Five ways Westworld could improve in season 3

4. Tone down the dialogue, guys

I think Westworld is a well-scripted show, but there are a couple moments every episode where I roll my eyes at the dialogue. Part of that may be due to the nebulous Valley Beyond narrative. No one knows what it is, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that no one can articulate why they’re going there or what they want to do when they arrive. Dolores, in particular, seems pathologically incapable of saying what she means. Let’s look at a few examples from the season finale:

"Man in Black: “What are you hoping to find out here?” Dolores: “The same thing you are. You wanted an answer to the final problem: your mortality. But you found something else, didn’t you? Something you want to destroy.”"

“Something else,” “something you want to destroy”…Would it kill you to spell out exactly what that something is, Dolores?

"Bernard: “What is [the Forge] to you?” Dolores: “Mankind’s undoing. The secret we need is inside.”"

Enough with the secrets. Just speak plainly.

"Bernard: “What are you looking for, Dolores?” Dolores: “Something underneath this. The system itself.”"

Great, very specific.

I realize this is nit-picky, but characters can only talk in riddles for so long before it rankles. Why can’t these robots just speak like people?

At other points, the dialogue is overwritten. Take one of Dolores’ good lines from the finale, when she explains why she’s going to torpedo the Valley Beyond. “I don’t want to play cowboys and indians anymore, Bernard; I want their world!” That’s a solid line; it expresses clearly what Dolores wants, ties it back to where she came from, and is delivered with passion by Evan Rachel Wood. But then the writers go too far and add, “The world they denied us.” That part is obvious and better left unsaid.

There’s a pattern of stating the obvious on this show, of making the subtext text when it doesn’t need to be. See also Maeve’s line after she reunites with her gang in the Mesa: “You were both a bit late, so I went ahead and saved myself.” We know, we just watched it. Then there’s this line from Charlotte Hale as she watches Clementine, who’s been rigged to drive the hosts crazy, ride for the Valley Beyond: “This is what I love about technology. Who needs four horsemen when one’ll do just fine?” Thank you, Dr. Doom.

There are other issues — at certain points during this episode, Bernard and Logan are turned into walking exposition machines — but in general, I think the writers would benefit from taking a few steps back and considering if their dialogue is too melodramatic. Take it down a notch, people.