What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot (Series Finale)

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episodes 12 and 13 “Series Finale Parts 1 and 2”

I wasn’t quite sure where things were headed when Elliot found himself in some sort of bizarre alternate reality which was clearly a figment of his imagination. Discovering what his life could have been before deciding to kill the version of himself that existed there was certainly interesting, but I’ve always found this show to be a bit more compelling when it’s tethered to what’s actually going on in the real world and not just to what’s happening in Elliot’s head. The notion that the Elliot we’ve known isn’t actually the real Elliot, with him existing more as a Mr. Robot-type personality, is intriguing, though we’ve come to know him so well that I’m not sure it matters. It felt weird that Darlene was the only one who didn’t show up in his imagined Washington Township homecoming, but that made her presence by his bedside when he woke up from his dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream reminiscent of “Inception” all the more powerful. Her sentiments about having enjoyed spending time with him even when she knew that he wasn’t her brother were sweet, as was her parting greeting as the screen faded to black for good. I don’t think this finale was as strong as this show in general, but this final season was mostly good. I’ll appreciate this show most for the evolving relationship it conveyed between Elliot and Mr. Robot, and for some of its most incredible, innovative hours that made it one of the most unique and captivating shows I’ve ever seen.

Series finale: B-
Series grade: B+
Season MVP: Rami Malek
Season grade: B+
Series MVP: Rami Malek
Best Season: Season 1
Best Episode: Pilot

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot (Penultimate Episode)

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 11 “eXit” (B)

This isn’t technically the second-to-last episode of this show, but its two-hour series finale airs in one block this Sunday, which will be the last time I’ll tune in to watch it. I wasn’t overly taken with this episode because our characters spent much too long talking, and that’s pretty much all that’s been featured this season, with those who want to justify their versions of villainy given endless time to explain themselves and force us – and usually Elliot – to listen. Showing us a bit of the scenes we’ve already seen explained how they turned out differently than we might have expected, like Whiterose having her soldiers take out the actual FBI and SWAT teams that stormed her house. When Elliot was escorted through the plant past all the executed employees, it was definitely disturbing, and then he got laughed at by Whiterose because she thought he hated much more than she did. Shooting herself in the head after telling Elliot that she wanted to show him what she had shown Angela was a puzzling ending, and then we got that red screen after his gameplay didn’t work. I liked, earlier, that Darlene acknowledge Mr. Robot separately and said goodbye to him, and that Mr. Robot showed up to help Elliot when he needed him most. I’m not sure how to interpret the alternate reality in which Elliot is an only child, his father is still alive, he’s CEO of AllSafe, and he’s about to marry Angela. I’m intrigued but unconvinced, and I’m hopeful that the series finale will be more resounding and emphatic, closing out an incredibly creative show that’s sometimes hard to follow and truly enjoy.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 10 “410 Gone” (B)

There’s no way that this episode could have topped the two ridiculously intense hours that came before it, and I suppose there’s a need for some calm before the storm, except that it doesn’t seem like there’s necessarily any storm still on the horizon. Dom leaving the hospital against medical advice and going home to casually make some grilled cheese felt like her giving up, but then Darlene was there to insist that they go on the run together so that they might be able to be happy. When Dom found Leon in the motel room, she panicked, but it turns out that the intellectual reader is on the right side of things now, and didn’t even remember terrorizing her when he shot a bunch of people who were right next to her. Running into Bobby Cannavale’s Irving at the airport was really a trip since it felt like a true coincidence thanks to his book-signing setup, and his assurances that the Dark Army wasn’t interested in her anymore would have been more convincing if he hadn’t maniacally reminisced about how fun it was to kill Santiago right in front of her. Dom running to catch up with Darlene so that she could get on the plane when Darlene decided not to was a bit dramatic, but I suppose seeing her finally able to sleep as the plane took off was about the most peaceful resolution she could have gotten as a character. Now we’re back to Elliot and what he wants to accomplish in Washington Township with just three episodes airing over the course of two weeks left.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 9 “409 Conflict” (B+)

