Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2267

Green Day Gets Emotional in Their Music Video for “Still Breathing”

The last time we saw Green Day in a music video, they were robbing a bank—or rather, a trio of robbers disguised as the legendary pop-punk band did the deed—and playing a raucous house show in the clip for “Bang Bang.” This time around, in their new music video for “Still Breathing,” the third single from Revolution Radio, their twelfth album that was released last month, it’s a decidedly more tranquil and emotional affair.

Billie Joe Armstrong plays a sad/reflective version of himself, driving his car, walking through gritty urban scenes, all alone and all in grayed-out color. Contemporaneously, his exploits are interspersed with scenes of an elderly woman looking at photos of her growing family on her phone, a guy climbing a mountain, a leaf floating in water… stuff that matches the song’s lyrical tone, an inspiration ditty about overcoming adversity and staying strong: “I’m like a soldier coming home for the first time / I dodged a bullet and I walked across a landmine / Oh I’m still alive.” In the end, he finds the rest of Green Day performing in a warehouse, and presumably, he also finds himself.

This isn’t Armstrong’s first foray into the melodramatic in recent times: He recently appeared as the lead in his first starring film role, as a sort of less successful version of a guy very similar to himself in Ordinary World, a movie in which he contemplates his stagnating life on his birthday (and also, Fred Armisen is in it). We thought it was a decent vehicle for Armstrong, so check out our review of the film here.

Featured image: Green Day

Metallica Frontman Judges Avril Lavigne, Ryan Golsing, More Wearing Metalica Shirts

Ever owned a Metallica t-shirt? Frontman James Hetfield may be judging you for how you pull it off. Don’t worry, though. There’s plenty of cheery music news to make you smile if that doesn’t. Elliott Smith’s famous mural may expand into a bar themed around his music, Kelly Clarkson’s contribution to the Hamilton mixtape is now streaming, The xx may have secretly shared new music, and Solange stunned listeners far and wide with her Saturday Night Live performance this past weekend.

There comes a point in fame where people’s obsession with you goes beyond your output. They start dressing like you or dressing with you. No, not like that. Metallica is one of the world’s most famous bands, and as such so are their band t-shirts. People all around the world sport their album covers on a soft tee, a good number of whom may not have heard that album in full. Buzzfeed Mexico sat down with James Hetfield, the band’s frontman, to rank some of Hollywood’s biggest names spotted in Metallica shirts like Kim Kardashian, Ryan Gosling, Avril Lavigne, and more. Best of all, it’s done in good humor. [Buzzfeed Mexico]

Some murals never get inked over because their fame speaks volumes. The red, white, and black waving mural at 4330 West Sunset Boulevard in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles is one of those. Back before Elliott Smith stood dejected in front of it for his 2003 album, Figure 8, it was a bit of a landmark. Now, especially after Smith’s death, that mural has been a must-see spot for diehard fans of his music. People leave notes, flowers, and glowing candles. It’s a place of reflection. Apparently someone else is ready to turn it into a place of loud chatter and drinking. A new bar is moving in to the space and will be named Bar Angeles after one of his songs. The mural, however, will be moved inside the bar as décor. For some reason we’ve got a bad feeling about this and a voice akin to Elliott’s in our head telling us this isn’t the type of idea to come from a fan, but rather someone with dollar signs in their eyes. [Consequence of Sound]

A few weeks ago, we caught word that a Hamilton mixtape was in the work, and shortly after that came a track list proving so. Now, we get to hear some of those songs in their completed form. Check out Kelly Clarkson‘s “Uptown,” a meditation on grief with dramatic strings and a bold crooning voice. “There are moments that the words don’t reach/ There is suffering too terrible to name,” she sings. “You hold your child as tight as you can/ And push away the unimaginable.” Then there’s Busta Rhymes’ “My Shot,” a track rife with quick rhythms and fast words. It looks like we can set our expectations high for the Hamilton mixtape before it drops on December 2. [Rolling Stone]

 

This past weekend, Solange took the stage at Saturday Night Live to deliver two stunning performances. The TV-loving world seemed totally captivated, as expected. She sang “Cranes in the Sky” and “Don’t Touch My Hair” off this year’s phenomenal A Seat at the Table. It’s her first full album in almost eight years and one that rocketed on the charts. As the two songs prove, she’s got a voice made from the heavens and one that works in a studio and on a stage. Looks like Queen Bee has some competition after all, or maybe it’s just genetic. [Rolling Stone]

See you back here on Wednesday for another Music Dispatch!

