Tonight’s hack tide was low. At the start we got a pre-fsociety Elliot and Darlene hanging out at Eliot’s place. She tells him about an affiliate hack she set up to get free food delivery. This quality time together shows us the seeds of fsociety.

Jumping to present day, Darlene is struggling to keep the hacker bus on the road. Her old hacker friend/informer/side piece, Cisco, gives her some info she didn’t know, something a hacker should really be on top of. The FBI found the fsociety hangout. She tries to pass it off as no big deal, but he gives her the kicker: Romero was on to something nasty. “Barenstein” (I spelled that wrong), a super secret surveillance program. She and her crew are most likely being followed by someone. Darlene’s first concern has been the Dark Army is gunning for them and Cisco doesn’t think so. That means an unknown person(s) are hanging back into some serious shadows and the FBI is now a legit concern. She has to reach out to her brother for help. She feels the walls closing in and needs to make some moves to get ahead of their tails.

Angela is swimming around in corporate filth. She turns over the info Phillip gave her last week and the two guys are busted. She’s not too sure what Phillip’s game plan is. When she goes over some legal documents, she thinks she’s figured it out and she tries a to pull a power move on him. It doesn’t work. She’s stuck in a really weird place. Plus! Phillip and Whiterose in cahoots! The plot thickens! I have no idea what they’re up to, it’s too early to tell.

WOW at the talk Joanna has with her boyfriend. A painful mix of insult and truth. His reaction is the exact one I would have had.

Elliot is duking it out with Mr. Robot for control. Therapy is of no help. Ray offering a chess board to him gives Mr. Robot a plan of his own and it works. “I’m here for a reason.” Once more some of the best stuff is with Christian Slater and Rami Malek.

We’re 4 episodes in and for the first time. we see Elliot reconnect. He sits in front of a laptop for Ray. Killer lead up with Elliot talking to Darlene, “When you said you wanted him, did you mean it?” “No, I just want you.” This weird reassurance that he, Elliot, is real and needed. That he can maintain some kind of control over Mr. Robot because he’s a part of Elliot, not all of him. Now Ray is up to some shady business that gets paid in Bitcoins. When he agrees to help Ray, he’s surprised by how easy the job Ray wants him to do. A website server migration. Then he’s really surprised when Ray calls some muscle into the room and advises Elliot to not snoop around his business. Keep those eyes to the bare essentials to get the job done. Great Scott, do we remember how this show opened last year? He takes down a local business owners shady internet business and walks away as the 5-0 rolls in on the guy. Can Elliot resist the Ray temptation? Elliot is only there for a clean internet connection and now this juicy worm is dangled in front of him? For now, he focuses on his own problems. First things first, he logs into a BBS to talk to Darlene and she fills him in on the threats. “Wait for my instructions.” The leader is BACK. So what does he feel compelled to do next? Figure out who they’re up against and how close the snare is to their neck. Knowledge is power so he’s off to hack the FBI.

More please!

Elliot remains on his own and tries to get rid of Mr. Robot. A doomed mission from the start, but clearly it was necessary. Ray stepping forward to offer him a new path and more importantly another voice to talk and listen to. On the surface, it looks like Ray is someone Elliot can relate to. His journey this episode is some masterwork by Rami. The tug of war with Mr. Robot is crazy.

Angela’s time this week is interesting. She has the most strained meetings with her boss you can imagine and he ends up inviting her to dinner after taking her PR advice. She gets there with two more men at the table and it sounds like dinner goes smoothly. Then her boss gives her the means to crush those two same men for being involved in the transgressions that killed her mother. It’s a wild offer/trap/olive branch I didn’t see coming. Major “keep walking into the dark with me” moment. He straight up tells her if you disassociate yourself from emotion, you can do anything.

Great opening to the show, we got to see how fsociety pretty much got started. That leads into the loss of Romero sending the other two (except Darlene) into a serious case of “we’re being hunted.” Interesting angle to have a dark horse coming after the group that’s supposed to be anonymous. It’s just the start so we have to wait and see where this thread goes.

Very little tech this week, it was all interpersonal relationships. We now know much more about Ray and what he’s looking for. In other new character news, we got a great look at (lonely) Agent Dominique and how smart she is. Way ahead of her peers (nice fail safe Romero), she makes massive strides in finding fsociety. The current theory is that Elliot is institionalised, which I can see the reasoning behind. Not sure a agree with it though. If it’s true there’s a whole lot that needs to be explained.

Amazing looking episode. Going around Elliot’s world is super intense. The staging and lighting is some pro level thinking and execution. My favorite is when Ray moves to get the chess board and we get the return of Mr. Robot reveal. It’s so slick. Music is on point as well.

