The dazzling third season of the dense sci-fi thriller has raised the stakes and sharpened the focus of its mind-teasing existential premise. [30 Mar - 12 Apr 2020, p.9]

While Season 3 seems to be shaping up to be a new bag that’s full of familiar tricks, you probably know if that’s your bag. And if it is, what a stunning and ambitious one at that.

Determinism aside, this is a zanier, sillier Westworld, and much more entertaining for it.

This necessary reset looks great, but if the 2nd taught us anything, just watch, don't think.

Season three is a blessedly streamlined one. Provided you can grasp the general gist of who’s alive, who’s a host, and who knows what is “real.” ... But this new, simpler Westworld is also no fun. ... All this said, there’s an unmistakable confidence this go-round, a steady hand at the helm that appeared all-but severed as season two neared its end.

What we mainly get in the early episodes (four of the season’s eight were available) is a pretty straightforward version of Los Angeles corporate noir, with debts to “Blade Runner” and the films of Michael Mann. ... The returning cast, though, still offers the value that the show’s writing and plotting can’t consistently deliver. ... That they can’t always jolt the show to life, or overcome its tendency toward a critical mass of self-consciousness and ponderous seriousness, isn’t their fault.

The soulless pleasure seekers and manipulated synthetics of Westworld continue to leave me cold — even in a third season full of interesting narrative deviations that highlight many of the show's strengths but also swiftly reminded me of many of its frustrations.

Probably our favorite show of all time. And perhaps the most layered complex show ever made, if you look at discoveries on Reddit, Quora, and various podcast discussions. It’s a lot of fun. Feel free to make a case why another show is even more complex in an interesting way. (Seems like the show does have a tendency to potentially make one feel stupid, which we happen to like, but others may not.)

There are some grand ideas and the show is still well-acted and beautifully shot. However, characters are just not as interesting as they used to be. Motivations are often unclear and the show becomes more complicated, leading to an often frustrating watch.

Eh, i used to love this show above every other one... It still have some good ideas sometimes, some decent moments But, let's be honest, 90% of the time the plot is just unnecessarlly convoluted for no actual story-telling reason, but just for the sake of being convoluted. And they pile that up too much, you're barely done undestanding what's going on and they start with another plot-twist, sometimes even an unreasonable one. Some characters get damaged a lot from this, and while some narrative arcs get a "decent" closure , most of them feel like there was so much potential wasted, it could have been slower, more enjoyable It's a show that needs to be watched maybe twice, to get a good understanding of it, and it's like that since season 1, but it's not entartaining enough anymore to do that.

The third season of Westworld goes even further in trying to be profound and maintain a sense of awe and grandeur the whole time. There are too many moments that seem to be key - dramatic peaks, but aren't ultimately justified by plot outcomes. It's just too much! The best analogy I have is like watching two people with guns on each other. Then watch each explain how the other's gun won't work, or that they're someone else, or that it's not a gun, or that they're not really here. The show's main device is to reveal something you didn't know to put a new spin on the story or character. And repeat. But who wants to engage in something which is rewritten so many times in a single show? It's exhausting and unsatisfyingly complicated; presumably mainly for the gratification of the writers. This seems to be a growing trend in TV and movies: To make the audience follow a plot where what they know is misdirection and the characters they empathise with are someone else. And this new 'reality' makes no sense to an audience who only retained the pieces of the plot than fit the previous narrative. Which is now gone. Such a disappointment.

Season 3 had so much potential but it seems like the the writers were tired and ran out of ideas on how the series should conclude, simply recycling ideas and storylines from other sci-fi medias. Evan Rachel Woods performance remains steady but the addition of Aaron Paul drags the finale into a complete snoozefest.