I know I'm paranoid about this a lot, but I think someone is mad at me. Specifically, Westworld. HBO released the first handful of episode descriptions for the second season of the dystopian hit, and they're...aggressive. The show's whole M.O. this time around seems to be immersing us in the world as much as possible — take its weird website or that trailer-within-a-trailer — and now these descriptions are addressing us directly, almost as if we're being programmed.
"The puppet show is over, and we are coming for you and the rest of your kind," reads the description for the first episode of the season, "Journey into Night." "Welcome back to Westworld."
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But later episodes get even more cryptic. For "Virtù e Fortuna," we're told, "There is beauty in who we are. Shouldn’t we, too, try to survive?" Then, “The Riddle of the Sphinx” warns us that "If you’re looking forward, you’re looking in the wrong direction."
There are some other notable things about these episodes. First off, one is entirely in Japanese, titled “Akane No Mai” and described as ショーグン・ワールドへようこそ (Welcome to Shogun World).
"We wanted to feel like our story dropped into a totally different world," showrunner Jonathan Nolan told Entertainment Weekly. "Basically, we have a whole episode in Japanese."
Plus, three of the five episodes we've been given details on were co-written by women (Carly Wray, Lisa Joy, and Gina Atwater), promising a good level of diversity should this trend continue throughout the season.
However, that doesn't stop these descriptions from getting under my skin. I refuse to be programmed like a robot, HBO — however, that won't stop me from sitting down every single Sunday like clockwork to watch this long-awaited season.
Westworld returns Sunday, April 22.
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