AIs in LA: Westworld (S3E01)

HBO’s Westworld is back with its third season and despite my skepticism, I find myself genuinely excited about it. Like many spurred Westworld fans, we took the trailer for Season 3 with a grain of salt and watched this premiere with an earned skepticism. If there was anything we learned from Season 2 it was that a trailer can do an excellent job giving you chills and hyping you up only to be slowly let down by a lukewarm season.

Falling out of love with a show is a tough feeling to shake. I considered the first season of Westworld to be one of the best starts of any drama series in the way it created a dark-yet-vibrant world with complex characters (and even more complex plot arcs)*. Unfortunately, the second season tried to double down on what the creators (Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy) thought the audience would like, but instead wound up creating a season that felt more hollow and convoluted than intriguing. The second season of Westworld left many fans and critics feeling as if the show had wasted its potential.

So with all of that said, I watched this premiere with a cautious optimism, and despite my trepidations, I felt like the premiere episode of Season 3 (“Parce Domini”) breathed new life into the series. Its goals were clear and well executed: build the world & show us where each piece is on the robot vs. humans chess board.

For two seasons we were stuck in a giant theme park and our only lens into the “real” outside world was through the hedonistic upper class that would visit the park. Now we get to see “their” world. Much like the premiere episode of S1 (“The Original”) where we discovered the intricacies of Westworld through Dolores’ eyes, we now get to explore the world of the near-future through her eyes too. Only this time, Dolores is one step ahead of us, dishing out justice to those who wronged her, getting rich quick**, spying on tech people, and getting kidnapped on purpose to slaughter a whole squad of guards (see also: “goons”).

The world building is fantastic here, showing this society’s dangerous reliance on technology (a symbiotic relationship that’s getting turned on its head) and its unbeatable meritocracy. The self-driving cars/motorcycles look fantastic and (as a resident of LA) it was cool to see futuristic versions of familiar locations around the city. But going beyond aesthetics, this world feels very lived-in and fleshed out. From sci-fi euphemisms, to designer drugs, to an Uber app for criminal jobs, and therapy calls with dead friends, every minute of this episode gives insight into this new world both visually and verbally.

And with that world fleshed out, the stage is set for the key players: Dolores has a plan, Bernard is in hiding (juggling a Dr.Jekyll/Mr.Hyde brain with a remote control), and robot-Charlotte is leading Delos*** as she tries to get the company to brush off the events of the last two seasons. Like Charlotte, much of the meta-message of the premiere holds to this mentality of “forget last season, just focus on who escaped the island and what’s their trajectory?”

As always, Evan Rachel Wood is mesmerizing throughout and it’s been extremely cool to see how she’s shifted Dolores’ character through each season from innocent prairie girl (S1) to stone-cold murderer (S2) to something more meticulous, cunning, and cool-headed (S3). This coolness doesn’t give much in terms of emotional depth, but it does feel more “human” than the almost cartoonishly evil Dolores of the last season. Also considering the last we see Dolores, she’s bleeding out in Caleb’s arms, I have a feeling that he might have a role in evoking the “humanity” in her and thus more emotional depth.

By the end of the episode, Bernard is en route to Westworld (to hide or to find Maeve or both?) and though we don’t get a lot of Charlotte in this episode, I hope this season does a better job of highlighting Tessa Thompson’s incredible acting talent than last season. Likewise, with Bernard heading back to Westworld, I’m looking forward to revisiting Maeve & William (aka The Man In Black) to see where they fit in with all of this.

Two new major characters were also introduced in this premiere. Liam (played by John Gallagher Jr.) added an interesting perspective to the world while establishing part of this season’s intrigue. Liam clearly has unresolved issues with his deceased (murdered?) dad, but he’s also the figurehead of a company that developed the leading AI algorithm. As a fan of The Newsroom (as well as Spring Awakening & American Idiot) it was a pleasant surprise to see John Gallagher Jr. and I loved the way he juggled Liam’s naivety & angst throughout the episode.

And then, of course, there’s Caleb, played by the inimitable Aaron Paul. In all honesty, Aaron Paul’s involvement in this season was one of the main concerns I had after watching the trailer. Obviously Aaron Paul is an incredible actor — anyone who watched “El Camino” and Bojack Horseman in the last year understands the range he has. All the same, the writing of S2 didn’t give Tessa Thompson enough room to shine and I was worried Aaron Paul would suffer the same fate. This premiere gave me hope that my worries were unwarranted as Aaron Paul’s character, Caleb, was introduced.

If Dolores is our eyes into the upper class, then Caleb is our eyes into the bottom of the barrel. Throughout this episode we’re introduced to a man who’s been traumatized by war (or possibly something else?), forced to perform criminal activities (via an Uber-for-crime app)**** to take care of his sick mother and survive in a world that doesn’t want him. All the while, he’s taking intermittent calls with his “friend” from the army, attempting to open up and heal only to be painfully reminded that “Francis” is an algorithmic audio facsimile of his dead friend. It’s also briefly hinted when (someone points a gun at Caleb), that he was once shot in the head, which I imagine wasn’t pleasant. Caleb has a distaste for technology that isn’t as explicit as Spooner’s was in “iRobot” (played by Will Smith), but still remains ever-present. I particularly loved his facial reaction in the scene where he asks someone on the phone: “no offense, but are you a robot?”*****

Aaron Paul’s performance is powerfully nuanced, grounding and balancing Dolores’ cold hunger for world domination with the harsher realities of the “everyman” in this future society. Watching these two separate storylines intersect was incredibly satisfying and well-paced. Both actors got to have shining moments before their paths became linked. Likewise, hearing Ramin Djawadi’s hauntingly familiar score come fade in****** as Dolores & Caleb first meet definitely hit home for me in a way this show hasn’t in a while. There’s so much potential for where these two characters can go from here and that alone has me (cautiously) excited to see how this season plays out.

Without completely letting my guard down, I thoroughly enjoyed the premiere of Westworld’s third season. I really hope that Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy can maintain this fresh new angle and feel for the show without getting wrapped up in some of the more hollowly self-indulgent shortcomings of the previous season.

Here’s hoping these violent delights have decent ends!

Footnotes:

*(I often would tell friends to only watch the first season, since it works so well as a stand-alone experience.)

**(I believe she leased an apartment for the sole purpose of sitting on the patio)

**Delos’ futuristic exterior is actually the Valencia campus of my alma mater (Berklee College of Music) — another cool familiar landmark!

****Admittedly, I don’t watch sports (pretty much at all), so I didn’t immediately know who Marshawn Lynch was, but his character was hilarious (and I particularly loved his mood-sweatshirt)

*****I have my own fears we might start asking that question ourselves in the near future.

******I believe the piece is called “This World”