Title: Westworld Season 3 Episode 6: ‘Decoherence’ Review
Release Date: April 19, 2020
Network: HBO
Genre: Science Fiction
The gloves – and to some degree the masks – came off in Westworld Season 3, Episode 6. The war between Sirac and Delores also ramped up and the convergence of all our favorite main characters made for the best episode of the season by far.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t some issues here and there when it comes to some decisions that you would think people in real life would almost certainly not make. Still, there was so much to like in what appears to be the ramping up towards the end of the season. Perhaps best of all, we didn’t have to put up with any of Caleb‘s less than compelling storyline. While the split stories has made the season move slower, the ones that don’t include Delores Prime and Caleb have been the best of season 3.
When it comes to the absolute best part of “Decoherence” nothing comes close to Maeve getting her mojo back. At first she thinks she’s back in the field where she last saw her daughter but then figures that out fairly quickly. She then has a discussion with Sirac and lays out the terms of their agreement and what she needs to help. And then there’s the best scene of the entire season.
Maeve decides she wants to “warm up” by beating an entire Nazi platoon by hand. The scene, paired with the always awesome soundtrack literally got my blood pumping a little bit faster. Westworld is best when the hosts are taking over the digital world and this is no exception. As I said last week, Westworld is best when it’s in Westworld.
Having Lee show up after she kills the last Nazi is also a nice tough. He was once just an annoying reminder of how pompous the people who built the park were. He’s been one of the more entertaining characters in the show.
Turns out William is a Terrible Person
Throughout the series run of Westworld, Ed Harris has done a masterful job of giving us a truly despicable and yet somehow sympathetic character all at once. To some degree, we finally got a peek behind the mask of the sympathetic character. His wife basically went insane when she got a look at the true William and it was almost a mystery just why he was that bad.
There was always a little voice in our heads that told us the only reason he was so vicious and murderous to the hosts is that he understood better than anyone else, that they weren’t “real.” After going through several therapy sessions at the mental hospital he’s been housed, we find out that no … he’s actually a pretty terrible person and it started at a very young age.
There are several great scenes involving William that manages to take us from “sympathetic” to “do not let him out of that cage” in the span of about 15 minutes of screen time. Perhaps the best twist of all is a scene we all expect to be a childhood trauma. It’s a scene where he expect him to catch a beating from his father. It turns out his father was just finally realizing that there was something a little off about his boy.
There is also the “group therapy” session with Delos and the many sides of William. The Man in Black is there. The businessman is there. Young William and younger William are both there as well. The “battle” that ensues was an all-timer and showed William really is a bad man. And then he was freed by Bernard and Ashley. Something tells me that’s not going to be a teamup with zero negative repercussions.
The Twist
Westworld has long been about trying to tell us the hosts are better people than “real” humans. The show had Sirac spell that out to “Charlotte” as he divulged how he knew she wasn’t the real Hale. It was a nice moment that also did a good job of showing he’s really a formidable enemy. Until this episode, he seemed like a smart man who wasn’t really up to the challenge of fighting a war with killer cyborgs.
It’s also a nice juxtaposition because in many ways Hale is more “human” than Delores Prime. Of course, it may turn out the human side of her has since been killed off.
Verdict: This episode of Westworld is easily the best of the season and it’s not close. It hits that mark because it’s got plenty of action while also filling in characters we thought we already knew. If this is a hint at what’s to come as the season draws to a close, it’s good news. The first five episodes were good but not great. The final three could rise to the next level.
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