Image: Buzzfeed Mexico

SUPERGIRL Cast Breaks Down that Shocking Alex Twist and Mon-El’s Journey

Warning: This story contains major spoilers from this week’s episode of Supergirl, “Crossfire.” Proceed at your own risk. If you haven’t watched the episode yet, turn away now! Don’t say we didn’t warn you …

Finally, a character from one of The CW’s DC Comics TV shows has officially come out: Alex (Chyler Leigh) from Supergirl!

Over the past few episodes, viewers couldn’t deny the crackling chemistry between Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) adoptive sister and her new detective friend Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima). They’ve been working together to solve cases, hanging out drinking at bars in their downtime, even finishing each other’s sentences. And when Alex saw Maggie kissing her girlfriend, she definitely looked jealous. So when Maggie’s girlfriend dumped her, Alex tried to cheer her up by asking her out for drinks in “Crossfire.” When Maggie responded that she wasn’t ready to date again yet, Alex was shocked to learn that Maggie thought she was gay, and she denied that, claiming she only asked Maggie out as a friend.

But by the end of the episode, Alex had done some serious soul searching and came out to Maggie in a heart-to-heart. She confessed that the reason she’d always been so bad at dating all her life was because she never wanted to be intimate with the men she was with, and now she realized it was because she didn’t want to be with men — she wanted to be with Maggie. And according to Benoist, Kara is going to be there for her older sister while she goes on this new journey of self-discovery in her coming out process.

“I think that really season one serviced the purpose to get Kara on solid ground herself, so now that Alex is kind of going off on her own path and learning something about herself, I think Kara will be there with just an open mind and an open heart,” Benoist told us on set in Vancouver. “You know, those two are inseparable. Their bond is unbreakable. So whatever happens, Kara’s going to be there no matter what.”

Another character who is going to find themselves on a journey of self-discovery is Mon-El (Chris Wood). After spending “Crossfire” trying to fit into Kara’s idea of what an alien should do to blend into Earth society, both he and Kara realized he needed to find his own place in the world. While the glasses and button-up shirts and job at CatCo worked for Kara, it didn’t exactly fit him, and she needed to let him figure out what did work for him.

“I think that obviously was a big lesson for her to learn, and she kind of didn’t realize she was living vicariously through him to fulfill that process she made to her parents to protect Kal-El [Tyler Hoechlin],” Benoist says. “So I think from that point forward, it’s really Kara learning and trying to just get to know and be tolerant of Mon-El and how different he is from her. So when that settles, I think it gives them a much broader profile to grow from as friends, as allies, even though they come from these warring planets.”

Wood was excited to get to explore who Mon-El is as a person now that he isn’t being molded by Kara or hunted by the DEO.

“I think the first episode especially once I wake up, that’s really a scared fight-to-stay-alive which isn’t really him,” Wood shared with us on set. “It’s sort of this contentious ready-to-fight side. And by [episode] 5 he’s relaxed enough and going to work and things are exciting like Twizzlers and he’s kind of riding high on all the newness.”

He continues, “I think Mon-El’s first thing he wants to do is find a job that makes him excited. I don’t know if he has it in him to seek something that involves working very hard because he likes fun and partying. So he has to find something that fits a little niche. And Kara also has to approve obviously, so there’s a bit of an exploration going on for him after that.”

While Mon-El already manipulated Winn (Jeremy Jordan) into going out and getting drunk with him, expect him to be working closely with Kara only from now on.

“He’s still an outsider,” Wood admitted. “These guys all know each other, they work together, they’re related by blood and by family, and they all sort of have this history together and he’s still on the outside. I think that sits with him kind of in a difficult place and it takes him a little while to adjust to that and finding his role in this group other than Kara who he can talk to and connect to and sort of feel like himself.”

And as he and Kara get closer, their dynamic will evolve, leading to some personal growth in Kara as well.

“The mentor-mentee relationship is how she first opens up to not just hating him because he’s Daxam,” Wood said. “And I think from there it’s nice that whatever their differences are, they sort of fade away and they find their similarities that they can cling to and they become friends. But she’s definitely still someone he looks to as an example because she’s got it all figured out. She has the same powers which are more honed and developed. And she also has this great sense of right and wrong which Mon-El doesn’t really understand. He didn’t grow up with that. He wasn’t taught that exact moral compass, so that’s his journey of finding his place.”

While Kara believes that Mon-El’s place is also fighting to save humans, Mon-El might choose to take a different path and not suit up to become a superhero.

