Westworld Premiere: 8 Ups And 2 Downs From 'The Original'

1. An Ambitious And Confident Pilot

For a pilot episode, Westworld doesn't make any concessions. There's no dumbing down, trying to appeal to a wider audience, or even a sense of it being on unsure footing. From open to close, the show knows exactly what it is, and the stories it wants to tell - and how.

It's a smart, ambitious, and confident pilot episode, that does a superb job of blending a couple of different genres when TV can often force producers into being one or the other. It arrives with an already built world, and continues to work on top of those foundations. It sets up mysteries to leave its audience asking questions, but poses plenty of its own.

Pilots are there to draw people in, but don't always represent the clearest vision of what the show will end up being - Westworld doesn't suffer from those issues. While it isn't problem free, there's no denying this is an excellent first episode, and a great introduction to this world.