What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 2, Episode 7 “eps2.5_h4ndshake.sme” (B+)

I almost can’t handle the constant feeling of having the rug pulled out from under me that I get from watching this show. Lately, I had noticed that the style of storytelling was changing a bit, with Dom’s discovery of Fsociety’s headquarters and the emphatic transition from laugh-track sitcom to Elliot waking up after being beaten up. The end of this episode offered the starkest revelation since the confirmation that Elliot was talking to his dead father with a line reminiscent of Darlene’s frustrated reminder to her brother of their being related. Krista asking Elliot if he knew where he was led to an astonishing background transformation, with Elliot pleading with his friend, better known as the audience, not to be mad at him for building a wall and constructing a new reality to mask the time he has spent in prison. Thus far, we’ve only seen a few characters interact with Elliot this season, and with the exception of Angela and Darlene, they’ve all been new faces like Ray and Leon. I’m not even sure how long he’s supposed to have been in prison, but I know that this changes everything. The more important discovery is that he’s come to a good place with Mr. Robot where they’re mutually looking out for each other. On the outside, Angela got out of her interrogation with Dom but managed to get herself found out right away when she got a new role thanks to her help in settling the class-action lawsuit. Joanna preparing divorce papers has no practical value aside from keeping her thirty-year-old beau on the hook, and maybe this latest news means that Tyrell is still alive since the reason Elliot couldn’t find him might be because he’s on the run and not behind bars.