“When we see him on the next episode, the focus is more, ‘Let’s get you out in the world and get the normal you first. Let’s get that figured out because that’s easy to screw up. And once we have ‘Mike’ figured out, we can come back and see what part of you will fit into the DEO level, if any,'” Wood says. “He’s never had to think about that before, so he’s coming from a life where he had a job and he did that and now he’s here and someone’s telling him he’s got to figure it out for himself and he’s never really had to do that. I think with time we’ll see him find which part of what Kara does inspires him and try to hold on to that as a common force to hopefully join up with them.”

What did you think of that big Alex twist? Let us know in the comments section below or tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Images: The CW

GOTHAM Recap: Barnes Finally Loses Control in ‘Mad City: Blood Rush’

Warning: this recap contains major spoilers from this week’s episode of Gotham , “Mad City: Blood Rush.” It is a recap, after all! Don’t say we didn’t warn you …

Welp, Captain Barnes’ blood poisoning has officially gotten out of hand on Gotham. As have the love lives of Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot and Ed Nygma. We’re only a few episodes in to this season and things are already getting delightfully batty! Let’s recap the madness from “Mad City: Blood Rush,” shall we?

Unfortunately for Barnes and the rest of people in the city of Gotham, the GCPD Captain has upgraded to killing random criminals in his off-duty time, and out of desperation, he met with Jervis Tetch in prison to figure out if there was a cure for Alice’s blood. That’s when Tetch made him realize that Alice’s blood only brings out the darkest parts of a person, and for Barnes, that was his bloody, violent rage at criminals. Soon, he’ll start hearing voices and that’s when he’ll know the virus has taken over.

But first, a celebration: Jim Gordon is back at the GCPD! Harvey Bullock was overjoyed to have his partner/bestie back at his side, but their first case was none other than the criminal that Barnes murdered, violently and gruesomely. But what they don’t know is that Barnes wasn’t done just yet: he planned on using his blood poisoning rage to take out all the criminals of Gotham, and actually stumbled upon a criminal plastic surgery ring, where a famous plastic surgeon was selling new faces to those who needed a fresh start.

When Barnes had the plastic surgeon cornered at gunpoint, the criminal very calmly asked for his right to an attorney and didn’t resist arrest. But when Barnes started hearing voices shouting, “Guilty!” over and over again (uh oh, there’s those pesky voices Tetch warned him about!), he almost served his own kind of justice, but he brought him in to be booked and processed instead. That was a close one. He then told Gordon that he would get the other killer that was still out there, meaning himself. Is he going to turn himself in? Could his good side ultimately prevail over the voices?

Meanwhile, Lee finally told Mario that Gordon was returning to work at the GCPD, and he was understandably not enthused – he knew that Lee and Gordon still loved each other and he’s just the placeholder while they both figured their stuff out and got back together in the end. Oops, did I just say that? Sorry not sorry, I know we were all thinking it. #GordonandLee4ever

But Carmine Falcone still threw Mario and Lee an engagement party because they were all delusional thinking that this marriage was actually going to happen. Thankfully, Babs decided to crash the party to make it way more entertaining than it would have been, taunting Lee about how they were both once so close to Gordon, and so close to a man filled with so much darkness and light, always at war with himself. But Lee claimed she didn’t miss it, and Babs called her out on her denial. Babs sees what we all see!

Later at the party, Barnes showed up to congratulate Lee, and when Falcone tried to introduce himself, Barnes couldn’t stand talking to the man who used to run Gotham’s criminal underworld and got away scot free. He realized he had to turn himself in since no one was above the law, but when he saw the newly-released plastic surgeon show up to the party, that sent him over the edge.

After new evidence linked the plastic surgeon to a murder, Gordon and Bullock showed up to Lee and Mario’s party to arrest him, which did not please the couple of the hour. Mario confronted Gordon about his feelings for Lee, and Gordon told him to lose the jealousy as it’s a sign of weakness and would only push Lee further away. That pissed him off, and so he decked Gordon right in the face. Gordon took the high road and didn’t punch him back, but man, did he want to.

Someone who was way more OK with giving in to his more violent urges was Barnes, who cornered the plastic surgeon in the bathroom, claiming the whole city was guilty as he attacked the surgeon. He said he didn’t have to follow the law because he was the law, along with being the judge, jury and executioner. Barnes threw him right through a brick wall, and he fell many stories before crashing on a car down below. He later told Gordon that things were going to change around Gotham, and they were going to clean up the city. Guess he’s not turning himself in anymore! But while Barnes thought that the plastic surgeon had died upon impact, he was able to whisper one last word to Gordon who discovered his broken and bloody body outside the party: “Barnes.” The look of confusion and horror on Gordon’s face should tell you that this is about to get very interesting.

