What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 4 “404 Not Found” (B+)

I’m not sure I ever expected this show to have a Christmas episode, but it felt totally appropriate just one day before Halloween. The eerie music was also haunting and fitting, as all of our characters nearly descended into madness when contemplating the bleakness of their fates. Tyrell sprang into action to kill the guy listening in on their incriminating conversation, which led to their having to walk through the snowy woods trying to find a way to get a signal. It’s weird that the general public, like the clerk at the corner stone, knows who Tyrell is, and her shouting his name after she hadn’t quite bought his Big Brother resume earlier confirmed that he wouldn’t be able to run for long. I liked how we got shots of Mr. Robot walking alongside Elliot and Tyrell, and then finally saw Mr. Robot disappear when Elliot changed his attitude and listened to Mr. Robot to appeal to Tyrell’s sentimental side, which won out before he ultimately got shot and decided not to try to save his own life since he was doomed anyway. Darlene’s drive with drunk Santa, played by Jon Glaser from “Girls” and “Parks and Recreation,” was trippy, and it was weird to see a shift when everything he had said suddenly seemed so much less real, while Darlene’s problems are very much undeniable. Let’s hope Elliot can get to her and convey how he’s feeling before they’re both taken out. Dom’s Christmas experience was the wildest, as she got far into a chat before slipping into a dream turned nightmare that involved her date insulting her lack of cleanliness before trying to drown her in her own tub. Again, I guess this is what counts as a Christmas episode for this show.