The enigmatic and slightly unnerving “hero” of Mr. Robot, Elliot, has never had a problem finding a way to manipulate computer code to his advantage. When it comes to interpersonal interactions, Elliot is about as helpful and useful as your average grandma logging into her email. In this installment of Mr. Robot Elliott finally found a way to interact with people, by treating them like computers with codes to exploit. Naturally any success that Elliot achieves on Mr. Robot is tinged with defeat. In this episode, Elliot rode high on a wave of success before crashing miserably into the shore.
Meeting Old “Friends” and Breaking Up with Old Boyfriends
The male contingent of fsociety reaches the destination of their road trip, the Steel Mountain Headquarters. As previously agreed, Elliot is tasked with infiltrating the building and hacking in their system. As expected though, this venture is pretty much a trainwreck from the start. There’s no amount of urging and line-feeding from Mr. Robot on a bluetooth headset that doesn’t make Elliot seem like a bug-eyed, socially awkward robot himself. Yet miraculously, Elliot looks like he might pull the plan off at one point until he runs directly into the dead-eyed, lizard-faced business man Tyrell Wellick.
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Angela is moving out of her apartment with Ollie and decides to leave a parting shot to the gut. Angela tells Ollie that she used his computer and ID to hack into Allsafe’s security system. So while Ollie rants at Angela that she is ruining his life by breaking up with him, she still tells Ollie that she has already destroyed his life.
The Most Eventful Potty Break in History
Tyrell is more than happy to see Elliot given Tyrell’s creepy obsession with the security engineer he only met once. Tyrell invites Elliot to lunch and with the help from Mr. Robot, Elliot gets Tyrell to bring him to the executive lounge to have it. When two security officers approach Tyrell with some papers to sign, Elliot loses it. He runs to the bathroom and has a vomit-filled panic attack.
This turns out to be the most convenient panic attack of all time because the bathroom is right next to a storage closet which has the thermostat that Elliot needs to hack. Elliot gets to work but it is interrupted by Tyrell and this bathroom visit becomes even more fortuitous. Tyrell tells Elliot that he knows that Elliot framed Terry Colby and that Elliot is driven by revenge against Evil Corp. Tyrell won’t turn Elliot in. He doesn’t even seem to care that much. Somehow, this is more creepy than a outright threat which is probably exactly what Tyrell was planning.
Alliances Broken and Formed
Darlene finds out that the Dark Army is shutting fsociety out of communication and she freaks out in a way that only Darlene can. She goes to confront Cisco at a library and, because she is Darlene and has no respect for public decency and decorum, she throws a very big, loud hissy fit demanding answers. Cisco tells Darlene that the Dark Army is done with fsociety but won’t give the reason why. Darlene then proceeds to throw an even louder and bigger hissy fit.
Tyrell and his even more unsettling wife have dinner with his competition at Evil Corp. Tyrell tries to angle for a right hand man position with the man when he becomes the next CFO but his offer is more or less refused. Tyrell then tries to seduce the wife. Initially this is as much a disaster as his previous gamble, but suddenly (and inexplicably) the wife appears receptive to Tyrell’s advances. The confusion this causes is nothing compared to Tyrell’s response to her sudden attraction to him. He simply thanks her for her and her husband’s hospitality and leaves their home.
Startling Homecomings
When the men of fsociety return back to the arcade, Darlene informs them that they’ve lost their alliance with the Dark Army. Mr. Robot rages and Darlene still thinks they can salvage the day by going through with the plan, but this just enrages Mr. Robot further. He orders Darlene to stop, but she is not swayed. It isn’t until Elliot steps in that she backs down.
In a surprisingly sweet moment, Elliot invites Darlene to crash at his place. When they get back home though, the doors to Elliot and Shayla’s apartments are hanging open and Shayla is missing. A phone is ringing on the floor. When Elliot picks it up, Fernando, Shayla’s drug supplier and rapist who Elliot imprisoned, is on the other line.
Elliot isn’t the only character discovering something horrible at their home. After breaking up with Ollie, Angela went to her dad’s house. While unpacking in her old room she discovered a load of paperwork on the desk and in the closet. Angela’s dad is swimming in debt to Evil Corp, the corporation that killed his wife.
Mr. Robot airs Wednesdays at 10pm on USA
(image courtesy of USA)
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.