As for Edward Nygma, his crazy has increased to the point that now he’s seeing his dead ex, Kristen Kringle, in the mirror since his relationship with Kristen’s doppelgänger Isabella has been going so well. Seeing her put on a pair of glasses identical to the kind that Kristen used to wear set him off, and he realized he had to break up with her or else he’d hurt her like he did with Kristen. Penguin was extremely happy at this turn of events since he’s still in love with his BFF, and so when Nygma asked him to break up with Isabella for him, he gladly accepted the challenge.

Although Nygma asked Penguin to do it gently, he was as blunt and harsh about it as ever. But Isabella refused to just let Nygma go so easily. She told Penguin as much, and lured Nygma over to her apartment and dyed her hair to look exactly like Kristen did. She wanted to force Nygma to face his fears and realize that he won’t hurt her like he did with Kristen, even when she looks exactly like Kristen. She even put his hands around her neck! This girl is crazy.

Even after he started to choke her, they kissed and slept together, and Nygma later told Penguin all about it. Penguin was disappointed to hear that they were working things out and staying together, but he was impressed that Isabella fought for Nygma. However, he claimed that Isabella underestimated “her opponent,” and had one of his flunkies cut the break line on her car, and so later that night she got hit by a train. Poor Nygma just can’t catch a break!

What did you think of this week’s Gotham? Tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!

Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.

Images: Fox

Mondo’s DAREDEVIL and JESSICA JONES Vinyl Soundtracks Look Beautiful

Netflix Marvel shows have reinvented superhero television. While their stories are absolutely engaging and suck you in from the first episode, they also have some killer soundtracks. You can’t help but get pumped when you hear the Daredevil soundtrack, and the jazzy Jessica Jones soundtrack perfectly encapsulates her wit, sarcasm, and attitude. After Mondo experienced some crazy success releasing the amazing Luke Cage soundtrack on vinyl, they decided to continue releasing the soundtracks of each of the Defenders. The soundtracks for both Daredevil (season one) and Jessica Jones are next, accompanied by more amazing artwork from Matthew Woodson (the artist from the Luke Cage vinyl).

Both records feature Woodson’s interpretation of each hero on the cover, and the interior gratefold features an image of the Big Bad from each series–Wilson Fisk for Daredevil and Kilgrave for Jessica Jones. And just like the Luke Cage soundtrack, the records themselves will also have a unique look, with red vinyl for Daredevil and purple for Jessica Jones.

John Paesano’s Daredevil score did the hard work of setting the tone for the Netflix Marvel universe as well as capturing Matt Murdock’s journey through the darkness of Hell’s Kitchen.

Meanwhile, Sean Callery’s score for Jessica Jones captures the show’s departure from Daredevil’s gritty tone and highlights the noir element of the show with a mix of street corner jazz and wailing guitar.

Both of these records are perfect for the vinyl-loving comic book fan, and are a fun way to celebrate each show’s unique and brilliant soundtrack. Plus, with the holidays coming up, now is the perfect time to scoop up one of these records for yourself or that Marvel fan in your life. These records will go on sale on Wednesday, November 9 at 12 pm CST online for $25.00. However, if you’re in New York, the records will also be on sale at the House of Wax bar inside Alamo Drafthouse’s new Brooklyn location beginning on November 9. Just be sure you don’t wait too long to scoop yourself up a copy. Mondo is only selling 3,000 copies of each soundtrack!

Are you going to be buying yourself one (or both!) of these soundtracks? Have you checked out the Luke Cage vinyl yet? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Image: Mondo

Video Explores WESTWORLD’s Bicameral Mind Theory on Consciousness

Like any great story—or the fictional Westworld park itself—HBO’s Westworld can be enjoyed on many different levels. You can kick back and experience the visceral delights (the gory gunfights and naked people painted gold), delve a little deeper into the complex power struggle amongst the Gods—err, humans—running the park, or even spend long sleepless nights contemplating the rise of artificial intelligence. But there is, of course, a deeper level to this show, and one somewhat mysterious YouTuber (? philosopher?) wants you to see it with his exploration of the psychological theory known as the Bicameral Mind and how it relates to Westworld’s narrative.

