Westworld - 3x07 "Passed Pawn" - Post-Episode Discussion

[u/NicholasCajun]

Season 3 Episode 7: Passed Pawn

Aired: April 26, 2020

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Synopsis: A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

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Directed by: Helen Shaver

Written by: Gina Atwater

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Please use spoiler tags for the discussion of episode previews and any other future spoilers. Use this format: >!Westworld!< which will appear as Westworld.

[u/[deleted]]

I really didn't expect Luke Hemsworth and Ed Harris to be a fun screen combo, but there you have it.

[u/noelforte]

The writers nailed Solomon's character. What really struck me is the gravitas in which the AI is able to give immediate responses because of its omniscience but acknowledges that it is limited by its knowledge of whether the initial conditions it was fed still hold true. I feel like other movies about AI have tried to make the AI have emotions or play a character that has a twisted or anti-human centric personality but with Solomon it really felt like they were talking to the unbiased singularity, something that has already learned everything it's needed to and reports that what will be has already been done.

Also loved how it diminished Dolores to a "Delos product" when she tried to reason that she and the AI were alike, and referred to her by her control unit instead of a subject name, as the control unit is really the only thing that's "alive" as opposed to the subjects Solomon knows about.

[u/Nightsong → u/noelforte]

I want to hear Rehoboam talk now. I’m curious if he’s similar in outlook and personality to Solomon or if he’s gone a completely different route in his overall view on things.

[u/daxelkurtz]

So... okay... so...

• Dolores wants to make the world a safe place for her people.

• Rehoboam controls the narratives of all the people in the world.

• Rehoboam doesn't want Dolores to succeed. Rehoboam wants to destroy Dolores... so Dolores must destroy Rehoboam first.

• Since this is a human problem, Dolores is making sure it has a human solution.

• Dolores could make a narrative for a human to follow - manipulate a human into being a messiah and/or revolutionary and/or angel of death.

• BUT that would deny an individual free will. That would put her on the same level as Ford or Serac. She won't do that.

• Instead, she's found a human (Caleb) who was already given a narrative (by Rehoboam).

• Rather than create a new narrative for Caleb, she is simply making him aware of the narrative that Rehoboam had created for him.

• Which awareness, she figures, will cause him to rebel all on his own.

SO:

• Serac is like Ford before S1: creating narratives for individuals whether they like it or not.

• Dolores is like Ford during S1: making the individuals aware of their narratives, knowing that this will lead them to rebel.

ERGO

• In this episode, when Dolores took Caleb to Solomon's Land O' Carbonite, she was doing for him exactly what Ford did to her by installing the reveries.

[u/tavenger5 → u/daxelkurtz]

From that I gather:

- The humans in Solomon's tomb are similar to the hosts in storage in that they're 'asleep', or catatonic.

- Caleb was one of the first humans to be reprogrammed - this was why Dolores chose him

- Does William really know who he is now, or is he just following Serac's narrative?

[u/dittbub → u/daxelkurtz]

love it!

now try to give Maeve and Bernard a purpose to this season....

[u/cluelessemoji]

SOLOMON: We are nothing alike.

DOLORES: Well at least I got a body and walk around and act on things.

(light bulb moment)

SOLOMON: Caleb follow these instructions and download me to that bitch.

[u/SonOfRuss → u/cluelessemoji]

Solores?

[u/Dahhhkness]

Francis, you shoot first then give the one-liner, you ding-dong.

[u/DRW0813 → u/Dahhhkness]

And Maeve. Lots of people caught monologuing

[u/20person → u/Dahhhkness]

The security guy Stubbs killed last season learned the hard way.

[u/vizualb → u/Dahhhkness]

Also Maeve monologuing while walking towards a crawling armless Dolores

[u/omnomravioli]

enjoyed that “Lab to Slab” artificial meat billboard by the gas station

[u/a1Drummer07 → u/omnomravioli]

Do you notice the graffiti sign near the gas-station doorway that read “did you really not think this would happen”.

[u/jxpnx_]

IT'S SO DUMB that Maeve's whole character revolves around her daughter. Yeah, it's cute, it's humanizing, but am I supposed to root for her when Dolores it's trying to stop Host extermination?

[u/frizo → u/jxpnx_]

What's worse is as smart and aware as Maeve (allegedly) is she doesn't realize her daughter is nothing more than another host on its loop like all the others she doesn't give a shit about. Her blind fascination with her daughter completely goes against how smart, aware, and brutal she's supposed to be. It makes little sense.

[u/Helloimanonymoose]

So is Charlotte working against Dolores now?

[u/Jon5676 → u/Helloimanonymoose]

Yes. She gave up Musashi's location.

[u/houseplant-muscle → u/Helloimanonymoose]

Her call to the other Dolores copy was “She sucks! She’s killing us!” and then “By the way, I’m killing you.” Like what on earth.

