After a slightly substandard second outing, Mr. Robot returned to form in its third ever episode. Not only was Mr. Robot’s signature moody atmospheric darkness back that was inauspiciously missing in the majority of the second episode, but Mr. Robot delved deeper into Elliot’s complicated brain again. However, for the first time he explored the people around him in meaningful ways. Not only was the villain Tyrell Wellick given a fascinatingly creepy spotlight, but Angela finally showed that maybe there is some personality under her wide-eyed pretty exterior.
The Wonderfully Weird Mr. Wellick
Tyrell is practicing his upcoming speech he plans to give to his boss to convince him to make Tyrell the next CTO of Evil Corp. He is trying to perform his speech in a way that doesn’t make him seem like a creepy robot, which is damn near impossible. The only thing more dead than Tyrell’s eyes is his soul. The prep work is all pointless because Tyrell’s boss then postpones their meeting to meet with someone else instead. To vent his frustrations, Tyrell pays a homeless man so that he can punch the stranger repeatedly in the face. In case you weren’t catching on yet, Tyrell is seriously messed up.
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Elliot’s New Lease on Life and Ollie’s New Leash in Life
Elliot wakes up in a hospital bed recovering from his “accident” with Mr. Robot to see Krysta standing over him. When Krysta presses him,Elliot admits that he has been taking morphine. Krysta tells Elliot that he must stop and agree to take bi-weekly drug tests. Elliot agrees because he has already hacked into the hospital and can easily can tamper his test results. Still, the near death experience shakes Elliot and he vows to himself,(and us), that he’ll have nothing to do with fsociety or Mr. Robot anymore.
Meanwhile, Ollie is dealing with a crisis of his own. He is being blackmailed by the hacker that got into his laptop. He has found the pictures of Ollie’s mistress and threatens to release them and all of Ollie’s information unless Ollie uses the hacker’s CD to break into Allsafe’s system for him.
When Elliot returns to work, Mr. Robot is waiting at his cubicle. (I guess for an internet security company, Allsafe has horrendous physical security.) Anyway, Mr. Robot causes a scene and gets Elliot to take a drink with him at the bar next door to discuss something. Elliot tells Mr. Robot that he’s not interested in whatever he has to say, so Mr. Robot leaves. He tells Elliot there is no plan without him, so he gives up. Elliot is concerned but resolves to live a new and normal life. He’ll drink Starbucks lattes, heart things on Instagram, go to work dinner parties … in short, he’ll be the most basic bitch around.
What Happens in the Wellick House, Should Stay in the Wellick House
While Elliot learns more about his neighbor and quasi-girlfriend Shayla, Tyrell hatches a scheme. He finds his boss’ male assistant at a bar and seduces him. This is a ploy to get into the assistant’s apartment and hack into his phone. He finds out that his boss is planning to offer the CTO job to someone else.
The creepy sex manipulation is just beginning for Tyrell. He returns home to find his pregnant wife demanding to be tied up and she wants to be told everything that just happened. She tells him they must have dinner with Tyrell’s new rival immediately, but first her husband must put a ball-gag in her mouth.
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Elliot and Angela’s Worlds Come Crashing Down
Elliot’s dinner party with Gideon, his other co-workers and Shayla goes surprisingly well. He even gets to happily reminisce with Angela about their childhood. So naturally, fsociety chooses this exact moment to ruin Elliot’s happiness. There is a breaking news alert that the sacrificial lamb that Elliot presented to Evil Corp, Terry Colby, has now been revealed to be involved in the cover-up of the irresponsible nuclear waste disposal that killed Elliot’s dad (and Angela’s mother).
Elliot realizes that Mr. Robot must have known this would reel him back in, but he doesn’t care that he is being manipulated. He has to do something. He has to be involved now and he storms out of the party.
Angela leaves the party to talk to Elliot and returns home hours later to find Ollie waiting for her. In Angela’s most, and really only awesome scene yet, Ollie comes clean about everything. He tells her about his infidelities and the hacking. Discovering her backbone out of nowhere, Angela breaks up with him immediately and says they have to do whatever the hacker tells them, even if Ollie loses his job. When Ollie points out that Angela could be fired as well, Angela takes him back and promises she won’t do anything about the hacker.
Gideon is obsessively looking over Elliot’s records of the Evil Corp hack and finds something in the server code. Computer code might as well be Greek or Latin to me, but it appears that Gideon finds the code that Elliot left that allowed fsociety back into the Evil Corp’s system. Speaking of Elliot, he makes up his mind and abandons his normal life. He sits down in fsociety headquarters and silently gets to work while everyone watches.
Mr. Robot airs at 10pm on USA Network
(Image Courtesy of USA Network)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
