Broadly speaking, I think Westworld misunderstands the appeal and potential of almost every character and relationship they give us, all the while fumbling the storytelling with framing gimmicks that could work in a tightly focused movie, but undermine a sprawling episodic show.
It’s badly made television.
I understand, for example, why telling the first half of Bernard’s story (the events leading up to his first visit to the forge and decision to scramble his memories) at the same time as the second half of his story (awaking with mixed up memories and his journey back to the forge) could be a cool way to reveal a story to the audience about memory (gosh, almost like Memento!). The simultaneous culmination of those two sequential arcs is neat, watching Bernard in the past make a decision at the same time Bernard later realizes his decision as it comes to fruition was cool.
But it affects the pacing and the engagement we have with every other character and story in the show as we’re trying to figure out if there’s a significance to the narrative time skipping for them too.
It’s like they remade Memento, but instead of the secondary characters just revealing more about Leonard’s situation, they’re also having a whole Game of Thrones show all around Leonard.
And as an example of misunderstanding the appeal of their characters, exhibit A: everything to do with William. He was a thin sketch of a character in season one, and in season two, it looks like they just pivoted him into a different thin sketch of a character. There’s barely any reason for him to do anything he does, there’s no reason at all for anyone else to treat him the way they do.
All that said, as best as possible in this mess of a show, this finale takes everything they’ve set in motion—for better or worse—and gives it about as good a conclusion as it could. I wish the show was just ending. I thought season two had promise for the first few episodes as it set the stage, but then I completely checked out on almost everyone’s stories and ultimately don’t like this season at all, but the finale is surprisingly effective at bringing it all together.