After a shocker opening with Joanna, the big Elliot reveal of the season! Since we have an unreliable narrator you can’t take everything Elliot shows you at face value. This episode was pretty straight forward so I’ll quickly address the others before the main Elliot course.

Angela didn’t get caught by Dom! Despite acting about as shady as a person can, Angela managed to sort of lie around Dom’s questions. Dom leaves her alone and that lets her get the WiFi back up for Darlene to get access. Mission accomplished. Darlene romps around the system to get at the FBI and she wipes out the security footage of Angela in the building. Dom, knowing she’s been had when she finds out, is now going to be doing a full court press on Angela.

Angela is terrible at being sneaky. She works to get a lawsuit that her father is involved in against E Corp to basically settle and uses that win to get into a department she wants to go to. This “lateral” move (as told by Price) seems like a waste of her skills but he gives it to her. On her first day, she wiggles her way into a managers meeting (this is in one of the law divisions, one that is heavily involved in the lawsuits that E Corp are served) and she tips her hand so obviously it makes the whole room stare at her. She’s there to get the inside dirt on E Corp’s lawsuits to expose and she basically comes out and says it in the meeting. Embarrassing and stupid move (a mission that will probably turn into a fsociety hack).

Darlene pulls another fsociety media stunt. At a televised meeting, the part of the bull statue they stole from Wall Street is dropped through the skylight. That got some attention.

After their mission, Angela goes to meet Darlene and she’s put some things together. Darlene is part of fsociety. She brings up their past and remembers that terrible horror movie she and Elliot would always watch (the one we saw at the opening a few episodes ago). That’s where the fsociety mask came from. Darlene looks taken aback by it. Angela has put some things together that she never thought about. I think Darlene is afraid that there is a trail to the genesis of fsociety now, a breadcrumb she has no way to get rid of. How many other people did she and Elliot show that movie to all those years ago? Might be nothing but it’s the little things you don’t consider that can become a problem.

Joanna has some boy toy trouble. He lays it out to her that he wants their relationship to be public, she needs to show up at his birthday party. He gives her the ultimate of show up, or we’re done. She doesn’t and when she drops in on him later, he’s none too pleased. She then hands over the reason she didn’t come: divorce papers. It looks like she’s come to believe that Tyrell is dead.

On to Elliot. In a heart to heart (so to speak) with Mr. Robot, MR tells Elliot he shot Tyrell. At first, Elliot doesn’t believe him (why was he in the trunk of the car in that dreamscape you made?) but comes around to the belief that he was really the one who killed Tyrell. It was his hands that did it even if he doesn’t remember.

Hero Elliot can’t be kept down. Despite all the threats by Ray, Elliot follows his heart and turns him. He gets the site back up but makes it public. The authorities swoop in quickly. Now it gets really wild. Elliot is “safe” from Ray but he’s visited by some seriously intense looking dudes while he’s talking to Leon at the basketball court. Leon sticks by Elliot, the guys take off but then jump him later when he’s alone. Super Leon to the rescue! He shivs like 6 guys, saving Elliots life. From there, a meeting with his shrink, Krista.

Here the lie ends. Elliot isn’t out and about and living with his mother. He’s been in prison for all of this season. The fan theory was right! The strict structure of his life, how everyone comes to see him. The fantasy layers of Elliot’s lies are peeled back one by one as he apologizes to us.

So what is presumed real: Everything dealing with Angela, Dom and Darlene. What’s been going on outside of Elliot is happening. Leon. Fellow inmate, it looks like Whiterose has told him to keep an eye on Elliot. Ray. Most likely a warden or other higher up at the prison. The site was real, he had some guards in for muscle (I’m thinking that basement Elliot was thrown into is actually solitary confinement). Other IT Guy is another inmate (that I think) bailed on the site when he found out what was on it. That forced Ray to find someone new to finish the job. Elliot originally took the gig to get on (probably) the only computer with internet access in the facility.

What’s up in the air: Why Elliot was put in jail for what looks to be 2 months. Krista says he’s getting out soon, so it can’t be for the death of Tyrell. That makes Tyrell’s well-being and whereabouts completely up in the air.

