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Neece

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,204
Rehoboam being referred to as a god, then dying 90 seconds later because someone told him to delete himself lol.

Revealing Rehoboam as the mastermind behind all of Serac's speeches and actions and then Rehoboam just crumbling like a sandcastle to a voice command in the same exact scene is just truly bizarre.

Rewatching the POI finale this morning made the stark contrast even more extreme. This show doesn't know what to do with half of its characters so it feels like it's just spinning its wheels.

Until we find out next season that Rehoboam faked his death.

BIoyl.jpg
 

Lonestar

Roll Tahd, Pawl
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
3,560
Had skipped this topic most of the season, found it to be an ok season with some interesting takes on A.I running the world, though not as well as POI did somehow. Serac was a poor duplicate of Mr. Greer.

Finale was fine, though I'm not surprised at the reactions I'm seeing in here, as I'm never that critical on the shows that interest me enough to actually watch them.
 

m_shortpants

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,296
Man, the writing is terrible. Didn't understand anyone's motivations the entire season. Super sloppy. The action scenes were like B movie, and lazy at the end with the lights off, so tropey

Seriously bad stuff here lol.
 

Arta

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,445
I also don't get how Dolores and Halores "character arcs" are closer to mood swings that fit whoever's writing the current episode.

We really got jerked around all season to get back to near the same status quo.
 

Lump

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,093
Had skipped this topic most of the season, found it to be an ok season with some interesting takes on A.I running the world, though not as well as POI did somehow. Serac was a poor duplicate of Mr. Greer.

Finale was fine, though I'm not surprised at the reactions I'm seeing in here, as I'm never that critical on the shows that interest me enough to actually watch them.

POI showed us how AIs were influencing and running the world. Westworld just tells us that Rehoboam is running the world but not enough to have any instinct of self preservation whatsoever. The creative and extreme lengths that The Machine and its team went through to preserve The Machine made POI incredibly fun to watch over time. Hiding in the electrical grid, compressing into a suitcase and needing a shitload of networked PS3s plugged in together to have a fighting chance at coming back online, even having poor John running around for a can of liquid nitrogen to cool off the array - it actually felt like the AIs in that show were gods with countless pawns.

In Westworld, Rehoboam and Solomon feel like glorified Alexas. A janitor tripping over the wrong outlet could shut either of them down.

The Maeve off-switch doesn't ever get an explanation either. Its existence and its destruction feel conjured up out of pure convenience for the script. I kept expecting some sort of turn where Rehoboam had hacked into her and the switch was just a decoy or something, but.. the switch existed, and then it stopped existing, and the plot moved on.
 

milamber182

Member
Dec 15, 2017
7,745
Australia
Entertaining and reasonably satisfying finale. Ex Machina Delores must have cost a bit. Bernard had some memorable scenes for the first time since the premiere. Maeve finally came to her senses. And now we know why Delores trusted Caleb to help her. Dolores no :( Host William FTW! I wonder if they will do a full time jump next season or fill in some gaps to setup S5...
 

Cass_Se

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,128
I honestly have no idea what the point of the season or any of the characters was. It started with a decent enough hook after season 2 but it completely spiralled as it went on. I think Dolores turning out to be a good guy in the end was the most ludicrous of all plot decisions, but there were so many characters whose place in the story was forcefully dragged out (Bernard, Maeve, Stubbs) and all the new characters ended up being a waste (Caleb was bizzarely uninteresting, Serrac was just a puppet, Charlores had a great start that went nowhere).

In the end, by the strength of Riddle of the Sphinx and Kiksuya season 2 remains vastly superior, even if it's plotting was way messier than here. I will take overly convoluted storyline going into an uninteresting conclusion with flashes of absolute brilliance over consistently mediocre meandering plot that goes nowhere. In the scheme of things, I don't think season 3 even changed the status quo much, no idea where season 4 is going but I don't think going from season 2 into season 4 just with replacing Dolores with Charlores would make much difference.
 

LilWayneSuckz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,822
The best thing about this season was the set design and visual effects, everything else was almost nonsensical.

They really overdid it with "Terminator Delores".

"Riddle of the Sphinx" from Season 2 IMO was better than every episode in Season 3.
 

Lump

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,093
Also "I sense Dolores is gone" lmao get out of here with that lazy ass writing use-the-force bullshit.
 

Ojli

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,652
Sweden
Pretty meh of a season. First season was still the best. I will watch season 4, but I won't recommend the series to any friends.

