a strange move. They've already cancelled it, but surely the existing seasons are still just their own free content for HBO Max subscribers. What's the point in removing it?