So now it looks like Elliot is getting out and will most likely join his sister. Safe to say Dom and Elliot are going to meet in person and I can’t wait to see what that’s like. He’s reconciled with Mr. Robot now, so he’s in a pretty good headspace as far as Elliot goes. That dreamscape was to show him safety and when Elliot got jumped, Mr. Robot stepped in to take the hits (brilliant idea and perfect editing to show it, my favorite bit of the episode). That means a lot to Elliot. He accepts Mr. Robot as part of himself now. Not a curse or adversary, but a partner.

This should be a major turning point of the season. The multisided die of fsociety, E Corp, the FBI and Whiterose/The Dark Army are rolling in ways that are becoming harder to predict. I don’t know who’s going to get hit first.

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.

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.

I’m conflicted about Preacher. As a whole, it didn’t reach up to my expectations but I still enjoyed most of it. I’ve heard about the comic for years and had a basic understanding of the plot. So the show finally starts and it’s weird. That I was expecting but I’m not talking about subject matter. It’s the pacing. It feels disjointed and patched together like they took sections of the book and weren’t following a normal story arc. Since I haven’t read the source material, I can’t say how true that is. There are times when I wasn’t sure what was going on. Not a good feeling but it does come together (the cowboy plotline is a real headscratcher that comes in and out and doesn’t make much sense until very far in).

It’s a slow ride, I guess that’s the easiest way to say it. I’m all for building narrative but man is this show structured weird. I stuck through to the end and I’m happy I did. There’s a lot of cool stuff and it’s the main characters that got me there (my favorite being Tulip and I wanted to see where Eugene’s story was going). In that regard, it paid off for me. Oddly enough, the plot bit I heard didn’t come into the show until the end of the season finale. For weeks I was wondering if what I heard was right or if I was remembering it wrong.

It’s really hard to explain Preacher effectively and it’s a tough blind recommend. There are some creative ideas about religion that some people won’t dig (serious gore and violence too) and many probably won’t have the patience to make it all the way through. The end is probably the best part as the set up for Season 2 points to some major changes that should be a lot of fun. There are a lot of Preacher fans out there and the promise of the best things are yet to come makes me want to see it.

There’s one line of dialog that’s stuck with me since I heard it a few weeks ago:

What’s Hell like?

Crowded…

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.

Liked this season quite a bit more than the last. Quality corporate skullduggery and the Clone Club did a lot of juking and jiving to keep up.

The sisters all had good roles to play for most of the season. Krystal came in and out, proving to be useful in her own dim-witted way. Helen was on the back burner for the entire season which I found disappointing. Her coming through with the assist at the Hendrix’s home was great.  Alison and Donnie were in the mix for awhile and I was surprised how their storyline ended much sooner than episode. Smart writing to sideline them for now, it made sense. Rachel had a great story this year and while I thought they were going to do something with Sarah’s daughter, they didn’t integrate her at all. Really dug Evie Cho as the main antagonist, they gave her a lot to work with and she’s ruthless. A fun foil and mirror to Susan Duncan

The light shined on Brightborn and Neolution was great to see this season. We got to see a lot of the inner workings of the tech race (wild idea on Brightborn’s side) which really fleshed out the world. Major plot movement is always a plus in my book. Many significant story beats and character deaths made it all very meaningful. Rachel was brought back into the spotlight in baby steps and I think it worked out really well. Great season finale that had action, suspense, a touching reunion and the culmination of story threads to a quality cliffhanger ending. Nothing felt cheap and the set ups for the next (and final) season are great. Loved the last shot, looking forward to the last run to the end.

The end of the series!

I’ve watched Marty Kaan swim around the consultant firm from the start and really enjoyed it. I think they ended it right on time, though. A lot of side characters fell to the wayside (like Marty’s son, I think he was in 3 episodes this season) and there are only so many times you can do a hostile business take-over story.

