Westworld season 3 hits its stride with “Decoherence”

It’s been a odd season for Westworld. Like the hosts themselves, it’s almost as though the show has had trouble figuring out exactly what it is in the “real world”‘ There have been plenty of brilliant moments, but as a whole it’s felt just the slightest bit less cohesive than past seasons. For as good as Westworld can be, its third outing has had some struggles with pacing, keeping character motivations believable, and a lack of memorable faces.

That struggle for identity ended tonight. With “Decoherence,” the show finally has regained its stride. This was as close to a flawless episode the third season of Westworld has produced to date. There were still some slight pacing hiccups, but considering that every main character of the season except for The Real Dolores and Caleb made an appearance, they’re pretty forgivable. On the whole, this was such a strong showing that it fit right at home among the better episodes of seasons 1 and 2.

Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO

My personal bias might be showing here, but any episode that starts off with Maeve doing what she does best is an episode that starts off right. Saying that Thandie Newton absolutely killed every bit of dialogue she was given is like proclaiming “the sky is blue.” But “Decoherence” also gave her material much richer than in her previous two outings this season. From her tongue-in-cheek proclamation to Serrac that she wants help fighting Dolores to the shocking displays of her ever-evolving powers to the utter devastation she shows when her friend and sometime lover Hector dies a permanent and tragic death before her eyes…this was Maeve’s heaviest, best episode of the season so far.

The return to Warworld came as a surprise. When we found out back in “The Winter Line” that it was a simulation, I assumed that we’d seen the last of that fabricated reality. Using it as a place for Maeve to hang out while her body was being rebuilt was a cool decision. I’m not sure exactly what was going on with that fight scene in the town square — was Maeve training for her rematch with Dolores, or maybe blowing off steam? — but it gave us a chance to see Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) again, so I’ll count it as a win. His self-aware musings on being a program writer within a program have been really enjoyable, and finding out that he’d ‘programmed’ the bar so that no one could see him was pretty funny.

On the whole though, a big part of what made Maeve’s story so good this week was that it also heavily intersected with Serrac’s takeover of Delos, and Charlotte Hale’s subsequent action-packed escape from the company compound.

Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO

So far, Westworld season 3 has doled out quiet character moments sparingly. Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) has gotten quite a few of these moments, and tonight was the brutal payoff of all that buildup.

Through Charlotte, who is struggling to reconcile her memories as Dolores with her growing love for her new human family, Westworld has played with the idea that pretending to be another person for too long can change you. That calling to check on her family is what blows her cover (it’s something the real Charlotte Hale would never have bothered doing) is such a powerful, heartbreaking idea. This is the sort of deeply thoughtful quandary that has always been a trademark of Westworld, and writers Suzanne Wrubel and Lisa Joy deserve some serious kudos for bringing it home so well.

Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO

And Charlotte’s situation was made all the more tragic by those final haunting moments. Once Charlotte actually commits to running away from everything to keep her newfound human family safe, Serrac takes that option away from her by exploding their getaway car with them inside it. As awful as it was, I’m glad that our villain got to have a final say. He’s gotten bested by Dolores quite a few times so far, so to have him land such a devastating blow helps make him more threatening.

And speaking of villainy, as awesome as Charlotte’s escape from Delos was, I can’t help but be a little worried about that whole riot robot thing. It was super cool to see one in action, but now that Charlotte is out and Serrac owns Delos, does that mean he has a supply of these powerful bots? If so, that could prove very troublesome for our hosts.

Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO

Yet as great as everything in “Decoherence” was, it’s hard to find a better scene than the counseling of the Man in Black. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it might have been one of my favorite scenes in Westworld‘s entire run. To have William sit down in a drug-and-technology-induced therapy session with every iteration of his past self — and moderated by James Delos, no less — was nothing short of genius. It was also a great excuse to bring back some of those memorable actors from past seasons, like Peter Mullan and Jimmi Simpson, and the dialogue was fantastic. “It’s not all about you, William,” Delos says, as all of William’s past selves argue about how they’re all to blame for each other’s problems.

That sort of banter was a huge part of what made William’s story this week so engaging. Those quiet character moments I mentioned earlier? It’s almost like Westworld‘s writers saved a bunch of them up for Ed Harris tonight. His reflections during the counseling lead him to the conclusion that he is, in fact, the good guy of this story (which he establishes by murdering all his past selves…). What he’s done in the past doesn’t matter: it’s what he does from this point on that makes a difference.

Williams is liberated from his psychotherapy prison in the episode’s final moments by none other than Bernard and Stubbs, and I can’t wait to find out what sort of difference he’ll choose to make. The idea of those three characters paling around has me psyched for next week, as we move into the final stretch of the season.

Other Take-Aways

• It’s a testament to how good this episode was that I never even got around to talking about the scene between Maeve and Dolores /  Connells until now. The verbal sparring between the two leading women of the show was another showstopper. I’ve been struggling a little bit to buy Maeve’s motivation for helping Serrac hunt her own kind this season, so it was good to hear some hesitancy from her here. Unfortunately, Dolores has proved that for as forward-thinking as she is, she has a real blindspot when it comes to being able to trust others. That came home in a huge way tonight, when Charlores permanently killed Hector rather than allow him to help Maeve. C’mon Dolores, why didn’t you just take him with you? Why not take his, Maeve’s, and Connells’ pearls and deprive Serrac of his best weapon? A little frustrating…but definitely true to the issues the show has been building around Dolores’ character this season.
• Speaking of Connells’ pearl…did it survive another explosion this week? Last we saw it, Charlotte was escaping Delos with it in her pocket. Seeing how the episode ended, I’m starting to think Connells might be a bad luck charm…
• A shout out must be given to Ramin Djawadi’s use of music to ratchet up the humor this week, especially in Ed Harris’ scenes in the asylum. That opening monologue during his first counseling session is such a throwback to the old Man in Black, complete with creepy, dark musical undertones…but then the music abruptly falls away, and we see that William has actually made one of the other group members break down in tears, while the rest all watch him in horror. “What the f*** is wrong with you?” one of them asks. Ed Harris chuckles to himself, and we can’t help but chuckle along. The humor was at the perfect level this week.
• The moral dilemma of whether people should read their Incite profiles continued to be a really interesting plot point. Some read it and felt freed, like Caleb. Others have their lives come crashing down in a matter of minutes, like William’s counselor. All in all, I expect this will be a back-and-forth debate of ideals through the end of the season, and I’m fine with that. We are talking about the future of the human race here, after all.

Episode Grade: A+

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