Enlarge / I have something to show you, and you’re not going to like it. At all. (credit: HBO)

Everything I believed was a lie on Westworld—at least, that’s what I got out of this week’s episode “Trompe L’Oeil.” I guess that’s just par for the course in this mind-breaking story about storytelling. This week on Decrypted, my guest is one of Westworld‘s writers, Charles Yu, who is also the award-winning author of the novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. He can’t give us spoilers, but he does tell us a lot about writing for this incredible show.

Topics discussed: Metafiction (i.e. fiction about fiction), what the hell with the Bernard reveal (really, what the hell), the challenge of telling a story that feels familiar yet surprising (and how Westworld does it), whether the robots are just like humans or radically different (yes and no), Ford’s real motivations (it’s complicated), how intellectual property might be the enemy of storytelling (or maybe not), whether stories can be dangerous (sometimes), what characters and ideas got Yu excited about writing for Westworld (hint: Bernard and metafiction), and why Felix is so important (he shows us a side of Westworld that no one else can).

I’ll be analyzing, debating, and dissecting Westworld every week with a different guest, and we’ll post the podcast on Tuesdays. The episodes air on Sunday, so you have plenty of time to watch before we get into major spoilers. Yes, there are spoilers. Listen when you’re ready!