Westworld Throwback Thursday: Reflecting on the series premiere

This week on Throwback Thursday, we are going back to the Westworld series premiere–to the moments that started the whirlwind journey we’ve all been on.

Westworld blew us all away when it first premiered in October 2016, and we had no idea the intense adventure that was ahead of us. The first episode of the series was jam-packed with the introduction of new characters, a convoluted intriguing plot, and a whole new world, unlike anything we had seen the premiere of Game of Thrones.

Never did a show dive into such depths of the human consciousness and what it means to understand and be a part of a reality. In fact, Dolores presented this question from the series premiere and it’s a question that we are still struggling to answer two seasons in.

The premiere of Westworld began with a look into the daily life of Dolores and what we came to learn as her “loop” or narrative. She is the oldest host at the park and perhaps why the episode is titled, “The Original”. Perhaps even more mind-boggling than the premise of the series was learning that guests visiting the park paid $40,000 a day to be there.

Looking back so far in the series is sort of a mind trip because at the time we had minimal information about the when, where, and why of it all. We barely knew the characters or the complications they would bring to the story. Cough, Man in Black, cough.

More from Westworld

• After ChatGPT, Westworld creator thinks her show looks “like a documentary”
• HBO boss explains why they removed Westworld from HBO Max
• The Last of Us boss uses Westworld to explain Kathleen’s arc
• James Marsden still hopes they can finish Westworld
• Westworld and other HBO shows headed to Roku and Tubi

The first moment that Westworld tried to trick the audience on was questioning if Teddy was a host or not. At first glance, we assume he’s just another park visitor, but the fact Dolores remembers him after each reboot is a dead giveaway that he is written into her narrative.

The series premiere also introduces us to the infamous Man in Black as the wealthy guest who has been visiting Westworld since it first opened its doors. Little did we know then the nightmare he would go on to be–the understatement of the year.

If you recall, this episode is where we first learn about Reveries which is the update Dr. Robert Ford gave to the hosts to make them more realistic. The Man in Black also opens a can of worms when he captures and skins the head of a Native American host which reveals the maze. This set the storyline for season 1 and began the MiB’s journey to uncover additional levels within the park.

The series premiere of Westworld was just the beginning of the journey that Dolores and the other hosts would take and it set the tone and stage for everything that would follow. After all, how can we forget the moment that Dolores smacked the fly dead and transitioned into a state of woke?

What was your favorite moment from the series premiere of Westworld? Share with us in the comments below or on our Twitter, @BeyondWestworld.