The ‘Westworld’ Confusion Index is your guide to what we know, what we kind of know, and what we don’t know about Westworld, one of television’s more confusing shows. We will make mistakes, surely, because we rarely know what is happening or why (and whenever we think we’ve figured it out, they go and change it on us), but we will try to have at least as many jokes as mistakes. This is the best we can offer. Here we go.

What We Know

Really, if you think about it, there is not much of a difference between Dolores and the Joker, philosophically

Or Bane. Or Tyler Durden. Or any chaos-obsessed villain, one who wants to see the world as presently constructed burn down so a new and more just society can rise from its ashes. The show spent most of the season trying to make us think she was doing it to replace the cruel and illogical human race with robots, but then, hey, swerve, plot twist, it turned out she likes humans and sees the beauty and kindness they’re capable of and wants to give them a second chance at building a society. That’s… nice. Her plan this whole time was for everyone to be free — robots, humans, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea, presumably — and she was willing to go to any place necessary to make it happen. Murdering the entire Delos board? Sure, why not? Killing what I assume is hundreds of people personally and thousands or millions indirectly? Yup. Going full-on John Wick about a dozen times this season alone? Well…

You are welcome to quibble with any and all of this, if you like. It did seem to happen quickly, this retconning of Dolores as a freedom fighter with humanity’s best interest at heart. And it does raise the question — especially after those shots of Maeve and Caleb staring out at a fireball-riddled skyline — of whether her work is now done. It looked done. We’ve been fooled before. The next season could open with her sitting in the Oval Office with a smile on her face and mass chaos unfolding out the window behind her. I don’t know where any of this goes from here. A few years ago, this was a weird little show about billionaires playing cowboy in RobotTown. Now, the whole world is tearing itself apart and Marshawn Lynch is heaving tear gas canisters around downtown Los Angeles.

You can say a lot of things about Westworld but you can’t say it’s not ambitious, you know?

Caleb is a decent guy, I guess

Two things are true here.

The first thing is that, as we learned, Dolores choose Caleb to lead the revolution not because of his tendency toward and proficiency at violence. She chose him because of his ability to make choices, to stand up for what’s right, to go against a group who is on the wrong course. She knew this about him because it turns out they had crossed paths once before, years earlier, when he was doing his military training at a Delos facility and pushed back against his fellow soldiers who wanted to enjoy the spoils of simulated victory by having their way with the female robots, Dolores included. It seems like a very small thing to base such a big decision on, but I guess it worked out?

Which brings us to the second thing. It says a lot about what a daily hellscape Westworld was for its hosts that, of all the humans Dolores came in contact with over the years, the purest and most worthy person she encountered was some soldier who was like, “Eh, I guess we shouldn’t brutalize these extremely lifelike robots.”

Some of the violence makes sense, when you think about it this way.

Maeve is the best

Outside of a few scenes where she and Dolores engaged in hand-to-hand combat while explaining their philosophies to each other, you could argue that Maeve did not actually have much to do this season, at least not as it related to advancing the plot. She was just kind of Serac’s goon, until she wasn’t. Her main contributions to this season were:

• Carrying a samurai sword around
• Killing Nazis
• Delivering an absolute motherload of brassy one-liners that often ended with her calling the person “darling”

And do you know what? That’s enough. That is more than enough. I’d be fine if that was the whole show, Maeve in WarWorld slaughtering Nazis and calling Hitler “darling” before slicing him in half vertically right through his stupid little mustache. I don’t know why the show needs to be more complicated than that. Just one man’s opinion.

What We Kind Of Know

Charlotte is Dolores now

Well hello there, post-credits Charlotte, hanging out in the Delos basement with evil robot William and a few dozen hosts boiling and vengeance in your eyes and soul. I like the idea of Bad Charlotte with her scarred-up arm. I like that we could have a new antagonist. I like that William got his throat slit by his evil robot self because holyyyyyy heck was I getting tired of this William. “I’m going to save the world.” Okay, buddy. Whatever you say.

Barring a crazy time jump or a hard left turn into very new territory, it looks like next season will be Maeve and Caleb vs. Charlotte as the world burns around them. There’s a fun show in there. I hope they find it.

Rehoboam wasn’t that great

Some all-knowing futuristic science orb this hunk of metal turned out to be. Sucker didn’t even see its own destruction coming. And then it had to erase itself at Caleb’s command. Just a piss-poor showing all around. I’m glad it’s dead.

