Westworld S03E04 Review: The Mother of Exiles – A huge revealBy Giorgi PG| April 8, 2020 TV Blogs At the beginning of this episode, we see where William has been this whole season–in a maelstrom of the worst moments of his life, being taunted by an imaginary version of his daughter. Then Host-Charlotte shows up to bring him back into the fold at Delos, pumping him for information on the data he sold to Serac some time ago. He seems to know there’s a mole, but it’s not clear if he knows it’s her. Nevertheless, he agrees to back her up at the emergency shareholder’s meeting to save the company from Serac’s buyout. Then we see Bernard and Stubbs hiding out in a motel, after a brief scene of Bernard being brought back by Dolores in the past. Bernard is still able to alter Stubbs with the controls for his host core, but it seems Stubbs is at least aware of it happening, even if he can’t stop it. When Bernard tweaks his data, Stubbs scoffs and says “f**k you, Bernard.” Dolores is getting Caleb ready to hobnob with some rich people, while Dempsey’s hash key is stolen by Host-Connels. Then Dolores steals another key from the blood of a finance guy she knocks out while Caleb looks on–if he’s having anything like my reaction, he’s both scared and swept off his feet. Dolores injects him with the key and they move on to wherever they’re stealing from. After a tense moment in a bank, they make a giant transfer to fund Dolores’s plans. Then Serac shows Maeve where Dolores made the other hosts she saved, and reveals to her that there are several other hosts out there already. He tortures an informant in front of her, showing him possible futures if he does or doesn’t help them. His whole thing is “future,” and it seems like he’s really sticking to his brand. Meanwhile, a masked ball scene serves as the high point of the episode, showing Dempsey cruising hosts being displayed in Victorian wear while Dolores and Caleb skulk around waiting to get him. Instead, Bernard and Stubbs get to him first. Bernard is surprised Dolores hasn’t made the switch yet, and Dolores seems surprised to see Bernard, so she starts shooting. Then, in an earth-shattering reveal, the three hosts who Dolores has reanimated all reveal themselves to be–Dolores! This episode left us without much more to speculate on when it comes to the mysterious billionaire Serac. Maeve and Serac have their encounter in the hotel that’s served as Dolores’s meeting place several times already. A connection? Serac also makes a cryptic reference to his past that has made the Internet think he might be a Host–but that could be a feint on the show’s part; for a lot of reasons, it might be more interesting to explore how Serac got displaced by some biochemical disaster that contributed to making this world the way it is. However, if Serac is the one who created the supercomputer, it could make sense that only a computer could build another computer. William’s whole dynamic with his dead daughter is something of a bore, though. It’s like, okay, we get it, she’s a manifestation of his guilt. The D stories in this show can be pretty heavy-handed, and this one was a prime example. Another rather tired part of the episode was when Caleb shoehorned in the phrase “I’m with her.” Like okay, we get it, it’s feminism that Dolores is an evil robot out to destroy all humanity. I’ve always loved Westworld for its strong female characters but that little touch just felt forced. However, everything else involving Dolores was incredible as always because Evan Rachel Wood has somehow found a way to be even more dynamite this season. But the reveal! It’s so perfect for Dolores’s character as it is right now to only be relying on herself. I get the sense that her arc for this season will involve learning to trust Caleb, a double whammy for her since it means she’ll have to trust someone else and a human more specifically. He’s basically just following her lead now, but in the coming episodes, I won’t be surprised if his character has some surprises for Dolores and ends up teaching her a little something about what it means to be human. We can see her experiences in the park have left her with very little faith in either humanity or other hosts, but that might just be about to change. 7/10. – The reveal at the end was the main thing that put this one over the 5/10 mark. The rest mostly felt like set-up to the rest of the season, or just filler.
