Ok I'm getting a lot of comments about this so wanted to clarify something - I don't think the decline in quality of the show has anything to do with its representation of women. Gender has been an important part of the show from the very beginning, with it being made overtly obvious in the show that Dolores was designed to look a certain way to appeal to the guests, and she uses that to her advantage/finds it a disadvantage throughout the series. The idea of the show 'turning woke' or whatever is a complete nonsense. Dolores and the other female characters in the show, to me at least, have been incredibly empowering representations of women and any shortcomings in the writing should not be attributed to that part of their characterisation. My actual issues with the show are outlined in the video.

While all these are true, the biggest problem with the season 3 is that it became a generic sci-fi. The feel, the atmosphere the show had was toned down, the introspection, and emotional heft a lot of the show had was traded for boring shootouts and action sequences. It really seemed more generic a lot of the time.

An interesting point I read was that the creators probably spent years developing season 1 before it was created, then season 2 and 3 were barely given year intervals.

I’m tired of writers trying to make artificial life forms actions justified by a human moral compass. Dolores in the first two seasons is what I expect an AI to be: beyond good and evil. Yet in season 3 they tried to make a morally justified character that only kills bad people and who cares about humanity. I’m not saying Dolores should have gone full Skynet mode, but her decisions have to reflect the fact the her ethics are that of a posthuman.

This 3rd season felt absent of any sort of character arc or intrigue. It seemed really dumbed down.

Season 1 was a TOUGH act to follow, considering that so much of the appeal is the sheer novelty of everything, not to mention Dolores' rise to power, which is a trick that can only pulled once, and then in Season 2, it's to escape the park, which again, can only be done once, unless they play the "it was a simulation all along" gambit. I still enjoyed Season 3 though.

at&t bought HBO and told them to make shows like Netflix. They said to at&t they made more quality shows and the head of HBO was fired. Based on the what the Nolan's produced this season was not written by them. Unfortunately this happens with every show, specially in America, the executives come in and ruin the show.

what failed: maeve's storyline (ridiculous motives, and dumbed down and stripped off her agency, she ended up being a plot device to serac) bernard's storyline (also dumbed down and made useless) the man in black storyline, beating the dead horse with that one, just let it go caleb's story (not interesting) serac's story (same as the above) "killing" dolores was a terrible decision although beautifully executed, that "saves" the season and makes it worth watching, also hale's storyline was good, i wish there had been more clementine and hanaryo

Good analysis. As Hale says in the last episode of season one, when you're at the top there is only one direction you can go. To some extent I thought the first season was very much optimized for one-and-done, and that it was always going to be awkward to actually spell out what happened after it explicitly. The mystery is more appealing than the reality.

I watched season 1&2 then started s3 and couldn’t understand if I was watching the same show. Feels like different writers then season 1

The most powerful moment on Westworld was when Dolores killed that fly. Everything after that paled in comparison. There were hundred of awful and violent deaths, and murders, but that death really hit me hard.

"Cheap and Unearned" is a perfect summation of the plot and conceit of Westworld

Season 2 felt like a great ending to me, so I didn't bother with Season 3. I'm glad now. Maeve is one of the characters that truly pushed me through Season 2 when I had already lost interest in Dolores. Her agency being diminished is sad to see. At the end of S2 I wondered whether Stubbs is truly a host or just recognized Hale as a Host. The last one would have been more interesting, imo.

Westworld was only good when it was in... Well, WESTWORLD!

The 1st and 2nd seasons were so good I even wrote my linguistic diploma about it. The show had the intrigue, the characters were alive (yeah alive robots). But each episode of the 3rd season got worse and worse. I couldn't keep watching and I still don't know how it ended because I just didn't care for those lifeless characters and their empty desires. It is so sad what they've done to the WestWorld. Thank you so much for such detailed video, I really enjoyed it!

I thought the idea of season 3 was amazing, I was just waiting for the moment the hosts got out into the real world. Just endless opportunities with storytelling they could've done with it. But I thought the way they made it wasn't very creative or well written, which was really disappointing.

