I've never seen The Last Kingdom, but that sounds like a fair assessment. Makes sense. I just wish they didn't have to belabor the point so much.

And here's the brightness amped way up...

After Googling "ASX livestream," "ASX live stream," and "ASX," only to get endless results pointing me toward the Australian Stock Exchange, I finally Googled "ASX tv" and realized it was the dad rock channel on DirecTV that my dad always watches when I'm home. So, for a minute there, I figured you and a bunch of 65-year-old men got together online every Sunday night, watched a Sammy Hagar concert or something, and then somehow streamed Westworld. Like maybe that was a thing. Otherwise, I had absolutely no clue what you were talking about. AltShiftX is such a short name already, it never registered to me to abbreviate it as "ASX." But yes, that now makes so much more sense.

Regardless, Charlores' still-healing face was plain as day on my TV, to the point where I noticed it immediately, so I don't know what to tell you. But yeah, the healing ability itself seems like a random add-on all the sudden. Yes, they have that heat tool that solders skin back together without scarring, but that doesn't seam like it'd work on an entire charred host body like that. So unless Charlores did something special, host skin suddenly being able to heal itself like that sure would seem to cause a few inconsistencies in the way host damage/repair has been depicted in past seasons.

Quote:

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I need to sit with this episode and probably rewatch it.

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I don't need to rewatch it to know it stunk.

I also loved how a drone steered sniper round can shoot through CMU/concrete but the tin roof and posts of the shed they fought under was too much.

I don't care about Caleb's character or his backstory. The characters I do care about get a line or two an episode so the series can focus on girl fights. How minutes of this season time-wise has been devoted to women fighting men (and/or each other) vs. number of lines Jeffrey Wright has had this season?

claym711 said:

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As a huge fan of this series, I have to admit this season has been very underwhelming. It feels like they dumbed it down in an attempt to attract a wider range of viewers and in doing so lost what made it so engaging.

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That may be why I feel the way I do. I basically watch the show for the "puzzle" if there isn't much of one it is just another show too me and I do not watch much tv.

redline248 said:

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Regarding Maeve v Dolores: it reminds me of The Last Kingdom on Netflix. Albert and Utred are always bickering about this or that and never actually talking about the true feelings/desires. Pride always in the way. That's what it feels like with Maeve. She probably knows Dolores is right, but can't get past not being the one in control or being the leader. Most of her existence has been running the saloon and telling other hosts what to do, after all.

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My thoughts on Maeve also.

I watched on my new computer monitor and I could see the burn damage pretty easily.

Maybe this season is a response to the criticism that last season was too convoluted. It's definitely not about solving the puzzle. I think it's mostly about whether or not Dolores is the bad guy. I suppose that could still be in question, although we've been rooting for her.

I don't know if they dumbed it down, or the story has just changed.

The mysteries of the first two seasons were existential and philosophical. Questions about self, consciousness, memory, and existence.

The mysteries this season are very standard plot driven SciFi stuff. "What's the bad guys evil plan?" "Lets find the hidden supercomputer. "

Plus they've made Maeve into the boring character that everyone who didn't like her before complained that she was.....

TCTTS said:

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Not anymore.

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Between the off site printing locations and the laser skin welding wand we've seen its believable to get her skin to a slightly better than Deadpool level.

The issue I had with the preview was seeing Dolores and Mauve up and running after the EMP.

I was hoping they stayed dead.

Delores did an eye flutter thing before she hit the button that might have been a data transfer. So maybe that was moving her mind into her new body new body (which we see in the preview). Don't know if Maeve can just be rebooted, but she could get a new pearl as well if hers was fried.

claym711 said:

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As a huge fan of this series, I have to admit this season has been very underwhelming. It feels like they dumbed it down in an attempt to attract a wider range of viewers and in doing so lost what made it so engaging.

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Seems almost to be the inevitable outcome after so many people complained about Season 2 being confusing just for the sake of being confusing (I'm still enjoying it though).

What was the red button Delores hit at the end? At first I thought it was just an off switch for Soloman, but why on earth would that affect her and Mauve? Was it some kind of EMP knocking out anything electric based?

Overall the Caleb killing his friend reveal was obvious.

The fight between Mauve and Deloris was good, but again something that didn't feel like it was built up to enough, or epic enough in some ways.

And again, the writing this season. My favorite this week was "We were deployed to Crimea. Russian civil war. Nothing civil about it." Really?!?! How does that corny ass line make it out of the writers room?

