Westworld: What the Must Watch reviewers think

Monday 16 March 2020, 15:05

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan share their thoughts on series three of sci-fi comedy drama Westworld, which started on Sky Atlantic on Monday 16 March and is available on Now TV.

Have you watched it? What did you think? Leave your comments below...

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(Photo: Sky Atlantic)

Hayley says: "They made a last ditch attempt to change it by fundamentally changing what it was"

"Westworld is a weird sci-fi show: it starts out in this futuristic amusement park, it’s got these human-looking androids who are there to populate this fake little western town so the guests can live out this fantasy of being in a western with all the guns and murder.

"At the end of each day the androids' memories are erased, and the next day they have no knowledge of what has occurred. But some start to remember and realise their existence is a lie. Then comes the uprising.

“I think originally they were aiming it in a philosophical way, and a lot of people get frustrated with philosophy because it’s an abundance of questions and a lack of answers, so they kind of tune out. Since Westworld never got the love and attention that, say, Game of Thrones did, they have made a last-ditch effort to save it by fundamentally changing what it is.

"It’s not philosophical questioning about sense of self, memory and soul anymore: now it’s more of a basic sci-fi, Terminator, shoot-em-up thing, and I’m not sure this diversion is worth it.

"Long time viewers are essentially watching a different show, and the kind of people who want to see guns and fast cars won’t be all that taken with the philosophical stuff that came in the past."

(Photo: Sky Atlantic)

Scott says: "The plot is just so boring now... I couldn't care less"

“I think this show has fallen into the trap, which has happened with Killing Eve and a lot of other TV dramas: they have a beginning, they have a middle and no idea of an end. It’s a drag ‘em out approach - where can we take the plot? What can we do with this now?

“You just get distracted by the little things. At one point somebody got out of the car and a voice in her head tells her who’s going to be at the party, without having to look at her phone. With the plot, anything in terms of the actual direction of where everything’s going, it’s just so boring now. I couldn’t care less.

“It can’t decide what it is next either. It’s stuck, apart from it being a general shoot ‘em up, violence-athon.

“The reason it was smart was because it would use different storylines and go back and forth. It continues to do this, but the problem is it does it so much of it now, it just drags.”

“This is not a Must Watch from me.”