Logic Bomb

Elliot is back in his element. We get to watch him code malware for the FBI hack and that’s always fun to see. We saw the root of Elliot looking into Ray last week and I was right. Too much for him to resist when the Other IT Guy comes to give him the passwords (cue intense scene). Ray is up to some serious illegal business with just about every kind of crime you can think of. My favorite scenes this episode were in Ray’s office. Getting to hear Elliot’s joy in what he’s doing. Figuring things out. The silent back and forth he has with Other IT Guy. “Are you going to ask or just stare?” and then Elliot asks him and he gets all annoyed.

Over to Darleen, she needs Angela’s help to physically get into the FBI. With time of the essence, they need someone who can get in to do a physical drop to get them access to what they want. Kind of a hard sell when you just show up in someone’s apartment when you haven’t talked to them in more than a month. Angela is more than a little sketch about doing it, but on a meeting with her dumb ex-boyfriend and talking with Elliot she changes her mind. There is evidence of her involvement with the 5/9 hack floating around so it’s worth her taking a pro-active approach on the matter. If she has a chance to stay out of jail, she might as well take it.

Over to the FBI, they’re sweeping E Corp for evidence and find the Raspberry Pi Elliot installed in the thermostat. Dom is impressed. She’s then off to China along with her team to talk to some high-level government officials. In the meeting, she’s rather direct about a final request that the FBI wants, all the info they have on The Dark Army. Considering the scope of 5/9 they probably have some knowledge of who did it. And who pray tell is Dom talking to? Whiterose. But at the table, he’s the minister of the Chinese state security. Later, at a reception in Whiterose’s home, Dom wanders into a room full of clocks. Whiterose finds her there and they have an interesting conversation. He shows her his “sisters” wardrobe, which Dom later recalls is odd because he doesn’t have a sister. It seems like Whiterose has taken a certain level of interest in Dom (better believe a deep dive background check was done before she landed). Then, just when you think it’s going to another day of investigating in China, two gun men pop up at the hotel and kill quite a few FBI agents. Dom barely makes it. I didn’t see that coming at all. A sudden jolt of adrenalin to kick up an already excellent episode.

We pop in with Joanna too. She’s got some loose ends in her life and she cuts one away. She’s a cold woman but I can’t lie, I enjoyed her explanation. I understand her logic. But where is Tyrell? Looks like we might find out next week.

As usual, there’s some brilliant direction and staging. The change of lights as Elliot is writing script and he comes back to “reality” to reveal his watchdog, then the lights switch back when he starts typing again work. The scene with Elliot talking to Darleen at the table (I say no to the prison hypothesis, I think it’s voluntary psych facility at most. His guests during these scenes always sit in the same seat giving credence to ‘routine’ and a specific meeting area) is blocked really well. Mr. Robot appearing in the chair behind them and then Elliot answers him, but it also works as answering Darleen, which she does. The gun fight was especially brilliant. It’s one long take starting with Dom coming down the stairs with her co-worker. It’s a mundane morning, we make it down the stairs, move over to the continental breakfast and then we see the attack start the same exact way and time Dom does. We’re standing right there with her. The assassins sneak into frame on the top left and the shock of the woman we came down the stairs with getting shot right next to us hits us the same way it does her. Eccept she had the presence of mind (and training) to tuck and roll to defend herself. I would have been dead

Then there is the amazing scene with Angela and Elliot. The first notable thing is that Elliot doesn’t sit directly across from like he’s done with everyone else. He sits much closer and to her left. After a rather uncomfortable opening, they reconnect. It starts with her offering Elliot a true hand of friendship. They need each other. Their childhood and what they’ve recently done doesn’t allow them to be seperate. She tells him that she’s there for him as a friend, if he needs to talk she’ll listen. I don’t think anyone has told Elliot that in a long time. He tells her he was afraid to talk to her until he got his brain back in order and when she asks him if he did, he tells her the truth. “My dead father is standing behind you.” That’s major.

I’m already loving this episode and we get to the last scene. Mr. Robot made it known that whatever Ray is up to, isn’t important to them. They have their own issues to deal with right now. But Elliot is a crusader. That’s how we first met him in the coffee shop. He can help other people and now knowing that Ray is facilitating some heinous stuff, he can’t ignore it. He tries to rationalize it out with Mr. Robot fighting his do-gooder will. Why did Ray come to Elliot for this migration? Upon doing the job, he gets the idea that Other IT Guy was no slouch. It’s super shady but he doesn’t know any facts. Other IT Guy brings him to the doorstep of the facts though and it’s too much for him to resist. That action causes a nasty effect. While Elliot is wrapped up in the moral quandry, Ray knows he did exactly what he told him not to do. Ray comes knocking with his muscle in the middle of the night, they did God knows what to Other IT Guy and they commence tuning Elliot up.

“You looked.”

I hope they didn’t damage his hands.