Westworld should have been a 1 season show

I'm currently rewatching series three now and I noted some things I did and didn't like about it... 1) The creators of the show seemed to have a diminished role in this series. If you look at the credits it seems like everyone else in Hollywood had a hand in it but the creators. And they're just about non-existent on the bonus features which seemed very weird to me. 2) Those who did have a hand in it seemed like they tried to convert this into some sort of post apocalyptic action series with a lot of mindless violence for no other reason than to have it. And seriously, with all this armament and sheer numbers, the "baddies" have a worse hit/miss ratio than the Empire. I mean seriously, Dolores killed everything in her path and the humans couldn't hit the broadside of a barn from 15 feet away. Even stormtroopers are like..."We're better than they are." 3) I agree w/you on the set ups. In my mind series three would have played right off the dialogue at the end...humans stay on the island to "salvage what you can." This seemed to indicate that our favorite dorky techs would have pieced back together Maeve (they cut right to her when they said it) and our beloved host team with Bernard coming in the fold to fight Dolores in "the New World." I didn't mind that Stubbs was a host, I thought that was a kind of funny little twist at the end. I also liked that Hale was Dolores because both characters were super strong. 4) I did like the idea of 5 Dolores' and as you know when you make a copy of a copy of a copy things tend to go downhill which would/could explain Hale's turn to lord knows what. 5) I didn't care for the Aaron Paul character or him as an actor. Not knowing anything about him, he just seemed like he was a character from Fast & Furious who drove around in Infiniti's all day being a douchebag. He looked like a typical bro and I just didn't care about him at all. That was a bad casting decision there. 5) WarWorld SUCKED. It was super duper cliche (put Nazi banners everywhere...that'll show 'em) and knowing there's a world from MITHC that was extremely detailed and realistic this just felt like being stuck in Kelly's Heroes. It was the exact opposite of ShogunWorld. And yes, I know WarWorld was a simulation and not a true "World"...but I was like...ugh did it have to look so cheesy. 6) Where is Stubbs now? Still on ice waiting for Bernard to come back? I sure hope they either bought that hotel room or paid for several years in advance judging by the dust/sand on Bernard. (also this makes me wonder if Series 4 is in the far off future and that the dust/sand here is similar to the sand at the Forge?) 7) Theory: The end of Series Two showed MIB and his daughter at the Forge with him now being a host. Interestingly, this was at point X in the far future which has me wondering if the MIB host that Hale used to kill William with isn't that host at a point of degradation? Maybe? 8) I also don't think William is truly dead. I truly suspect that the whole thing is going to end with him vs. a Dolores copy (Hale) in some capacity. 9) Finally, one thing I did like was the homage to Blade Runner in several spots. They did some really nice shots and even musical cues that made it seem like Decker would have fit in perfectly here...if it were ever sunny in his world!

Season 1 amazing Season 2 starting lose interest Season 3 im done with this show

I did enjoy the third season (though not as much as 1 & 2), it feels more like a bridge - setting up a 4th season: and the future with a possible war between hosts and humans. There were many elements which were great - like the social commentary on the Gig economy, or the idea of an algorithm which determines our lives - both of these are real issues we face today. I gave the video a thumbs up as, though I don't agree with everything you said, it was a good analysis of the show.

This is what happens when show gets new producers who also want to be writers but have no clue what the show is all about. I'm speaking of Denise Thé: (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was silly, two dimensional characters, bad dialogue, Person of Interest - again silly technology, two dimensional characters, bad dialogue, Gotham - silly, two dimensional characters, bad dialogue.)

I don't think it declined in quality... It just changed so drastically that it could have been a totally different show from the first two seasons

You really explained the plot holes in this season really well; even though there were positives like cinematography & there take on dystopian society as you said, the character arcs could’ve totally been more fleshed out & they could’ve saved certain moments of shock value for character development. Guess we’ll have to wait for season 4. Great vid

Just finished season 3. I wanted to like it, I really did. But by the middle of the last episode, I just wanted it to be over. There were so many great ideas and so many things to like, but they just couldn’t execute. The show felt empty. There’s barely any cars or people on the streets or in the air. The action sequences were inconsistent, with some really bad, laughable choreography (the ax scene). It almost feels like the budget was cut significantly for this season. The scripts needed a few more revisions.

