"Virtu e Fortuna" adds an enigmatic new character, an entirely new park, and depicts the first formal battle of the Great Host Rebellion of 2052. There is a lot to unpack, and seemingly everything seen just leaves us with more questions. We discuss the dual natures of Dolores and Maeve, Bernard making a crucial discovery of what's in one Peter Abernathy's head, and try to puzzle out out what the tiger hunter has to do with the story and how she relates to the other characters.

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The Instant Talk podcast is our aftershow, with our own quick thoughts about the episode followed by an interactive chat discussion with our fans, live on YouTube.  The first half is released as the Instant Take podcast.  The audio from the interactive section is released as a premium podcast just for our club members.

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In this week's episode of HBO's Westworld, "Reunion", they add three or four timelines to play with. No big deal.  We find out more about this "Valley Beyond" or "Place of Judgment" that William and Dolores seem to be racing towards to see who can get there first. William wants to burn the place to the ground, Dolores hopes to find a powerful weapon to use against her human oppressors. Maeve is caught in between, just a woman trying to find her daughter in this crazy 'World.

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The Instant Talk podcast is our aftershow, with our own quick thoughts about the episode followed by an interactive chat discussion with our fans, live on YouTube.  The first half is released as the Instant Take podcast.  The audio from the interactive section is released as a premium podcast just for our club members.

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The opening salvo fired Westworld wasn't what we were expecting. We were expecting literal salvos fired by lots of angry hosts into lots of frightened guests, which, you know, that's certainly there.  But there is so much more.  What to make of Bernard's time bending descent into near death madness, Dolores oddly performative attempted takeover of the park, Maeve's increasing attachment to various fellow hosts, to say nothing of what Delos is up to trafficking in the rich and famous DNA and memory trade.

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The Instant Talk podcast is our aftershow, with our own quick thoughts about the episode followed by an interactive chat discussion with our fans, live on YouTube.  The first half is released as the Instant Take podcast.  The audio from the interactive section is released as a premium podcast just for our club members.

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The long awaited sophomore season of HBO's Westworld returns this weekend, and we've been champing at the bit.  We discuss the open questions from last season, the tantalizing glimpses of the future we've seen from the trailers so far, and discuss upcoming format changes and our policy on spoilers and speculation. Why is William's past still relevant to the story? What is the door, and how are we supposed to find it? Are Dolores and Maeve running diametrically opposed armies?

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Jim and A.Ron put season one of HBO's Westworld in cold storage by talking about our overall thoughts, opinions, and hopes for next season. Then we consider a giant sized mailbag where we discuss scalp maps, the nature of consciousness and free will, the impact of self aware robotic hosts on fast food chains, and much more. We'll be back whenever Westworld returns, but we never really go away.

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A.Ron and Jim are very pleased with how the violent delights over season one would up having violent ends in the finale episode for Westworld, "The Bicameral Mind". Sure, maybe the first third of the episode was merely review for a class that has studied their podcasts and their reddit. But once Hector and Armistice got their hands on the P90s, it was pedal to the metal until the conclusion that we found extremely satisfying.

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Many more puzzle pieces fell into place over the weekend as HBO's Westworld deployed episode 109, "The Well-Tempered Clavier". But there is still a lot left to uncover. Why did Dr. Ford deploy the reverie code? What is his ultimate intentions for his new narrative and indeed future of the park? What are those sentient robots doing hiding up in the hills of Westworld? And what does the Man in Black intend to do with Delores once he finds her?

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