Whereas I didn't find the drop off in quality from season one to season two as catastrophic as some people did, it was still apparent that the heights of what was a near perfect first season were unlikely to be hit again. Season three does the wise thing therefore, and tries to take the show somewhere else entirely, into the real world and into building on the shows themes of what free will is.
With Delores (Even Rachel Wood) having escaped the park in the guise of Delos boss Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) she sets about a plan of recreating herself, and other familiar hosts, and begins her plan of striking back against the humans that subjugated her for so long. Maeve (Thandie Newton) is also recreated in the real world by technocrat Serac (Vincent Cassel) who has much to lose in this world, so sets Maeve against Delores. But Delores has targeted a human of her own, Caleb (Aaron Paul) who has a bigger role to play in her plan.
I'm not sure if it's a reaction to the criticism of the second season as being too inert, but this series has a lot more action than either that have gone before, and it's new looking too - horses and six shooters replaced by drones and computer aided aiming rifles. I didn't hate all this, but I'm not sure it's very "Westworld" - it feels like a film version of the game "Deus Ex" or perhaps "Watchdogs". There's still much discussion about free will in this one, however, this time it's about human agency and less about ostensibly programed equivalency. If you have sufficient data (provided in part by Delos' monitoring of the guests) and processing power you can predict the whole world, and if you can predict it, you can then influence it. Storyline wise it's less clever than the first season, but a whole lot easier to follow than the second.
I didn't hate is as much as some reviewers have. Is it near the quality of the first season, no - but then how much TV is? Did I enjoy watching it, I did, and I'll be back for season four.
