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Westworld Season 3 Is A Victim Of Bad Writing

Westworld Season 3 Is A Victim Of Bad Writing

Season 3 of Westworld has a lot of bad writing, which has resulted in weird characters and bad writing. Let's take a look!

We were all over the moon for the 3rd installment of HBO’s Westworld. The first two seasons were one of the finest on television, after all. But, I’ve seen a few instances of bad writing in season 3 and it has put me in a lot of unease. Moreover, other reviewers see it too and it seems like Westworld Season 3 is now a victim of bad writing. Let’s see how!

Related: Westworld Season 3 Episode 1 Review: Completely New Show
For this review, I’ll be focusing more on episode 5 of this season, and how it was so inconsistent with the rest of the show. I won’t be diving deep into every single flaw, but just the prominent ones.

The writing in Westworld season 3 is getting sloppy

The first and most obvious flaw because of bad writing is always in characters, and Serac is one of them. He is the main antagonist of the show after Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) blew Ford’s brains out. So, there’s a lot of focus on him in season 3. But, when you look at him up-close, some things just don’t add up.

Serac is too unrealistic

Now, Engerraund Serac (Vincent Cassel) is supposed to be a Trillionaire (yes, with a ‘T’) in a modern world with extreme surveillance, like Westworld. Yet, we’re supposed to believe that no one knows of his existence. I mean, that is incredibly odd. He seems like a rags-to-riches story, yet no one throughout his life noticed him rising among the ranks?
I mean he’s shown to be powerful enough in season 3 to threaten governments and control them completely, and get away with it. But sure, let’s assume that he was able to remain anonymous. How was he able to remain anonymous even with more than a dozen witnesses present? Here, look at the scene in season 3 where he threatened the Brazilian President. How can the press not get a sniff of this? It’s almost impossible.
Westworld Season 3 Is A Victim Of Bad Writing
HBO

This isn’t something that can happen easily in any world, let alone Westworld. But, there’s a bigger issue in season 3 of Westworld, and that is Liam Dempsey.

Westworld needs to decide how powerful Liam Dempsey really is

Westworld Season 3 Is A Victim Of Bad Writing
HBO

Now, this is where the bad writing in Westworld Season 3 becomes obvious. In the first few episodes, the show clearly said that Liam Dempsey Jr. (John Gallagher) didn’t have access to the lower levels of Rehoboam. He openly admitted it, yet in episode 5, Dolores was able to use his access code to leak EVERYONE’S data all around the world? That doesn’t add up. A few episodes ago he was barely a poster boy for Serac, and now it turns out he had complete access to Rehoboam’s lower levels all along?

Moreover, Dempsey also clearly said that his father took a very deep interest in the workings of Rehoboam. But, episode 5 reveals that he was in with Serac just for the money and nothing else. That doesn’t add up either.

And not just that, but Dempsey carries some weird glasses in episode 5 that tell him the future of everyone around him. I mean, dude, why were you complaining at the start that you had no access to the most powerful computer ever built? You did have access to it but were just too lazy to check it out. And how on Earth did Martin Connells (Tommy Flanagan) not do a background check on Dolores?! He can access anyone’s bio, but couldn’t find out that Dolores was using a dead Ukranian girl’s ID for months. What else was he getting paid to do? Now, this is the lazy writing we’re talking about in Westworld Season 3.

Aaron Paul’s friends showed up at the right place and the right time by chance?

Westworld Season 3 Is A Victim Of Bad Writing 2
HBO

Okay, this might sound like nitpicking but I just have a higher expectation from Westworld. In episode 5, Caleb’s (Aaron Paul) two criminal friends, Ash and Giggles, just showed up to help her during the shoot-out? They said “You ranged”, so did Caleb call them for help? That couldn’t have happened because he was drugged for quite a while. And if he rang them up back in the tunnel, how did he even know that Dolores had planned a shoot-out? It’s always weird when characters just pop out of nowhere, and its not something you expect from Westworld.

Westworld got a lot of critical acclaim in season 1 and 2, but it looks like season 3 is falling short from those standards. Bad writing can make any show unbearable, as we all know what happened in Game of Thrones. The YouTuber Preston Jacobs goes into great detail over each episode. If only the showrunners had given that much thought, things could have gone well. But, we still have 2 episodes left in season 3, so let’s hope Johnathan Nolan and Lisa Joy make a good recovery.

Related: Ed Harris Is Not Happy With Westworld Season 3 Either. Here Is Why!