Somewhere between Humans and Westworld there's a very good TV show. Humans explores in great detail the idea of artificially intelligent androids ("synths") becoming self aware. It takes place in a world very much like our own, except with robots doing all sorts of domestic and manual labor. This makes it a relatable show, not only with plenty of actual human characters, but with several actual synth characters as well; once they're self aware, they have their own, consistent personalities, many of them brought on by how they were treated and what they went through before they "woke up" or whatever you want to call it.
All of this stands in contrast with Westworld last season, where the robots ("hosts") take on any and every personality depending on what piece of software they're running, where nothing happening took place in a recognizable real world environment, and where character relationships and developments were an afterthought to sex and violence.
But. But! Westworld was, ultimately appointment viewing. It felt important and meaningful, even if I didn't really appreciate it. Call it the HBO factor or thank the higher production value, I don't know, but something about Westworld just plain mattered week in and week out; Humans was much less investment-worthy, and if I'm being honest it's been a bit boring for me ever since around halfway through its first season way back in 2015.
So we've got two shows about robots becoming self aware and the people around them being sort of kind of fucked. One's better at actually making you give a shit about its characters and its story, but the other's the cooler, sexier, undeniably bigger show. Again - somewhere between them or among them or in some sort of combination there is a good show about self aware artificial intelligence. They both occupy that weird "on the cutting block" space where I want a reason to keep going, but worry I won't find one. Eh, we'll see!
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