What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot (Season Premiere)

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 1 “401 Unauthorized” (B+)

It’s been close to two years since this show finished airing its third season, which I found to be almost as magnetically intriguing as season one, even if awards bodies have opted to ignore this show after Rami Malek won an Emmy for its first year. The fact that this show is ending after only four seasons is a shame, but it’s rare that such a sendoff involves the longest run yet, with thirteen installments in this last stretch. I had forgotten both how mesmerizing and disturbing this show can be, with Angela’s execution serving as a stark and unsettling introduction to this opening hour. Her allegiances had shifted in the last season and then sprung back, and Darlene’s devastation about her fate demonstrates just how complicated this whole web of hackers and anti-establishment anarchism can be. Dom is clearly suffering from paranoia, and the only threat she didn’t spot was the real one, in the form of Janice, the boring taxidermist who turned out to be a cruel operative of the Dark Army sent to watch her. Jake Busey’s Freddie felt like just another hapless and eventually helpless guest used as a pawn by Elliot, and it was so cool to see Mr. Robot turn right into Elliot as Freddie boarded the train and the hacker took over. Their relationship is just as fascinating as ever, and Mr. Robot talking to his friend instead of Elliot shows that they’ve found a way to coexist, even if it suggests that Elliot is not doing well in the wake of Angela’s death. The final scene indicates that Elliot is gone too, but that’s obviously not how things are going to play out with twelve episodes left this season. I’m fully on board, just as confused and glued to the screen as ever.