The fight scenes in the last episode were so dull. And the Fight Club similarities were laughable.
 

Dr Doom

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,029
User Banned (2 weeks): Inappropriate Comments
No Evan Rachel Wood next season. Might not watch it.
All that armpit shots off Dolores. I wonder if it smells good 👀


Bernard you left Stubbs hanging.
 

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,556
Bernard being inactive for any significant amount of time seems implausible and ill thought out -- let alone for the large passage implied by him being covered in dust.

Stubbs was chilling in the tub (wounded, but not dead), and that hotel room they were couldn't have gone undisturbed for long. Plus, Bernard's Sublime-communicating headset must have battery retention surpassing of even the 3DS's sleep mode.

Only explanations that make sense to me would be a bomb going off (eh) or it (*groan*) being a simulation like William appeared caught in in S2's post-credits scene.
 

Vommy

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,936
For the love of god please hire someone who can direct action for the next season.
 

CaptainK

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,889
Canada
Without spoiling anything...How was s3 compared to s1 and s2? I hate watched the show from the finale of s1 on and dont know if ill hate watch this or enjoy it.

anyone in this thread hate season 2 but enjoy s3?
I found S2 frustrating to watch, while S3 was easy-to-digest entertainment. But S2 had higher highs, and S3 is kinda dumb when you start to think about it.
 

Solo

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
15,774
Absolute dogshit. S3 made the awful S2 look like an incredible piece of art. Its astounding, really. This show fucking sucks. Its hard to believe that the same people who made S1 are responsible for what this show has become.

While S1 itself was never a top tier HBO classic ala Deadwood or Sopranos, it was an ambitious and engaging as hell second tier show, one I loved dearly. To see it disappear up its own ass in S2 and now reappearing in S3 as a 360 degree vomit spewing mess is so disheartening.

S1 >>>>>>>>>>>> S2 >>> S3

I've said it several times in here already, but this should have been a limited series that ended with its legacy intact that final shot of Dolores shooting Ford.
 

Codosbuya

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
2,336
I liked the season. My only problems are with the action scenes and S3 Bernard which felt like a filler story and set-up for Bernard S4.
 

rude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,812
Um...did Bernard just leave Stubbs in a bathroom for a few hundred years....I'm going to miss thicc Hemsworth a bit. Just a bit though.
 

jokingbird

Member
Oct 25, 2017
687
I still don't know why Serac needed the Delos data, and I don't understand how Chalores magically shuts down Delores Prime. What the hell was that? Sigh. They had a lot of potentially good ideas but just squandered them. What a shame

Serac wanted the Delos data because it contained more information about humans and their minds. He wanted that data to fix the irregulars like his brother who could not fit into society.

Chalores probably helped create the new body for Delores Prime. She probably placed in a back door. It was implied by their conversation.
 

Addi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,260
That has to be the least tense riot since that Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner.
 

Arn

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,755
I'm with those that vaguely enjoyed the season but hated the finale.

I guess I always trusted Nolan and Joy to conclude things in a semi-satisfying way, but what we got was an absolute hodgepodge of poor writing and unjoined up thinking. It's not clear how and why events occurred or what most character's roles were, let alone their motivations. The season felt like a giant McGuffin to setup whatever ending they've just reached.

So there is no AI and Caleb is now teamed with Maive to help guide a free world? And William is dead as a human, if he ever was one, to be replaced by terminator William. And Bernard has been to the Valley Beyond to do something which I guess we'll learn about in Season 4.

But all I could think whilst watching the finale was "god, I really can't be arsed with Season 4"
 

Lyriell

Member
Oct 27, 2017
437
Wow that post credit sequence killed off the most interesting thing in the show to me...

Siiiigh
 

Nooblet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,646
Post credit scene was the only thing I didn't like, rest was great. Though the Serac reveal was kind of meh.
 

Joni

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,508
Such a messy finale, and with the real Dolores out of commission, I might just stop watching here.
 

Nooblet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,646
So I guess Dolores didn't tell Caleb jackshit between episode 6 and episode 7 about her being a host, eventhough it was alluded as such since she mentioned "the park", but then in episode 8 he is surprised to see her mechanical host body.
 

Addi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,260
Such a messy finale, and with the real Dolores out of commission, I might just stop watching here.

Eh, they'll take the pearl from DoLawrence and reacreate her body or some shit.

