So I finished it, and I feel like I just wasted my time.
Aaron Paul's character was pretty engaging, due almost entirely to his performance, not so much the way the character is written. Perfect casting that elevates the material, IMO.
I really thought there would be more to Vincent Cassel's character. Like, maybe he's actually a non-human, virtual entity that's self-generated by the system, but he ends up basically a Bond villain.
The action is cool in parts, but since the show has always been driven by its thematic depth and performances, it still feels like a separate entity. I feel like if you remove the action from something and it doesn't make a difference, then there was not much point to it in the first place. It made more sense in season 1 where the action is part of appeal of the park for guests, but since then it feels tacked on. The exception is the "Genre" chase scene which is fun and funny.
Also maybe this is just me and I've just seen too much sci-fi, but any time a story revolves around disabling some super-computer or AI, it immediately becomes boring. This has been played out and it's not interesting in Westworld.
The last third or so of the season feels like it's desperately trying to justify the show's very existence. As the season progresses, it feels less and less like characters have genuine motivations or arcs, and it devolves into a series of twists and one-ups.
It's reminiscent of the worst parts of shows like Lost, where the writers seem intent on overwhelming the audience with detail or questions that provide the illusion of depth, to distract you from the absolute dearth of it. One example is how the extended shots of Jeffrey Wright looking confused in season 2 is replaced by extended shots of Ed Harris doing something similar in season 3.
The most annoying thing was the show seemingly replacing any meaningful conversations about identity and perception of reality with characters just sort of constantly asking (either literally or figuratively), "Is this real?" That's not compelling, that's not deep. That feels like they couldn't think of anything else. That feels like Nolan and Joy wrote the show and at the last minute Joy was like, "oh shit we forgot to make it sound deep". Then Nolan was like, "I gotchu fam" and then proceeded to stamp the words "is this real?" on the script every few pages.