Westworld (2016-22)

Westworld was supposed to be HBO's successor to Game of Thrones in terms of epic fantasy and expense and violence and nudity. And it had a promising start. Season 1 was top notch TV. It delivered on the spectacle and the mind-blowing twists. And it had a philosophical bent to it. There were some really beautiful, poignant episodes--I specifically remember Akechata's Season 2 episode 8 titled Kiksuya. Season 2 was actually quite good in retrospect with its biblical scope, but I didn't see that until the end. While watching season 2, I found it to be kind of a drag. Seasons 3 and 4 did absolutely nothing for me. They were so complicated and boring. How did they lose the magic of Season 1? It became a totally different show. Once they left the park and entered "reality" it became too convoluted. And it's not like season 1 was even easy to follow. I'm glad they finally pulled the plug because I had felt obligated to slog through the last two seasons.

mother! (2017)

What an utterly baffling movie. What's really frustrating is that I think I understood the allegory with my basic knowledge of the Bible and yet I was still baffled. Javier Bardem is God. And the house is Earth. That much I'm sure of, but Jennifer Lawrence is a little trickier. Is she the mother Earth? Is she the nature spirit? Is she Mary? Is she also Christ? I think there's probably a degree of truth to all those identities. That's what was confusing. Pick a metaphor and stick to it.

The movie itself defies categorization. It's marketed as a horror film, but it's not actually scary. What is scary is just the sheer number of people in the house and what terrible guests they are. But it's not really thrilling either. It's just uncomfortable. I will concede that the last twenty minutes of utter chaos is pretty impressive. It's an immersive, visceral experience.