IN REVIEW: WESTWORLD (S3-EP3) – The Absence of Field

Synopsis: If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, don’t blame the mirror.

The Story

This week focuses on Charlotte Hale. Or at least the host that Deloras has planted into a body that Bernard created of Hale, which is now heading up Delos Corp and reporting back to Deloras, but when things get overwhelming. The episode begins during the massacre of Westworld with a panicked Charlotte Hale recording a message for her son. We then move to the recent past in which we see Deloras implanting one of the five host brains she took into Charlotte’s host body and sending her back to Delos where she has to convince everyone that she is the real Charlotte Hale and uncover any information she can. This job proves a bit overwhelming for the host and she self harms and eventually trots back panic-stricken to Deloras who calms her down and sends her back. Over the course of the story. Charlotte is trying to find a mole within Delos who has been working for Engerraund Serac who has managed to get himself enough shares in Delos to stop the company from going private.

Meanwhile. The secondary storyline deals with Deloras and Caleb as we learn that the system of control that Deloras is looking to shut down has the ability to have such control over people’s life choices that it can predict when a person will either die or commit suicide. Deloras pretty much lays everything out for Caleb in order to try and win his confidence and have him work with her.

The Acting

Tessa Thompson puts in a really strong performance as Charlotte Hale or at least the host that is impersonating her. The scenes where we see Hale struggling with her sense of identity was really strong and rather jarring. Especially the moments where we see her self harm. I also thought the scene of Hale watching the playback of the video that the real Charlotte recorded for her son was really well done and moving and was key to resolving one of the episode’s main plot points.

Also enjoyable was seeing Evan Rachel Wood and Aaron Paul intensify the relationship between Deloras and Caleb. The scene where Deloras says she sees a kindred spirit in Caleb was done brilliantly. But it’s the way in which Deloras coldly walks Caleb through key events from his life that proved unnerving.

Overall

An intriguing episode, which lifts the lid on some more puzzle pieces and reveals. Though I have to admit that I saw the reveal at the close of the episode coming after the first five minutes of the episode.