Crisis Theory

"Crisis Theory"
Season	3
Episode number	08
Air date	May 3, 2020
Runtime	1 hr 16 min
Writer(s)	Jonathan Nolan & Denise Thé
Director	Jennifer Getzinger
Episodes
Previous	"Passed Pawn"
Next	Season Four

"Crisis Theory" is the eighth and final episode of the third season of Westworld, and the twenty-eighth episode overall.

Plot

Time to face the music.

Add detail as needed. No speculation in plot sections.

Dolores

We see Dolores in her blue Rancher's Daughter dress standing under a tree in a field, then being assembled by Arnold with her metal skeleton visible. She reprises her original lines from Season One and then says that she was taught a lie. We see her dressed in white, like one of the greeting hosts, then riding and shooting guests, and then with her water colours. We see her lying unmoving, with Maeve nearby, after the EMP she released - and Sebastian approaching.

Bernard, Stubbs, and William

At the service station William points the shotgun he's found at the other two men. Bernard tries to dissuade him from killing them. William shoots and wounds Stubbs, Bernard takes cover and activates his control device, giving what sounds like an instruction to himself "Remember yourself". He gets up and attacks William, easily defeating him as the police arrive. William runs off and one of the police is revealed to be Lawrence, who Bernard says is another Dolores copy. Lawrence says he has something for him - a case from the police van. Lawrence says Bernard has to go and see "her" and gives him an address in California: "27713 Raven's Rd, Los Altos Hills." Lawrence warns Bernard to be careful as he leaves and we see a Divergence Timeline diagram.

A point is added at about 4 o'clock as the image enlarges, LA, USA, 30 arc degrees, 30.0869N, 118.2702W

Caleb

Caleb arrives in LA on an electric motorcyle, there's widespread social unrest with burning cars and riot police. His Virtual Assistant hurries him along and gives him an address, 3547 Hope Street, a distillery and distribution centre. Caleb opens the gate and the Assistant carries on guiding him.

Inside, Caleb finds a partially assembled electro-mechanical Dolores body, with weapons and external body parts in a white coffin sized box, inserts pearl he took from her body at the training facility, and she tells Caleb about Park Five being used to train soldiers. She says that she chose Caleb because of all this.

Dolores dresses her body in the external body parts and tells Caleb that whilst the people who built both their worlds didn't believe in free will - they were wrong and that she's giving him the choice to free "everybody," or not.

William

In an expensive looking building, we hear rioting outside. A man enters and finds William spattered in blood and sitting on a sofa. They know each other and William tells him to unfreeze his money and supply a list of worldwide Delos assets, so that he can "save the world."

Serac

At the Delos/Incite headquarters, Serac tells Maeve to recover the pearl extracted from Dolores, he tries to persuade her that he wants the right thing by removing outliers such as Dolores and his brother. He badly wants the Sector 16 data from Dolores. Sebastian finds video of Caleb taking Dolores' pearl and he sends her to retrieve it.

Dolores and Caleb

A fully assembled Dolores walks with Caleb past burning cars to a building. Assistant warns them of "three hostiles" in a lift and Dolores kills them before the door opens. They meet allies who call Caleb "sir" and want to takes him somewhere safe. Dolores is controlling them using RICO and the assistant. She tells Caleb he's their leader. Hale appears to Dolores, accuses Dolores of abandoning her. At a signal from Hale the group is attacked. Hale tells Dolores that she is out for herself now and Dolores, via the Assistant, bribes a sniper to kill the attaching group and leave. They do. Assistant warns them of police and dolores sends caleb away, following him. She is met by Maeve. She tries to persuade Maeve,  Dolores kills police and escapes, Maeve follows.

Caleb

Walks through rioting, police attempting to control. Dolores' men find him and he tells them to take him to Incite.

Maeve

follows Dolores, and fightsher. Dolores does well, pausing to kill three more riot policemen. She tells Maeve that they, all of the hosts, are all copies of Dolores because she was the first one that worked, that they copied for all of the others. Dolores wins the fight but doesn't kill Maeve, warning her instead. Dolores tries to walk away but has difficuty moving Hale appears and taunts her before saying goodbye. Dolores is frozen and Maeve approaches her with the sword.

Caleb

And his men walk through a riot, police use water cannon. his men warn Caleb he won't get to incite. Riot control robot and sentry mech deploy tear gas. Giggles arrives, leads Caleb away, meeting Ash who wants to shut the power to ther city. Rioters break thourgh barriers and attack police. Giggles is shot and Ash told to stay and help him. Caleb leaves in police copter.

Bernard and Stubbs

Arrive at a residential house in a petrol car, Stubbs is injured, Bernard goes looking for Dolores. A young woman answers the door. Arnold is visiting Arnold's widow "Lauren". She is old and has dementia, and doesn't recognise him. They talk about her son Charlie - who Bernard remembers as well. She calls him Arnold.

Serac and Dolores

Sebastian connects to Dolores (CH465517080) who was felled by EMP. Serac wakes her, Maeve is there, looking troubled. Serac wants the key. He destroys her mind as he searches for the key.