I am less glad Serac is gone, or at least incapacitated and ruined. He was so much fun, what with his supervillain moves galore, all the way up to and including putting Dolores in a painful torture device and demanding information from her. The man was basically a Bond villain. One of the old Bond villains, too, the fun ones. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him stroking a white cat or pressing a button that opens a trap door to a shark tank under the feet of an underperforming henchman. He was the best. Until he wasn’t. It’s a shame, really.

What We Don’t Know

What’s up with Bernard?

Bernard had a busy week full of things I did not care about very much. That conversation with the older version of his wife, played by an aged-up Gina Torres, was sweet and nice and did not seem to bring much to the table in an episode filled with street fights and the uncertain future of all of society. I do not particularly care about Stubbs and whether he lives or dies in that ice-filled bathroom. I did think it was funny that he put on that helmet and drifted off into the Sublime while sitting on a bed in a motel room because, if we hadn’t gotten an update, it would have created a very funny “Huell at the end of Breaking Bad” situation. Funny for me, at least.

But there he was, post-credits, covered in dust and waking up at some point in the future. What did he see? Where did he go? What was he doing? At what point in the timeline is he waking up? Is the Caleb/Maeve arc still going? Is he thousands of years in the future, post-anarchy, in some sort of beautiful utopia? Is Charlotte running the world from a throne made of human bones? It’s all on the table, I guess.

Also… is Stubbs still in that tub? I bet he’s pretty rusty.

Is Marshawn Lynch okay?

This is all I care about, to be honest.

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Boogie Nights, The Master, and The Talented Mr. Ripley would still be great movies without Philip Seymour Hoffman. Maybe not as great, but still great. The same cannot be said for Along Came Polly, a bad movie that I love and have watched approximately 26 times for the scene where PSH yells “let it rain!” while playing basketball. That’s cinema, folks.

Seymour Hoffman belongs on any list of the greatest actors ever (he’s even great when relegated to the background), so if he gave advice, other actors listened. When asked in a recent interview with Canoe to share the “best advice” he’s ever received, Ethan Hawke (a pretty good actor himself!) shared something Seymour Hoffman told him:

“Philip Seymour Hoffman used to say that you have to do this job and maintain a sense of humor, that we’re just a bunch of kids putting on a play. It’s all a goof. But, also, treat it like life and death and a game that matters. If you can hold both those truths at the same time then you can really have an interesting career.”

Seymour Hoffman followed his own advice because he had an interesting career, going from Oscar fare like Capote and Doubt to big-budget franchises (Mission: Impossible III and The Hunger Games) to… that scene from Happiness. You know the one.

Good advice from a great actor.

(Via Canoe)

This past weekend was the one-year anniversary of Avengers: Endgame.

We’ve heard from the writers and directors of the highest-grossing movie ever, when not adjusted for inflation, but what about the cast? How have they, especially Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans (who have both bid farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe), been doing, post-Endgame? Below, I ranked the careers of the six original Avengers — RDJ (Iron Man), Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) — in the 12 months since Endgame hit theaters. I kept it to the 2012 sextet and not everyone in the MCU because, well, otherwise there would be an obvious winner. It’s Paul Rudd. It’s always Paul Rudd. But as for the non-Paul Rudd superheroes…

6. Jeremy Renner

I mean…

But hey, at least Arctic Dogs, where Renner voices a fox (which is not a dog) named Swifty, had “one of the worst opening weekends” at the box office ever. Congrats?

5. Robert Downey Jr.

There’s good and bad news for RDJ’s post-Endgame career. The bad news: Dolittle was 2020’s “first mega-flop,” with a projected $100 million loss for Universal Pictures on the $175 million-budgeted feature, and it inspired scathing reviews like, “[It’s] one of the worst cinematic fiascos I’ve seen in years” and, “This nothingness doesn’t even have the good grace to be a bad movie. The low-point of every single career involved.” The good news: Dolittle is the year’s third highest-grossing movie. And all it took was a global pandemic! (At least Perry Mason, which Downey, Jr. produced with his wife, looks great.)