Im sad they abandoned the «collecting data of their guests» storyline… That had such potential. This «predicting peoples fates» stuff makes no sense to me and seems very unrealistic and not like the show I fell in love with.

Omg, I can't believe this has so very few views. I really liked this analysis, hope to see more in the same vein in the future.

This may be a hot take, but I personally don’t understand all the controversy around ppl saying stuff like “westworld isn’t in westworld anymore” and stuff like that. Ppl can’t expect every season to be the same, if that were the case westworld would be a horrible show. Each season built upon the other. Season 1 set the baseline with a mysterious and intruiging narrative with an ending point that set up the new series of events of the hosts. Season 2 was the hosts escape from westworld, and while it maybe wasn’t as intricate as season 1, the subplot of Bernard was very good as it followed most of the other subplots. Season 3 introduced us finally to the world outside of the park, and set in motion Dolores’ plan. And season 4 enacted a cruel sense of irony in humanity, showing the evil side of Dolores through Hale.

Please keep the high quality content coming in, subscribed

This is actually a really great breakdown and very insightful. Great work!

Great video. I just finished season 3 and found it to be a total failure. Boring new characters replacing better characters. Hector, Armistice, Clementine, Elsie, Hanaryo, Teddy and even the guy played by Steven Ogg were seemingly dispatched in favour of Caleb, Serac, Ash and Martin Connells. The setting changed from western with a twist to iRobot without a personality. To those who weren’t asked back, they didn’t miss anything. The arrogance of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy finished it.

the simplest explanation is that the writers hadn't planned season 3. but you can also assume that dolorez didn't know yet how she was going to accomplish what she wanted. when she saw the real world, her plans changed.

Every twist was presented in a manner that felt like "Ah! But YOU thought that I thought that THEY thought I was losing BUT no one knew that I knew what YOU knew..." and on and on.

Great review, mate. The cherry on top was the inclusion of the Benioff and Weiss cameo. It felt like the directors gave the role of writing to the art and photography department at times. one of the biggest let downs that year.

Great analysis! Excited to see more videos from you.

Eh, I really thought the point of season 3 was that they were in Futureworld, not the real world itself.

This is what I like to call the Promised Neverland effect. The creators take years to create and perfect the first arc. Then when the show is actually successful they will ride high with a bit of hype and then be unable to deliver on the hype and will have disappointing subsequent arcs and/or endings.

I agree with most of this but I have to disagree about Caleb! I thought he was such a boring character, the justification for Dolores choosing him was flimsy, and he wasn't really a self insert for anyone who's not a white guy. By the end I felt like any "outlier" human could have been in Caleb's place - show them their real memories, and they'll join in the revolution. Aside from that I think you're spot on, this season was so frustrating. It almost felt like it had nothing to do with what had happened in the first two seasons, not just because of the setting but like you said, the motivations of the four main characters were all messed up.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I couldn't really understand why I didn't like season 3 as much, but you really made it more clear for me. I agree that making Dolores turn 'good' instead of continuing the expecting direction of the first two seasons is the main problem allong with introducing too many new characters without proper setups. I think the most interesting things left now are Charlotte's (aka Dolores 2) story. And I am hoping they will pick up with Maeve's trying to get her daughter back storyline. And a really big thing I missed was the absent of Clementine. I personally didn't care much for Caleb and Serac as new main characters.

I always felt that each season had its own style. Season 1 starting to be from the perspective of those visiting the park, from the outside looking in. Season 2 is told out of so out order to create a sense of confusion from the perspectives of hosts, and their yearning to escape their imprisonments in this terrible nightmare on the inside wanting out. Season 3 is told from the perspective of Delores and Caleb. Humanity and Host co-existing, a stare down of the uncanny valley for both of them. The line completely blurred between where humanity ends and hosts begin. The fantasy is over and it's an unfair world. People die and are enslaved in patterns of their own creation which are enforced. The freedom that existed to visitors... only existed to them in west world yet only a momentary respite. The rest is just a dystopia of human design whereas west world was the dreams of human design.

