Please tell me you’re seeing this too.
In a veritable concoction of knots, Mr. Robot’s season finale eps2.9_pyth0n-pt2.p7z leave us all wanting more, but it was beautifully done. I’m not going to be charmed out of my wits, the show still left more questions open than closed. It may have been intentional to entice for the future, but there’s no way you can’t watch this week’s episode and season finale and not enjoy the storytelling. I’m not going to worry about the order. I never do. And if you haven’t seen it, you have no business being here but just because I’m in a good mood… spoilers ahead.
Without a doubt, Dom interrogating Darlene was the highlight of the episode. Specifically that flowchart, but the reveal was so enjoyable. Dom seems to need something from Darlene. It takes a while for the female hacker to realize the FBI Agent is a lot closer than she thinks. And as it turns out, she has been playing possum while taking the python approach.
It was perhaps the most orchestrated reveal, but it’s a slow descent for Darlene with FBI Agent Dom DiPierro at the helm. It feels like Dom has a lost battle ahead. Then she brings in the mask, casually mentions the film and brings in the movie equipment. Darlene is immutable, just waving away Dom like a pesky fly. Shit starts to get real as Dom shows her a bullet. A bullet of the gun that was hidden in the popcorn machine. But still, she has nothing on Darlene, right? And then there’s that walk, across the agents desks, as they turn to her because they know her, they’ve been studying her. And then into the meeting room they go… And as Dom shows her a flowchart. A flowchart of fsociety that leads directly to her and to her brother up to Tyrell Wellick himself. And the truth is Darlene might even be learning a few things from it she herself didn’t know until now. Dom has it all figured out. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. Dom hasn’t been a step behind. She’s been a step ahead all this time.
Okey, so time to gloat. I guessed that the location was Scott Knowles’ house based on the “believe me, he wouldn’t be calling from that house” from Sutherland. And yes, Scott was making the calls although there’s something I gotta say about that one while Elliot was buying hardware… More on that one later. The point is that Scott is a broken man, who wanted some sort of revenge by giving Joanna Wellick hope and then crush it. However, he’s the prey in this scene. He gets played and any cards he ever had are revealed. Joanna goes in, not to kill Scott, but take away whatever power he has left. And when she curses him, his wife and their unborn child out, that’s when he goes berserk and hits her within an inch of her life.
Joanna is letting herself be battered and bruised to use it to take Scott down later. The one thing we know about Joanna that seemed like irrelevant information, is that she’s used to being restrained, punched and choked. Know I almost wondered if that was training for whenever she had to endure that experience. Okey, perhaps not. Still, this is a bit of a twisted message. Joanna is a sociopath, so you expect the manipulation but there’s little payoff in just getting bruised. Not exactly the power play I would expect from a villainess. I’ll leave it for the highs and lows, but it’s complicated.
Enough dancing around, let’s go for the main course. Stage two is revealed and it’s almost too evident. E Corp is rebuilding the database of everyone’s debts with documentation. Paper is what the database is made of. And it’s all going to E Corp’s headquarters in New York City. Stage two is about overcharge the batteries to fill the building with hydrogen, then getting a spark by engaging the autostart on the UPS… Okey, sounds a little hokey but the idea is to generate an explosion. We’re not terribly invested in how factual the actual details are. But as soon as Elliot understands, he wants to stop it. Tyrell (who looks a lot more like himself in this episode) says this is for us. And Mr. Robot reappears. As much as Tyrell is BFFs with Elliot, he won’t let a little thing like morals stop them. It’s been Tyrell and Mr. Robot doing this all along, but Mr. Robot has kept this little side project hidden to almost perfection. And here’s where all this season’s theories of Tyrell Wellick not being real get literally shot down. He’s very real alright. Elliot’s down and Mr. Robot starts to blink in and out of sight until he’s gone.
Angela is the one that gets the call. Angela comforts Tyrell and lets him know to keep anybody from seeing Elliot. She wants to be there herself. How exactly she’s going to get there when the city devolves to the dark ages is a mystery. But don’t worry, I’m sure there’s a plan.