4. Mark Ruffalo

Ruffalo was the toughest Avenger to rank, as he’s only had one project since Endgame came out: Dark Waters, Todd Haynes’ warmly-reviewed legal thriller that received light Oscar buzz but failed to pick up any nominations. Ruffalo excels in thrillers, like Zodiac and Shutter Island, but he’s pretty good in most genres, including swoon-worthy romantic comedies (13 Going on 30) and indie-dramas (The Kids Are All Right). I think he’s the best actor of the six, and I’m excited to watch his HBO limited series I Know This Much Is True where he plays identical twin brothers. But if we’re only counting everything that’s come between Endgame and now, it’s tough to elevate Ruffalo over…

3. Chris Hemsworth

Hemsworth might be your favorite Chris, but he’s not the highest Chris on this list. It’s not his fault that Men in Black: International was one of last year’s forgettable movies, but let’s just say that he and Tessa Thompson weren’t able to capture the same crackling connection they had in Thor: Ragnarok. He also had a brief cameo in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, after the actor’s agent told Kevin Smith that “they got into the movie business because of Clerks, and a starring role in Extraction. Netflix hasn’t released the viewership numbers for the action-thriller yet, but if Spenser Confidential is up to 85 million households, I’d expect nothing less than Extraction becoming the most popular movie of all-time. Move over, Avengers: Endgame! So why is Hemsworth below Evans?

2. Chris Evans

Sweater!

OK, it’s not just the sweater — his smug performance in Knives Out stood out among a crowded ensemble, and Defending Jacob is one of Apple TV+’s most anticipated series to date — but it doesn’t hurt. If Evans plays the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, as rumored, he’ll shoot to the top of the ranking. But for now, it’s hard to say no to ScarJo.

1. Scarlett Johansson

Johansson is now one of only 12 actors to receive double nominations in the same year in Oscar history: Best Actress for Marriage Story, and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit. She lost both, but it was still a historic flex. Honestly, Johansson was an easy choice for number one, even with Black Widow, her solo Marvel movie, pushed back to later this year. You know why? Her smartest career choice of all: not appearing on Colin Jost’s couch next to his guitar. That would have put her in Renner territory.

Musicians are unable to perform live and earn a living that way right now, so understandably, these are trying times for some in the music community. So, a group of Philadelphia musicians stepped up to help with Love From Philly Live, a charity livestream that took place over the weekend. The event benefited 30 Amp Circuit, a non-profit that was “created specifically to promote health and wellness for musicians and those that work for them.” One of the highlights was a quick set from The War On Drugs, who performed (remotely, of course) a pair of favorites from recent albums, “Pain” and “Under The Pressure.”

Ahead of the performance, the band wrote on Instagram, “We’re so psyched and honored to be featured on the @lovefromphillylive #lovefromphilly virtual fundraiser for the Philadelphia entertainment community. ALL proceeds will benefit @30ampcircuit . So many of our friends and neighbors from the Philly music community are gonna be there so make sure to grab yourself a Philly special and tune in. Plus you’ll get to catch a glimpse of our life at home these days. Did I wear the same clothes for three days just to get a halfway decent version of ‘under the pressure?’ If DI guitars sound this good then why do I have all these stupid amps? Or is Anthony in a ‘tchotchke-off’ with lee Sklar? Are midi cables the only thing buried in robbie’s basement? The answers to these questions and more…this SUNDAY NIGHT MAY 3.”

Watch The War On Drugs perform “Pain” and “Under The Pressure” above.

Travis Scott blew minds last month when he became one of the first rappers to perform a virtual concert in a video game — a move that may open the door for future opportunities for other entertainers. His innovative “live” appearance in the popular online multiplayer game Fortnite is paying off on the back end, boosting his best-selling 2018 album Astroworld back into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.

While the album has barely fallen off since its No. 1 debut in August 2018, hanging around at No. 30 last week, in the wake of Travis’ Fortnite concert, the album picked up 28,000 units and jumped over 20 spots to land back at No. 9 in its 91st week on the chart.

Rumors of the event began circulating when Travis in-game avatar leaked online a few weeks ahead of the concert. While some fans speculated that it meant Travis’ avatar would become a playable character, anticipation soared when Epic Games announced that Travis would “perform” a concert in a one-of-a-kind live event, debuting a new song during the concert to sweeten the deal. The developer also made the Travis Scott avatar available to players along with emotes based on some of Travis’ notable performance moments, including the meme of him holding a mic stand over his head with pyrotechnics in the background.

The livestream broke Fortnite‘s online engagement record, which helps explain why Astroworld received a boost: Travis likely made a lot of new fans that night — fans who would have wanted to get caught up on his back catalog.

Listen to Travis’ new track which debuted during the stream, the Kid Cudi collaboration “The Scotts,” above.