I keep wondering to myself whether I’ve looked at this show’s episode count wrong and it’s actually slated to end next week since the storyline feels like it’s very closed to wrapped. After Dom and Darlene were held hostage last week and Elliot and Krista were the week before that, this was an hour that was filled with wins, not to mention some pretty monumental deaths. Not since the first episode where Elliot successfully executed his big hack did he manage to achieve the same kind of electronic takedown, even if this one took a bit longer and didn’t look like it was going to work for a while. Philip was a good ally to have because he was fearless, aware that his death was imminent no matter how it was going to happen and ready to bask in his unexpected victory over Whiterose while he still could (the expression “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em” comes to mind, even if it’s not totally applicable in this case). I like that Darlene is able to differentiate between Elliot and Mr. Robot, who she doesn’t like at all, and that Mr. Robot had to steer the ship with Elliot out of commission until he finally showed up towards the end. They engineered a pretty incredible attack against Deus, exposing them and sending hordes of onlookers to swarm where they were gathered while they cleverly kept all the drivers trapped in the parking garage. After Whiterose shot Philip in a fit of rage, it looks like she’s going to meet her end, unless it’s only those FBI agents who took the brunt of those bullets we heard over the end credits. I genuinely have no idea what comes next.

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.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 7 “407 Proxy Authentication Required” (B)

I’m not thrilled with the excessive focus on Fernando, especially since it meant we didn’t see any of Darlene or Dom and their unfortunate predicament in this hour. The opener here cut to the chase with Fernando droning on to a different captive, and it got gradually more interesting as Elliot started trying to poke holes in his ego. Considering Elliot a formidable adversary was important, but the bigger aim was for Fernando to be on the same level as him, which he was for just one moment before Krista finally cut him off by stabbing him. There is something to be said, I suppose, for Elliot being undone by someone that he messed with rather than a real bad guy from E Corp or the Dark Army, making a decision that was seemingly harmless back then and turned out to have extraordinarily destructive implications. Invoking Shayla caught me off-guard since it was a reference to someone we haven’t seen in so long. It was pretty cool to see Mr. Robot come out and act all unimpressed with Fernando, though that didn’t last too long before Fernando exerted control by forcing Krista to have a therapy session. The revelation that Elliot’s father had abused him is earth-shattering for Elliot because he considers Mr. Robot to be his father rather than another personality, and it’s going to be hard for him to keep going now with that knowledge. Let’s hope Krista can help set him on the right track so that he can rescue the family member he does still have left alive who’s in serious trouble.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 6 “406 Not Acceptable” (B)

I wasn’t too sure at the very start about spending more time with Christmas music, but hearing Fernando spin his story to it to a predictably tied up Krista was undeniably intimidating and mood-setting. He made his point to be sure, and I’m curious whether her episode-ending call to Elliot was in fact to warn him or whether she was still his prisoner, not that it mattered much because he ended up in the trunk of car headed nowhere good. The more intense transformation in this hour was that of Elliot, who even Mr. Robot couldn’t support in the way that he shifted into ruining Olivia’s life. I hoped that maybe he hadn’t actually put drugs into her drink, though that would have been even more horrible if she had succeeded in her suicide attempt. Making sure that he knew that he was just as evil as the people she worked for was appropriately harsh, and I’m not even sure he’ll be able to do anything with the information he got now that he’s headed for some miserable fate thanks to Fernando. Dom’s future isn’t looking much brighter, thanks to Janice walking in at the worst possible time when Dom was trying to have Darlene kill her as the only possible way out of this situation. The choice she made won’t end up benefiting her, since Janice will not likely take it out on her family, and Darlene is likely to be tortured in some awful way as Janice tries to extract Elliot’s location. The only way this all ends well if the Dark Army and Fernando take each other out and no one gets hurt in the process.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 5 “405 Method Not Allowed” (B)

It’s weird to keep watching heavily-themed Christmas episodes so much before winter officially kicks into gear (though I’m currently in Los Angeles, where winter isn’t really a thing). Aside from that, this episode felt very insular as Elliot and Darlene got to work together in close quarters with a lot of pressure on around them. It was eerie not to see Mr. Robot at all, a forceful reminder that Elliot is just one person, and just because we’re often shown the other side of his personality, he doesn’t actually have someone there to help him at all times. After they successfully eluded security several times, Elliot got spotted very directly by one of their agents, and his decision to burst through the door and run from the police seemed like it was going to result with him back in prison, sacrificing himself so that Darlene could get away. The pace of the episode was decidedly intense from that point on, and somehow they managed to reunite and escape together. They might have eluded the police, but Janice was onto them with an amazingly clear picture, and let’s hope that Dom can covertly alert her old pal Darlene that she and her brother are in a lot of danger. Seeing Krista multiple times throughout the episode was foreboding since we knew that Elliot’s presence in her life would eventually put her in harm’s way, and Fernando showing up to help her with her groceries is the confirmation that she’s officially involved in a way that she really doesn’t want to be.

