When considering topics for this reflection essay, the one that stood apart from the rest was one of my favorite shows, Westworld, for its unique depiction of a not too distant future. This science fiction television series fulfills many of Sigmund Freud’s criteria of the uncanny, namely the presence of androids, involuntary repetition, and heavy emphasis on the eyes. 
Westworld is set in the future, but most of it takes place in a physical simulation of the Old West, from which the show and park derive their names. Westworld is a getaway used by wealthy guests as an outlet of escape to live out their wildest fantasies in virtual reality, where they can interact with other people. From the early episodes of the show and having had no prior knowledge of the books the show is based on, I never would have guessed one of the protagonists wasn’t a person at all. 
When we talk about the uncanny, in any sense, it is usually in reference to the uncanny valley, the thesis first put forward by Doctor Masahiro Mori that says there comes a point when things resembling humans become foreign and frightening. In his article “The Uncanny Valley,” Dave Bryant describes this as the point at which someone “sees something that is nearly human, but just enough off-kilter to seem eerie or disquieting.” In Westworld, the effect of the uncanny valley didn’t strike me until later in the show, after I had familiarized myself with the characters and began getting invested in the plot. That is, the foreboding that overcame me when I realized that Dolores, one of the protagonists, was an android, the word most befitting these lifelike robots.  Dolores, along with others like her, are collectively known as “hosts.” They possess human characteristics: speech, fluid movement, complex emotions, and others that we associate with human life. The hosts are so true to life, in fact, that underlying discomfort and trepidation developed within me as the show progressed. 
The most unnerving part for me was how seamlessly they emulate humans, only for me to be reminded explicitly time and time again that they are artificial humans.
Another recurring uncanny element I identified in Westworld is that of “Involuntary repetition; the compulsion to repeat as a structure of the unconscious,” and it permeates the show as an overarching theme. The notion of involuntary repetition in the show was key to recognizing the uncanny when I considered the significant role it plays in the daily lives of the hosts. The first time we see this is with the narrative Dolores is set on, where she wakes up each day, repeats the same quote, kisses her father goodbye, and heads into town. This is deliberately repeated in the same episode to reinforce that all the hosts operate on a strict routine each day but are not aware of it. The uncanny begins to bleed through both for hosts and viewers when some of them begin to recognize their compulsion to repeat, even though they are programmed to have no memory. According to Freud, the horror we feel is the sense that we are going through a cycle of involuntary repetition, which the show calls “loops” for the hosts.