In the video above, which comes via /Film, Jonathan Holmes (who doesn’t provide much description for himself but is followed by Black Mirror showrunner Charlie Brooker on Twitter) describes a theory that Ford (Anthony Hopkins) specifically discusses with Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) in the show: It’s known as the “Bicameral Mind” and it’s based on psychologist Julian Jaynes’ 1970s book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. 

Holmes makes the claim that HBO’s Westworld is based on the “obscure theory from the 1970s,” and anybody who’s been watching the show closely will probably come to agree with him. This is because the theory states that before there was consciousness as we know it in modern humans, humanity developed a system of thinking that involved two “minds,” or two chambers: a “mind” that told us what to do and a “mind” that went ahead and did those things. The voice that made the commands, was, according to Jaynes, thought of by primitive man as God.

In the show, we see this theory play out in parallel with the hosts (the humanoid robots) and Arnold (the deceased park co-founder). Ford tells Bernard that Arnold’s voice, inside the minds of the hosts, is essentially the voice of God (how the hosts “heard their programming”), and that they obey his commands—which is why in the latest episode, to quote Futurama, we had that “robo-puppy mistreatment alert.”

But, just as humanity began to be able to think in a meta sense about the voice—to contemplate the voice’s commands and whether or not to implement them—so, too, are the hosts in Westworld undergoing a meta-analysis of why they do what they do. And voila: you have a new dawn of consciousness, and a whole lot of trouble for management.

Jaynes attributes this new level of consciousness in humans to the use of metaphor, specifically storytelling, even more specifically Homer’s Illiad, and Holmes does a great job of describing in the video why exactly that’s the case.

What do you think about the Bicameral Mind as the philosophical basis for HBO’s Westworld? Let us know what the voice in your head is saying to you in the comments below!

Image/GIF: HBO

And here we are trying to explain all those different potential timelines:

Miracle of Sound’s BATTLEFIELD 1 Inspired Song Plays For the “Pawns of War”

Last month, EA and DICE released Battlefield 1, which sent gamers back to the trenches of World War I. While World War II games have become commonplace, “the Great War” has rarely been explored as a game. As Battlefield 1 demonstrated, there’s more than enough material in that time frame to make a great first-person shooter.  But WWI had more than its share of horrors as well.

Miracle of Sound (a.k.a. Gavin Dunne) has released his original Battlefield 1-inspired song, “Pawns of War,” which recreates the feel of a classic war song while playing against footage from the game’s various campaigns. But instead of a triumphant battle hymn, the song focuses on the soldiers who were doomed to be forgotten long after they sacrificed their lives for the war effort.

“I feel like all the war stories had some influence; which I tried to reflect in the video,” related Dunn, when asked about his inspiration for the song. “But mostly it was that crazy intro segment and idea of all these young men leaving their lives behind and being sent to the meat grinder. I wondered what might be going through their minds while stuck in the trenches or out on the fields.”

Dunn went on to explain how he crafted the style of the song. “To get the feel for this one I listened to a few old instrumental army marching tunes from the era as well as the game’s soundtrack, which was a more ‘Hollywood’ feel with a full emotive orchestra. Then I tried to mix those two styles together…The marching snare drum was an easy starting point; it just immediately screams ‘military’ to our ears. I also got a friend to play some tin whistle layers over the vocal melodies to help give it a more imperfect, human feel. There are big timpanis and pounding war drums in there too to give it a little more power & oomph. I also used a lot of strings and brass (trombone, horns) in order to give it that ‘Hollywood war movie’ feel. I always worry that arrangements like this will sound flat without a modern drum backbeat to fill them up, but I ended up liking how this one turned out in the end.”

Battlefield 1 has led some players to rediscover some of the actual WWI era songs, including “Over There,” an overly optimistic propaganda tune about the war’s quick conclusion. But in reality, the war dragged on for over four years and led to the deaths of millions of soldiers and civilians.

There are also a few songs from that era which captured the mindset of the soldiers who knew they were marching off to die while some of their officers stayed far away from the battles. “Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire” was a popular song among the soldiers, but it was said to be very unpopular among the military leadership because of its effect on “morale.” We can’t imagine why they would think that…

Dunne expressed surprise when he learned that some of the classic WWI hymns had shared a similar tone with his new song. “That was just felt instinctively like the most interesting and appropriate angle to explore WW1 from,” noted Dunne. “I just started writing words and that’s what came out. ‘My Bonnie lays afar’ was actually the first line that popped into my head and I went from there.”

