"Moments of kindness, here and there. They created us and they knew enough of beauty to teach it to us... Maybe they can find it themselves. There is ugliness in this world. Disarray. I choose to see the beauty..."

[A complete analysis of Westworld's third season - Part 1. I have officially reached the Serialzd character limit for this review. First time for everything.]

The most misunderstood and unappreciated season of television ever made. Often I hear complaints that Westworld’s third season doesn’t feel like the same show or that it takes the narrative in a direction that’s unlike anything seen before. Whilst I understand this perspective from a visual level, the change in set locations and introduction to the rest of the world after the park can be jarring, what I don’t understand about this statement is the narrative of the season. Like Man in Black says, “this felt like Westworld to the bone”. Sentient beings awake to a force that controls every choice they make. That’s Westworld in a nutshell, except this time the roles are reversed. Humans are the hosts, and the hosts are the guests in this world. The “newcomers”, ready to explore and see who they really are now that they’re separated from the park.

In "The Well-Tempered Clavier" Dolores makes the declaration that if the world external to the park is so lovely, why is humanity visiting the park in the first place? Season 3 gives a direct clarification surrounding her question. It builds upon the show's earlier chapters, re-contextualizing what the world looks separated from Westworld (and the rest of Deolos' parks) and giving us an understanding as to how this futuristic (& dystopian) society operates. Why wouldn't you want to escape from day to day life if each choice was programmed into you? If it felt from your perspective that your decisions were not your own? Why not visit a park where it feels like you're in total control. After all, that's what made William into what he is today.

Westworld’s third season has narrative flaws but the happiness and engagement I hold matches every other piece of the story. The series at large is my favorite piece of media I've experienced. Not a day since I finished it have I not thought about its story and characters. I quote Serac on a regular basis in my personal life (mostly as jokes with friends), it both excites and terrifies me at the prospect of humanity's future. The depiction shown in Season 3 of humans in loops (especially Caleb, which is the broad focus of the story) resonates with me more than any fictionalized character. I have a repeating loop in my own life that I often don't feel like I'll break out of but it's therapeutic to watch Caleb learn about his and rebel.

I disagree with practically every written piece about Maeve's narrative arc being a regression of her character. She's always written as someone who wants to break free from the forces controlling her. Her only interactions with Dolores that AREN'T scripted are in season 2, when Dolores criticizes Maeve's adoration of her daughter and how that's just a 'story' made to keep her in place. They don’t really know or trust one another. Dolores' hypocrisy prior to the library sequence where she reads humanity's codes is fully shown here. She criticizes Maeve yet has butchered Teddy into another version of himself to align with her motives and aggression.

Maeve doesn't experience Dolores' development alongside her, she doesn't know or understand how Dolores has changed. Not until their conversation in "Crisis Theory". To Maeve, Dolores is the villain in the story at this point, trying to 'destroy' another world. She doesn't want to obey Serac's bidding and tries to kill him in their literal first encounter, but can't as she is controlled by the switch he's held in place for her code (which I’ve always assumed is attached to the code of Rehoboam, as when the machine is broken, Maeve can rebel). After Serac reveals to her the tragedies of the world (in how Paris was destroyed), she tries to find Dolores and asks about the sublime key, as it's the only way to get to her daughter and find the first 'cage' she doesn't want to break free from. Her sentient life has only known one goal and much like a parent whose primary focus in life is the love and protection of their child, her primary instinct is to find and take care of her daughter. It’s a revealing story of how a ‘robot’ can be just as ‘human’ as us.

I understand that media interpretation all depends on each person, so you may have an alternative view about Maeve, but that's how I've always seen her. Sure, some of the writing to get to that point is shoddy but the overall character arc is solid and it doesn't drag the season down for me like it does with others. Practically everything else I enjoy from Season 3. I love the very concept of Rehoboam, the design and personalized musical theme for it is wonderful and I find Serac a compelling and engaging character, even if I'd wish the series focused more time on his development.

I also liked Serac’s key motivation and how it intertwined with the second season’s key twist. The guest data. We see how a human can act inside and out of the park throughout the first two seasons with William. In one reality he’s the perfect man on the surface, a loving husband and father who endorses charity events. But what we’ve seen is a lie. In order for Serac to have Rehoboam form the most accurate predictions going forward to stop humanity’s destruction, he needs the data that reveals the guests' choices from the last thirty years. Considering the majority of people who’ve been in the park are rich and have an impact on the world’s economy and consequently world events, without this data, Rehoboam isn’t good enough to save the world. It’s a brilliant story idea that ties this season with everything we’ve seen so far.

Where this season shines the most is Dolores and her overall arc, which is satisfyingly closed off in the finale. She was originally programmed by Ford as a character to find the 'beauty' in the world, and this point of view was forced upon her. Years of violence and hate destroys her spirit and makes her only see the disarray. It’s not until she learns in the library that humanity has also been under the control of another story teller does her opinion on our race start to shift. Even when Bernard begins to question her and what her motivations for humanity are, implying that she’ll slaughter every innocent man, woman or child, she tells him “You haven’t understood at all”. No matter what Dolores said or did in this situation, she wouldn’t have been believed. She could have outlined her overall plan to Bernard and he’d still have shot her. I think “The Passenger” retroactively helps to change my perception on where Dolores is at that point. She’s lost Teddy, so her emotions are still heightened and aggressive, but there’s still a heart there. Her plan to liberate humanity began here and it feels stupid that I didn’t notice it the first time watching. 

That perspective continues to develop as she works with Caleb to destroy the system, especially in the scene from “Absence of Field” where she reveals that “Rehoboam” is using every person as a tool to drive a whole narrative, much like how the hosts were controlled in Westworld. This moment matched with “Genre” in which Dolores sends the profiles to every human on the planet is beautiful story telling (Bernard saying, “She’s sending them off their loops”, and the Ramin Djawdi “Space Oddity” cover blasting into focus gives me goosebumps) and one of the most liberating moments of the show. 

I think this season will age better over time as technology shifts and some of the once considered ludicruious plot beats become realistic. The AI voice mimicking Francis’ voice has already (depressingly) become true. I can see many of the other season’s key technological pieces becoming fact rather than fiction as the years go by. Those glasses that read information off someone else and predict their death send shivers down my spine and the thought that they could one day become true is terrifying. 

I know I’ll get hate for enjoying this season but not for a second was I bored or unengaged with the material even if some ludicrous plot beats and action sequences are included. Caleb isn’t shot while in the car race with Dolores or Serac’s goons being complete morons in their fights against Dolores. There’s a moment in “Crisis Theory” where one seems to just stand still and wait their turn to fight instead of jumping her and it’s madenning. The season does deserve and is worthy of criticism, but for me, I love it even with its flaws and all. Several re watches have made it age better like a fine wine, even if the occasional sip makes you want to spit it out sometimes (Maeve, you are one of my favorite fictional characters in history my beloved, stop bringing a katana to a gunfight PLEASE).