Last week's episode of USA Networks' acclaimed series Mr. Robot was a stunner, but in more ways than one, last night's outing matched its predecessor in terms of quality and entertainment.
Kate Erickson penned "eps1.6_v1ew-s0urce.flv" directed by creator and showrunner Sam Esmail. In its own unique way, this hour toned a lot of things down, but retained the one-of-a-kind energy and intensity that's been present since the premiere.
Unusually, the episode began with a flashback to the day when Elliot met the late Shayla for the first time. He noticed her moving into the apartment next to his, and a fake accident led him to let her into his apartment for the first time. That meeting was also where Elliot acquired his fish.
Not only was it great to see Shayla back for one last time, but it was also great to watch the interesting initial chemistry her and Elliot had. You could see clearly through the beautiful performances by Rami Malek and Frankie Shaw that the pair were both damaged, but there was an innocence and a longing for a companionship of some sort that was bubbling under the surface.
You don't like people, huh?
Shayla wasted no time acquiring another buyer for her narcotics, and she quickly figured out the most significant trait in Elliot's personality: that he doesn't like people.
The remainder of the episode was spent in present day, set roughly a month after Shayla's death. Elliot once again addressed the audience verbally from his mind and frankly discussed how people, and in this case, Shayla, are mere blips on the timeline of the universe. Here one blip, gone the next, was one of the phrases he used to describe Shayla's passing, in addition to acknowledging his unsuspecting role in her death by requesting a narcotic which could only be provided by a psychopathic dealer, who turned out to be Fernando Vera, her eventual murderer.
The hour was very evenly divided between Elliot's affairs, Angela's dealings with Terry Colby, fsociety's status, and finally a brief but eventful stint with Tyrell Wellick.
Angela continued to progress her case against Evil Corp for their role in her mother's death, with Terry Colby being heard from in depth for the first time. This was a fascinating piece of the hour which nearly didn't happen as Colby was contempt with talking through lawyers, but a face to face meeting was agreed to if no lawyers were present. We saw not one, but two such meetings between Angela and Colby. In the first, Colby felt he could use his power and wealth to put a stop to proceedings, giving a shockingly lewd task to Angela if she wanted two questions answered. Portia Doubleday had a very good hour throughout, and her performance here made me think she was seriously considering complying with his lewd request in order to get the answers she desired. Fortunately, she didn't and things sorted themselves out later on.
So you were drunk, eating shrimp cocktail, and it was raining when you decided my mother would die?
The second meeting confirmed that Terry Colby did have a part to play in Angela's mother's death, and the above quote came from Angela when she learned that the decision not to act on the chemical spill was made when the parties involved were not in a coherent state. It was hard to get a read on whether Colby was truly sincere, but that could be tested when Colby uses the evidence given to him by Angela to vindicate himself of the accusations resulting in his sacking from Evil Corp.
For the first time in the series, the dealings of fsociety did not involve Elliot at all - in fact the two parties didn't see any interaction during the hour. In many television series, lack of progression at crucial times is very often heavily criticized by fans, but I've got nothing but praise for the creative team for choosing this route in this episode. It was good to see Mr. Robot himself attempting to rally his buddies with the help of strictly loyal Darlene as she took up the challenge of convincing the Dark Army to resume operations. It shows the group is capable of functioning without Elliot, and that the vision and end goal is still firmly in sight. According to the title character, a new plan is in motion, but little of substance was revealed.
Tyrell Wellick, along with his wife, continue to be possibly the most bizarre, random and weird characters featuring in this summer season. In this episode it was confirmed that arch-rival Scott had won the CTO role at Evil Corp, but Tyrell wasn't going to go down swinging. His actions towards Scott's wife in the series' fifth episode actually saw continuity, with both Scott's wife an Tyrell wanting to somewhat continue where they left off, in a striking reversal of power from their scene in the bathroom two weeks ago. They chose the building's rooftop for their romance, but only one was to emerge alive from the make-out session, with Tyrell strangling his one night stand out of sheer rage at his defeat at the hands of Scott, before panicking like a young child and running away.
I have to say I wasn't expecting both parties to make it out alive from this, but I thought it far more likely that one of them would end up on the pavement dozens of meters below as opposed to being strangled. The onus is now on Tyrell to ensure he isn't proven as the perpetrator, but I don't rate that too highly as a likely outcome. Time will surely tell.
Rewind to a short time earlier, and was abundantly clear Tyrell was on a very thin tether. In an office with some junior colleagues, Tyrell listened to them openly mock women in the technology industry in a way that, in all honesty, probably isn't that far from the truth.
YOU'RE FIRED!
In a nutshell, all three were fired on the spot.
I can't quite get my head around the reasoning behind the creative team opting to show this side of the character. The best I can come up with is that we've only seen Tyrell as the subordinate looking for the promotion, and this was a way of showing the power he does have. It wouldn't surprise me if this scene was a setup for something else to come shortly. Regardless, Martin Wallström wouldn't find himself out of place on The Apprentice with his delivery of the words "You're fired."
But the last words have to focus on Elliot, and in particular two electrifying moments.
The first is the "View Source" theme which was touched on briefly but brilliantly in this hour. We learned through narration that Elliot first began his foray into hacking by altering the source code of websites through the browser. That quickly became an analogy as Elliot compared the accessibility of the source code to people in general, with the camera displaying fellow Allsafe employees going about their daily duties with signs hanging around their necks with somewhat negative secrets written boldly on them.
The second moment came in the final scene, as happens so often in this series. Krista, Elliot's psychiatrist, had earlier given the green light for Elliot to stop the mandated sessions the pair had been doing, but Elliot returned to Krista's office unannounced one morning. The person of interest theme had been absent all episode until this moment, where Elliot revealed numerous intimate details about Krista's life, to her horror.
I don't just hack you Krista, I hack everyone.
Words cannot describe how brilliantly written, acted and directed this scene was. It was completely out of the blue too, which made it even more epic to watch. It referenced the "View Source" theme I mentioned earlier, but in a much more dramatic, frank, and public way.
I'll drop the microphone and leave it to you to share your thoughts on that scene, and the rest of the episode in the comments below. In all, I thought it was yet another outstanding and captivating hour of television that was unique in many aspects to its predecessors thus far in the series. There's so much in play at the moment, and there are just three episodes remaining in this marvel of a freshman season.
Thanks for reading, and as mentioned before, please do share your thoughts and theories on the episode in the comments below. Check out next week's promo here, press release here, and promotional photos here.
