The eighth episode of USA's acclaimed series, Mr. Robot, was yet another stunning piece of television. Everything in "eps2.6succ3ss0r.p12" lifted the tension, heightened the suspense, and brought the two opposing ideologies perilously close, and all without any input from lead character Elliot, and the show's namesake, Mr. Robot himself. Writer Courtney Looney and director Sam Esmail absolutely nailed this hour in many more ways than one.
We've seen a surprising number of flashback moments throughout this season, and this was how last night's episode got underway. In Ron's Coffee shop, Mobley and Trenton first met each other in rather awkward, yet geeky fashion as they both waited for Elliot to show up. Among the stuttery conversation was an iPhone vs Android debate, and the first bragging rights were designated when Trenton successfully lured Mobley into visiting a malicious benchmarking site on his Android phone which allowed her to hack it.
I think iPhones are for pussies.
In present day, events began with the information gleaned from the femtocell that Angela installed in the FBI's building two weeks ago leading fsociety to a memo advising a conference call was occurring to discuss the 5/9 investigation and Operation Berenstain, along with a few other matters. Darlene, Mobley, Trenton and Cisco listened intently as discussions about large scale spying and backdoor access to people's devices took place.
That intelligence led to the latest fsociety video, which Darlene fronted, revealing what the FBI were up to to the public. The video was uploaded to Vimeo - just one of many real-life companies mentioned in this episode. The FBI were understandably unsettled by the leak, but the conference call also touched a nerve with Trenton and Mobley when they overheard intelligence suggesting the FBI were rapidly closing in.
This was all excellent storytelling, and it was bettered in many ways by the absence of Elliot and Mr. Robot. This episode didn't feature them at all, and it was still awesome to watch. Carly Chaikin was spectacular as Darlene and Sunita Mani and Azhar Khan didn't disappoint as their characters, Trenton and Mobley respectively, garnered extra screen time. Many television series often ditch a couple of minor series regulars for a week or two, but very few series are able to ditch not one, but two lead characters, and still produce an episode as good as - if not better than - the best the series has seen.
I can't say I minded either Elliot's or Mr. Robot's absence at all. I knew they weren't there, but there was no gaping void left behind. This episode's storylines were driven completely by fsociety, and didn't need Elliot or Mr. Robot to fill them out or improve them. The sequence of events is critical too, as u/jsmurrayky on Reddit noted that this episode took place during the events of last week's episode - minus the opening flashback I mentioned earlier. So while fsociety were doing everything they did last night, in the show's timeline, these events were happening whilst Elliot was with Ray in the alter ego prison environment.
fsociety encountered a major spanner in the works, however, when Susan Jacobs, E Corp's general counsel, returned to her home - the one which Darlene drove her out of by hacking its smart capabilities in the second season premiere. The group had become sloppy and were caught completely by surprise as they hadn't been monitoring her phone's GPS.
This isn't exactly what I meant by 'shut her up'.
That led to the group panicking and tying her to a handrail next to her indoor swimming pool. Susan nearly made an escape when Trenton succumbed to her requests to use the bathroom, but she ended up hitting her head against a wall. Darlene had the final say with Susan as she recalled first seeing her on television aged 4.
I have taken down your company, taken down your home, and now I have you.
Though her colleagues managed to find something to use as blackmail to keep her quiet, it wasn't needed in the end as Darlene - who probably intended to hurt rather than kill - zapped Susan with a stun gun. Unbeknown to her, Susan had a heart condition, meaning the zap was fatal, resulting in Mobley and Trenton virtually fleeing, leaving Darlene and Cisco to dispose of the body. The pair also set an out of office reply on Susan's email - that's important as it fits into some of the dialog from Angela in last week's episode.
Adding to the pressure on Trenton and Mobley was the conference call I mentioned earlier revealing that the FBI were rapidly closing in on fsociety. FBI agent Dom continued her work in this episode after coming perilously close to fsociety's operations last week when she interacted with Angela as she was configuring the femtocell. Dom successfully located Mobley and brought him in for questioning, revealing how she tracked him down through the poster from fsociety's party in the arcade. Fortunately for him, Dom had no hard evidence and was forced by her superiors to release him.
Here's the deal. We want Tyrell Wellick, not Tyrell Wellick's DJ.
This was very impressive storytelling too. The FBI investigation is definitely not playing catch-up any more, although the methods they are using aren't exactly on the right side of the law. That sole fact is the only thing standing in the FBI's way to netting the fsociety faction. If anything it shows Mr. Robot is willing to deviate away from the common law enforcement stereotype of slow, inefficient, bureaucratic processes, which, while technically correct, mean the protagonists can continue on their merry way. It's great to see the depth being developed here.
Angela also featured in this episode, though she was much less prominent than in previous weeks. In a bar we see her on a date with a man, watching the latest fsociety video. She later sings the rather fitting song "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" in what appeared to be a karaoke thing, though her voice left a lot to be desired. She met who I think was a friend of her father's in the bar, who openly criticized her for working for E Corp, and included a couple of poor taste jokes in there as well. This brought out a fascinating one-liner from her which broadly indicates her intentions for her present career:
I'm 27, and I've got a 6 figure salary at the biggest conglomerate in history. And I'm just getting started.
Surprisingly, it was later revealed that the guy she had gone on a date with in that bar was an undercover FBI agent placed by Dom to build the case against her. Angela gave him the slip, however, when she seemingly seduced an older businessman in the bar. What happened to her next remains unknown.
As usual, the final minutes of this episode well and truly delivered. Having spent the night at Cisco's place, Darlene awoke while Cisco was in the shower. She got on his computer and took a look at the screen which had Chinese text and a picture of her sleeping on it. While the subtitles helped us understand what she was seeing, we don't know whether Darlene could read the text. Cisco had been messaging his Dark Army contacts saying he had Darlene with him. When Cisco left the bathroom, he noticed his computer in pieces on the floor, followed by a baseball bat on a path to his head.
In all, this was another superb episode of Mr. Robot. The absence of Elliot and the show's namesake actually added to the episode, and we were gifted some excellent performances by the supporting cast as a result. It's great to see the FBI through Dom become more dimensional, as well as how close the investigation is getting to fsociety. I'm not sure whether the collective will survive the season at this rate, which is a daunting, yet exciting prospect to comprehend. It all culminates in an exciting, dynamic story which has become much more tense and perilous than it used to be.
Thanks as always for reading! There's a ton that I've discussed and a ton that I haven't discussed about this episode in this review so please head down to the comments section below and tell me what your thoughts and theories are. You can find out all you need to know about next week's episode right here.