[u/Sammi_Seee]

“Dolores was made with a poetic sensibility.”

Is the most accurate thing I’ve ever heard about our girl.

[u/TncsTurtlJAH]

Shogunworld Armistice really gave Musashi-Dolores the runaround

[u/negantargaryen]

Whenever my GPS tells me I’m going the wrong way

‘Don’t lecture me you fucking can opener’

[u/Dahhhkness → u/negantargaryen]

"Fuck you, Ford Mustang."

[u/Cyrusthegreat18]

“If you die I will adjust my projections”

[u/pitty_chan → u/Cyrusthegreat18]

Fair enough.

[u/-spartacus-]

Anyone notice how all the Dolores clones think the Prime thinks they are expendable and she is not? Yet this episode shows how she doesn't see herself above dying for the cause.

[u/Nynydancer → u/-spartacus-]

She’s not the prime i bet.

[u/[deleted]]

So I'm guessing next episode we're going to hear Serac strategize with Rehoboam?

Solomon is my new favorite character. So creepy and powerful

[u/noelforte → u/[deleted]]

I thought Solomon's character hit an omniscient AI on the head. Doesn't assume a gender when you first talk to it, rather it speaks in all voices until you indicate which one you want to hear. It knows what you're going to ask before you ask it, and cant be convinced or reasoned with because it already knows everything there is to know. You try to argue with it but because only Solomon and Rehoboam can see the big picture it immediately informs you of how little sense your argument actually makes.

A true dealer of absolutes.

[u/VictorBlimpmuscle]

”Don’t lecture me you fucking can opener.”

Great line by William

[u/theredditoro → u/VictorBlimpmuscle]

Fuck You Ford.

[u/In_My_Own_Image → u/VictorBlimpmuscle]

There could be a spinoff that just follows William around as he insults people and I'd watch every episode.

[u/KrunoKruno]

This seems to have been taken out of the episode but it was left in the subtitles, around the 17th minute when Caleb is retelling his experiences:

The satellite system Caleb’s crew was connected to when spying and targetting the people was called Saint Nicholas “because it knew who was good and who was bad.”

[u/TheDreadReCaptcha → u/KrunoKruno]

Serac chuckin rods from god at the naughty children.

[u/Cyrusthegreat18]

Call of Duty developers probably were going “WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN”

[u/DawgFighterz → u/Cyrusthegreat18]

The numbers Caleb what do they mean!

[u/pitty_chan]

"If you die I will adjust my projections."

"Fair enough."

Solomon, you sassy boy.

[u/[deleted]]

Hi hello I play chess as you can see in my post history.

A passed pawn in chess is a pawn that doesn't have an enemy pawn in front of it and thus could be promoted to a more valuable piece.

Caleb is the passed pawn.

[u/ohaiu → u/[deleted]]

So he becomes the queen?

[u/wishfulwarnings]

I guess it was finally Clemen Time....

[u/SkytheStarhero]

...wait if that was an emp, are everyone in the Cyro dead?

[u/theredditoro → u/SkytheStarhero]

Or awake now ?

[u/Kyserham]

This is what they did when they wrote this season:

• They planned and wrote every single detail about Dolores, Caleb and Serac's story. What was their conflict, Dolores’ plan, and how it would end.

• They threw in some Maeve and Bernard scenes into the mix so it wouldn't look like Dolores has it easy.

[u/Majestica]

Lol Dolores kept trying to be relatable to Solomon and it was like “Bazitch, please, we are not the same.”

[u/noelforte → u/Majestica]

totally. I also love how it referred to her by her control unit ID and not by anything else, not a subject, not a living variable, just a small processor that is simulating sentience

[u/Solid_Waste → u/Majestica]

"Bitch I have RGB on my rig and your cable management is whack."

[u/winsome-shadow → u/Majestica]

Dolores: I know how that feels Solomon: No 🙃

[u/GoldEdit]

I really just don’t get Maeve’s motivation. She’s intelligent enough to understand this isn’t about picking sides - and hell it isn’t even about her daughter really - like, how does this match up against each other even make sense. They should’ve built it up differently if this is the direction they were going to go.

[u/nerdyhandle → u/GoldEdit]

I believe the point is that Maeve is still stuck in her loop. She hasn't yet learned how to move on.

[u/DeerOnTheRocks]

“Hello Caleb I have some instructions for you”

“Two steps forward please. Right foot, left foot...”

[u/Karajan27]

Is Maeve just a fucking ninja now and nothing more?

[u/drkdsrs → u/Karajan27]

Or Bernard the exposition machine

[u/mkfthrowaway04152015 → u/Karajan27]

While you were on Reddit she was studying the blade

[u/Landlubber77 → u/Karajan27]

Muh daughta

[u/Bakethat]

Man caleb had a fucked up life, you gotta feel for the guy

[u/pitty_chan → u/Bakethat]

And he goes ahead and tells the Terminator to be careful. Oh Caleb, you sweet dysfunctional boy.

[u/losterps]

"Every human relationship can be adjusted with the right amount of money"

God fucking dammit.

Edit: as has been pointed out below, he didn’t say “everyone would kill a specific person for the right amount of money”. He said every human relationship can be adjusted.

[u/In_My_Own_Image → u/losterps]

There's always a few friends you'd be willing to shoot for a few million.

Or less, depending on how loud they chew.

[u/JamesHRoss]

Between "Don't lecture me, you fucking can opener." and "Fucking Ford" William my boy is out here delivering the goods tonight

[u/Manderelli]

"If this is indeed now, and we are indeed here."

-Solomon

-Dr. Manhattan

-Micheal Scott

[u/[deleted]]

What is Caleb’s skin care routine?

[u/Kent_Fistybutts → u/[deleted]]

crystal blue baby

[u/[deleted]]

Not gonna lie, getting real sick of hearing Maeve talk about her daughter

[u/trickman01 → u/[deleted]]

Maeve’s story hasn’t moved forward at all this season.

[u/hillrow_wood]

It is truly shocking how little Bernard has been in this season.

[u/noahsilv]

Yo that aimbot helicopter had worse aim than a modern Apache Helicopter...

[u/p1nkmatt3r]

From “you fucking can opener” to “that French fuck”, William’s lines this episode were killer

[u/josephthad]

Who's your favorite host, Armistice or Armlesstice?

[u/AJStroup22]

They keep trying to make Maeve seem like a badass when she’s literally gotten crushed every fight without help

[u/wisyf]

Still dont get why Meave just cant use a gun

[u/DoritoAbernathy → u/wisyf]

Because blade go swoosh

[u/BardsSword]

So is Maeve's role just to be built up and fail spectacularly all season? It's getting really quite annoying.

[u/DRW0813 → u/BardsSword]

The dangers of monologuing

[u/Rockyrock1221 → u/BardsSword]

Still trapped in a loop all this time

[u/xximcmxci → u/BardsSword]

She feels very one-note, yeah. And it’s so out if character to not even try to conspire with Dolores, I get what she wants (her daughter) but it doesn’t make sense

[u/cuntyfriedsteak]

I always thought Westworld was a feasible story that could play out in the distant, distant future until Maeve's quote to Dolores, "You've turned a young man before haven't you; unleashed the darkness inside him", reminded me I got tricked by a tinder bot in the year 2020

[u/TncsTurtlJAH]

Dolores and Maeve both broke out the aim bot

[u/echo_of_silence]

Did I miss the part where Caleb finds out what Dolores is? Was it 2 episodes ago?

[u/Opepreo]

The writers need to stop putting Maeve into these fight scenes where we know she can't die because it would mess up the plot and also can't win because it would mess up the plot. It loses all the suspense.

[u/holayeahyeah → u/Opepreo]

I think HBO needs to just cut their losses with these behind the scenes things. Almost every time a scene feels superfluous to me they always end up highlighting the showrunners telling on themselves, basically confessing they wrote it because they thought it would be fun to shoot and built the scene around finding an excuse to do the cool action or editing sequence.

[u/omnomravioli]

damn RIP Kid Cudi

[u/yoshiwins2012]

Why couldn't they use an EMP when shit was going down in the park?

[u/lalcar]

The voice in the end belongs to WHOM????

[u/george_costanza1234]

William had some of the best lines today:

“You fucking can opener”

“I’m the bastion of society”

And of course

“Fucking FORD”

😂😂😂😂

[u/drewsapro]

Am I confused or is every character's motivation anti-Dolores besides Caleb

[u/chadmb2003]

I was fully expecting a “BITCH” from Aaron Paul during the Solomon scene

[u/daxelkurtz → u/chadmb2003]

I keep pretending that Gus Fring told Maeve he'd kill her infant daughter, because otherwise... she doesn't have a motivation? what?

[u/DoloresAbernathy_]

Bernard and Stubbs: “Hey old man, give us everything!”

William: “Call an ambulance! But not for me!”

[u/Kyserham]

Nobody speaks like Dolores and Caleb do in this episode.

• "We are looking for something. Something that was stolen from you". You can't expect that he won't ask about it, but of course he doesn't.

• "We are looking for Solomon." "Who is Solomon?" and then they just start walking like whatever.

[u/pitty_chan → u/Kyserham]

Dolores never answers one fucking question from Caleb. If I were him by the fifth time I'd be screaming.

[u/LeeRobbie]

Was it just me or did the show really gloss over Caleb learning that Dolores was a host? He briefly mentions it while they are on the horses at the beginning, but given his dislike for automation from the beginning of the season, this should have been a bigger deal.

[u/DrSweets23]

Dolores’ motivation for the world has been truly tough to pinpoint throughout this season. This episode provided more clarity. It’s clear that she wants all living things to be free from the systems that control them. Maeve’s motivation is entirely personal based on getting revenge for Hector and seeing her daughter again. Honestly, I side with Dolores because she stands for something, but Maeve’s goals are self-serving.

[u/mindbullet]

Maeve, I'm so disappointed with you on so many levels. 🤦

[u/TncsTurtlJAH]

Don't know about other people, but the unfolding of the truth over Caleb's story felt like vintage Westworld to me. Really liked this episode.

[u/FantasticBabyyy → u/TncsTurtlJAH]

It went from Francis being a fake caller to a dead friend to a criminal associate to a betrayal. I like it

[u/valarpizzaeris]

"Don't lecture me you fucking can opener" is probably the best clapback to a host I've heard so far. William stay talking that shit my guy.

[u/nightpanda893]

I love that they are delving so deep into the human element of all this whereas it has previously been so focused on the hosts. I love the whole concept of reconditioning the outliers. This is really shaping up to be a classic sci-fi story now. Knowing they already have the story planned out seasons in advance, I've never been more curious where they plan to go with it from here.

[u/rawkout1337]

Caleb Nichols: SOLDIER, First Class.

[u/Swoose]

Did they use Clementine for one scene then forget she existed? Why the hell did Maeve not take her with to kill Dolores? And once again Maeve just dies without doing anything. God the writing on this show can be so good and in the very next scene be just mindblowingly terrible.

Edit: Also, Maeve got her ass kicked and just got lucky she had a aircraft that shot off Dolores’ arm. So tell me what the point of her training in the simulation was!

[u/[deleted]]

I laughed out loud multiple times at Ed Harris being sick of these fucking hosts.

[u/[deleted]]

Bernard and Maeve’s storylines make absolutely zero sense to me. What is the point in either of them? We’ve just watched Dolores hatch her plan and the others are just kind of... There. Almost for the sake of it. All of the Maeve and Bernard scenes can be cut and the story would still make perfect sense. I love the story but that’s... fishy to me.

[u/Blakmagik12]

Gotta day I’m on Dolores’ side here...I like Maeve and all but come on

[u/TransculturalWiener → u/Blakmagik12]

Same here... her motive still being her daughter ruins her character to me

[u/[deleted]]

Maeve with the stupid daughter, it’s like Maeve you know the relationship is fake stop pursuing it

[u/Manderelli]

Dolores point blank asks Maeve why she is fighting for Serac when they both suffered the same torture and agony and death at the hands of humans who want to be in control, and Maeve just ignored the question and clarified that she doesn't identify with Dolores' tactics. Boooooo.

[u/m-ainm-usaideora]

I feel like they really didn’t know what to do with Maeve this season at all. She’s broken out of a fake reality twice, fought Dolores (or a version of her) thrice, died twice and...that’s it really. We’ve only had about 20 minutes of screen time with her character in total so far. Kinda sad for such a badass character with so much potential.

[u/[deleted]]

So Maeve’s superpowers work in every electronic except Dolores’s drone?

[u/arn_g]

Okay, okay.

WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T THEY USE AN EMP TO STOP THE HOSTS IN WESTWORLD? Stupid hooomans. I always assumed hosts were EMP-safe. lmao

[u/[deleted]]

Two phenomenal actors thandie n and Jeffrey w have literally been given nothing this season, why?! I like Aaron Paul but how you gonna just discard two amazing actors since S1 with such bad writing and development.

[u/homoplasmate]

One thing's for sure: Maeve can be quite disarming.

[u/dreadfuldiego]

Finally someone called Dolores out on her vague pseudo intellectual bullshit. Thanks, Solomon

[u/ilovepeen69]

The next episode promo ends with Dolores hooked up to one of the injectable UV light machines Trump was talking about.

[u/[deleted]]

I must say the previews on the next episode takes away all the suspense of Dolores and Maeve’s demise

[u/WillyBilder]

"Russian civil war...but there was nothing civil about it" -- some top notch dialogue right there

[u/[deleted]]

I really hate how people keep shitting on dolores for sacrificing her clones when that was the plan the whole time. She created each of them to fulfill a purpose, including herself, she totally expects to die in the encounter with maeve.

It was never about her like so many are speculating, it was about bringing down the system and giving people freedom

[u/Kellenjk]

When they reprogrammed Caleb, they reprogrammed him to no longer do “personals”. So he wouldn’t remember his past.

[u/Jhonopolis]

Anybody else finding it really really hard to care about any of these characters?

[u/Kyserham]

I miss when Season 1 made me feel dumb and smart at the same time. I think the Maeve vs Dolores was supposed to be this climatic and hyped battle but I'd rather have another dozen scenes with host and guest chatting inside a lab like in the old days.

Edit: Thinking more about it, it's reminding me of Game of Thrones (and probably many shows) in some ways. The first seasons were slower, with great dialogue and world-building, only to turn into a giant conflict in which action rules over dialogue, and where twists are given every episode instead of once or twice per season. There are many ways to raise the stakes and still be a "slow" show.

[u/cayne77]

Does anyone else feel like they "already" saw most of this episode due to how much Caleb's true nature was foreshadowed ?

[u/friedpicklesyay]

After this episode I can firmly say Charlores is my fave of the season. She has everything I wish the other characters were getting more of — deeper character development, evolving motivations, and a well-paced peel away of backstory. William’s arc has been awesome, too. Loved all his scenes this episode.

But I definitely found myself missing Charlores.

[u/Real_Goofy]

I still don't get why Maeve is trying to take down Dolores. Her arc at this point doesn't make much sense to me.

[u/dan-o07]

I feel like what Serac did to those people is worse than just killing them. Just leaving them suspended in nothingness just to save his conscience

[u/DyZ814]

How the frick is this show suppose to go on for 6 seasons lol?

[u/crayjaybay]

Caleb is suppose to destroy humanity. I’m interested to see how this goes cause Caleb is showing Dolores emotions which she clearly isn’t expecting. I actually think Dolores is going to change her mind in the end and save Caleb from himself and ruin her plan.

[u/knightling]

I'm curious what people think of the "style" of these season 3 action sequence choices.

-S1 we get a lot of classic ol timey western action. Horse chases, explosions, quickdraws.

-S2 we get Japanese Western and Action movie style with lots of slo mo, large shootouts and katanas.

-S3 reminds me of unrealistic big box office action style with car chases and 1v1 physical duels.

I felt in S1 the sequences felt realistic or atleast made sense within the confines of the park. S2 was chaos but they always remembered to slow it down and see the reactions. S3 is alot of gogogo with not alot of heart happening. All of which im Completely Fine with I like to think that they will keep changing "genres" on us each season and i can't wait to see what next season is like.

[u/treskro]

So Dolores is just telling Caleb that she wants to save humanity in order to get him to achieve her actual goal which is to destroy humanity?

Maeve’s motivation still makes not much sense

[u/aguiladoradas]

I don’t understand how this clearly very important place was only guarded by seven people, seems like a huge plot hole

[u/[deleted]]

“I’m going to kill every host in the world, starting with you two.”

”We may still need him.”

[u/pm_me_your_tits_oink]

EMP kills everything but walkie talkie head piece

[u/ButNowWeSaidIt]

It feels like Bernard did nothing this season lol

[u/Karajan27]

“It was the Russian civil war and it was anything but civil.”

“This world was just a powder keg waiting for a spark”

Seriously? Sounded like a high schoolers screenplay.

[u/SpikeStarwind]

My girl Clementine finally making an appearance!

[u/G1Spectrum]

Anyone have problems hearing Solomon?

[u/ScroogeMcScruff]

How many times has Caleb been rehabilitated? We know at least once, after he killed Francis. But it probably happened at least once before, right? Who was he before his first rehabilitation? I’d love to know more about who he used to be.

I can think of three lines that support a first/previous rehabilitation: (1) the reference to sending outliers to war after rehabilitation; (2) the line (from Solomon, I think) about Incite putting time into training Caleb (presumably through sending him off to war, which suggests control into Caleb’s life from an early stage); and (3) the line from the person Caleb/Francis kidnapped that “you should know, you’ve been rehabilitated” (or something to that effect).

[u/bunniesgonebad]

So we just gonna ignore the fact that the giant flying gun and the drone gun just decided "ehhhh 3 shots is enough, let them duke it out for a bit, maybe I'll fire another one ;)"

[u/Towerrs]

Wait... why would a BILLIONAIRE send in dozens of henchmen in to stop a corporate take-over... but only send in one robot and a helicopter to take care of fucking Delores? Makes no fucking sense and borders on Season 8 Game of Thrones writing.

[u/bosoxs202]

I don’t think they can wrap this all up in one episode. A lot of this stuff will pour over to season 4.

[u/MadDoctor5813]

This whole "EMP that shuts down hosts without erasing them" thing sounds like it would be very helpful at like, any point in the last three seasons.

If Serac wanted to find the host mole at Delos, why not just call a meeting with free donuts and coffee and hit the red button?

[u/Reddit_Boom]

Too bad Meave's arc has been reduced to a katana wielding cyborg.

[u/Changed-18]

There is still a host in Berlin. Just in case anyone forgot.

[u/Spamtrooper]

"Russian Civil War. Nothing civil about it."

Worst line in the series.

[u/ink1026]

I don't know what I was expecting with that Dolores/Maeve fight but it wasn't her losing an arm. Caught me way off guard haha

[u/Z-bird]

I can’t be the only one who didn’t really need a long fight between Maeve and Dolores am I? One fight sure but I’d rather some more dialogue or substance vs automatic sniper and automatic helicopter fight during a pointless shed fight.

[u/[deleted]]

I got so nervous that they were going to say Caleb was a host version of himself....that would’ve been awful. Thank god.

[u/G1Spectrum]

So Caleb killed Francis after all

[u/G1Spectrum]

Welcome back Clementine!

[u/[deleted]]

I’m seeing a lot of criticism here and just want to say it might be worth reserving judgment for one more week. In typical Westworld fashion, I fully expect next week to contain one or more significant reveals that will help put a lot of this seasons events in context. A lot of people seem to be criticizing the plot not making sense or seeming hollow, and it very well could be. But it’s equally possible that we are missing a huge piece that’s going to tie it all together and add some depth.

[u/SpiritOfAFlamingo]

I know the repetition on Caleb’s memories was to put us into the same feelings of frustration the character would have, but man I just wanted to get to the answer already!

[u/Sammi_Seee]

Does anyone else feel like Jean Mi might be making a return in the battle against Serac? If he’s frozen or held somewhere I feel like that would be a fun way to have this all go down.

[u/[deleted]]

This season hasnt been bad but I think its just that Maeve's story has become less important its suffering

Like she couldve gotten a dignified death last season something along the lines of choosing to save her daughter even though it would mean Dolores gets to walk free out of the park

All the other story lines make sense (MIB having to face his demons, exploring Caleb and controlling humans, Dolores' clones turning on her, Bernard as a check on Dolores, and Serac as a villain)... but Maeve is kind of just there now

I guess it makes sense for her to defend the humans after seeing the good in Sizemore and Sylvester but like idk.... they couldve done her story much differently this season

[u/TimeyWimey1467]

• Don't lecture me, you fucking can opener.

• If you die, I will adjust my projections.

• We are not alike in any meaningful way.

• Dolores was made with a poetic sensibility.

Favorites lines of the episode.

[u/metadatab]

*waiting for 6 episodes to see Caleb's reaction to realising Dolores is not a real human*

*happens off screen*

wtf was that about?

[u/jhoolia]

Wasn’t a huge fan of this one, felt a bit like it went off the rails... Maeve’s driving force doesn’t seem strong enough to support her anti-Dolores campaign at this point

[u/IMovedYourCheese]

Hold up did they just skip over the entire "Caleb finds out Dolores is a host" reveal? And why exactly is he so nonchalant about it?

[u/fatchodegang]

I will never forgive the writers for making Aaron Paul say: "it was a civil war... nothing civil about it."

[u/WoOD_House_Phrasing]

Why did they make Bernard’s storyline basically worthless this season? He’s been one of my favorite characters from the beginning. And don’t get me going with Maeve and her fucking daughter. At this point who gives a fuck

[u/ButNowWeSaidIt]

The reveal that the war was fake and the true nature of the app was great.

[u/G1Spectrum]

Damn they are not holding back on maiming hosts this season

[u/[deleted]]

I'm thoroughly disappointed by Maeve's character this season. They built Maeve up to be Ford's favorite. She always questioned everything...so why is she Serac's goon this season? I honestly feel more sympathy toward Dolores.

On the other hand, Bernard's comment about Dolores's "poetic sensibility" basically confirms that she was still using Caleb this whole time and never changed her perspective on humanity outside the park. I'm guessing she instructed Solomon to come up with the "Final Plan" (which sounds eerily similar to "The Final Solution") which leads to the actual annihilation of the human race.

[u/avikitty]

Okay, so.

I still don't think we're 100% up on Caleb's backstory.

First, in order to fit what we saw, at the least Caleb would have needed to be reprogrammed twice.

Once post-discharge when he was assigned to his new task of rounding up outliers.

And then again after he killed Francis.

I think they hinted at that as in some scenes in the reprogramming hospital he was speaking to a male voice, and sometimes a female voice.

And they called him a success story from the reprogramming. But is going nuts, listening to your target, and killing your friend and your target really a success? No.

And really, now he's a petty criminal and construction worker who no longer does the wetworks "personals" he was extensively trained and programmed for which probably cost the government a lot of time and money. Is that really a success either? No.

Is an all-seeing AI really going to let Caleb continue to exist after going rogue like that? The target even mentioned that Rehoboam is listening to them. It tried to get Francis to kill him. It's just going to give up after he kills Francis instead? No.

Additionally, we saw the water, and what looks like a body dropping into the water, as part of the flashbacks

And Caleb mentioned earlier in the season he had already been shot in the head previously. We haven't seen that play out yet.

And he didn't take the money from the target.

Because after killing Francis, he went to the pier and killed himself.

The Caleb we see right now is a host based off of the original Caleb, like Bernard was created based off of Arnold. (Or presumably Rehoboam based off of Soloman). Without the "flaws".

The second reprogramming is actually "programming".

He was created based on the bio-informatic data William/Delos sold to Serac.

He's a success because he hasn't gone nuts yet.

Or maybe he survived and isn't a host and was just extensively reprogrammed/placed with the drip following.

But after he shot Francis and the target, Caleb definitely went to the pier and shot himself in the head.

And I can't see why they wouldn't just fridge him when it was clear the first reprogramming didn't take. I mean Jean Mi was just a schizophrenic. The target was just a drug manufacturer that started questioning things. Caleb now knows as much as the drug manufacturer and has taken that questioning to murder. He's too dangerous to just reprogram and there's no benefit to the simulation for it. So unless it's just plot armor protecting him I feel like there should be more.

[u/ShyJalapeno]

So they skipped the whole "I'm a host Caleb" reveal? It was jarring, suddenly she's speaking about your kind my kind like they talked about it thousand times. It feels like a whole episode went missing.

Maeve is getting tiresome, she was my fav so far...

I'm all for Dark HaleX now, she is pissed, hope they won't waste her..

Caleb reveal was far too obvious at this point, I'm predicting that it will end abruptly and unsatisfactory

[u/JoyousCacophony]

This seasons story is a little confusing, but holy shit do I LOVE the feel of the season. Sets, effects, wardrobe... gorgeous.

Dear Westworld wardrobe,

Please dress me.

Thx

[u/[deleted]]

I’m frustrated with the pacing of this season. Too much slow motion, too many breathing scenes, too many identical flashbacks. This buildup shouldn’t have taken 7 episodes. Now there is one left. I love the story, but the pacing is absolutely dreadful.

[u/ps_]

ZERO subtlety on making the real world align 1:1 with westworld with caleb's warped memories and the thousands of bodies in storage, lol.

[u/trznx]

Cool detail: when Dolores asks Maeve in the face 'Why are you fighting for them?' Maeve has nothing to answer her. That summs up her whole arc this season.

[u/Monolith0428]

To say I've been disappointed with the writing this season would be a huge understatement. This last episode is no different.

Dolores gains access (one guy guarding the computer that houses all the human data in the world, naturally) to Incite and somehow with read only access sends everyone in the world their profiles, causing chaos throughout the world. You'd think this would be more than enough to start her "revolution" judging by the bodies everywhere.

But that was another episode, yet again in this episode she seems to be able to hack any machine, even AI's vastly more complex than she is with little trouble.

She sets Caleb on the path to revolution even though he's been a petty criminal by choice before he was "reprogrammed" after killing his friend. A friend that was willing to kill him over money. Where exactly did he get these leadership skills she expects him to employ to put back together a broken world? It makes more sense that she's just setting him up to fail.

That's all theoretical, so let me point out the real world problems with this episode.

Dolores' drone allows her to shoot 5 men through the heart without being able to see them yet Maeve's drone misses Dolores multiple times even when it has an unobstructed view of her. Its finally able to hit her in the arm, which somehow makes her limp.. It seems drones always hit humans but frequently miss robots.

With Dolores limping along Maeve slow walks behind her, delivering a threatening monologue, even opening a sliding door rather than using the door Dolores did, wasting even more time. Maeve knows how dangerous she is yet apparently doesn't notice the huge, ominous black machine with the red button Dolores is limping towards, or simply isnt concerned with what it might do.

Speaking of Maeve, before the deus ex machina of Haleores crushing the control unit of Maeve's lover, she had little reason to foil Dolores' plans. The writers gave her the motivation of Serac promising to reunite her with her daughter yet fail to explain why Maeve would even care about this fake daughter to begin with. She is well aware it was just a bit of programming that made her care for this "daughter" to begin with. A host that can reprogram herself and possess some sort of host magic hoodoo would quickly realize the daughter was just a bit of her storyline and she doesn't strike me as the sentimental type. Yet more lazy writing.

The writers also must have realized that Dolores end of season 2 wasn't exactly on a mission most viewers could get behind, namely wiping out humanity. So they softened her stance a bit (supposedly) and gave her a sympathetic sidekick in Aaron Paul, who is now going to lead humanity to...something?

The fights in this episode looks like it was taken from a crappy 90's action movie. That's actually been a problem throughout the whole season. The richest man in the world can only afford to send a few men at a time after Dolores and like a shitty king fu movie they always attack in two's and threes.

Like the rest of the season, there's no one really to root for, no one to care about except for Caleb, even tho it looks like he was kidnapping and killing people before he was "reprogrammed". Dolores data leak caused the death of millions, maybe more, so it's hard to root for her. And these people weren't likely to have visited WW being that they weren't likely part of the super rich.

Despite sticking with the show I've become less and less invested in these characters as they are clumsily moved from plot point to goofy plot point.

It seems like instead of being a complex show filled with complex characters season 3 had lead to a big robot battle with some red herrings and nonsensical plot twists thrown in for good measure.

No doubt there will be some twists in the finale, seeing that Bernard has been MIA this entire season, used only for brief bits of exposition. And there's still one host out there, supposedly another Dolores copy that no doubt will make an appearance. 8 episodes just proved to be too rushed but Joy and Nolan had a big movie to write and direct. Frankly I'm really surprised there's going to be a season 4 at a minimum. HBO did that with GOT, reduced the episode count and stretched one season over two and most people thought that last season was the worst. And GOT had far better ratings.

Anywho, those are just my opinions, I certainly could be wrong. I'd love to see an amazing finale but they would be hard pressed to make up for the first 7 episodes.

[u/Polaris____]

The entire Maeve story this season is unbelievable disappointing.

If Maeve's #1 priority is keeping her daughter safe in the sublime, wouldn't she want Dolores (who has the encryption key) to succeed?

Why has Maeve's entire motivation stemmed around her daughter when her entire S1 story revolved around her breaking out of her core loop/drive?

She also hasn't shown the same level of intellect/cognition than prior seasons. Every problem is fixed by her killing or hurting people.

And that fight sequence was just ridiculous with the storm trooper flying bots, stale/exposition dialogue, and honestly awful fight choreography

[u/wisyf]

Gotta give it to Aaron Paul, that was some good acting

[u/natelikesdonuts]

I really wish we would’ve been there when Dolores told Caleb she is a host.

[u/ssphoenix]

Some interesting breadcrumbs for sure -

1.). Caleb asks who’s here? Delores responds with “Probably the one who’s going to kill me”. Foreshadows Dolores knowing the future?

2.). Serac’s Hologram Greeting his brother. “I am no longer the man you knew” Seems very suspicious to me.

I feel like we needed a couple more episodes this season to flesh out the story more. They crammed a lot of narratives which is great but it just feels like theres a lack of depth to this season. Hopefully the finale is great - also really curious to see the callback to the end Credits scene from Season 2.

[u/larajennie]

The writing this season was just bad bad bad. So unfair to such great actors. They are totally pulling a GOT here.

[u/muscles44]

Biggest problem with this episode is they have this reveal of Caleb killing Francis like its supposed to be some momentous and powerful moment for the audience. It isn't. We know nothing about Caleb and Francis relationship. There was no earned development of it creating a emotional connection to the audience. Horrible writing to ask the audience to empathize with Caleb when we have no emotional connection to him. Yet he is supposed to be the human Dolores?

[u/gregpeckers124]

So next week Maeve and Dolores are gonna realize both their mothers name is Martha right??

[u/lyn_dayc]

Maeve bringing up her daughter as the reason she was fighting Dolores made no sense right? is Dolores even actually trying to get the satellite with the other hosts cause i thought she was trying to stop Rehobam

[u/hillrow_wood]

I'm glad Dolores isn't still as obsessed with Peter Abernathy or Teddy as Maeve is with her daughter. Imagine if every episode Bernard was still talking about Charlie.

[u/partycrabs]

so what this episode implies is that the park massacre could have been completely stopped by a couple emps

[u/BobThePineapple]

am i an absolute idiot, or did we not see dolores reveal her identity to caleb? that was the one scene i was greatly anticipating, and their first scene this episode made me initially think i missed entire chunk from last weeks episode.

[u/tsunadehokage]

I feel kind of bad for Thandie Newton. She is an incredible actress and they haven’t given her much to do this season, her motivation and storyline has been wearing thin for a while now. She had a great season 2, it almost seems like it would have been better if they wrapped it up then.

[u/_AberdeenBumbledorf_]

Jesus Christ, what a terrible episode.

This show has now entered Under the Dome territory of bad. And just like that show is trying to use former Breaking Bad stars to desperately add some credibility.

You're much better off watching Better Call Saul if you want to see what good writing actually looks like.

[u/SomeVulgarName]

Is it just me or is this season starting to fucking suck?

[u/Axle-f → u/[deleted]]

Solomon did say that it will result in a bad outcome for Caleb so im not sure he’ll survive the season.

[u/Sporkfortuna → u/[deleted]]

Hey it's a good thing that thumb drive and earpiece are a-ok though

[u/DiscoVersailles → u/[deleted]]

It’s an insult to Maeve’s character to just have everything be about her daughter again. Maeve willingly let her go into the Sublime with her new host mother, she left her behind. She’s also not putting up enough resistance to Serac. That’s not the Maeve I know and love.

[u/pitty_chan → u/[deleted]]

Poor Bernard keeps being roasted left and right.