Westworld Season 3 Episode 5: Breakdown & Review

Westworld’s episode 5 of season 3 is out, and some major developments took place! It took a while for Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy to set up the big stage, but it’s finally here. We now have more knowledge about this season’s main antagonist, Engerraund Serac. Moreover, Dolores’s big plan has begun, meaning that the showdown is near. After all, we only have the last 3 episodes of the show left. Let’s take a look.

Serac – What’s his story?

This season introduced us to the real deal – Engerraund Serac. In episode 5, we got to know more about his history and his motivations behind Rehoboam and protecting it.

In Westworld Season 3, we get to know the event that truly shaped Serac’s life – a thermonuclear explosion in Paris. This event was a major turning point in the history of the world, as things got chaotic soon afterward. For Serac and his brother, however, it changed the way they looked at life. Moreover, they were determined to:

…create order out of chaos.

To achieve that goal, Serac and his brother give birth to a machine that will predict the future and guide humanity away from extinction. That machine is Rehoboam and it’s our major focus in Westworld season 3.

Rehoboam – The God in Westworld’s real world

Now, there were earlier versions of this machine too. Serac and his brother named it after the Kings of Israel and Judah. The earlier versions were named David and Solomon. But, the latest one we have in Westworld Season 3 is named Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon as the king of Judah and was the wisest man in all of ancient Israel.

And Serac wanted to use that wisdom to create a machine that will prevent humankind from going extinct. It will predict all possible futures, using the user data that is fed to it, and will be able to charter a course for every human being alive that will benefit the system. It can involve installing governments, rigging elections, and forcing leaders to follow their directions, including the President of Brazil.

That is why all the graphics featuring Rehoboam involve a Solar Eclipse, with the Sun and the Moon in perfect alignment. And the Sun’s Corona depicts any kind of deviation from the set course that the machine can’t take into account. It shows the perfect alignment of the present and the predicted future.

Moreover, episode 5 reveals that after the initial failed attempt of David, they got it right with Solomon. That is when they secured the investment of Liam Dempsey Sr. But, we’ll get to him later, because we have to focus on Dolores too, who’s the biggest threat to Serac right now.

Dolores – The biggest threat to Serac in Westworld Season 3

Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) has proven without a shadow of a doubt that she is on Serac in Episode 5 of Westworld’s season 3. After kidnapping Liam Dempsey Jr., she goes on an incredible car chase against Serac’s people. During the chase, she gets full access to Rehoboam through Dempsey’s key. After that, Dolores, accompanied by Caleb (Aaron Paul), Liam Dempsey, Ash (Lena Waithe), and Giggles (Marshawn Lynch), goes to a subway.

On the other end Martin Connels, who’s a clone of Dolores, takes Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) close to Rehoboam and connects with the original Dolores. Through that connection, she LEAKS ALL THE DATA AND PREDICTION REHOBOAM HAD OVER EVERYONE IN THE WORLD. Now, this is a major victory for Dolores and a massive defeat for Serac. Shortly afterward, Serac’s men catch Connels and arrange a virtual meeting between him and Serac. That is where Connels discloses he is responsible for the leak and blows the office up, killing all of the Serac’s men.

Before getting caught, Connels lets Bernard and Stubs leave. As we know, Stubs was seeing falling from a floor above from the hands of Dolores in episode 4, but he survived and will now be a part of the show from episode 5 onwards.

And not just that, but Dolores was able to extract some dirt on Serac too from his past. Turns out, he tried to have his brother “modified” and tried to mold all of humankind to his will in trying to avoid its extinction. Liam Dempsey Sr. gets a sniff of this information, and that’s when he becomes expendable for Serac. That’s when Serac has Dempsey killed in a fake airplane crash and takes control of Rehoboam by himself.

There is a lot to process, in just episode 5.

Aaron Paul takes a trip

As you can guess, this causes a lot of mess and anarchy all around the world. And that is Dolores’s motive in Westworld season 3. Because of the leak, everyone on the streets from LA to Singapore loses their mind, and that includes Ash too. She ends up shooting Liam Dempsey, who was no longer a part of Dolores’s plans. Aaron Paul’s Caleb tried his best to save him, but it was too late. One reason could have been that he was high…

Throughout the car chase, Caleb was high on Genre, which is an exotic drug. And without a doubt, Caleb gets a real kick out of it, even though Dempsey gave him a dose of it forcibly. We have to say, Aaron Paul made a fantastic performance while he was high. I guess he did take something out of those Breaking Bad days to help his performance in Westworld Season 3.

Predictions for the rest of Westworld Season 3 – Maeve is Serac’s only hope

Maeve (Thandie Newton) didn’t feature in episode 5, but her role is far from over. By the looks of it, she is Serac’s last hope of salvaging something out of Rehoboam. But, Dolores has a head start over the two. Episode 6’s preview showed us that Maeve and Dolores finally come face to face. Moreover, the Man in Black is still a part of the show and we’ll get to see more of him.

For now, the show is really setting the stage for a showdown between Maeve and Dolores. But, Serac is protecting everything that Maeve is against. Maeve herself isn’t a big fan of humankind and knows the suffering they are responsible for. And not to mention she is the most powerful of all the hosts left alive, as she has the power to control all machines. This will make her inevitable encounter with Dolores all the more interesting in season 6. But, we predict that the showdown might not go as Serac has predicted.

There is a chance that Maeve might side with Dolores and take Serac down, who is already weakened. She might get around the fact that her daughter is in the valley beyond, and humans can’t be trusted eventually. Remember, Westworld is a show that paints technology as the protagonists and humans as the antagonists. Therefore, it’ll be odd of Maeve to face off against Dolores. But, we can only know for sure once the rest of the final 3 episodes air on HBO. We honestly can’t wait for episode 6 to air on April 19th.