The worst part of the show is that you can't believe what you are seeing all the time (and what timeline it is). The writers seem to think this is clever, but it's more confusing/annoying.
My theory has always been that robots are on the brink of extinction, humans have died out, and there only course correction to survive is to bring humans back. They created west world to try and figure out how to do that. So what we are seeing now in season 3 is an entirely robot world and that includes Caleb. He's a robot. Which means Delores is actually a robot trying to overthrow a robot world. The irony being that Delores and Caleb are exactly what the robots hoped to re-create in the first place to survive. There are no humans. With that in context, my thoughts on the current situation are that Teddy will be in the current world somewhere. But I'm not sure he's in Charlotte because I don't think they could just let him snap and kill the guy on the bench like that. That's not who we want Teddy to be. And I think they the showrunners know that. So lot's of pointers, but I don't think they would do that to us. The best bet right now might be that Charlotte is Maeve because she's cold blooded and she loves children. Teddy is likely the construction robot...dead and honorable as always, and trying to protect his girl ( Caleb ). My Predictions: Current World = Current West Word ( Red is the sphere replacements ) ------------------------------------------------ Serac = Ford Sr. = Liam Sr. ( Last human ) Charlotte = Maeve Man in Black = Man in Black Man in Black Daughter Emily = Man in Black Daughter Emily Caleb = Delores Construction Robot = Teddy Arnold = Arnold Liam Jr. = Ford Jr Lee = Lee Ash = Angela ? = Wyatt Francis = Hector Giggles = Armistice Martin = Stubbs ? = Elsie ? = Clementine ? = Felix Logan = Logan ? = El Lazo ? = Akecheta
^ I hope it doesn't meta spiral that far and cross the clever barrier into hot garbage. People didn't like that ish in S2, and the jump into meatworld is hopefully a good break to it. You kind of described the plot twists from BSG remake and the last Matrix in the first paragraph, so hopefully they don't drive into that ditch. I'm perfectly fine with a simple plotline of how Skynet wins (and how we root for her because she's hot fembot...or an sjw's God of Vengence for the other crowd). I can geek out on the worldbuilding and sci-fi allegories they've been keen on spotting.
getting rid of the multiple timelines is a big improvement, but it still has the gimmick of constantly lying to the audience about what they are seeing (now they've added a computer generated Westworld, hosts inside other hosts, and holograms)
It's near impossible to sleuth because of the matrickeration. They do add plenty of clues like Francis wearing a bandana with a bunch of eyes on it. I don't know what it means, but that ain't normal. So I like that they do that. But they can literally do anything they want given there are basically no rules. Watching the analytic show today, they did reference BSG ( which I've never seen myself ) saying that when Charlotte felt up the massive robot it was exactly the same scene in BSG when a little girl felt up a robot dog. That the ginormous robot was feeling sympathy for the robot inside of human skin, and vice versa, Charlotte feeling sympathy for a human brain inside a robot. Or something like that. Anyway, they said it was BSG.
Im not really digging this season for the reasons others are pointing out. I dont find it clever or ingenious to force the audience to pay attention to every little detail and hyper analysis every single frame of the show. Mixing simulation and time travel with reality always ends up a mess. Unless the show runners have a defined plot to finish the show, its going to end up a disaster. And from what I have observed and reading up a bit, season 2 can be skipped outside of a 5 minutes recap. That is reallly bad news going forward. I think Im going to put this show on the back burner.
I found I was able to enjoy season 1 without the insane analysis and guessing for clues. I think that IS a big part of this show for some reason but not doing it doesn't kill the characters, world building or story at all. It just takes away the inside mystery game people like PhiSlammaJamma enjoy playing. I am in the middle, I don't like and don't participate in the prognosticating but I do enjoy the show.