So I guess Dolores didn't tell Caleb jackshit between episode 6 and episode 7 about her being a host, eventhough it was alluded as such since she mentioned "the park", but then in episode 8 he is surprised to see her mechanical host body.

It's fucking weird, in episode 7, Solomon directly says "You're a host made to immitate humans" and Caleb doesn't react.
It was one of the things I wanted to see, how Caleb would react to her not being human, but they botched it completely.
 

nekomix

Member
Oct 30, 2017
474
I have to say, I've really given a chance at every episode for salvation but ... the quality drop between S2 and this one is so large... I mean, yeah, streamlining the story telling after the clusterfuck of the previous season was needed but don't go that badly.
The podt-credit scene was better than the whole season final. I'll be there for S4 but not as hyped as before. Why have you forsaken me Jonathan ?
 
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Nooblet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,646
I like the general idea of the plot for this season, I even enjoyed a lot of the direction they took to get to the end. But overall yea, it's a bit messy and rushed, needed 2 more episodes to properly pace and flesh it out I think.

Bernard and Maeve's story had not much going until the end. Maeve had a bit more but Bernard had fuckall.

Even if Season 2 had higher highs, it felt like a huge cluster fuck because absolutely nothing made sense until the end, and I don't.mean the general plot but rather what people were doing and why the shoe was showing that. And while they.may have overly streamlined it.in Season 3, I hope they hit the right balance.in Season 4 like the first Season.

Though I'm not sure If want to watch the show without Evan Rachel Wood.
 

Timbuktu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,242
Entertaining and reasonably satisfying finale. Ex Machina Delores must have cost a bit. Bernard had some memorable scenes for the first time since the premiere. Maeve finally came to her senses. And now we know why Delores trusted Caleb to help her. Dolores no :( Host William FTW! I wonder if they will do a full time jump next season or fill in some gaps to setup S5...

It might have cost a bit more that usual, but Westworld cost reported $8-10million per episode and Ex Machina itself only had $15 million budget. (Also, is Caleb another reference to Ex Machine? I'm not sure inviting that comparison is particularly great for the show.) I would hate to see any other HBO shows cancelled because this one has hoovered up the budget. Pretty much all their other shows are better. I feel a bit sorry for the actors, Ed Harris has gone on record to say he didn't enjoy this season; Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright doing some great work here with half decent material.
 

Shopolic

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
6,899
That was one of the most disappointing seasons I ever saw in TV series.
Guys, the last scene of season 2 with host William was happening after this season? Was it at the same time as the last scene of this episode with Bernard?
 

CaptainK

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,889
Canada
This show is ending up like Dexter for me. Probably will stick with it until the end, but eh.
Yeah I watched Dexter to the very end lol. Nothing will faze me.

I think the Westworld showrunners still have some neat ideas, they just can't put it together in a coherent package, and they keep bending characters to suit whatever purpose. Every season finale has pushed the reset button on the plot, but this time they kinda reset the characters too. Except Bernard, poor guy's role is still to piece together what happened and explain things to the audience.
 

Emmz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
404
If you're talking about the scene where he strapped on that gun right in front of Incite, he uses the auto aiming gun to kill 2 of the 3 security guards that were firing at him, and sneaks up behind the third one and puts the gun to the back of his head. He asks for the key card, and reminds the guy that Incite isn't worth dying for. There isn't any trickery, Caleb doesn't die, he just somehow off screen sneaks around the guy. Rehoboam should have had cameras all around and immediately cancelled the card but maybe the AI was watching AI porn and was distracted.

It is hilarious that an AI that is supposed to be running the world has less security than a grocery store and likes to live on the ground floor in the open. It should have watched Terminator and learned to make copies of itself all around the world.

The very first time I saw Rehoboam sitting in the lobby of an office building that anybody could just stroll into, my first thought was, "That's a red herring, right? It's not actually just sitting out in the open lobby of a random office building. It's gotta exist in some super secret facility or as some array of satellites around the world or something."

Nope. It's actually just sitting there. Dolores could have driven a motorcycle strapped with C4 in there and blown the damn thing up in the first episode of the season and boom: no more system for controlling humanity.
 

spootime

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,435
I'll usually keep watching a show even if the quality goes down but I think I'm out. Some cool overarching themes this season but the execution was just terrible. Bernard didnt need to exist. Maeve didnt need to exist. I actually started to get upset when I saw stubbs face on my screen towards the end there. Hale was a pretty good storyline -- too bad she's just generic big bad for next season now.

