Cookie Monster freezes all motor functions to teach some life lessons to Westworld

Dolores may not be real, but she really, really better mind her manners when the Cookie Monster’s around. The azure arbiter of all things appetizing (so long as they're cookies) is bringing the Sesame Street spirit down to Westworld for a teachable moment in a kid-friendly crossover featuring characters from HBO’s dystopian drama.

Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) get a little courtesy counseling when Cookie Monster crashes their turf, with the Sesame Street icon stressing the importance of being respectful: “Respect important for everybody: people; monsters — even you, robot lady!” our hungry hero admonishes, without a crumb of irony. “Yeah, you see, respect [is] a lot like cookie.”

When you’re Cookie Monster, isn’t everything?

Freeze all motor function! How can androids and people not live in harmony after a speech like that? Cookie Monster even dashes against a great idea for a new crossover show: SesameWorld (but would a puppet who’s also a robot ever know that it’s a robot?)

The clincher comes at the end, when Dolores and Bernard drop their high-wire drama act to go all cookie crazy. They come away from their Cookie Monster encounter all the richer — not just for learning how to respect each other, but for learning the proper method for seriously crushing on some delicious noms.

The Westworld-Cookie Monster mashup is one of two Sesame Street crossovers with HBO; the other, also released this week, features Elmo giving Game of Thrones’ Cersei (Lena Headey) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) a gentle (and hilarious) talking-to. So far as we know, this was Cookie Monster’s first turn taking cues from Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy (she directed this vignette, according to The Wrap), but it definitely sounds like he’s ready for more.

The crossovers come courtesy of Sesame Workshop’s 50th anniversary “Respect Brings Us Together” campaign, and we’ve gotta say — seeing these actors step up to deliver spot-on, straight-faced performances in the service of a great cause has us giving it up. Respect all around, y’all.