I thought it was a good finale, I'm just not sure it required seven episodes of setup. It might have made a decent two hour movie. What were the takeaways from this season? The main theme was that humans in the real world were no more "free" then the hosts in the park. As we learned last season, human are relatively simple coding. This season we learned that those that are introduced divergences were removed from the system, either physically or via memory altering glasses and drugs. A bit of a pre-crime idea, a la Minority Report. That's about it. Delores fought to free the hosts and now she fought to give Caleb the same choice for all humanity. Next season seems setup to more greatly explore the Futureworld concept. Charlotte is the side of Delores that sees the evil in the world. She will try to restore order to prevent tragic events, like the loss of her son.

Are we kind of back at where we started in Season 2?

Hale-DeloresV2 (Tessa Thompson) wants to destroy the human race?

Thoughts on Jesse Pinkman this season? I've heard praise for his casting as Caleb this season, but I don't understand it.

This season was just plain bad television. What a waste of a big budget.

I admit I didn't feel like giving this season the brain power that maybe it needs to be appreciated, but didn't all the free will debate seem ridiculous with all the manufactured dichotomies? "You have a choice: Do what I want because you have no free will, or don't do what I want because you have free will, but you're only making that choice to avoid not having free will, and therefore, being forced into the choice, you really have no free will either way."

By the way... I love how society is collapsing into disorder and people are rioting and you can still find crime mercenaries willing to die for you for the right price.

Can someone explain the Sublime? What I seem to remember is that it was created by Ford as a "place" the hosts could exist without Delos messing with them. Except that Delos could have still messed with them, which is why Delores beamed the information to somewhere and provide Bernard with the only key to access it. Why does Bernard care about the Sublime? Just curiosity, since he was given the key? It seems like the best way to protect those hosts inside, would be to erase that segment of his memory, like he did in Season 2. Is his goal to reuniting Maeve with her daughter? Is that worth risking all those already in the Sublime? Does Bernard want to free the hosts in other parks too? As a viewer, why should I care about the Sublime beyond it being where Maeve can reunite with her daughter? Is it just for the continuation of Maeve's story arc or are their other reasons I'm forgetting?

I don't know. I like high brow sci-fi, but sometimes it's just bad writing.

I think season one stands alone as a pretty good it of television. After that, it just kind of lost its way.

I had given up around the third or fourth episode this season. It happens with shows. It happened with Lost. It happened with Walking Dead. Really good shows that just went off the rails and forgot their sole reason for existing was to entertain me. All of a sudden I will be watching, and be totally distracted by other things. It becomes more difficult to watch it without picking up a tablet and reading other things while I watch the show in the background. And then the TV show becomes the distraction from other things.

Of course, I recorded the rest of the season, but I doubt I'll ever watch it. I'll probably just delete it for space. The show lost its magic.

Those are great questions. I have no idea. I'd have to rewatch starting over from Season 1 to even remember half of what you just asked. Since I really liked Season 1 (and 2), I might just do that. I have about a month of HBO left, before I cancel it until another show that I really like shows up...

Which is ironic, because Anthony Hopkins also starred in Magic. Another show where he was controlling facsimiles of people that became homicical.
hopkins_magic (resized).jpg

Do you watch "breakdowns" or watch podcasts (or read web sites) that break down each episode or deep dive into what was possibly going on in the episode?

Sometimes they clear up stuff that happened in the past or show something I completely missed.

Here's one Youtube channel that I watch:

I also listen to a podcast ("Shat on TV - Westworld), but because I didn't really get into Season 3 like I was into Season 1 & 2, I didn't really listen to many episodes of the podcast.

https://shatontv.com/category/westworld/

I do however try to catch every single episode of "Shat The Movies", because I love re-living all the great (and not so great) movies from the 80s/90s.

http://shatthemovies.com/

I found this season a let down. Not as bad as Season 2 but I must say the last 2 min. made the next season look interesting. It will probably be crap but it looked good.

Jesus, I sometimes have a hard time finding an hour just to watch the show, let alone the accompanying YouTube videos and podcasts to break down each episode. No thanks.

And the problem is, the show is a mess now, with or without the commentary videos. The terrible writing is the most glaring problem. It's night and day compared to season 1.

That is how I felt at the end of season 2 and the preseason shots they showed for season 3.

I totally understand.

For those who do like video breakdowns:

Here's a video on possible Season 4 theories and an overview of some of the Easter Eggs on the HBO Westworld websites.

Another thing I found odd is the sound on this season. I found it was mixed poorly in the sense that the background over shadowed the vocals. My system is set up right and i never have an issue with any show or movie but with this season I had to have subtitles on as I could barely understand what anyone was saying. Every episode was like this.

I'm glad it's over. Best part of the entire season was playing Brain Damage at the end.

Not sure how well the ratings were but I would not be surprised if there is no Season 4.

Season 4 is already renewed - but HBO had no choice. In the beginning, Nolan/Joy got a 6 season deal - AT THEIR OPTION. They can quit, but HBO cannot.

What a heck of a ride that finale was. So much going on. I felt like they actually wrapped up a lot and explained a lot compared to past finale's/seasons. A lot to take in but one thing is for sure, this show is incredible and the writers deserve a ton of credit. Plus I just love watching the set design , cinematography . The acting is top notch. So well done.

Like Seasons 1 and 2, I'll be looking forward to getting season 3 on UHD BD.