Westworld's Season 3 proved to be one of the most divisive seasons of the hit HBO series. Taking place in the real world far removed from the bucolic plains of the Westworld theme park, it went in a different direction than previous seasons. Dolores had infiltrated human society with her five pearls and was working on bringing down the human race, while Delos Inc. was dethroned by the new high-powered technology firm Incite which hoped to save it.
While the season had the same stunning visuals fans have come to expect from the series, its nuanced writing seemed to suffer in favor of a very linear plot. Where once fans looked for symbolism and clues carefully placed by the writers, now they were in danger of reading too much into the narrative. Below are 5 things we liked about Season 3 and 5 things we didn't.
LIKED: THE REAL WORLD TECH
It's always fun to see what new interpretation creative minds come up with for the not-so-distant future, and Westworld didn't disappoint. With both Delos and Insight tech on full display in Season 3, fans got to see some truly unique innovations that felt both foreign and familiar.
Some of the most interesting pieces of future tech were the virtual holographic assistant by Insight, their driverless ambulances with AI medical assistance, and the robots put forth by Delos, such as the riot mech, and the units used in conjunction with both Maeve and Caleb.
DIDN'T: THE PACING
For every exciting, adrenaline fueled fight sequence between Dolores and someone trying to stop her from taking over the world, there's several more of Bernard and Stubbs wandering aimlessly around on screen.
Season 3 suffered from some pacing issues that caused fans to be pulled out of the ordinarily immersive quality of the narrative. The constant start stop between storylines was jarring and obstructive.
LIKED: NEW THEME PARKS
Past seasons showed fans that aside from Westworld, Delos Destinations has several other parks including Shogunworld, a world devoted to Imperial India (The Raj), and the soon-to-be-opened Medievalworld (hinted at with the appearance of a dragon host).
The latest season gave fans Warworld, based on Nazi-occupied France, that allowed guests to be transported into all the frenetic danger and excitement of WWII.
DIDN'T: THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
In a single season of Westworld, fans learned that the vengeful and callous Man In Black was actually an older version of William, the adventure-loving and kind-hearted guest who fell in love with both the theme park and its beguiling hosts.
Season 3 boasts no such identifiable character development. Dolores Abernathy remains at one speed the entire time, and the only other as-important protagonist Caleb is both generic and underwhelming as a human caught up in the whirlwind of her revolution.
LIKED: REHOBOAM
Delos Inc and its hosts represented a fascinating perspective on what it meant to be human in Seasons 1 and 2, as well a closer inspection of the diametrically opposed concepts of destiny and free will.
Season 3 presented fans with Rehoboam, a piece of AI focused on mapping out humanity's potential by monitoring its every move and juxtaposing it against the data of Earth's history over thousands of years. Was it better for humans to live their mathematically calculated "best life" or choose for themselves?
DIDN'T: THE UNINSPIRED WRITING
Delos Inc of the previous seasons was replaced by Incite, another tech-savvy megacorp led by a mad visionary name Serac. He purchased data from William for a hefty sum in order to gain "insight" into human behavior and curtail any "outliers" that would disrupt his system. He essentially wanted to program humans like Delos programmed hosts.
In the end, this sort of writing seems like a cop out - a lazy way to fabricate "big questions" for a series that relied for so many episodes on subtlety and nuance.
LIKED: WORLD-BUILDING
Season 3 has built upon the careful world-building that occurred in its predecessors by showing viewers what the world is like beyond a Delos theme park. Humans have been assigned their societal status based on a point system that directly correlates to their contribution which makes them docile and controllable.
There's also facilities, fans are shown, where "outliers" are taken to be neurologically rewired through therapy, and if that isn't successful they're simply stored there so they can't disrupt society's function.
DIDN'T: PLOT
While there are a few throughline plot points like Dolores wanting to make a place for hosts in the real world and Maeve wanting to rescue her daughter, these are abandoned quite quickly when Dolores suddenly wants to save humanity from Rehoboam and Maeve is consumed by a desire to kill Dolores.
Caleb also blindly decides to follow Delores, a mysterious murderer, and become a violent killer himself just because she knows a little about his past. Bernard and Stubbs show up for no reason whatsoever related to their character development, except to doggedly pursue Dolores because its a narrative imperative.
LIKED: MEMORY AS IDENTITY
Memories have always been an integral part of Westworld's storytelling. In the first season, it was memories that awakened the hosts to sentience. In the second season, it was Bernard's scattered memories that created the framework for the narrative structure. He once said that "we live as long as the last person who remembers us".
In Season 3, memories again play a critical role as the foundation of identity. Caleb discovers implanted memories and questions who he is, while Dolores faces perhaps the biggest threat since gaining sentience; Incite erasing her memories, effectively robbing her of what makes her unique.
DIDN'T: THE LINEAR STORYLINE
Part of the fun of watching any episode of Westworld was theorizing about its symbolism, and wondering if every frame contained hidden clues placed for eagle-eyed fans by the writers.
By making a more "linear" storyline, without any intentional "red herrings" to throw viewers off, Season 3 ended up feeling relatively flat and lacking in the area of nuance.