Titillating. Not a word a throw around easily, but good lord was the premiere good. Mr. Robot is back with a swift kick to the pants. Last year this show came out of nowhere (and on USA, a network not really known for its original shows) and instantly became a hit. So happy it’s back and it looks like creator Sam Esmail has crafted another twisted road to run down.

Season 2.0 starts about a month from the massive fsociety hack on E Corp that’s been dubbed the 5/9 Attack. The economy is reeling (cash has returned to prominence over credit cards, loans are all screwed up, the housing market is barely holding on). The only one left of the original fsociety team is Darlene and Mobley. Mobley takes more of a backseat as Darlene is the clear leader, continuing the fight to change the world. Elliot has taken refuge at his mom’s house in Queens, forcing an environment where he doesn’t have computer access to keep Mr. Robot at bay. Mr. Robot is not happy about that.

Gideon is being hounded by the feds thinking he’s to blame for 5/9. Even if they can’t prove it, he fears he’s going to be the scapegoat.

Tyrell has disappeared to avoid the cops and his wife has taken a new beau and continues to keep the devilish wheels of E Corp moving as public, political and continued hacking keep squeezing them.

Angela has taken a gig at E Corp, seemingly for altruistic spying reasons (and money) but it looks like she may have been swayed to the dark side (Antara’s parting shot at the bar is the greatest).

Every awesome element that makes Mr. Robot great is at work in the premiere. Arresting visuals and soundtrack. Christian Slater is awesome, his scenes with Rami are always intense and on point. You don’t know for sure what’s real or what isn’t, Elliot as the unreliable narrator is fascinating to be with. Theories are already flying at what’s really going on with him. The hacking stuff is cool (hijacking a smart home and a massive malware ransom on E Corp), seeing Darlene continue to push forward as the leader is great. Seeing what Angela is doing is heartbreaking. Slimy stuff with the E Corp’s chiefs (the scene in DC is some brilliant material) and the route with Gideon I didn’t see coming. Mr. Robot is unbelievably intriguing, unnerving and sexy at the same time.

If you don’t watch this show, you should be. Get on Season 1 and catch up (10 episodes). If you do watch, I’m preaching to the choir. I want more right now. Sam Esmail is a genius.

I’m a big Top Gear fan. After last year’s implosion, I’ve been waiting to see how the revamp would turn out. Now with all six episodes done, I can officially say it was OK. We’re getting a remix next year to work out the kinks.

The presenter roster was a bit too deep to start with (6!). Eddie Jordan was barely used and to be honest, they don’t need him. I think they’re keeping him around for next series but I don’t know why. He doesn’t add anything significant to the show.

I like Sabine Schmitz a lot. She broke out for Top Gear fans a few years ago when she whipped a transit van around the Nurburgring at astonishing speed. All her segments were good this year and I think she’s a smart addition to the formula.

I found Chris Harris on YouTube last year and he’s a perfect fit for the show. I think everyone agrees to that. He arguably had the best two segments of the series. He’s so good BBC America is giving him airtime starting tomorrow, July 11th. I’ve never heard of Rory Reid before, but I like him too. Great personality, a great speaker, and his pieces were all well done.

Matt LeBlanc is going to be the new anchor of the show. He’s got charm that brings people in, keeps you engaged and he’s a pro on camera. He always looks really relaxed and just wants to have a good time. His segment with the Porsche 911 R shows his enthusiasm that Top Gear thrives on.

Chris Evans tried his hardest which might have been his undoing. Too much from him felt forced, like he was desperate to keep this giant bird in the air by himself. Behind the scenes, he was an alleged diva that rubbed everyone the wrong way. With ratings down and people digging LeBlanc, the decision to let him go was easy, I think.

The production values remained top notch. Rory’s Ford Mustang segment is a real knockout. Of the six episodes, 3 and 6 are the stand out episodes that capture the most of what makes Top Gear great.

They still need to mess with the formula though to make it more their own. Ditch the celebrity segment. In an attempt to make that part different, they have 2 celebrities come out, talk about their first and their favorite car they’ve owned and then a race around a new route around the Top Gear track. The only part worth watching is the driving. Unbelievably boring segment that has to go. It’s like 15 minutes too, so it’s a slog to get back to what everyone really wants to see.

For Series 24, I’d like to see some more creative segments be thought up. Get some next gen Top Gear thinking and get the four presenters I like  out there to have fun together.

Clarkson, May, Hammond have been busy making The Grand Tour for Amazon which is coming…soon? No premiere date has been given yet but I’m going to guess the middle of September. It’s all eyes on them now to see what they can do without the BBC. A legion of fans are waiting so the pressure is on.