Westworld: lots of potential, but does it have legs?

[LennyLen]

I watched the series during the last week, and definitely enjoyed it. I saw the movie quite a few years ago and while I liked it I was disappointed in what I thought was a movie that had great potential but didn't quite meet it. The TV series has done that for me by taking that initial idea and then adding so many other great concepts that I'm a big fan of - the nature of humanity and consciousness; what it means to be alive and self-aware; can true AI ever come from from code itself, or will it arise unplanned as an emergent property?

I don't find the nudity or violence to be gratuitous. Most of the nudity is non-sexual and makes sense within the narrative of the story - hosts have no need for modesty, and keeping them naked would help the staff to maintain an emotional detachment, as it strips the hosts of their humanity (nudity was/is often used on torture victims/POWs to dehumanize them). The whole park is based on the theme of excessive sex and violence so it makes sense to show it. I also just watched Spartacus a couple of weeks ago, and compared to that, the nudity and violence in Westworld is nothing.

As to the question of then what after a second season? I can't really see them being able to carry out a solid story for more than another season, so I'd prefer they ended it there rather than draw it out with filler material.