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.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 3 “403 Forbidden” (B)

I guess the big reveal from the end of last week’s episode about there being a third personality living inside Elliot will be revisited at some point in the future, with Whiterose’s mysterious identity instead being explored. Flashing back to a love story set in 1982 with an old-fashioned USA Network commercial felt like a real trip, with a sweet romance cut short by societal pressure and a suicide. Whiterose has some interesting plans which don’t seem to be supported by her top lieutenant, and that makes Elliot even more vulnerable. Running into Krista on the street was unexpected, and his eagerness to let her know that he was making progress and talking to Mr. Robot didn’t matter much because of how scared of him she was. She wasn’t the only familiar face we saw in this hour, and she’s likely to be drawn back in to something of which she wants no part. Darlene refusing to be bossed around by Elliot and identifying that it was him rather than Mr. Robot threatening her shows how strained their relationship has become as they’re working more closely together than ever. It was mesmerizing to see Mr. Robot step in and start flirting with Olivia when Elliot’s approach failed, and then to see how Elliot was actually connecting with her even while he was just using her. I feel like we never see Tyrell anymore, and when we do, it’s a harbinger of bad things to come, for him more than anyone.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 4, Episode 2 “402 Payment Required” (B+)

It’s simply stunning how this show manages to rewrite history by inserting Whiterose and Ecorp into it, having them be behind everything as world leaders and the internet conspire to rob everyday citizens of any element of privacy. That’s one of the reasons the pilot was so terrific, and this opening felt a lot like that. It’s fascinating to me how characters shift sides, with Angela first and now Philip coming over to be one of the good guys, as much as he can be. The fact that Susan Jacobs was his only contact is bad news, but Elliot may still be able to find a way to salvage that now that he knows what Darlene did. It’s interesting to watch the two siblings as they opt not to mourn their late mother but instead focus on the loss of someone they valued much more, Angela. Mr. Robot was trying to push Elliot to take a moment to deal with his mother’s death, but that not the issue that Elliot needs to address. Mr. Robot was insistent that he wasn’t keeping information he knew from Elliot, and now there’s a third personality buried somewhere within his mind which in all likelihood isn’t on the same side of things, and, by the looks of it, may well be much more in charge. I was shocked that Dom told the FBI agent questioning her that Santiago was a double agent, which made more sense when she pinned it on a drug cartel. As if she’s not isolated and miserable enough, Dom now knows that she holds the lives of others in her control, and asserting 99.9% certainty was enough to get someone killed instantly. Let’s hope she reaches back out to Darlene and somehow helps them take down this seemingly omniscient Dark Army.

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.

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

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 10 “shutdown –r” (B+)

I certainly couldn’t have predicted that things would end this way, but I was pleasantly surprised to see all of our characters together in two distinct places as everyone was made aware of what was going on, even if some of it really wasn’t pleasant. As expected, Dom finally caught on to the fact that Santiago hadn’t reported that they brought Darlene in, and he was bold enough to knock her out after telling her that she shouldn’t be scared since there were security cameras watching them. Irving made quite the impression on her when he told her to look at the sky and then hacked Santiago apart with an axe while mentioning specific members of her family who she should want to keep safe. She saved some particularly harsh words for Darlene, who wanted to bond with her after they both survived this thanks to a change of heart from Whiterose and a skilled action from Leon. Philip revealing to Angela that he was her father burst her bubble and made her realize that she’s been wrong all along, and now she’s reached an irreversible point. The best part of this episode was Elliot and Mr. Robot realizing they could use each other, and the shot of Mr. Robot coming to sit on the subway seat right across from him was very powerful. I’m excited to see what they could do in season four, which was just announced. This has been another superb year of the show, with fantastic performances all around.

