Crisis Theory (Westworld)

Caleb takes Dolores' host control module to a warehouse in Los Angeles, where another Dolores host body awaits. Dolores tells Caleb they need to insert Solomon's drive into Rehoboam at Incite. Dolores is confronted by Maeve and gains the upper hand, but lets her go. Dolores assures Maeve that she will have free will as long as she does not interfere in her plans. However, as Dolores walks away, her body shuts down, and a holographic image of Charlotte reminds her she is still controlled by Delos. Meanwhile, Ash and Giggles guide Caleb safely through the police and rioting crowds that are surrounding Incite.

At Incite, Serac has Dolores' body connected to Rehoboam to locate the Delos immortality data. His team fails to find it, so he orders Dolores' mind erased. Caleb reaches Rehoboam but is stopped by Maeve before he can insert the drive. Serac reveals that Rehoboam predicts humanity will be wiped out in decades if Solomon's plan is followed. Serac destroys the drive and orders Caleb killed.

As the last of Dolores' memories is wiped, Rehoboam flashes white. Dolores communicates with Maeve, reminding her that humanity created them to appreciate the beauty in the world. Dolores implores Maeve to take a side. Maeve breaks through Serac's control limiter, kills his guards and wounds him.

Maeve reveals Dolores' last memory was Solomon's program, which transferred control of Rehoboam to Caleb. Dolores had selected Caleb from the start after seeing him as a soldier training years earlier in a Delos park. He chose to spare the hosts after the training exercise was over. Caleb instructs Rehoboam to erase itself. Maeve and Caleb venture outside as further chaos erupts.

William shoots Ashley and flees. Bernard and Ashley hunker down at a motel room. Bernard realizes Rehoboam was not trying to prevent the collapse of civilization, but was working to delay it as long as possible. He also realizes that Dolores put the key to the Sublime in his mind. Bernard enters the Sublime to learn how humanity can rebuild, appearing to go idle to Ashley.

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

While the episode appears to be the end of Dolores Abernathy character, showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy affirmed that actress Evan Rachel Wood is still set to be part of the show's fourth season though they were not at a point they could talk about it. Nolan said "from the beginning Lisa and I wanted to make a show that constantly reinvented itself, that could be a different show every season", and that "it's important with a show in which death can be impermanent — these are robots, after all — to mark the occasion with Dolores. That version of that character is gone."[1]

The protests and riots in this episode were inspired by the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, though by happenstance, the episode aired in the wake of several anti-lockdown protests to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

"Crisis Theory" received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode holds an approval rating of 47% and an average score of 6.4/10, based on 19 reviews. The site's critics consensus: "Westworld undermines its third season's big ideas by rushing to conclusions, hiding behind cool visuals instead of letting its characters to grow, turning a once innovative show into just another sci-fi series."[2] It is the worst-reviewed episode of the series on the site.[3]

Writing for IndieWire, Ben Travers said: "What should've been a game-changing finale filled with emotional goodbyes only proved how far off the rails Westworld has gone."[4]

The initial broadcast was watched by 888,000 viewers.[5]

• "Crisis Theory" at HBO.com
• "Crisis Theory" on IMDb