It’s been over 15 months since the first season of HBO’s Westworld came to a close, but the show finally returns tonight! The series is set in a high tech theme park called Westworld, where realistic-looking robots, called hosts, allow guests to live out their deepest and darkest fantasies. As the first season came to a close, several of these hosts woke up and started having their own thoughts. They went against their programming and started hurting the guests. Park programmer Bernard also discovered that he was not actually human, but rather a host, and that park creator Dr. Robert Ford had used him to kill people and then wiped his memory. There was a bit of a power struggle happening behind-the-scenes at the park. Corporate wanted to get rid of Ford, and Delos executive director Charlotte was secretly working with disgraced narrative director Lee Sizemore, who was helping her reprogram one of the retired hosts so that she could smuggle information out of the park.

Maeve was the madam at the Mariposa Saloon when she woke up. She then convinced one of the park technicians to alter her programming—increasing her intelligence level to the highest setting—and to remove the explosive that kept her confined to the park. However, just as Maeve was about to leave Westworld, she had second thoughts, and decided to go back to find the daughter she remembered from one of her past narratives. At the same time, Ford was having a gala to launch his final narrative before retiring. Thirty years earlier, Dolores, one of the first hosts, had accidentally killed one of her creators. Upon waking up, she experienced this all over again, shooting Ford in the head as he was giving his speech. The guests started to panic as the other hosts also started attacking them. Long time park guest William (aka The Man in Black) was actually thrilled by this turn of events. For years he had grown tired of the safety of the park, and had been striving for the next level of this game, where the stakes and danger were real.

I have been looking forward to the second season for a long time. How will things change now that Ford is presumably dead, and the hosts are running amok? Will there still be guests at the park, or are the hosts completely running things now? We got a glimpse of Samurai World during Maeve’s escape—how will that play into things this season, and are the hosts there also becoming self-aware? Did The Man in Black survive the onslaught of hosts, and if so, what is his current plan? What information is Charlotte trying to steal, and what does she plan to do with it? How will the Delios folks respond to the news of what’s happening in Westworld? And are there others like Bernard who don’t yet know they are hosts? This evening I will be attending a special premiere event being held in Boston where they will air the season premiere (only a couple hours earlier than it airs on HBO), and have a Q&A with some of the cast, followed by a Sweetwater & Mariposa-themed after-party. It should be a fun time, and I’m really glad to have this show back!

HBO sent the following description for tonight’s premiere, “Journey into Night”: The puppet show is over, and we are coming for you and the rest of your kind. Welcome back to Westworld.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Deception, Timeless, Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy, The Last Man on Earth, Fear the Walking Dead, Killing Eve, Worst Cooks in America, Trust, Silicon Valley, and Barry.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including Deception and Guardians of the Galaxy, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 4/22/18 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.