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Rami Malek and Bobby Cannavale

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 9 “eps3.8_stage3.torrent” (B+)

I didn’t realize that there’s just one episode left in this season, and I’m hopeful that it’s still popular enough to come back for a fourth season since this year has proven extremely worthwhile. Opening with the Allsafe meeting with Philip, Colby, Tyrell, and Gideon felt like a nostalgic trip to a time long, long ago before things really got crazy. Now, we’ve come to the point where Tyrell has been located and now might even be headed back to his old job, but he has no family and not much to live for anymore. Mr. Robot went to Tyrell to chastise him for what he did and then left a note for Elliot because he’s realizing that they might be better as occasional allies. It’s a troubling scenario when Elliot is the less crazy one in the room, since Angela still believes that everyone is going to be okay somehow and he understands that there’s no way that’s going to be possible. Suggesting Stage 3 to Irving means that he has a plan, and unfortunately, Whiterose and his top adviser seem to know that he’s coming for him. There were many red flags in Dom’s behavior that suggested she was going to get herself into trouble, namely letting Darlene be her wingwoman and then opening the safe in front of her when they were back at her apartment. Darlene’s performance was convincing, and she was just as believable when she confessed to everything after she was caught red-handed. She should have listened to her brother, since Dom is now her only hope of survival after Agent Santiago went ahead and called Irving right after to explain exactly what she was planning to do.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 8 “eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko” (B+)

This episode felt very different from the bulk of this season, with Elliot parading around in a dreamlike state, interacting only with those tangentially related to his life, with the notable exception of his sister, from whom he’s pulling away more and more. Deleting Trenton and Mobley was a very symbolic act, and it was strange to see him go try to talk to their families to pay his respects. Mobley’s brother didn’t have any interest in discussing the sibling who ruined his life, and I like that Elliot returned to blackmail him into paying for an expensive funeral using the drugs he procured. Trenton’s father was worried about anti-Muslim sentiments, a relatable subject given the real-life events of this world, yet all the more frightening when the military is announcing city-wide curfews put into place in the wake of the devastating attacks. Trenton’s brother following Elliot around led to some very interesting moments, including Elliot’s take on critics’ poor taste and “The Martian,” and the true relevance of “Back to the Future” day and its characters’ abilities to change the past. Opening with Elliot’s father making him mix the candy with the popcorn before collapsing, leading Elliot to go see the movie with his jacket and talk to his absent father, was very powerful an effective in showcasing a different kind of loneliness he experiences in the present. His nostalgic talk through the door with Angela was also a nice return to simpler times. Getting the e-mail titled “Don’t delete me” from Trenton was an awesome ending, and I’m curious to see what reversing the hack can do now.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 7 “eps3.6_fredrick+tanya.chk” (B+)

I haven’t been able to get this episode out of my head since I watched it. I remember a similarly disturbing moment in the fifth episode of this show’s first season, when Shayla ended up being dead in a trunk after Elliot spent the entire hour trying desperately to save her. Fortunately, her portrayer Frankie Shaw is alive and well in her own show, “SMILF,” but I can’t say the same for the two casualties of this episode. Things started off much more humorously, as the TV-obsessed Leon returned to grab Trenton and Mobley. When Trenton got out of her binds and started driving, Leon didn’t even flinch, and then she crashed the car anyway. There’s something extremely upsetting about seeing people beg for their lives, and there was nothing that was going to save Trenton or Mobley, especially since they were long dead with the Dark Army gone when the FBI finally broke in to find the staged scene. This was an extraordinary frame job, with Irving and Santiago as the chief executors on the ground playing out Whiterose’s vision, which involved a brutal undercut of Philip. Angela’s mental state is deeply worrisome since she seems to believe that she can rewind death, and it’s hard to figure out exactly where the still-menacing Mr. Robot fits in now that his stage two plan has been corrupted for evil rather than merely revolutionary purposes. I’m really pulling for Dom to go straight to Darlene and request her help in taking down the people she knows are responsible.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 6 “eps3.5_kill-pr0cess.inc” (B+)

I’m really liking the narrative format that the recent episodes have followed, and it’s clear that this show is capable of delivering enormously when it follows a standard timeline instead of just trying to piece together different pieces of information that are difficult to understand. What’s most fascinating is the dynamic that exists between Elliot and Mr. Robot, as he felt himself switching over and losing time over and over again as he was trying to stop the attack. When Mr. Robot resorted to just trying to physically stop him in his tracks, Elliot opted to go a different route. The fact that they were able to collaborate to stop the attack and that they might be on the same side now is immensely interesting, though of course Elliot wasn’t able to see the bigger picture which involved taking down seventy-one other facilities around the world. So much for Whiterose playing nice and laughing at Phillip’s jokes. Flashing back to Angela talking to Elliot’s real father when she was a child demonstrated her warped perception of what death means and how to undo it, and her fearlessness in the face of an armed robber on the subway shows that she doesn’t think anything can kill her. Darlene barging into her apartment doesn’t seem to have accomplished much, and their relationship has obviously changed since we first saw them going to yoga together. I love the great pounding music that scored the three separate plotlines throughout this episode, and watching Dom work is always thrilling. She managed to find the cellar and then end up right there when Tyrell got arrested, but she still doesn’t know that her duplicitous boss knew exactly what was supposed to happen that Elliot and his alter ego stopped.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 5 “eps3.4_runtime-err0r.r00” (B+)