So what was up with the Serac hologram that said "The man I was no longer exists"?

Jim01 said:

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What was the red button Delores hit at the end? At first I thought it was just an off switch for Soloman, but why on earth would that affect her and Mauve? Was it some kind of EMP knocking out anything electric based?

Overall the Caleb killing his friend reveal was obvious.

The fight between Mauve and Deloris was good, but again something that didn't feel like it was built up to enough, or epic enough in some ways.

And again, the writing this season. My favorite this week was "We were deployed to Crimea. Russian civil war. Nothing civil about it." Really?!?! How does that corny ass line make it out of the writers room?

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It was an EMP, which begs the question what kind of earpiece he has...

damnit. that's slick as hell.

This season is starting to have a Lost feel to it. Fifty strings,
Some of which seem to go in circles, some coming out of nowhere, for the sake of looking smart.
Just in this episode:
Charlotte says that Delores is trying to kill them too. Why? Does she think that Delores set the car bomb? Why would Delores want to kill Delores? When and how did Charlotte align with Maeve? And why just after warning him that Delores wants them all dead does she help kill him anyway, what's the point of the call?
When did Bernard get aligned with Delores? Did I miss that?
Can someone remind me of when Delores told Caleb about being a bot living in west world?
I am definitely still in (loved Lost too) just can't seem to find the equilibrium this year.

As far as my post on Caleb a couple of episodes back...I was partially right. It was clear that he had killed his friend, it was clear that his mind has been altered (wasn't sure how, thought it could be some manufactured re-brain after be shot himself, ), and it was clear that whatever process he had been put through was relatively unique and he was central things. I was thinking something like IRobot, the one bridge bringing two sides together and saving humanity. Which he is now kind of, but not exactly the way I thought. Even though the implication is that he is meant to destroy it, I still think he is there to save it.

But on to the finale.

MW03 said:

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Jim01 said:

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What was the red button Delores hit at the end? At first I thought it was just an off switch for Soloman, but why on earth would that affect her and Mauve? Was it some kind of EMP knocking out anything electric based?

Overall the Caleb killing his friend reveal was obvious.

The fight between Mauve and Deloris was good, but again something that didn't feel like it was built up to enough, or epic enough in some ways.

And again, the writing this season. My favorite this week was "We were deployed to Crimea. Russian civil war. Nothing civil about it." Really?!?! How does that corny ass line make it out of the writers room?

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It was an EMP, which begs the question what kind of earpiece he has...

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The EMP was called "miltary grade", so I can only assume his earpiece is military grade as well.

Yeah, they made it a point for Caleb and Delores to discuss the EMP when initially walking upon Solomon.

Ah now I remember. For some reason I think Caleb delivered that line right after the robot guard walked by, so I thought he was referencing the robot guard. Not the big box.

So the EMP discussion made me think of something else. All the outliers that were in cryostasis or whatever, wouldn't they be affected by the EMP as well? It'd be cool if the EMP woke all of them up. They'd make for some good soldiers for a revolution.

Or they just die without their life support systems

oragator said:

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Charlotte says that Delores is trying to kill them too. Why? Does she think that Delores set the car bomb? Why would Delores want to kill Delores? When and how did Charlotte align with Maeve? And why just after warning him that Delores wants them all dead does she help kill him anyway, what's the point of the call?
When did Bernard get aligned with Delores? Did I miss that?
Can someone remind me of when Delores told Caleb about being a bot living in west world?
I am definitely still in (loved Lost too) just can't seem to find the equilibrium this year.

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It definitely felt like Charlores' switch happened an episode too soon - we needed another few beats to get her from point A to point B - but the motivation does at least make sense, IMO. Charlores came to care for and protect her "family," but Dolores Prime was having none of it. She told Charlores that her family wasn't real. But they felt real to Charlores, to the point where she wanted to bail on the Delos plan earlier to save them, but Dolores Prime convinced her to go back into Delos and steal the data they needed instead. By doing so, it gave Serac the time he needed to sabotage Charlores' family with the car bomb, and then on top of that, Charlores felt that Dolores Prime left her all alone at Delos to basically just do the job Dolores Prime needed and die. Again, from that point on, Charlores' turn happened way too fast - it was jarring to see Charlores nearly healed and already on team Maeve, and I would have loved an episode devoted to seeing that change - but I at least understand her core reasoning for doing so.

I actually think S3 is closer to a Michael Chricton story than S2. His novels were mostly about computers/control systems that went haywire or nuts. That's the epitome of both S1 and S3.