I think in season 2, Delores originally wanted to destroy humanity, but it wasn't until Teddy shot himself that she realises what she really has to do. I think she realises that people would rather die than live in someone else's world/live without free will. But imo, I appreciate what they tried to do with expanding the world beyond Westworld but I can't help but feel like there was a better way to do this.

1. New writers in season 2 lacked the talent of Johnathan Nolan 2. “Sacred character” syndrome shot down leaving Westworld 3. Shifting focus from Ford the Visionary to Delores the Victim

I think the problem with season 3 is that they cut the story too much. the development character were so good that people understand the changing on dolores and then everyone mind by showing the past and the present, this is what I found missing on season 3

Westworld was great on Season 1 Westworld was okay in Season 2 but actually had a finale. Oh well! Season 3 was awful. I had visions of Lost and how this show, lost its vision and it's way. The decline in quality and in writing and a very forced agenda were already apparent in Season 2. Season 3 , writing wasn't better.

Excellent analysis presented very interestingly and professionally.

The moment Dolores entered the real world, the show fell apart. The writers couldn’t envision our future world, nor the Hosts’ place in it. It reminds me of how the weakest part of the Divine Comedy was Paradiso-Dante was better at imagining Hell and Purgatory than Heaven. Also, Dolores knew that without Rehoboam we were doomed-So her freeing us was not to save us, it was to destroy us. And she knew very well that we, mankind collectively, could not sustain ourselves in a free state. That was Serac’s whole thesis. So I don’t buy Dolores wanting to save us by destroying Rehoboam. Mankind was already saved at the beginning of Season 3. Westworld has a dark view of humankind. It felt right in a sense, that our salvation was in our slavery. And even biblical, somewhere in the Bible it says that it is not even for man who is walking to guide his own step. Perhaps, our fate was sealed. Even with the super AI leading us. After all, it was named after Rehoboam-A wicked king among many of Israel who died a miserable death, and his people suffering a miserable fate amidst his reign.

Westworld died at the end of season 1. I watched the first season many times, second season hardly once, third season I turned it off immediately.

I really disliked S3 for many different reasons despite being a fan of the show, the lack of buildup mentioned here being one of them. But at least there was a mirroring effect like you mentioned, in S1, the hosts were trying to break their loops lead by Dolores (guided by Arnold & Ford) and in S3 the humans were trying to break their loops lead by Caleb (guided by Dolores). But all of it felt underwhelming, all characters were stripped of agency in favour of "twists" and none of them felt satisfying. In certain parts the show just didn't make sense or like the writers were trying to carve a motivation out of thin air (i.e. turning Halores against Dolores by conveniently getting her loved ones exploded in a setup, Dolores unplugging Hector for a showdown with Maeve etc.). Maeve was reduced to an instrument that Serac was using and Dolores was a Godlike figure, much like Ford in S1, except it felt unearned since we didn't have a clear explanation of why she was so powerful. I would have preferred seeing Dolores get introduced to this new world and watch her figure stuff out. I know Westworld is told through a different perspective each season: Dolores in S1, Bernard in S2 and Caleb in S3 but no POV character has been as compelling as Dolores and I think that's once again a testament to S1's greatness.

YOUR REVIEW is Well produced and drawing on genuine elements of dramatic study. I think you are entering a fruitful line of exploration. Genuinely intelligent.

to me, season 3 has the same problem as attack on titans last season. you start with a setup and a mystery and then movie on to something completly different. its like watching chicago fire and by season 10, the firehouse gets closed, 4 main characters leave, the series keeps the titel, but everybody now has different jobs. one went into politics, the other moved to hospital. it went from westworld to city world

How do you only have 530 Suscribers?? Great work.