Now this was a riveting episode. All installments of this show are mesmerizing and captivating in their own way, but this one felt so incredibly claustrophobic and focused, with real, unavoidable events taking place as Stage 2 appears to have gone into effect. I love that Elliot diagnosed his experience as a runtime error, and that he accidentally told his coworker what he meant to say to his imaginary friend the audience, which prompted him to ask himself, what did he do this weekend? Watching him spring into action when he realized that he was about to be fired and escorted off the premises was fantastic since he melded so easily into his surroundings, posing first as the IT guy who targeted the wrong hapless offender and then boldly insisting that he was in the right conference room when he clearly wasn’t. I love that he asked the audience what to do when he conjured Mr. Robot, who he acknowledged wasn’t even the usual split personality but just a hallucination, a difference most wouldn’t bother to break down. After Darlene told him that she was working with the FBI and that Angela is the one who’s been working against him, we got an amazing shift to Angela’s own escape attempt in the building, which was a real nail-biter. This show’s representation of chaos is unrivaled, and Irving’s cool coaching provided a sharp contrast to Angela nearly got in trouble multiple times. The intense musical scoring with the numbers as the hired protesters went up the elevator was extremely effective, and Angela running straight into Elliot as she made her exit was a whopper of an ending to a truly terrific episode.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 4 “eps3.3_m3tadata.par2” (B+)

I’ve thought for a while that Darlene was this show’s best character, and after an iffy start early on this season, I’m glad to see that she’s back in full form, confronting a pickpocket on the subway and confessing all of her darkest secrets about the things she’s done to her under the cover of anonymity. She did well when Dom briefly greeted her at the door to warn her that Elliot was inside, and then nicknamed his nighttime transformation as “Mr. Hyde” when they talked openly about it. I’m just as enthusiastic about Dom as a character, and watching Darlene force her to be social at the bar made for a superb scene, especially when Dom tried to ask Darlene about her love life only to remember how that turned out. Darlene and Dom are just about the only two people on the good side of things now, along with Elliot, while Angela, Tyrell, and Irving are working hard to make sure that Mr. Robot stays in control. It was mesmerizing to see Mr. Robot transform back into Elliot at the wrong moment, with Angela stepping in to try to calm him down and inject him before calling Phillip to have Elliot fired. Tyrell is also losing it, and I’m curious to see how Irving is going to handle his demands given Joanna’s demise. I like when Elliot explains things like metadata, and his delivery of “part of being a corporate drone is going to mandated office functions” was particularly entertaining.

What I’m Watching: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 3 “eps3.2_legacy.so” (B+)

This show has never been one to present its events in a linear fashion, and therefore I’d argue that this is the most straightforward, comprehensible hour this show has produced yet. It’s ironic since it fills in the many things that it left unknown before now, tracing the entire trajectory of Tyrell Wellick when he was absent for all but the final moments of the second season. It’s incredible to see the devotion he expresses for Elliot based mainly on the fact that the gun jammed when Mr. Robot tried to shoot him. While I don’ think Mr. Robot values him nearly as much, he did seem satisfied with the notion of him being the perfect kind of crazy who could protect “me from me.” The fact that he wanted to get dressed up and look his best when he finally saw Elliot afte so long was Anytime we see Bobby Cannavale’s Irving is more than fine by me, and he did quite a job controlling Tyrell, telling him invented stories about his nonexistent children and bringing him Swedish Fish so that he would feel like he was back at home. The fact that he’s writing a novel is interesting, and I wonder if we’ll ever see more of that. I also liked seeing Wallace Shawn as another fixer who hit Tyrell with question after question about Sharon, his wife, and his loyalty, which he kept putting off until he finally cracked and said that he was loyal to Elliot. Tyrell’s decision to venture out into civilization resulted in a broken finger and a dead cop, and the revelation that Agent Santiago is working against the FBI’s best interests, putting Dom in more danger than we realized. Hearing that Whiterose wanted to back Trump as a candidate for president was intriguing, since only this show could insert a transformative event like his election as a believable piece of its narrative.