The Exact Moment Westworld Went off the Rails 

Summary:

• HBO’s Westworld had all the potential to make television history.
• The writers had trouble deciding what to do with the story.
• It went from fantastic to mediocre to dumb rather quickly.

Some fans call Westworld “the early Game of Thrones that could’ve been”. The show had all the earmarks of a wildly successful big action show with deep meanings, hidden themes, and fascinating storytelling, the likes of which we hadn’t seen since the earlier seasons of GoT. But it failed hard on that front, going from peak television to a flop full of plot holes. We can actually pinpoint the exact moment it all went to the dogs.

Westworld is a well-known remake of Michael Crichton’s 1973 namesake movie. The showrunners adapted the script, making appropriate changes for the TV format, and put it on our screens in 2016, dubbed “insanely incredible” by the devoted fanbase they built. The plot of the entire Season 1 was fleshed out a bit, adding its own charm to the TV show, but was more or less the TV adaptation of the movie.

Season 1 was consistent in quality and writing, a big gem with intricate, complex, and nuanced stories; a masterpiece, if you will, that probably should have quit while it was ahead. Some thought it would be a limited TV series since, as we mentioned, it was a remake. But once they ran out of the source material, the show creators decided to take it to the next step, continuing well into Season 2.

Don’t get us wrong; Season 2 still had its highlights, with Episode 10 and its Native American storyline considered one of the best on live-action TV.

But it was clear from the beginning the writers had no idea what they were trying to do. It’s like they had this amazing premise and all the means to do something fantastic with it, and then they went and made Seasons 3 and 4, what with their car chases and characters leaving Westworld. You might think they wouldn’t do that on a show called Westworld, but here we are.

And here’s when we could literally see a drop in quality. The perfect show turned into a mediocre action-packed series with plot holes so big you could drive a truck through them.

It's no wonder that HBO shut its door to Westworld after four seasons. Yes, fans didn’t get to see the ending or the resolution of some of the characters’ arcs, but it was probably for the best—it was time to cut the cord and let the series go.