'Westworld' Season 3 Episode 3: Fans wonder if host Hale is just a part of Dolores' consciousness
It’s a pattern with one of HBO’s (and television's) most ambitious attempts at storytelling, ‘Westworld’, that every episode poses more questions than it answers. True, episode 3 of season 3, ‘The Absence of Field’, told us what Rehoboam did. And while viewers had already formed a rough idea of the capabilities and functions of the artificial intelligence system that used the basic tenets of the principle of determinism to organize human society into productive and non-productive members, thereby improving efficiency, it's reassuring to receive some confirmation.
But most of the time, it can feel a tad bit annoying. Lucky for the makers of ‘Westworld’, fans love speculating. It sort of keeps them going, and that always makes for the process of waiting for a week to get some answers a little easier.
Of the many speculations regarding this episode was a guessing-game that fans have been playing since the end of season 2: Who really is the host, Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson)? The most popular guess so far has been Teddy Flood, the righteous cowboy lover of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), played by James Marsden. As one Reddit user pointed out, a scene in the episode had parallels with the scene when Teddy kills himself.
Dolores lays with the corpse of Teddy for a while, holding him from behind. In season 3 episode 3, Dolores does the same with a catatonic Charlotte. The user also pointed out: “The song that plays during this scene last episode only ever plays in season 2 when Grizzly Ted is talking to Dolores. Just something I noticed.”
But a more interesting theory comes from Reddit user TheRedPriest_ who postulates that somehow, Dolores split herself into two: She being the aggressive Wyatt variety of Dolores, and her old doe-eyed self from before she understood the nature of her reality being Charlotte. Another user added to this, “We already know Bernard has split personalities he's managed to separate, one an apparent killing machine, and one a bit kinder, so why not Dolores split between two hosts? But who is trying to get out of Hale's body? Maybe Dolores had to overwrite the code on a different pearl, and the original programmed personality is trying to resurface?”
Aside from that, theories of Serac (Vincent Cassel) being the physical -- or seemingly physical -- manifestation of Rehoboam, the same as Logan was for “The Forge” in season 2, continued in full force. Supposing that’s not the case, fans will be very disappointed. But as far as speculations and questions are concerned, Dolores was on everyone’s mind. For example, this question: “Can Dolores still be analyzed? Bernard can be told to freeze all motor functions and run analysis (in himself). Maeve is still controlled by Serac (frozen in place). [Hale] is frozen by Dolores. Is Dolores the only one host who can’t be controlled? Or could she still be controlled by someone else?”
But a non-Dolores theory that was intriguing related to a new character in ‘Westworld’ -- Aaron Paul’s Caleb. A Reddit user proposed, “I think Caleb died in a war or whatever. He has to be a host but he might be a newer or different or classified type that helps wounded soldiers. It might be why he didn’t recognize his former bros.”
Caleb being a host may be a strong theory, but it would be kind of a cheap trick if it does turn out to be that. And it’s a trick that ‘Westworld’ has overdone at this point like with Bernard and Stubbs. Ah well, hopefully, episode 4 will answer some of these questions and validate some of the theories. Either seems unlikely but one can hope, can’t they?
The next episode of 'Westworld' airs April 5, on HBO.