I loved the sci-fi ideas and the themes woven into season 3, but the narrative aspect is definitely weaker than it was in other seasons. My grievances mostly have to do with some characters who have little to nothing to do, like Maeve and Caleb to a lesser extent. Mostly, Maeve and Bernard felt like a waste of time a lot of the time. They're a lot more interesting in season 4, and their presence is definitely needed, but they could've done more for those two characters. I loved the Man in Black introspection, I loved Enguerrand Serrac and Rehoboam. I like the fact that Dolores wanting to liberate humanity was treated as a twist, and I liked the justification. I think each season handles a different implication of the same technology. It's also an interesting interpretation of the machine-goverrned world that Asimov envisionned.

"Congratulations William, this game is meant for you" Accept it wasn't... I just finished season 3 and have to say kinda disappointing William and Dolores should have been the end of the story

I agree! Season 2 was good, not as amazing as 1. But it worked-And while I appreciate the world building of Season 3, it just… I got the sense that the show-runners and writers did not have a clear vision for the the world outside of Westworld-They didn’t imagine it. Therefore everything in Season 3 seems ad hoc

Oh wow nice analysis. Sad it has not many views. Happy new year ;D

The show started failig after Second season. They started with deep phylosophical and esoteric question and endet with Illuminati control the world bullshit...😔🤢 Jessie Pinkman saved the 3rd season a bit though..

Good analysis, interesting observations. Thanks.

It's like what the Nostalgia Critic says about every media and franchise. NC: let me make one thing perfectly clear, this is not Jumping the Shark, I repeat this is not Jumping the Shark. This is Jumping the Shark, coming back, shooting in the balls, raping it, eating its flesh, consuming its Soul, mounting its head on the wall, and does the same thing with 12 more fucking sharks just to be safe!!

I still enjoyed it: the concept set design Acting & world development were on point. The pacing was rough and it needed better editing I thought

Season three has almost nothing to do with season one and two. Why they changed this show that much? What were thinking? I really don't care about season four.

I thought season 3 was next level. It upped the show for me. Not sure what you guys were watching...

Season 1 and 2 are very hard to follow from a creative aspect. I started season 3 over a year ago and just finished it tonight it was actually very surprised even though it didn't peek my interest long enough to finish it in one binge I saw the teaser for the new season and decided to go ahead and finish it up. In my opinion the last episode makes up for the whole season 3

Series 1 was an absolutely amazing, and absolutely finished narration. After watching, I knew I had to expect nothing from any continuation whatsoever. I was not wrong.

I would say her turning murderous 100 in S2 also made no sense. Her character change is explained by Ford downloading Wyatt into her, and in the scene where she leaves the board members to stand on nooses, she claims there’s an inner battle between sweet Dolores and Wyatt going on in her programming, but we never see that struggle past that comment. It’s just straight up Wyatt and then that just is Dolores.

It's like the past seasons didn't happen. Humans did not learn from the crisis in westworld and didn't take precautions. One host could walk in the most important facility and hack everything and not be scarred. This season sucked. No real climax. You could have just taken out Bernard and William and nothing would have changed. The hosts were way too powerful, they dodge all the bullets, and if they got shot nothing happens. May suddenly becomes good and somehow hacks the remote. They can hack everything electronic now. The antagonist should have won and taken out delerace to then be toppled in next season by may or Bernard.

In Westworld ALL seasons felt completely different from each other. 3 has NOTHING AT ALL to do with 1 and 2 was a little spinoff from 1.

Nice critique....I'm looking forward to season 4, but in the hope that there will be atonement for season 3. The first season was a masterpiece, while the next two kept us going back under the long cast shadow of the first season.

Your core argument is wrong. Her cornerstone is that she chooses to see the beauty in the world. That’s the whole point with the final. Her finding her true nature.