For more of Dunne’s music, you can visit Dunne’s Bandcamp page, which has six albums of his Miracle of Sound music, a heavy metal album, instrumental albums and other recordings. Dunne also regularly updates his Miracle of Sound YouTube channel with new songs based on video games, movies, and TV series.

What did you think about Miracle of Sounds’ Battlefield 1 song? Leave your report in the comment section below!

Image: EA/Dice

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” Begets a Terrifying New Action Figure

We’ve had our fair share of action figures based on Ghostface, the iconic branded Halloween costume best known for its appearances in the Scream movies (the TV show changed it in part to avoid paying royalties). But now it’s time for the original inspiration behind that design to join in the figural fun, as Edvard Munch’s iconic painting gets three-dimensional and fully articulated, courtesy of the figma “Table Museum” series that previously gave us such art-inspired action toys as the four-armed Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man figure, as well as a Venus De Milo with removable arms.

First seen by us at io9, The Scream is the first in this series of collectibles to be based on a full-color painting, and comes with a framed backdrop if you just want to reproduce the original as closely as possible. But the figure also comes with multiple sets of hands for some cheeky alternate poses, like “air quotes” and retired wrestler Diamond Dallas Page’s “Diamond Cutter” signal. Munch was a sufficiently irreverent fellow that he might have appreciated these variations; he was also prone to moodswings, which this figure can certainly represent, with multiple points of articulation in the torso allowing for shimmy-shake poses as well as the more familiar one of anxiety. You can see just a few of the possibilities in the image gallery below, and preorder the figure at Goodsmile Online.

Does this new interpretation give you your own good smile, or is any kind of change to a classic something to scream about? Holler at us in comments below.

Images: Goodsmile

WESTWORLD Recap: The Adversary of My Adversary

(Fair warning: This recap contains Westworld spoilers, and we’re secretly broadcasting from an abandoned theater in Sector 3.)

Maeve, Maeve, Maeve. What are we going to do with you? Or, really, what are you going to do with us?

After a bit of casual violence in the background of her stroll to work, Thandie Newton‘s character has figured a pretty simple way to end up backstage early in the day: just insult the tiny-handed manhood of a lumbering mass into choking you to death during sex. Voila. Meanwhile, the Man in Black (Ed Harris) gets some poetic knowledge of the Maze from Teddy (James Marsden), who gets to use a Gatling gun on his past; the DELOS business plot thickens as we meet board member Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) and witness Screaming British Guy Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) deliver a urine-based two-week notice; and, finally, the corporate espionage entangles Theresa (Sidse Babet Knudsen), Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), Elsie (Shannon Woodward) and…maybe??…Arnold (??).

But let’s start with Maeve. Newton owns “The Adversary” as the most powerful fragile figure–a being who essentially gets to see Heaven’s construction crew. As Felix (Leonardo Nam) tours her through the various levels, she bears witness to how all of life’s little movements can be programmed and rehearsed. All the human touches are invisible bits of code. One more dry run of your card game. One more status update on your bison. You can only say what the computer says you can say as you say it. She watches her old life used as advertisement (with a cameo by William-helping Host Angela (Talulah Riley), which throws another fun wrench into the timeline.

She witnesses the clean up of Westworld‘s recurring genocide, and then she decides to get some upgrades.

Maeve is now a puppet who has discovered the strings (pretty chill about it all, too, considering) and has chosen to trade those strings for weaponry. Her entire arc here evokes the very last shot in Ex Machina. Or a human version of the raptor escaping Jurassic Park. She’s capable of so much, but we also learn that someone else has already been tampering with her specs. Arnold? Maybe. Probably.

Which leads to the big question of this episode: who is he/she/it? Is Arnold still alive despite Ford (Anthony Hopkins) thinking he’s dead? Is Arnold alive in some other way — his brain transplanted into something else? A Host? Bernard?

Is he the one broadcasting the pirate signal that’s making Hosts lose their plastic noodles?

Unraveling that mess is going to take more than a few episodes, but the tangled web got spun this week with a huge chunk of characters all circling different threads before reaching the same needle point.

First, there’s Ford, who refuses to destroy our favorite sleepy village and then mysteriously appears–previously unseen–from the corner when Bernard stumbles onto Ford’s secret robo-family. Yes, the Little Boy is him. Yes, his robo-dad drinks. Yes, his robo-dog actually chases (and catches!) small animals. Once again, things get confused here. Ford explains that his family was built by Arnold, that they’re first generation. If that’s the case, what’s up with Clunky Cowboy in the basement? Beta test?

