Westworld -Interesting Plot for an Old Storyline

Around my house we never watch anything in real time. We just can't sit still until after the sun goes down so anything that gets watched in full must be recorded for when we have nothing else going on. So a few weeks ago my honey said "I recorded the first episode of Westword. I think we're going to like it." I took him at his word since our taste matches pretty well when it comes to stories. We sent the kids to watch a movie in their room (it's HBO and we all know how much HBO loves to flash boobs and bare bottoms) then we settled down to watch this new show.

....Which turned out to be an old story line.

Robots who think they are humans thrown into a world where they become smarter then they were designed to be.

About 20 minutes in I was half paying attention and half scrolling social media.  My honey asked, "You don't like it?"  And I was like, it's not that I don't like it, it's that I can tell you where everything is going this episode without watching any more of it (#writerproblem).  The characters were interesting, the story was so-so, and the emotional investment I felt was minimal but I didn't give up since I could see how much he was liking it.

So we finished the episode, me half paying attention and him engrossed.  But at the end it did leave things hanging on a nice hook that didn't totally turn me off to the story so a week or so later we had a little down time again and turned on the second episode. That's when things started to shift a bit for me. Maybe it was my writer's mind letting go of the plot details and actually allowing me to enjoy the show or maybe I was just too tired that night to break down every character's motive but either way I actually couldn't wait to watch the 3rd episode. No, really. I caught myself several times the next day wondering about that show. I would get lost in imagining what it would be like to wake up day after day and do the same thing because I was programmed that way. This fictional world was having a real impact that was rare for me to find outside of a book.

This has made me realize that an old story can be retold and be unpredictable and even exciting. I've turned my nose up to a large amount of books over my lifetime just because it was a retelling but I guess I should have giving them a chance. Sometimes echos in a different voice are surprisingly captivating.

How about you? Have you had any surprises when reading or watching something you normally wouldn't pick up for yourself? Tell me about them in the comments below!

Happy reading,
Wenona