We’ll get to that scene after the credits, but first…
Highs/Lows/EasterEggs:
- When Angela gets the call from Tyrell, which she seems to be expecting, Tyrell sounds the same as the call that Elliot gets while buying computer hardware. Was this really Scott Knowles? Or did Elliot somehow got a vision of what would happen if he ever found Tyrell? Was this a way for Mr. Robot to warn Elliot to stop trying to find Tyrell?
- The FBI’s flowchart was the best. Dom’s operation is far bigger than we were led on to believe. There was a couple of oversights. Tyrell is hardly fsociety, and more Dark Army. Trenton’s not in there. Still, so close to the show that some viewers would benefit of looking at it just for fact checking. Have I mentioned how Dom was my favorite this season?
- The season’s been a series of experimentations but is it style over substance? I say nay. I think there’s been plenty of story and enjoyable at that. Did everything fit with the main plot? Not square on. There were more than a few side quests that barely touched the main storyline(s). Nothing that was uninteresting.
- I know Joanna Wellick’s story was not everyone’s cup of tea. I realized what was coming and was divided. On one hand, she’d think of something like that. She’s handled that level of brutality. On the other hand, it’s not that it’s an underhanded tactic but it’s also twisted in its approach. The most empowering thing she does is let herself be beaten up? I know it’s manipulative, but it’s also submissive. I know the character is not supposed to send a positive message, but to set her up as a force to be reckoned and her best tactic is to take blows… I’ll probably need to see the payoff next season.
- I need to talk about the fish tank. When Angela goes to see the Dark Army, there’s a fish tank with a giant fish behind her. That giant fish is Elliot. Wait, get back here and hear me out… When we see the Frankly TV show with the question “What is happening?” on the screen, it’s Angela’s phone ringing. We briefly get a shot of a fish tank with a small fish in it. My theory is this is an easter egg. The big fish tank with the big fish symbolizes Elliot as Whiterose’s favorite. Then at the end of that scene when Whiterose walks out, the fish has died and the tank is empty. That symbolizes Elliot no longer being considered the Dark Army’s operative AND possibly being shot. That role goes to Angela, symbolized by that smaller fish in that smaller tank we see this episode. It almost looked like an angelfish. It’s an easter egg in a fish tank.
- Based on the fish tank, I should’ve predicted Elliot gets killed (or seems like he gets killed) in the finale. Elliot is not dead. And please let’s not go with “he was dead all along”. Mr. Robot has out-inception the movie Inception.
- Angela has been fully converted by Whiterose but the question is since when? We’ve all noticed that Angela falls asleep in the van (last episode is so connected to this finale) and wakes up to be brought into this house. I mentioned how dreamlike is this scene, but now I’ve changed my mind. This scene actually happened. I’m just not sure when it actually happened. This might be too bizarre for even Mr. Robot, but is it possible that this encounter took place earlier in Angela’s timeline and was hidden – no, actually that’s not the right word – it was encrypted until Whiterose decided to bring it forth in Angela’s mind again? I’m jumping the shark? Yeah, I think I am.
- Okey perhaps that last one’s too crazy.
- I know it’s late…. But let’s visit Mobley and Trenton. They’re out in the boonies, working at a Fry’s electronic store. Trenton has had to eschew her burka for the sake of anonymity. The car that is pulling up is being driven by Leon, but we don’t focus on him just yet. Esmail is pulling the last camera tricks for this scene as he comes in following the car and then turns away, GTA style. The camera then zooms as Trenton is trying to get Mobley to look at something that could potentially undo the whole mess. Then as we make a turn showing there’s nobody in front of them, we turn right at them as someone interrupts from out of frame. Mobley replies they’re on a break. We then pull back to reveal Leon, asking for the time.
- Because the obvious bluff is to scare the audience into thinking Leon is there to kill Mobley and Trenton, I tend to think he’s just looking out for them. However, it could be a double bluff and it turns out he’s… Okey, you know what? This is just something that I’m sure is yet to be decided until next season. See you then.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 