The four main characters remained fun and the highlight of the series. The end of season four and this season zeroed in on Marty and Jeannie relationship. It’s a move that made the most sense as Jeannie was pretty much the other leg of the show. I think Marty bounced off of only Monica more. The last big

The final client for the show brought the team to Cuba and they switched things up a bit to bring the show to a close. Once more they were  chasing a bigger whale. Kaan and Associates (and the show) had hit a wall–when is enough, enough? Marty seemed to be OK with (or at least never saw an alternative to) pushing the speed up on the treadmill but Jeannie saw otherwise after the birth of their child. The weight of pushing rivals into oncoming traffic was getting too much and making more money for the sake of making more money didn’t make sense anymore. The future she saw for herself wasn’t a happy one. Could she have a future with Marty outside of child visitation? Could Marty think of the future? And Cuba had brought the team into another back-stabbing deal. Marty did manage to find a route out of it that kept him and his friends in a good space and his two biggest rivals pulling their hair out.

Jeannie got Marty to slow down and think. In doing so, he saw a happy route for all of them. Using that Marty magic he pulls a win out of a losing scenario. It kept him and his friends in a good space and his two biggest rivals pulling their hair out.

Whenever a show ends, I pretty much just want to get a good idea of what will (most likely) happen to the characters when the cameras are gone. I find that satisfying. I got that with House of Lies. Marty, Jeannie, Clyde, and Doug will be working together, on their terms, for the foreseeable future.

Persona Non Grata

As a whole, this was a disappointing season finale but there was still some great scenes.

Turns out I misunderstood what was happening to Will at the end of episode 12. Despite his objections to stealing the bio-weapon, he’s going to do it for his last mission.

With that cleared up, the show opens with Will packing up the sample in his apartment for the handoff to Philip. What he doesn’t know is half of the FBI is now watching him. When the close in on him he makes a break for it and they surround him in the park. With few choices available to him, Will breaks the vial and infects himself. He’s brought to a special medical center with an isolation area.

When Will doesn’t show up to the meeting (and a back up one the following day) and can’t be contacted by Gabriel, the KGB team assumes he’s been picked up. It’s a lot to be concerned about and Gabriel advises Elizabeth and Philip to pack up the kids and hide at a safehouse so they can be extradited on the sly.

Nabbing Will puts both sides on new platforms. The FBI prevents some awful stuff from leaving the country, but Will is a resilient man for his people. There’s no cure for what he has so the time is short for them to get any info out of him. Gaad’s replacement confronts Arkady with all their info and drops the hammer: they have enough to get him thrown out of the country and things at the Soviet embassy are going to get real uncomfortable. This means Tatiana will be taking over his position for a while. Her move to Kenya is put on hold and Oleg tells her he’s going home to be with his family.

Stan and Dennis stick with Will as the virus quickly takes over. While they try to get info on the Soviet’s, they also ask much about him. Did he enjoy what he was doing? It isn’t until Will is in death’s delirious grip when Will lets out a lead. He tried to find a wife but never could. Alone and different from everyone around him, he’s envious of “them.” The two that are married, with kids. The ones that no one would suspect. She’s really beautiful, he’s lucky to have her…

Elizabeth and Philip are in complete darkness. They know Will has been taken but Philip isn’t sure if Will would talk but he thinks it’s a real possibility.  They don’t know that Will infected himself, they assume he’s in an interrogation room somewhere. Gabriel thinks Will could absolutely be offered a sweet deal to turn and it isn’t safe for them to stay. It’s not a simple decision for Philip and Elizabeth based on the info they have. It’s a massive ordeal for them to try and cut and run with the kids. They go home on edge, deciding to wait and see (a crazy risk considering if the snare does pull around them, they’ll have no warning). Paige has been spending time with Matt and getting awfully close to him.