Speaking of execution -- something about the final episode felt surreal to me. I don't really know enough about film to describe why but the entire sequence where Aaron Paul was invading incite is a good example. It legitimately felt like a CW show or satirical almost. Not sure if that makes sense.
 

milamber182

Member
Dec 15, 2017
7,745
Australia
So I get that Caleb is being manipulated by Dolores to be the "Judas Steer" for humanity, but I have no idea how he personally will be the one responsible for mankind's undoing.
N2dPCvs.jpg


What could this one human do that Dolores can't? (Besides survive an EMP)

Shit like this is exactly why the series hasn't lost me. Details like this hidden in the morass. As bad as the writing is if you look at past connections, references, there's still a great deal of thought being put into what happens.

And some people still think they are making all this up as they go along. If that's true then they do a hell of a job paying off the tiniest details.
 

rude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,812
Does it make a difference whether the show is planned out or not when it's mediocre either way
 

Charpunk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,654
That was one of the most disappointing seasons I ever saw in TV series.
Guys, the last scene of season 2 with host William was happening after this season? Was it at the same time as the last scene of this episode with Bernard?

The post credit scene from season 2 looked like it took place many years in the future but who the fuck knows at this point.
 

milamber182

Member
Dec 15, 2017
7,745
Australia
Well, yeah, I get that, but why would they leave it operating to begin with unless they decided it was uniquely suited to getting rid of the "variants" or whatever term they used?

westworld.fandom.com

Solomon

Solomon is a complex, quantum AI and one of the earlier versions of what would eventually become Rehoboam. Despite its advanced nature, the system was deemed too unpredictable and stored away with a different task. Dolores remarked that the system inherited some of its creator's traits, almost...

Solomon is the schizophrenic AI brainchild of Serac's brother Jean Mi who's now in stasis. Serac can't let the AI go just like he can't let his brother go.
 

Parenegade

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,589
Seeing some of the complaints it proves to me that dumbing down the show isn't worth it because even if you go to painstaking lengths to explain something people still won't get it.

Like there are people that are confused why Dolores did what she did and I'm like...what the fuck lol
 

CaptainK

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,889
Canada
And some people still think they are making all this up as they go along. If that's true then they do a hell of a job paying off the tiniest details.
Ehh, the idea of a leader and followers is so generic, I don't find this particularly clever. The same lines were referenced in season 2, with Akecheta leading the herd of hosts to the Valley Beyond. It's just not that difficult to write something that pays off the Judas steer dialogue, so it doesn't feel that rewarding. *shrugs*
 

Addi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,260
The very first time I saw Rehoboam sitting in the lobby of an office building that anybody could just stroll into, my first thought was, "That's a red herring, right? It's not actually just sitting out in the open lobby of a random office building. It's gotta exist in some super secret facility or as some array of satellites around the world or something."

Nope. It's actually just sitting there. Dolores could have driven a motorcycle strapped with C4 in there and blown the damn thing up in the first episode of the season and boom: no more system for controlling humanity.

Don't forget Solomon, an AI we first heard about last episode. It was in a facility with thousand of frozen people and had... three guards.

Speaking of execution -- something about the final episode felt surreal to me. I don't really know enough about film to describe why but the entire sequence where Aaron Paul was invading incite is a good example. It legitimately felt like a CW show or satirical almost. Not sure if that makes sense.

Really bad writing, directing and editing. Just look at the sequence where Caleb enters the riot. He meets some randoms that are supposed to help him. There's a back and forth with "I want to go to Incite" "you can't". Welp, guess they don't want to do the job they are paid to do.
Caleb just stands there and looks around, suddenly there some gas shot at them, but whatever, Giggles pops up and saves him from a grenade he easily could have dogded. He has some goodies for Caleb, Ash is on demo, he is on crowd control. This is Suicide Squad territory: walking and talking unecessary exposition while being in an action sequence.

Ash wants to destroy the power grid, so apparently they are not hired to help Caleb, they were just there. "You want to get to incite? there's your ride" You see a police vehicle land. Caleb just walks to it. Oh no! One cop sees him, but Giggles dives in front in time. "Stay with him Ash, he needs you". So much emotion... Notice the music during this entire riot sequence too. Either nothing or some calm ambient music.
 

Charpunk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,654
I still can't get over how they were all "let's just use some POI elements" and somehow totally botched it.