Wild ride this week with a perspective tilting opener and fsociety in action!
The opening must have caught every view off guard because the first 20 minutes was set in a 90’s sitcom complete with throwback commercials. Throwback clothes, car, laugh track and cheesy sets complete the illusion and confusion. Things of note: whenever we get a glimpse of their mother, she’s shown in a terrible light. In this opening, she bickers with Darlene almost non-stop, knocks out Darlene twice and burns her with a cigarette. While their relationship with their father was obviously no picnic, mom is someone they both actively avoid as much as possible (there have been dialog hints earlier from Darlene when she visits Elliot). The other note is that this is Mr. Robot’s will to keep Elliot’s mind safe from the beating at the hands of Ray’s goons. Elliot’s first conclusion is much scarier, that Mr. Robot has won the battle and this sitcom world is Mr. Robot’s prison for him. Mr. Robot wants this to be seen as a peace treaty of sorts. Fighting does them both no good, it’s exhausting and a waste of time. Elliot also can’t get rid of Mr. Robot. It’s a demonstration to show Elliot what benefits Mr. Robot can do for him. When “the worst of it is over,” the car ride ends at the intended destination: a hospital. Mr. Robot then lets go for Elliot to wake up in a hospital with Ray at his side. Ray lets him know who the master is in their relationship.
What a mind trip.
The other side of the episode is Darlene and Angela’s fsociety mission to get FBI intel at E Corp while the FBI is still buzzing around the building. This is straight up movie caper stuff and it was a blast to watch. Tech jargon as Angela gets a crash course in hacking from Mobley. Cisco gets the hardware they need along with a brutal reminder of
Cisco gets the hardware they need along with a brutal reminder that he’s a foot soldier, nothing more. When he goes back to fsociety HQ to deliver the hardware (the big question is if it was indeed tampered with) Angela is there and she recognizes him as the guy that gave her dumb ex-boyfriend the CD that sucked her into all of this last season. Despite the clear shock from both of them that everyone in the room witnesses, Angela tells the room that she just thought he looked familiar and leaves with the hardware. Darlene, with much bigger concerns on her mind with hacking the FBI, I assume. just lets it go.
This leads to another brilliantly directed sequence of intrigue and suspense. Darlene and Angela (with Mobley assist) work together on this wild update to steal the data off of the FBI agents while they are all still in E Corp. Darlene sneaks into a hotel room next door to E Corp so she can remotely access the bootleg network that Angela is going to set up. Following the both of them around was straight up Mission Impossible greatness. It doesn’t go all according to plan so Angela is forced to double back and get the wifi connection back up or they are all screwed. While being guided through the process by Darlene, Dom shows up at Angela’s desk. If Dom sees that computer monitor, Darlene is screwed.
What an ending! Plus, Elliot was snatched up once again by Ray’s goons and dropped off in a basement in who the hell knows where. Elliot is for once grateful that Mr. Robot is with them. I’m on pins and needles, I can’t wait to see what happens next.