Hello friend.
Just to clear it all up, this is episode 8 – titled eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12. I wanted to review the previous episode, but I’m too late. That being said, we haven’t seen the shocker from last week really take hold yet. We’re in an Elliot-less episode, primarily seeing fsociety deal with an unexpected visitor. Ok, let’s face it, we all knew that was going to happen. For all their great care in covering their tracks, fsociety’s flaws are the same that programmers deal with on a day-to-day basis. They forget some mundane loophole that anybody else without a tech-savvy background could’ve pointed out.
Season two has been a batch of surprises, and given the direction they’re in, they’re all welcomed. See, there’s no comfort zones in this world. Gideon is dead. Romero is dead. Angela is learning that the only way to survive in E Corp is not avoiding the corruption but literally jumping into it. Am I the only one that sees Game of Thrones parallels in the corporate world of E Corp?
Tyrell Wellick is in the wind. Or dead. Or both. We don’t get to know just yet, but something happened to him. Can we trust Mr. Robot into believing that Elliot/Robot shot him during those days he doesn’t remember? Did he/they clean the prints off the gun or is that going to appear later? Is Tyrell going to do a surprise comeback from the grave? Am I the only one seeing Game of Thro– Ok, I’ll stop that.
Elliott’s supposed routine designed to get rid of Mr. Robot visions was a little too circular. I think it was the basketball game and the recurring meals in the same place with Leon that tipped me off. Yeah I suspected he was imprisoned too. I’m not quite sure Leon is real real though. The whole Ray deal couldn’t have been fully imagined. Elliot did use Ray’s computer to write the hacking program. So perhaps Ray ran an illegal business of getting prisoners things through the library facilities. That means that beating Elliot took was probably done by corrupt prison guards, and he was put in solitary confinement for a bit.
Let’s go back to Tyrell for a moment. It’s true that Joanna Wellick has been getting presents from someone, but I find it a little too easy to think it’s Tyrell. Then again, this show makes me a bit paranoid about easy answers. It could be him. On the other hand we’ve been following a parallel storyline with Joanna and her lover, to whom she last presented a gift: divorce papers from Tyrell. Is she really serious about that? I don’t think so. She’s still smiling when she gets another gift, specially one for her newborn kid. The show is saving Joanna for something and I think it’s bigger than just Tyrell being alive. I’ve been expecting Joanna to grow into more than just Tyrell’s wife. After all, we’ve had several hints that Joanna is not only as much of a sociopath as Tyrell – she’s a much more efficient functioning one. Hopefully whatever we have in store for her character will not be a disappointment.
And now let’s get into this week’s episode with fsociety’s breakdown. Yes, they do manage to intercept and make public a conversation about the eavesdropping Project Berenstein. Then we get Susan Jacobs coming home, a simple event that you could’ve foreseen a mile away but that everyone forgot to prevent. It’s such a typical mistake to forget the obvious while setting contingencies for the improbable and minuscule that I have to applaud the showrunners on getting right what most tech gurus get wrong. It doesn’t take long until Darlene confronts Susan, and that ends how it was meant to end since Darlene picked Susan’s house for the gig.
The coincidence of Mobley getting picked up afterwards is not altogether improbable. I must say I love Dominique DiPierro, the new character and FBI agent investigating E Corp. Was Mobley relieved as he learned this was about Romero’s death and not Susan’s? Not really, after all the lines are bound to get all of them to where everyone is exposed. But Mobley gets a break. Trenton, meanwhile, is being contacted by someone impersonating Mobley. After all, Mobley has already wiped and ditched his phone after leaving the FBI… Right? Every single development is now an attempt to mislead us into thinking we’re on to a different story.
Highs:
- Elliot is still the star, but I’m glad we’re not forcefully putting him on the foreground all the time. The fact that he’s imprisoned does not put him out of action.
- Darlene is fsociety’s main lieutenant taking charge of the entire operation for the new season. She’s definitely a more commanding presence, although you wonder if she’ll defer to her brother for the endgame. If there is an endgame to be had, that is.
- Angela Moss is quickly becoming the character to watch, as she navigates the dangerous waters of corporate climbing. She has a sudden encounter with a friend of her Dad’s who just tries to run her night. He fails at it. Is Angela destined to become a top player? If so she would be the main antagonist to go against Elliot. That has the potential to be awesome.
- Leon is a mystery. He can’t be completely a figment of Elliot’s imagination, with mentions of the Dark Army and skills to take down a whole gang.
- Agent Dominique DiPierro is a cool player of the game of the cat toying with the mouse before springing her trap. She’s very close.
- Mobley’s protectiveness of Trenton is going to be his downfall. Or hers.
Lows:
- The whole Tyrell thing. If we’re going with dead, will we really get to see what happened? Also, would it make sense to kill him?
- If he’s dead, does that mean Joanna will be looking for revenge? That’s the other thing, can Joanna start her own play at being in charge? So far she’s been contented with a few BSDM sessions and she doesn’t seem to want to go except E Corp for her missing check. I’d love to see some hints at a larger plan.
- The people that Angela Moss keeps running into. Is she really that much of a traitor, or is she willing to climb up the corporate ladder for a different reason?
- Cisco really seemed to care for Darlene, and in some twisted sense, he might have been trying to defend her. Still, that doesn’t excuse his secrecy specially after all they’ve been through. So Cisco deserves that bat to the head for either being an asshole or an idiot.
- Joanna Wellick keeps moving her story along, but it has yet to intersect with anybody else’s. I really don’t want Joanna to just be a point of reference for Tyrell to jump back in the series. That’s one of the reasons I’m unconvinced that Tyrell should be alive.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 