What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 8 “408 Request Timeout” (B)

I liked parts of this episode, but this season has been so much in chaos mode that it’s hard for anything real or concrete to be accomplished by anyone. Elliot was completely stuck in a flashback to his childhood with Angela, someone I’ve forgotten about even though she was a big part of this show for most of its run. The fact that Krista still wants to help him is surprising given what she endured, and Elliot is lucky to have her looking out for him. After he followed his younger self down the rabbit hole, it was powerful to see Mr. Robot show up again and reassure Elliot that he was never his father but instead, as Elliot confirmed, the father he needed. I wasn’t optimistic about Darlene and Dom surviving being held hostage and tortured by Janice, and seeing her minions burst into Dom’s family’s home so that they could grab all of them to use as pawns was an unsettling development that seemed like it could turn very ugly. Janice telling Darlene about Dom pleasuring herself to the interrogation video was actually probably helpful because it made Darlene realize how Dom felt about her. Ultimately, it was Dom who saved the day, with her new friend Deegan assuring her family’s safety and Dom, who was bleeding out on the ground, managing to take out all three of their captors almost instantly. It’s sad that she isn’t going to make it, but she made sure her family was okay and gave Darlene and Elliot a fighting chance to succeed.