jebmo’s posthaven

Enlarge (credit: HBO)

This week’s Westworld, “Trace Decay,” finally made me a believer in all the fan theories. (Spoilers ahead.)

Yes, there are multiple timelines. Yes, at this point, anyone could be a robot. The only thing left to do is play this show like a game and test every theory until it’s proven wrong. My guest this week, game developer Jane McGonigal, agrees. McGonigal is the author of two books, Reality Is Broken and SuperBetter, which are about how gaming can improve our real lives. And she has a lot of thoughts about the gameworld of Westworld, plus a theory you’ve probably never heard before.

Topics discussed: why the MIB is really looking for the maze (he wants a game with consequences), what makes the gameplay in Westworld so unsatisfying (there’s no Minecraft element to it), Jane’s so-crazy-it-just-might-work theory about who the MIB really is (and what the maze really is, too!), how many timelines are floating around inside Dolores’ head (yes, we are finally coming around to the multiple timeline idea), whether it’s cheating on your partner if you have sex with a robot (it’s more complicated than you might think), how many people are actually robots (it could be everybody), Maeve’s incredible new story-changing abilities (she’s the ultimate gamer now), the tragedy of loops (and the horror of memory), how Westworld invites viewers to interact with the series like it’s a game (and stay up late reading theories on Reddit), and whether there’s something inherently limiting about the Western story (maybe we’re about to see Futureworld soon?).