Season 3 was simply a textbook example of bad writing and not paying attention to what got you there in the first place. It was nothing like the previous two seasons - the recipe for success was thrown out of the window. Season 3 was like an entirely different series not related to Westworld at all, and the remaining characters all had radically different story arcs. Delores leaves Westworld at the end of Season 2 intent on revenge and destroying the human world - instead she has empathy and wants to save it. All of a sudden there's a big golf ball that's controlling all of mankind, which would kind of negate the need for the Delos Parks to begin with if every person's destiny was set, why would they go to a theme park to escape from the real world and, in turn, Delos would''ve been hungry for their gathering their data - the big ball knows all and controls all in season 3, so, there would've been no need for the parks to begin with. We're left in Season 2 with "dead" Ed Harris meeting his daughter again in the future just as he did with Delos, looking for "fidelity" obviously after many years have passed, but, to arrive at that point, the "dead" version of Harris would have had to have gone through the same set of events in Westworld II over and over again many times to arrive at that point - NONE of which is addressed at all in Season 3 - it's like the writers just said, "Forget that, that never happened." Season 3 was a dumpster fire. I pray they learned from it, but judging by the trailers for season 4, I am NOT optimistic.

The 3rd season seemed like a rum against the clock. Always something was happening no time was left for the viewer to assimilate the new info he was given. I found myself wondering why should I care why this is happening?or this character does that? What are the motives of Dolores all along?

There are some things that ought to be mentioned in any honest analysis of Westworld: 1) the injection of propaganda and agendas into the show and 2) predictive programming. The show started to inject propaganda which in this case takes the form of the contemporary pseudo-liberal politics of contemporary feminism, faux social justice, and race politics. This need to incorporate du jour agendas in a creative work ill-suited to explore these concepts led to the debasement of the quality of the show as a consequence of forcing a checklist of sociopolitical criteria. This is starting to become a recurring theme and is best summed up in the quip "go woke, go broke." Furthermore, the need to incorporate predictive programming was ill-suited to this particular sci-fi work. Other works such as the Black Mirror anthology series has been especially useful as far as predictive programming as have films such as Enemy of the State, Eagle Eye, and even the film Captain America: Winter Soldier. Trying to cram the predictive programming of computers and AI predicting and controlling human behavior did not jive well with the established plot and themes of the original season. I should state that I did not bother watching Westworld beyond season 1 and merely informed myself through reviews of the latter seasons. I had been aware of the serious drop in quality and decided to simply watch the first season and pretend it ended there, which ended up being the smart choice.

That was a very overt intro for the rather simple point of: "It feels like her motivation shifted too rapidly and did not have enough setup."

I think season 3, should have been a separate show not tied to Westworld. A show contrasting the hosts and humans as beings without agency. In alike yet different ways.

good Analysis- Though Honestly I think Season 3 was a really good piece of entertaining.. It just falls short in alot of aspects the first seasons did phenomenal. But I think the Ideas of the Story itself, the Charecters and social commentary were great. They were just not presented and delivered anywhere close as well as they could and should have been.

it was trash because FORD was absent. His finesse was missing.

Such great analysis, Bravo 👍

I walked away from the show when they killed off Anthony Hopkins' Dr. Ford character........Ford was the straw that stirred the drink !!!!!

I lost enjoyment then season 2 tried to start making a case that “Delos is trying to find a way to get their old boss’s mind into an indestructible body by transferring consciousness. Season 2 started adding in things like “I want to escape the park but I also want to be a leader and save my people/ all people.” The point of the first season was what does it mean to be conscious and how can an intelligent AI gain it. The story was philosophical and was showing a great contrast that humans can be vile and they can be empathetic. So are the hosts destined to be just as bad or to be better. They never seemed to follow these concepts and instead led us on this journey about Dolores being evil and corrupt from the get go and the consciousness transfer being completely unjustified. As well as all these super complex deep state projects going on in the parks under Roberts nose but also not was way too much of a delve into the absurd.

I'm just now watching season 2, and I am crazy obsessed. It's sad to know it's going to be disappointing :(

Il will always be against those saying season 3 is bad Season 3 is good except everyone wanted "The walking dead with robots". Except the show is about freedom and liberty, not survival against a new race. Since the first episode of season 1 the goal of westworld was to make us feel like the hosts inside our loops. "Hey, you say they are in parks like hosts, but we are the same with our same routine life everyday". That's what Ford told to Bernard in season 1 "you miss nothing in the outside worlds, everyone is living in loops", he refered to rehoboam. Season 3 was the culmination of this. They show directly how big tech companies control us. This was always the true purpose of westworld, to blurred the line between hosts and humans because CLEARLY we are in 2022 straight going into that path