Highlights:

• Dylan Baker’s best work as Will. Great “confessional” moments. Hell of a way for a character to go out.
• The tip that the spies Will is working with are married to each other. He doesn’t give away the Jenner’s, but it’s something. It’s going to bother Stan for sure and it’ll make him look around more carefully. It’s a big worry.
• Interesting scene at EST. Philip doing his own hidden confessional, sharing his internal struggle with being a “travel agent.” It’s crushed him many times this year and the instructor asks him “what about making yourself happy for once?” The obligations and promises to his family (here and abroad) force him to stay in the game. If Elizabeth wasn’t so strong it’d probably be a different story.
• Paige still growing as a spy. She’s accepted who her mother is a bit more, she’s processed the attack and even asks about learning to protect herself. She also negotiates/plans with Elizabeth about visiting Pastor Tim, Alice and their newborn at the hospital.
• Paige and Matt! Philip has to play it so cool when his life is probably collapsing around him as he goes to FBI Stan’s to get her. Then Stan is all giddy when he reports the kids were kissing (they walk in and they are on opposite sides of the couch!) and Philip’s face is just barely managing to keep it all together. He bugs out as they walk across the street, forbidding her to get involved with Matt (cue her crushing eyebrows).
• Gorgeous shot of the Jenner home for the final visual of the season.

I’m not to thrilled about finding out about Philip’s son, Mischa. It was put in early in the episode where it telegraphed that the Jenner’s were going to stay put, ruining that angle. It’s a seeding maneuver for season 5 that I think should have been held off for next year. Took away more than it added.

I was expecting a much more action oriented episode (in the chase department for sure) so the finale was a visceral let down in that regard. There was still plenty to like though and brought some things to a close while leaving a satisfying “what’s next” question for season 5. They put another great season in the books and I’m looking forward to next year.

A Roy Rogers in Franconia

There are three pieces to this week’s episode: Paige, the bio-weapon, and the FBI getting their act together.

As expected, Paige is shell shocked from the attempted mugging. She sees her mom in a new light and because of that, a level of naivete is taken away. She asks more questions, gets some details about the past (I like Elizabeth talking about her childhood) and becomes a bit more aggressive about things. She’s now starting to see herself as part of this and is walking into dangerous territory: she’s a dumb kid with no training and too much confidence. Elizabeth connects the dots that Paige has been reporting things to her and Philip, talking strategy. They’ve been treating her with kid gloves through this to keep her from freaking out, giving her basics to keep tabs on Pastor Tim. Now after the attack, Paige wants to know more. Seeing your mother drop a dude and kill another in front of you wakes you up to the world your parents are actually in. The mystery calls may not be a total mystery anymore as Philip relents to her heated questions and gives her the basics about meeting with someone to get info for a weapon. Elizabeth witnessed Paige probing Matt about Stan early in the episode and combined with this new fervor, it’s opening a whole new avenue of potential exposure for them. Philip and Elizabeth were recruited and trained extensively for years and this goofy girl thinks she’s got all the moves now. They have to reel her in.

Pilfering Don’s data paid off. They found access codes to get to access to Level 4 so it’s possible to get a sample of the bio-weapon. Phillip goes to meet Will to pass along the information and he flat out says no, I’m not going to get it. The potential of letting this stuff out is far too much on his conscious. He’s been working for the Soviet’s for most of his life and he draws the line here. Gabriel is brought in for negotiations and to my initial surprise, doesn’t try to talk Will into doing it. Gabriel sees Will as a burned out agent. Away from home for too long, his agenda no longer exactly matching what they need, he’s done. Will will be brought back and retired (not in the “he lives on a farm upstate” kind of way, actual retirement with benefits).

Finally, the FBI. Agent Alderholt found a loose thread and followed it back to the repair place where they fix the machines that they use in the office to ferry paperwork around. The location of the amazing scene where Elizabeth talks the owner’s mother into ODing. They find the bug in the machine there and snap into action. In full detective mode, they nab the woman bribed to swap the tapes every week (the Soviets tricked her into thinking it’s a mob operation and give her $500 for every drop). Oleg gets some info from Tatiana that makes him nervous enough to go to Stan and tips him off about the bio-weapon theft plan. They cross reference all their info to find who/where a theft could be done and they narrow it down to Will. While Will is in no danger of getting nabbed for doing the deed since he’s getting pulled, it’s all eyes on and around him. It’s not a complete burn but I doubt Will will be leaving the country and the danger of Philip getting put into the crosshairs is massive. Edit on 6/9: I misunderstood this. Will doesn’t want to do it, but it will be his last mission and he’ll be sent back to Soviet Russia.

Next week: The season finale.