Now the series has finished, what did you think of it? I got pretty confused for quite a lot of it. I think I understood it by the end, though I'm still not too clear on some motivations.
I think I understood it for the most part. But the ending definitely left a lot of questions.
Why did Ford have himself killed?
This is my main question as well. Throughout the show it seems clear that Ford feels his friend was foolish to get himself killed by his own creation. So this is completely at odds with the final episode. Furthermore, we are shown that the hosts cannot actually kill Ford. There's a hidden piece of code that stopped Bernard from killing him for example. It would seem strange to me that the other older hosts would not have had this same update. Besides, Ford makes a big show out of it in front of his guests too.
Did Ford perhaps fake his own death, by having them kill a host copy of himself? Maybe the Man in Black was right? Maybe what the park needs is real stakes, and so Ford provides? This would also explain the Man in Black's reaction at the end. He finally got what he wished for. And he and all the other guests are the first players for this new narrative. I think from now on, the hosts will remember, and they will be able to kill guests.
Why was Maeve programmed to try to escape and then change her mind?
I can only speculate. Maybe she decided on her own to stay in her world? That would mean she truly has free will. Or maybe her quest for freedom was all an elaborate experiment by Ford to see how far he could push the ai?
What exactly was the MiB (William) looking for? That maze metaphor was described as being the route to consciousness for the hosts, but what was it to him, and why?
This seems clear to me. The Man in Black was looking for real danger. Not fake threats where the hosts cannot kill the guests. He believed Arnold had found the secret to liberating the hosts. Throughout the show you can see his disappointment whenever he is not under any actual threat. The Man in Black has played in the game for so long, that the illusion has shattered, and he sees beyond the fakery. He wants something that is real, and he believes the maze is the key to finding that.
Interesting seeing the samurai. I assume there are other worlds. I never did see the sequel to the movie, Futureworld.
I believe they mention in the show that there was also a sort of horror narrative, and the Man in Black mentions that he owns a stake in this world, as well as others. This means there are many more of these worlds. In the movie I believe there is also a medieval, future and a roman world.
What really interests me is the actual scale of it all. It seems that West World itself is about the size of a small country, but it ends at an ocean. So what lies beyond the ocean? More parks? Cities? Or did they claim themselves an entire planet to build their parks on? We know remarkably little about the actual world of West World beyond the park. We know that it takes place in the future, but are we still on earth?