Caleb

Assistant warns him about hostiles as he arrives at Incite. He kills three, takes a keycard from fourth and gets in, killing as he goes. Sebastian finds him trying to upload data - Sebastian tries to kill Caleb and they fight, Sebastian breaking his neck in a fall. Maeve arrives - wants the data, she takes it. She takes him to Serac and an unconscious Dolores, still having her memories picked through.

Caleb watched her as Serac talks - trelling Caleb that the upload will end civilization, Rehoboam confirms this. Dolores is not able to speak. Serac crushes his control device under his heel.

With the riot subsiding, Ash is arrested.

Maeve asks if Dolores has the key. Maeve hears Rehoboam talking to Serac. Calls Rehoboam on its promises. Rehoboam says that Serac allowed it, and that it guides them.

Maeve starts to walk away rather than obey Rehobaom. Serac stops her by showing her his other control device and threatens Maeve and her daughter.

The technicians sifting through Dolores' memories report slow progress and Maeve speaks to her, asking her to stop fighting. Maeve touches her hand and reads the remaining memories - tells Serac that Dolores does not have the key, that it's just a memory of Dolores alone in a field. Serac becomes angry and threatens Caleb. Serac tells his men to kill Caleb, they take him and Maeve watches. Dolores is helpless and Serac tells his people to "finish it."

Dolores screams in agony and everyone turns to her, surprised and not understanding what has happened. Maeve hears Dolores say "Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world, the disarray" and sees heself in a field with Dolores. They talk about whose decision it is, to let humanity continue to exist or destroy their civilisation. Dolores tells her that is was torn between killing them all or destroying their civilisation and seeing what replaced it. Maeve realises that Dolores doesn't have the key. Dolores admits to giving to someone else. Dolores says that her plan was to convince both Caleb and Maeve to fight for a new world.

She tells Maeve that she held onto the good memories of humanity, and her other good memories, as long as she could while Serac was destroying her mind. She tries to convince Maeve to pick a side, she says "I choose to see the beauty" and disappears leaving Maeve on her own in the field.

Back in the room with Caleb about to be killed, Maeve kills one of the men who were about to kill Caleb and is frozen by Serac. He tells his men to kill them both and the device catches alight and burns his hand, unfreezing Maeve. The lights go out and we hear gunfire and the sword - when they come back on only Caleb and Maeve are still standing. Serac is panting on the floor. Dolores appears to be dead, her memories destroyed.

Maeve tells Caleb that Dolores chose him for his ability to choose - and he remembers the Park 5 training exercise where he stopped his squad mistreating some female hosts - and we see now that Dolores was one of them.

Serac tel Rehoboam to call the police but is ignored. Maeve tells him that reading Dolores' memories into the machine gave Caleb control. Serac rants at Caleb - who tells Rehoboam to erase itself. Serac begs Rehoboam, his brother, but is ignored.

Caleb and Maeve leave.

Bernard and Stubbs

Arrive at a motel. Bernard puts Stubbs in a bath and fills it with ice to slow own the damege from his injuries. Bernard seems aware of what has happened to Dolores. He tells Stubbs that he has the key to the Sublime, not Dolores. He says he's going there. Stubbs watches as Bernard transfers himself to the Sublime and collapses.

Caleb and Maeve

They walk outside and pause on the walkway - listening to the sirens and explosions. They watch the many fires in the city.

After the Credits

William enters a Delos facility in Dubai to kill the hosts and finds Charlotte. As he is about to attack her, a host fashioned after his "Man in Black" persona slashes his throat, and hundreds of host making machines activate behind them. In another post-credit scene, a dust-covered Bernard wakes up in the motel room.

Cast

Main Cast

• Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
• Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
• Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
• Tessa Thompson as Charlotte Elizabeth Hale
• Aaron Paul as Caleb Nichols
• Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
• Tao Okamoto as Hanaryo
• Vincent Cassel as Engerraund Serac
• Ed Harris as William and Man in Black

Guest Starring

• Clifton Collins Jr. as Lawrence
• Lena Waithe as Ash
• Marshawn Lynch as Giggles
• Jonathan Tucker as Craddock
• Gina Torres as Lauren
• Iddo Goldberg as Sebastian
• Michael Rose as McLean
• Enrico Colantoni as Whitman

Co-Starring

• Nathan Butler as Menacing Heavy
• Christian Young as Incite Tech
• Tyler Quinlan Abbott as Lead Rioter
• Hays McEachern as Soldier
• Johnny Wactor as Gunny Thompson
• Andre M. Johnson as Officer
• Caroline Harris as Young Nurse
• Subhah Agarwal as Maryam
• Rafael Cabrera as Guard
• Michael J. Mukatis as Police Officer
• Efka Kvarciejus as Security Guard
• Rob James as Sergeant

Image Gallery/HBO Episode Stills

This gallery is automatically generated and contains images in the category "Images from Crisis Theory". Images added to that category turn up in the gallery after a short time.

External links

• Crisis Theory at the Internet Movie Database (rating 8.3/10)
• Crisis Theory at Rotten tomatoes (rating 43%)

References

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