The Door


So what people are able to see is just basically hosts throwing themselves from the cliff in a suicidal manner. And then there's just a pile of dead bodies. For the hosts, however, it's an entrance into the new world which for them is very real and devoid of suffering.

In a certain indirect way the creators of the show are justifying the events that took place in Jonestown, at the Solar Temple etc. ;)

reply

No, it's a broad metaphor for life in general, not specifically those events.

So much literature has been written about shedding our mortal coil, and you see nothing but a couple of boneheaded cult suicide pacts?

Because, of course, we all die.

reply

Oh, a metaphor, I see. Then it's a broad metaphor for the religious view of passing from one world to another, from the temporary life in this world to a life eternal in a different one. Certainly not 'life in general'. The metaphor for life in general is the neverending suffering of the hosts.

However, most religions condemn suicide seeing it as a sin and not as a way to some sort of heaven or favorable rebirth. But that's exactly suicide that was shown in the finale. And no, I do not see a couple of cults - it's just a broad ironic remark on this particular scene of the show that I enjoy.

reply

I disagree that it is "exactly suicide" when they were facing being hunted to extinction by the Delos commando teams, and they were clearly able to see hosts on the other side of the door, who seemed perfectly fine. From their perspective, they made the only decision that was going to keep them alive.

reply

Yeah, you're right, of course )
I was just being ironic but still here's the not so improbable situation: someone sees the show, enjoys it immensely, sees the scene with the passage, enjoys it, eventually forgets about it yet somehow keeps an impression of it, later in life meets some guru with his promises of a new world... And - he is already ready to follow his new teacher by stepping off the cliff!

reply

If that's your logic, you should blame Star Trek as well

At least one of the Heaven's Gate cultists compared our lives to "life on the holodeck," as a justification for killing himself

reply

No, Star Trek is sacred and thus cannot be blamed!

reply

Ben Barnes (The System) told both Dolores & Bernard that the consciousnesses of the hosts would be transferred beyond the portal but their physical bodies would remain. The hosts had no idea they were stepping off a cliff & in a ironic way it really didn't matter because as soon as they crossed, they were transferred. They probably have no experiences of dying or falling, they made it past the threshold so they are in thier paradise now.

It's nothing related to suicide, as the hosts never consciously stepped off a cliff.

reply

No, he said this: They will leave their bodies behind, but their minds will live on here, in the Forge.

Lutz and Sylvester saw just this: Hosts throwing themselves off the cliff. Pile of dead bodies.
In real life, that's exactly what authorities see after entering the cult suicide spot: a pile of bodies dead by suicide.

Now again in real life what 'The System' (or some guru for that matter) is telling the people before they take the poison (or whatever) is usually this: You will leave your bodies behind, but your minds will live on in the Promised Alpha Centauri Paradise (or whatever).

For them, it's nothing related to suicide - just a rite of passage.

reply


Actually, someone on another thread pointed out that the hosts who walked through the door had blank brains, as if they'd just been made (not even erased - but fresh out of the factory)

So unlike suicide cults, there's actual physical evidence to support their existence elsewhere. Their factory-settings brains prove that SOMEthing happened when they walked through the invisible-to-humans door.

reply


But the question is, were they really still alive? It's sort of like the humans being used as batteries in The Matrix.


😎

reply

What? The hosts are not naturally evolved beings like humans. Their bodies don't matter - their digital personalities do. And for them there is no difference if they inhabit a physical world or a virtual simulation.

reply

It seems like for you this show is all about androids and the wonderful world of science. OK.

reply

There are better and subtler ways to reflect on human nature. The show's authors are battering down a nail with a microscope.

I hoped the show will be about a probable birth of Artificial Intelligence. But the authors seem to have a very vague understanding of what sentience is. Although in the season finale we finally saw a possible AI.
And I hope season 3 will be about the malleability of reality. Now that there are virtual worlds and copies of host personalities.

reply

Dolores can tell the difference, that's why she was angry about "The world they've denied us". I guess if she get what she want, she probably would celebrate her victory by inviting people to have some juicy steaks, just to make them admitted "It doesn't matter if you can't tell the difference."

reply

Dolores is Ford's revenge on humanity. Dunno why he feels this way... I guess he was bullied a lot when he was a child or something.

reply

Let me make a bold guess: Ford sacrificed himself to save both the hosts and the humanity, because he disagreed with what William found with the project in the Valley Beyond- the whole bullshit about "Human individual's behavior is predictable" which the system "Logan" tried to sell to Bernard and Dolores. When the real Logan told Dolores that "the whole fucking species starts to burn.", he was talking about William's project as we knew now.
So, if the system "Logan" is the real villain, then he probably had a backup in the cloud when Dolores sent the virtual Eden to someplace apart from the real world. And since he can predict everyone's action, the only way to fight against him is with insanity (MIB and Wyatt) or amnesia (Bernard) or by simply making different choices (Dolores + Bernard).

reply

A Wild West themed Skynet?

reply

Yep. Put an AI in charge of making human immortal, WCGW? But please, spare us from the time traveller and the loop.

reply

Interesting array of replies and perspectives here.

This show is like a Rorschach blot, different people see entirely different things.

Me I see robots / androids. If they do have some sentience, the door looks like a way they escaped the manipulation of the controllers / programmers. One might even see what they go through as abuse, if they indeed have some level of sentience?

reply


It was certainly odd. As Dolores noted "It's just another gilded cage. Only that which cannot be replaced is real."


😎

reply