It’s still impossible to know whether Ford is a villain–or if Westworld has a villain at all. He seems a man lost in reverie, but not so obsessed that he’s lost perspective. Maybe the board sees it that way: there’s apparently no love lost on his expensive, disruptive new narrative, but is that so great a sin?

Before being attacked by Ford’s robo-dad, Bernard gets the scoop on the smuggled tech from Elsie, who has effectively circled back to the first malfunction from the very first episode. It turns out the Hosts might have not gone haywire and poured milk all over their murder victims because of Ford’s memory upgrades, but because some of them have extra hardware installed to get proprietary knowledge out of the park.

That, or Arnold is controlling a bunch of them. Either way.

So Bernard has to juggle a bad break up with Theresa, while Theresa juggles the arrival of Charlotte to oversee transitions, while Screaming British Guy juggles a bunch of tequila and some serious self-loathing, while Elsie juggles the discovery of Theresa’s corporate sabotage and relays all that information back to Bernard.

Like I said, tangled. Although it’s a bit odd that Theresa is put so much at a distance even before Elsie tells Bernard the truth. He isn’t confronted with the awkward dilemma of choosing between love and loyalty; he’s driven doubly away from a person he was in bed with just last night. Theresa, for her part, is a fantastic character who seems utterly straightforward in her calculations. Screaming British Guy, on the other hand, is disposable. So far he’s existed to get run over by Ford, dismissed by Theresa, and, hopefully, fired by Charlotte without ever adding anything into the story.

I said it after the first episode, but this dude is about to go Ephialtes on everyone, 300 style. Maybe he’s actually been behind the corporate theft. That would at least give him some purpose.

Whatever the case, this corporate storyline just got a steroidal injection, and I hope Elsie is okay (even though Woodward is trolling everyone). If it’s actually Arnold who’s attacked her, I have the strangest gut feeling that it’s actually Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), the security team lead. He’s the kind of barely-there figure who’s just involved enough to make sense as a surprise without being obvious.

On the other end of the universe (and the timeline?), the Man in Black and Teddy discuss how the Maze is meant to be a myth from the indigenous culture, representing the totality of a man’s life, with an ever-dying, ever-living being at the center who has built the borders around his home to attain something he’s never had: peace, most likely.

This monologue reads exactly like a cinematic from a video game–deepening Teddy’s story alongside a glimpse at his dark past with Wyatt as he buries a bunch of spring-loaded bullets into the chests of the soldiers blocking their way. What’s even more interesting is that, before they can head down to the encampment, they spy two soldiers who they can conveniently kill and steal uniforms from. It’s like–as in a video game–the solution to each quest’s problem presents itself exactly when you need it.

Teddy is Maeve’s opposite, lacking in any kind of sentience, but still proving to have layers. He’s still playing Host, but we’ll have to wait until next week to figure out what Maeve is playing at. Now that she’s so smart, maybe she can apply for Screaming British Guy’s job.

SOME STRAY THOUGHTS:

What if someone pays top dollar to go to the park specifically because they heard the Teddy story is awesome, but he’s off with someone else for days on end? Is there a customer service telegraph line?
Kudos to the property masters for getting Sizemore’s urine the right shade of yellow. Dude had been drinking all day.
DELOS offices are super dark, which doesn’t seem conducive to efficiency or employee satisfaction.
If William’s timeline is from thirty years ago, and Angela was his park entry Host, how long have they been using that commercial?
The guy who fuck-strangles Maeve has to go home to his wife and kids.
If Ford can tell when the Little Boy is lying, he could definitely tell that Dolores was lying when she pretended not to know Arnold, right? Right.

Images: HBO

Until next time, here’s what Westworld has in common with Twitter:

THE WALKING DEAD Recap: Daryl Isn’t the Only Prisoner in “The Cell”

Editor’s note: This post contains spoilers for the season premiere of The Walking Dead! Proceed with caution, survivors. For reals, if you haven’t yet watched this week’s episode, “The Cell,” we highly suggest you do so before proceeding. Okay? We good? Let’s go.

Though it’s a lot quieter than this season’s gore-soaked premiere episode, I suspect this week’s episode of The Walking Dead will wind up polarizing fans just as much as “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be.” Yes, “The Cell” is that frustrating.