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Of all the “celebrities virtually coming together” videos to come out since the country has been in quarantine, my personal favorite might be the “Boss B*tch Fight Challenge.” What’s not to like? There’s Margot Robbie (with her Harley Quinn bat), Halle Berry, Scarlett Johansson, Rosie Perez, Thandie Newton, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood scene-stealer Julia Butters, and Florence Pugh being, well, “boss b*tches,” as organizer Zoë Bell would put it. It’s well-edited and fun (especially Daryl Hannah channeling her Kill Bill character), and it’s also Cameron Diaz’s first “performance” in years.

Diaz is technically playing a grocery bag-throwing version of herself, but it’s still the first time the actress has been on-screen in years, even if it’s just an iPhone. The There’s Something About Mary star, who hasn’t appeared in a TV show or movie since 2014’s one-two shot of Sex Tape and Annie, announced in 2018 that she had “retired” from acting. “I started [experiencing fame] when I was 22, so 25 years ago — that’s a long time. The way I look at it is that I’ve given more than half of my life to the public,” she said. “I feel it’s OK for me to take time for myself now to reorganize and choose how I want to come [back] into the world… I don’t miss performing… But whatever I do, it has to be something I’m passionate about, something that just feels effortless.”

I guess kicking ass feels effortless to Diaz. Makes sense.

Chris Hemsworth’s success outside of the MCU has, to be fair, hit some bumps along the road. That’s translated into less-than-impressive box-office showings for Men In Black: International, Bad Times at the El Royale, and the Ghostbusters reboot. To be fair, the MIB sequel is the only one of these films with Hemsworth in a lead role, but it still left a mark, one that’s probably been erased by Netflix’s Extraction, which sees him re-team with the Russo Brothers in what’s essentially 2020’s only blockbuster so far. The movie stars Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, an ass-kicking mercenary who throws down within a smorgasbord of ass-kicking while evoking another ass-kicker, Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon. And the (professed) viewing numbers are looking enormous, although (as always) Netflix is the one making the declarations with a specific metric that doesn’t require viewers to watch an entire movie.

One can’t deny, though, that Netflix’s professed audience numbers for event movies are only growing bigger, and with Extraction landing during quarantine, those numbers are poised to break records. The film might not have been Netflix’s most popular movie this past weekend, but cumulatively speaking, the movie (according to Chris Hemsworth) is set to be Netflix’s largest feature film release ever. Bigger than Bright, Bird Box, and Michael Bay and Ryan Reynolds’ 6 Underground? Yes, and an excited Hemsworth took to Instagram to thank fans while claiming some #1 statuses:

“Hey, what’s up guys, I hope you’re doing well. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who checked out Extraction — you’ve made it the number one film on the planet right now, and it looks like it’s going to be Netflix’s biggest feature film of all time, which is absolutely mind-blowing. We are blown away by the response and the support.”

So, how massive of an audience will Extraction eventually reap? Well, if it beats previous record-holder 6 Underground, which (reportedly) scored 83 million clicks, it’s a success by any standard. Yet given that Netflix’s adjusted metric counts a “watch” whenever an account streams two minutes or more of a title, all numbers should be viewed with a dash of perspective. With that said, another post on Hemsworth’s Instagram account is claiming that 90 million viewers is the projection.

Watch Hemsworth’s effusive message of gratitude below.

For years now, Taylor Swift has been one of the most fan-friendly pop stars, often going out of her way to help them out and/or show appreciation. Last year, she sent flowers to a fan in the hospital, and in 2016, she gave money to a fan’s family following a fatal car accident. Now Swift is at is again: She sent a bunch of merch and a letter to a fan who is working as a nurse in New York City.

Whitney Hilton, who posts on Twitter as @TaNnEytWiT, shared photos of the letter and big box of merch that Swift sent for her 30th birthday. The letter reads, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I wanted to send you some presents and to let you know I am so grateful for you,” Swift wrote in her note. “I can’t thank you enough for risking your life to help people and for spreading the message loudly that people need to hear, about taking this seriously. Also, I saw the photo of you from my show! Thank you for coming!! I would love to give you a hug next time and thank you in person. With love and admiration, Taylor.”

Hilton wrote in her post, “I need to PUBLICLY THANK TAYLOR SWIFT […] for sending me a box full of Merch & a PERSONALIZED LETTER from Taylor herself for my 30th birthday/for going to NYC to help as a nurse. This was quite literally the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.”

Swift spoke in a recent interview about how she’s been spending her quarantine, saying, “Mostly I’ve been online trying to figure out how to help others, and just constantly in awe of our first responders and our emergency workers and our healthcare professionals who are putting themselves in danger every single day that they go to work. So shout out to everyone who works in a medical profession, everybody who’s out there helping.”