'Westworld' Season 3: The new title sequence reminds viewers of the doom that may lie ahead
Spoiler alert for Westworld Season 3 'Parce Domine' Episode 1
The title sequence for 'Westworld' has always been one of the most spellbinding parts of the show. Haunting orchestral music that blends the adventurous spirit of old Westerns with a symphony of dread and darker theme. Up until now, the visuals have been fairly direct, the hosts of the Westworld theme parks undergoing construction as the opening credits play. Horses in motion, the crafting of the eye, and dipping hosts trapped in bondage in the vat that creates their flesh.
Season 3, however, is going in a bold new direction, and with it comes a title sequence to match.
While the skeletal fingers that play the piano still remain, we see no horses, bison, or anything else from the old west. This season, the most prominent new things we see is a rendered host reaching for its own reflection, and a rendered bird reaching towards the light. We also see, Rehobaum - the mysterious AI system that controls most of the world in 2058 - at least, that significant portion of the world that is run by Incite.
Rehobaum is the direct successor to Solomon, the other system meant to be behind everything. In the Bible, Rehobaum was the successor to King Solomon but it's worth noting that Rehobaum's reign was far less successful, resulting in a fractured Jewish Empire of which he only ruled a small fraction. If the name is significant for more than just its representation as Solomon's successor, then one can expect the world of 2058 to be similarly fractured. It might not happen, but it's doom to be worried about.
The hosts reaching for their reflection and the bird reaching for the light are both significant themes in their own right. As the bird gets closer and closer to the light, its wings melt away, an apparent reference to Icarus. Icarus' genius, architect father built him a pair of waxwings that melted when Icarus attempted to fly too high and tried to get too close to the sun. Both the humans and the hosts of 'Westworld' have had a master architect build things upon which they rely.
For the humans, it's technology and the systems by which they operate. For the hosts, it's their bodies, their lives, and their very sentience. One of those groups is flying too close to the sun, and it will be their undoing - but is it the humans, the hosts, or both?
The host reaching for its own reflection parallels the bird reaching for the light. The hosts are trying to be like their reflections, like humanity. They want a life of their own, but the closer they get, the more they may realize how much that reflection is nothing but an illusion. Illusions have been a central part of 'Westworld' from the beginning. The hosts work to create the illusion of the park's theme, but in order for the hosts to have their own life, that illusion had to be destroyed.
We see one host actually reach their reflection and pull away from the surface of the water from above, leaving their robotic self to sink into the water. Whether the title sequence is hope or prophetic, the goal of the hosts is underlined, they want to be real, and leave their robotic selves behind.
With the bright red surrounding the incomplete host as it is dipped into its waters, there seems to be only one meaning that comes to mind, in the hosts journey to be complete, there will be blood, lots of it.
The next episode of 'Westworld' airs on March 22, on HBO.