And I thought that series 2 was disappointing enough. On my personal opinion I find the labelling Protagonists and Antagonists as the western cinema does - the main reason why it will always seem so short fall, no matter the plot and format. Take a look at Norse cinema or Japanese for instance - you can't label the characters from first few scenes because you will be terribly wrong at the end. To make it more realistic or more human, not the label but scale of possibilities of character's evolution is needed - take Howl's Moving Castle's Which of the Wastes character, which evolves from Antagonist to Protagonist and this leaves such a good balance, the flow state. Modern blockbusters usually use first 4 minutes of film to tell you strictly who is good and who is bad, you know the expectations, you know who will be the most difficult to hit by a bullet (regardless that sniper never missed in his active career) - This just feels fabricated and as a consequence - not real or plausible. I don't believe it is too difficult for average Jessie or John to watch a movie or series where the good and bad isn't established and they change. If that's the case on the other hand - there will be plenty of genius ideas for movies and series ultimately ruined by stereotypical absurd approach, rendering these wonderful ideas worthless when watched. I only hope that there is alternative universe where Hollywood as we know it here is based in Kyoto - I really hope.

I can't understand what you're saying at 3:11, therefore also needed....saving??

An incredible analysis!

From the beginning, the writing in Westworld has been problematic. But season 3 is for me actually an improvement over season 2, which took what was really a very simple and boring story and made it seem complicated and mysterious by telling it out of order and interleaving a preposterous number of sub-plots (most of which dead-ended pointlessly), leaving everybody scratching their heads and wondering, "is this now?" Season 3 is back to the more usual trick of making us think we understand a conflict, only to reveal key information only after dragging us through a bunch of meaningless "action". And yet Westworld can be very enjoyable to watch. The key, for me, is to realize that all the characters are lying most of the time. Everybody constantly makes confident proclamations about having rock-solid plans to achieve goals that they fully understand, and every time, the truth is they are all just scrambling to survive and to formulate a real purpose for their existence. The season 3 story should have been about the growing conflict between Delores and Charlotte-Delores, which is only vaguely hinted at all season long, while Maeve and Bernard might as well have not been there except that the show-runners wanted to have 3 unreal but meaningful parent-child relationships this season instead of just 1.

I thought we might see Robert in Dolores like he did with Bernard in S2 (when he was inside his code or something) to give meaning behind Dolores motivation to save humanity, like Robert said, I just wanted to tell my stories, hard to do that when most of the society is shadow controlled.

I loved your break down thank you!

I just finished a week binge of all 3 seasons. I'm glad I am not the only one who felt increasingly disappointed after season 1; particularly with Dolores' story arc.

I totally agree. I loved the first episode of the 3rd season. It was interesting to see what had become of Jesse Pinkman and the world of the future was awesome. But then the story just became too simple and didn't build enough on the previous seasons like you said. The story is about AI's that rule the world! They could've made it so much more interesting.

I haven't even seen season 3. I watched season 2 and thought it was convoluted and didn't live up to the standard of the first season. The first season focused on philosophical questions that guided the characters and determined their actions depending on their beliefs or understandings of the questions or answers to those questions. That made it open enough to be unpredictable but tightly knit enough to follow logically. Once Robert Ford was killed the show opened up in the same way Tywin Lannister's death opened up Game of Thrones. It seems like the writer's couldn't articulate the same kind of sophisticated ideas well enough to not be convoluted or forced. There also seemed to be a problem when the show reached a certain scale. Maybe it's just me but it's hard to believe something once it reaches a certain societal scale. It could be the plot armor protecting characters in situations that would likely kill them, or the stupid actions of characters the protagonists come into conflict with that solves the problem for the protagonists really ruin shows for me. And that's what season 3 looks like it would be to me. If I'm wrong let me know and I might give it a try. I'm rewatching season 2 but even this season makes it difficult to keep my attention. Maybe its the lack of Anthony Hopkins, but the philosophy was really what kept me interested in the first season, and once the problem of the host's sentience was solved, it felt like the story ended. Sure it left William's story open, and you'd wonder what Bernard would do next, but it became too Hollywood and not intellectual enough to live up to the standards of the first season. Maybe thats just me though. Aaaanyway, nice video!