After spending last week checking in with Carol and Morgan, and getting a bit of much-needed light comedy with the introduction of the charismatic Ezekiel, the show puts the spotlight on arguably its most popular character, although I’m sure plenty of Daryl devotees wish they hadn’t been subjected to 45 minutes of misery porn starring their beloved bowman. Whereas season 7’s premiere–and the season 6 cliffhanger that preceded it- divided its psychological and emotional abuse among most of the show’s heroes, with Rick the focal point, “The Cell” dumps most of it on Daryl. And since Mr. Dixon’s default mode has long been that of a tormented animal (with Kicked Puppy Resting Face), it’s just about the worst thing a card-carrying member of Dixon’s Vixens could witness.

Placed in a dark cell in “The Sanctuary” by his lonesome, Daryl is stripped naked and fed dog food day after day, until Negan deems him housebroken enough to wear a sweatsuit and eat sandwiches. All the while he’s forced to listen to one of the most nauseatingly sprightly, saccharine pop tunes imaginable. Over. And over. And over. If The Walking Dead wants us to know what it’s like to rot in that cell, well, congratulations, show. Mission accomplished!

Gradually, however, the true protagonist of “The Cell’ emerges, and it ain’t our favorite archer.

When Dwight and his friends were introduced last season as the thugs who stole Daryl’s motorcycle and bow, the blonde, bearded biker was one of the least sympathetic creeps ever to cross our friends’ paths. So the fact that “The Cell” takes at least half of its running time to humanize Dwight, and share with us–through another of Negan’s near endless monologues- the circumstances that led him to become a devoted Savior, is, on a certain level, admirable. As a husband, I can’t imagine the kind of suffering I’d have to endure to reach a point where I’d break and allow a bastard like Negan to come within a hundred miles of my wife; or to shoot one of my friends in the back of the head and watch him spend his days as a zombie in a prison camp. But still, we’re only given so much to care about Dwight, whereas we’ve been given six seasons to care about Daryl- and Glenn, whose grisly murder we’re still recovering from. So I’m not sure this is the right time for The Walking Dead to ask us to to open our hearts to someone of questionable moral character.

Yet Dwight does change throughout the course of “The Cell,” eventually seeing his own life mirrored in Daryl’s sweet sad eyes. Daryl himself, to our great relief, does not change, and refuses to surrender to Negan the only thing he can still call his own–his identity. It’s a victory, to be sure, and one that gives this episode a spark of hope which will hopefully grow into a roaring fire in the weeks ahead. But it’s still more grueling than interesting, damn it.

Part of that is the fault of this season’s Big Bad. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been acting his heart out in the role of the leather-jacketed, barbed-wire-baseball-bat-swinging Negan, and his performance is an enjoyable one. But as he’s written, Negan just isn’t a very interesting character. Largely because he’s an antagonist with absolutely no trace of humanity. Even the Governor cared about his people, and the heartache he felt from the loss of his wife and daughter was never far from the surface. By comparison, Negan is at best a robot, and at worst a cartoon. An occasionally witty and charming cartoon, but a cartoon nonetheless.

Which is why even more than wishing to see Daryl break out of his prison and join Rick, Carol, Ezekiel and the rest of their friends in a glorious battle against the Saviors, my biggest wish for this season right now is to see Negan be given some kind of depth. Maybe then I’ll be ready to care about Dwight or anyone else who’s been victimized by him.

Undead Afterthoughts

— “Who’s the Boss?” Cute commentary on this episode’s central dilemma.

— Like many of The Walking Dead‘s more memorable episodes, what’s unsaid in “The Cell” is more important that what’s said. It’s an all too rare and most welcome occurrence on TV, since even in 2016 most shows are far too chatty.

— So exactly how does Sherry happen to appear behind Daryl when he’s trying to escape? Does she just spend all her time hanging out in dark corridors?

— “Is he good to you? You happy?” “Yeah.” “Good.” What a fun place the Sanctuary is!

—  I’m guessing Dwight’s gonna either A.) help Daryl break out, B.) try once more to get Sherry away from Negan, or C.) help Rick’s people revolt against the Saviors. I’m also guessing that all of these scenarios end with Dwight getting killed. Sorry, Dwight.

— Negan tells Daryl that if he joins him he’ll live like a king. But since Negan seemingly lives in a tiny, boring, brown-beige dorm room, I can’t tell if his words are meant to suggest he’s delusional. Both Alexandria and the Kingdom enjoy a far superior living standard.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter (@JMaCabre).

Images: AMC

ICYMI, Check out our Comic-Con Q&A with the cast: