Westworld has been descending into stupidity since season 2. I kept hoping they would find their way back to some echo of what they were in season 1, but they closed this season with the worst episode yet.
Just for STARTERS, we begin with the instant, easy restoration of Hale, who was shot directly in her pearl with a high caliber bullet at the end of the last episode. For a show that chronically suffers from a sense of meaninglessness and low-stakes because no one ever really dies, THIS resurrection takes the cake.
They didn't even try to explain it. Just.... She's magically fine. Wow.
Next we have an utterly senseless bloodbath orchestrated by robo-William, for literally no reason other than they decided he's just pure, mindless evil. What an absolute travesty of a writing team. What a waste of a beautiful nuanced character.
Raise your hand if you would rather have seen the redemption of the young William we knew from season 1. Or if you'd rather have seen William become a robo-warrior who champions the humans because he has the thoughts and memories of a human? Or if you'd rather have seen ANYTHING smarter happen with his character.
And then we have the entire ending hinge on Bernard's hidden gun. Because the writers went all in on the idea that not only did Bernard see a general vision of how things would play out on a global scale, he actually saw every single minute detail of every moment in time. As if that would be possible even with all the processing power on the world. As if a simulation could spit out data about things that it never even has any input about.
Next we have the Caleb plotline wrap up with the most forced, bottom-of-the-barrel nonsense fighting ever. How did Clementine find them? Why would she need directions to the rebels? She has all the time in the world to just walk out and kill them. Why is she suddenly super-evil also? What have they done to set her up as the final big bad that Caleb needs to fight?
And then, finally, we have Dolores the storyteller recreating Westworld for... Reasons.
There's all this talk about "a test". They spend the whole end of the show making a big deal out of it. But Dolores's own monologue says she's seen the best of humanity and the worst of humanity.
So what's the test? To see if humanity is good or evil? She just says she knows we're both.
Finally, I'm just disappointed in this whole season, and Westworld as a whole. Why works robots, who can turn off their emotions like flipping a light switch, find joy in hunting humans? Why would Dolores (in Hale's body), built for empathy, have become such a cruel killing machine? It never made sense. Conquering made sense. The saddism did not.
And why is the end of the world a given? Because ONE CITY went nuts? Is this happening around the world? They never show us. Also, we know there are always outliers popping up, fighting the mind control. Seems like they would thrive more now that they are fighting mindless, violent humans, instead of a collective robot hive mind.
Not that ANY of this matters or carries any emotional weight.. When death means literally nothing, the emotional stakes could not be lower.
How very, very far this show has fallen from the brilliance of season 1.
Just for STARTERS, we begin with the instant, easy restoration of Hale, who was shot directly in her pearl with a high caliber bullet at the end of the last episode. For a show that chronically suffers from a sense of meaninglessness and low-stakes because no one ever really dies, THIS resurrection takes the cake.
They didn't even try to explain it. Just.... She's magically fine. Wow.
Next we have an utterly senseless bloodbath orchestrated by robo-William, for literally no reason other than they decided he's just pure, mindless evil. What an absolute travesty of a writing team. What a waste of a beautiful nuanced character.
Raise your hand if you would rather have seen the redemption of the young William we knew from season 1. Or if you'd rather have seen William become a robo-warrior who champions the humans because he has the thoughts and memories of a human? Or if you'd rather have seen ANYTHING smarter happen with his character.
And then we have the entire ending hinge on Bernard's hidden gun. Because the writers went all in on the idea that not only did Bernard see a general vision of how things would play out on a global scale, he actually saw every single minute detail of every moment in time. As if that would be possible even with all the processing power on the world. As if a simulation could spit out data about things that it never even has any input about.
Next we have the Caleb plotline wrap up with the most forced, bottom-of-the-barrel nonsense fighting ever. How did Clementine find them? Why would she need directions to the rebels? She has all the time in the world to just walk out and kill them. Why is she suddenly super-evil also? What have they done to set her up as the final big bad that Caleb needs to fight?
And then, finally, we have Dolores the storyteller recreating Westworld for... Reasons.
There's all this talk about "a test". They spend the whole end of the show making a big deal out of it. But Dolores's own monologue says she's seen the best of humanity and the worst of humanity.
So what's the test? To see if humanity is good or evil? She just says she knows we're both.
Finally, I'm just disappointed in this whole season, and Westworld as a whole. Why works robots, who can turn off their emotions like flipping a light switch, find joy in hunting humans? Why would Dolores (in Hale's body), built for empathy, have become such a cruel killing machine? It never made sense. Conquering made sense. The saddism did not.
And why is the end of the world a given? Because ONE CITY went nuts? Is this happening around the world? They never show us. Also, we know there are always outliers popping up, fighting the mind control. Seems like they would thrive more now that they are fighting mindless, violent humans, instead of a collective robot hive mind.
Not that ANY of this matters or carries any emotional weight.. When death means literally nothing, the emotional stakes could not be lower.
How very, very far this show has fallen from the brilliance of season 1.