HBO dramas collide with thought-provokingly meta results.
Two HBO dramas staged an unusual crossover on Sunday night.
It was short, silly, and fantastic.
HBO; John P. Johnson/HBO
Hes back so he can fingertap a very special tablet.
All around them, Delos employees fix up hosts in knight cosplay.
The parkswereshut down, Stubbs swears.
“These techs are just waiting to see if they get laid off.”
They pass a couple of body-shoppers in a windowed room.
“Got a buyer,” says one tech named Dan.
asks his co-worker Dave.
Dave looks like a dozer, to tell the truth, with his feet up during business hours.
Whereas Dans up and about, diligent if not manic.
“Some startup in Costa Rica,” he explains.
“How the f you going to getthatto Costa Rica?”
Dave asks, referring to something we cant see.
“Dave” isDavid Benioff, and “Dan” isD.
(for Daniel) B. Weiss.
Benioff and Weiss were unusually public figures, often seen on awards stages.
They became much-discussed internet topics during the shows latter-day controversies.
And the dragon looks very much like the creatures commanded by Emilia Clarkes Daenerys.
Their whole appearance lasts 13 seconds.
Dan and Dave say about 23 words.
Its a throwaway gag that only just relates to the plot.
I love this scene so much.
I think Ive watched it 30 times.
Its my favorite thing to happen onWestworldsince season 1.
It’s my favoriteGame of Thronesthing to air on HBO since King Tommen jumped out his window.
The cameo is destructively meta, winking across a few universes, breaking the fourth walls neck.
Start with the universes, plural.
The dissection goes deeper.
Could it be that every HBO creator is working their own corner of this cultural subterranea?
This could just be a showrunner high-five or, maybe, an attempt at baton-passing.
LOOK HOW HUGE WE ARE is the aesthetic message.
This is part of the reason I love this Dan-and-Dave scene so much.
It cuts the whole world back down to size.
You’re telling me these everyguys are still on the job after a couple weeks of massacre?
And is there a bit of self-reflection at work here?
AreWestworldcreators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy taking themselves down a peg?
And just what are “Dan” and “Dave” doing, precisely?
In the shows reality, Westworld has failed, so the parent company is cutting the dragon into pieces.
Which brings me to the charming modesty of this cameo.
Theyre not playing the latest iterations ofWestworlds favorite archetype, the speechifying Creator-Guru entangled in their own thematic majesty.
So much gets packed into seconds of screen time.
There are two big reasons I love this scene.
First, it represents everything thats gone missing fromWestworldin its geographically expansive new season.
All the main characters have become tangled techno-messiahs, their missions existential or revolutionary.
Consider how, in season 1, the whole Delos theme park superstructure represented the apex of high-cost entertainment.
In season 3, Westworld is a failed piece of a larger corporate puzzle.
The parent company is trying to figure out how to get more money out of it.
(HBO Max arrives in May withFriendsreruns, gang!)
Meanwhile, startups are buying up Delos assets right and left.
Back when HBO debutedThe Sopranos, Netflix was just a startup.
In 2020, theGame of Thronescameo was technically a paid appearance bytwo Netflix employees.
Turns out Dave and Dan shipped themselves to Costa Rica, too.
