The Dolores Problem

Published March 17, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello everyone,

One of the things that made Season 1 of WW so good were the character arcs. Maeve, Bernard, Dr, Ford, William/MIB, and Dolores all end up in very different places at the end of the season than they were at the beginning. Dolores goes from someone that is totally obedient to her programming to completely in charge of her own destiny. The second season saw much less character growth. Dolores starts the season seeking vengeance and pretty much ends the season in the same mindset.

When we start season 3 Dolores continues her quest of vengeance but without much hope of character growth. The issue is that she is overpowered.

Let’s look at Maeve season one as an example. To become fully aware she has to be killed in the park multiple times. She must connect these times, find evidence that it is happening, and remember her daughter. At the end of the season she can escape the park as her programming demands or go back and find her daughter. This is growth through sacrifice, she suffers both physically and emotionally and it changes her.

In season 3 Dolores has no obstacles that she must suffer through. She needs money? No problem she is an expert hacker that can drain a rich jerks money and get through his security with ease, why she even has time for a swim. (As a side note I do wonder what the wife tells the police about her dead husband who had all his money drained from his account and wound up bound by his hands in the pool.)

She needs access to someone? easy as pie with her flawless looks and lack of moral inhibition it is easy to suck up to the tech geek. Can’t seduce his guardian? Kill him and replace him with one of your identical drones.

She is faster, stronger, thinks quicker, and can even have mopeds take out her enemies. Dolores faces no true obstacle, just a checklist of events that she must go through, like a video game series of fetch quests. In fact the only reason she gets hurt is a writer convenience to get her together with Caleb. Really there is no reason she couldn’t have summoned one of the sky taxis to take her home.

This presents two problems in storytelling. The first is that she has no need to grow or change, there is no obstacle she can’t overcome. With other overpowered characters they need to be constrained somehow. Superman doesn’t kill because of his inner moral compass, something Dolores doesn’t have, or you have to have some weakness, like Kryptonite, something at this point we haven’t seen.

The second problem is that you have to explain why she doesn’t always use her powers. When she is “wounded” why doesn’t she just call an air taxi or moped to take her away? It forces the writer to create tension through the “forgetting” to use her powers. An example is Maeve in the second season. She can freeze other hosts but only uses it when it is convenient for the story.

I have high hopes for season 3 but I unless the solve the Dolores Problem I don’t know how they will move forward.

Randy

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