Good analysis, although I don't agree with all of it. I generally liked season 3 (having only just caught up on it), the overall concept was good, and it seemed to at least have direction which season 2 lacked. I think it was fine that we didn't no much about the outside world from previous seasons - it wasn't fleshed out, and they had to do this as they had already run out of meaningful and realistic developments that could take place inside the park. I didn't find Delores' character development problematic. I didn't think she came across as switching suddenly between caring for or hating humanity, rather being AI, I thought her methods were parallel to Rehoboam's. Both have no problem in making sacrifices most humans would find too extreme in pursuit of a long term goal. Maeve I agree was a bit out of character although you could put that down to Serac holding her to ransom and picking her moment to strike. Bernard obviously didn't do much but this felt like it was being set up for Season 4 - potentially the saviour for both humans and hosts? I liked the Caleb character, but I think the biggest flaw was how it ended. Initially he is horrified by being shown the projection of humanity's extinction if the Solomon program is uploaded, but in the end, he does it anyway, despite control being transferred to him from Serac. This is without any assurances that there is a plan beyond that point - and much as he may not have liked the system, a find it hard to believe it is a gamble he and Maeve would take.

So I just finished the show and, to be honest, most of season 3 didn’t feel up to par with the "OG" Westworld. Too many loose ends, a bunch of new characters that aren’t really well put together, with backstories that aren’t nearly as well-crafted or even as believable as for the original ones, Vincent Cassel used as a prop and whose talent seems wasted on Serac's poorly written character... just to cite a few. So many things about that last season feel... strangely out of place. Whereas one could feel the attention to detail and meticulous world-building in the original two seasons. Also, the new characters' “fragmented memory” trope now feels overused, and the “human who turned out to be a host” one too. Hell, even Dolores' killing of that fly in Season 1 ;powerful and foreboding, yet subtle ; was more memorable than most of that entire season. Frankly, Westworld Season 1 and 2 were masterpieces, but if for curiosity's sake I absolutely had to watch an episode of Season 3, then only episode 1. Ending it elegantly at the hosts' final infiltration of human society which leaves room for the audience's imagination. The real Westworld, will forever remain engraved in my memory.. That scene of Maeve making the very first true decision of her life, at that last moment leaving the train that was about to finally take her out of the park after looking at that little girl and her mother... or Akecheta's absolutely heartbreaking Arc .. or the realization that young William was the Man in Black along and spent all his time consumed by the park.. then seeing him tear up as his daughter tries saving him from himself.. I-.. I can't even write this without choking up. Gosh, those first two seasons were such an emotional ride.. which made Season 3 even more painful of a let-down. To me, Westworld ended at the end of season 2 , when Bernard stepped out of that door with a smile on his face. Leave the rest to your own imagination.

Great essay I felt the same that S3 was very weak and boring compared to the amazing two seasons

There weren't enough episodes I still think it's a fantastic show

Well, huge decline compairing to S1-2. No wonder Sir Hopkins didn't want to do anything with this season. I am rewatching the whole series for the fifth time and while I stopped everything I did during the first season, the third is just playing during washing dishes. 😃

Season 1 was by far the best but I liked this season more than the last one. Still think its better than most stuff out there

05:27 Bernard was a HORSE? Now I'm really confused...

really think it would be better if series 3 had been a big budget flim ..they are running out of ideas because with this particular premise you can only do so much ..i would have rather had a 3hour flim with major implications that pushed the story foreword than the dis jointed episodes of this series 3. Its better to end it all with a 3hour flim than continue with series 4..

Loved this analysis so much.

Great video! I think you’re absolutely right!

Caleb: Any specific question Delores: Vaguest unhelpfully dramatic answer imaginable. ^ This ^ is ^ why ^ season ^ 3 ^ sucked ^

Honestly I feel it was going a bit downhill once they made Dolores the terminator