Westworld S03xS08 — The Crisis Theory Analysis
I know everyone in Reddit hated this episode but I loved it. It was Westworld at its best. While I admit that there were a lot of loopholes and loose ends but I don’t care. I loved it. This was one of the best Westworld episodes. It had everything in it.
The riot scenes were just perfection. The set design, the choreography, and the background music — everything was just perfect. You could tell that they definitely took inspiration from the Hong Kong protests for it and the fact that this feels so close to reality makes it a lot more emotional. The imagery just tugs at your heart. I mean who doesn’t love a good riot? The shot of the video screens being broken and one of the rioters catching the tear gas and throwing it back to the police, it was so well executed.
So we also find out that Dolores is the OG AI. She was the first host to function properly and every other host was a copy of her code. This sort of metaphorically makes her the mother of all other hosts. So, in a way, she and Maeve’s motivations are the same. They both just want to protect their children and make sure they are in a safe place.
Also, we find out that Rehoboam has been controlling Serac all this time. So we’re in a world where sentient AIs are controlled by humans who are in turn controlled by AI. So basically no one including Serac had any free will at all. The Rehoboam shows what will happen if Caleb “frees people” and the future is as bleak as it can be.But Caleb still chooses to free them. Instead of thinking about the greater good like Searc, Caleb’s reasoning was based on the fact that since he felt he was better off being free from the system, everyone else would be too. Since he would prefer to live in an imperfect risk-laden world, he assumes that it was the right choice for everyone else as well. Has he started the end of the human race as we know it by doing so? Maybe. But is just surviving through mindless compliance a better option? Are we still us, are we still human if we continue to be controlled and manipulated across all aspects of our life? Doesn’t that just make us something like a robot or just parts of a mechanical system?
The second time I cried in the series was watching Dolores fighting for that simple memory. And it was so empowering here for her to continue to see the beauty in the world. After all that has happened, after all, that she has been through. The moments she chose to remember even included the first time she met William showing that she has made peace with her past and has forgiven people. The scene was an ode to the world of Westworld itself. The music throughout the scene was just so great and added much to its emotional impact. Ramin Djawdi is a musical genius and Westworld’s scores as his best works to date. Yes, I think the score in this series is even better than his composition for the Game of Thrones.
The OG Dolores is gone, and she dies doing what she set out to do — freeing the humans. She was the first character we were introduced to in the series and a lot of fans have come to associate the Westworld with her — so it will be interesting to see how this series will get along without her. Also, her death sort of mirrors that of Ford in regards to her motive. Both of them died for the greater good and in a way, Dolores used Ford’s sacrifice to make as much of an impact in the real-world that Ford had made in the parks.
Speaking of William, I was so sure that his story was going to take a different turn. But I guess it was just based on my desire for him to redeem himself. We had known him before he was the Man in Black and we had seen him caring for Dolores once. So when this season showed that it wasn’t the park and that he was the way he was even before then — I guess we sort of took that to imply that he must then have a redemption now.
And we find out that Arnold had the key all along — which in retrospect makes so much sense with Dolores telling him that he was the most important of them all.
The ending was very reminiscent of the Fight Club ending and the choice of using Brain Damage was just perfection. This was Westworld at its best. I mean there were moments in this series where it didn’t seem like it was measuring up to the past seasons. But the finale made it all worth it. I am just really stoked for the next season.
Published
Originally published at http://behindbhairavsmask.wordpress.com on May 5, 2020.
