The third episode of the third season of USA's Mr. Robot threw multiple curveballs at the viewers last night as it focused solely on Tyrell Wellick, who hasn't been seen frequently in the past dozen or so episodes. It was a wild ride back in time to a part of the story where little is known about what happened, but a precious few answers became available. Showrunner Sam Esmail wrote and directed this hour, titled "eps3.2_legacy.so"
This is a difficult episode to dissect, unlike last week's installment, which reinvigorated my fascination for this series. This episode may have taken said fascination back a peg or two, but it was still outstanding television.
Devoid of any narration by Elliot, it was up to Tyrell to tell the story. Firstly, Martin Wallström delivered his strongest performance in the series, and was backed up superbly by Bobby Cannavale, who played Irving. The episode picked up with Elliot and Tyrell in the arcade where they initialized Stage 1 of the Evil Corp hack, aligning approximately with events seen in the ninth episode of Season 1. Elliot gave way to Mr. Robot, who pointed a gun and fired it at Tyrell. The gun jammed, and Tyrell interpreted that as a sign that him and Elliot were meant to work together. It also made Tyrell become even more intensely loyal, a factor that would come into play a short time later, and pushed him to come up with Stage 2, which would permanently cripple Evil Corp once they began trying to rebuild their database using paper records.
Moments later, Irving, the Dark Army dude who was introduced last week, appeared in the arcade with two enforcers. They took Tyrell's phone and keys, and gave the keys to Elliot, instructing to drive to an address and leave the car. It was this car that Elliot mysteriously woke up in around 3 days later.
Tyrell, meanwhile, needed protection as he was the prime suspect in the 5/9 hack. Irving took control of the situation, and holed Tyrell up in a Dark Army-owned cabin in the middle of nowhere. Woodchopping, of all things, was used brilliantly as a storytelling vehicle of passing time. Tyrell also modded the equipment needed to initiate Stage 2, but very nearly got himself caught when he took a walk to relieve the stress that came with his deteriorating family situation. Joanna Wellick, Tyrell's wife, was killed last week, but back then she had a young baby, which Tyrell couldn't see, but he kept tabs on it via an undoubtedly hacked baby monitor.
This place is like a chastity belt. Nothing's getting in. If you wanna be protected, don't leave the property.
Said walk saw him arrested by a police officer who rightly thought Tyrell looked dodgy. The officer identified him and arranged for the feds to pick him up, but FBI agent Santiago is a Dark Army plant, and when he turned up, he killed the police officer just moments after Tyrell had broken his own thumb so he could free himself of his handcuffs.
We hardly saw anything of Elliot, but what we did see was what led to him being arrested and jailed for 8 months in Season 2. Essentially it was unlawful use of a computer, and stealing his dog, Flipper, from its abusive owner. We also saw Darlene's now deceased boyfriend, Dark Army member Cisco, return, as he had an essentially interlinking role to play with Tyrell concerning the arrangements for Stage 2.
Eventually Elliot was released from prison, and we saw the prelude to the taxi scene which took place in Season 2's penultimate episode. Tyrell was essentially freed from his own prison in the middle of nowhere, and met with Elliot in the scene which made me think at the time that Tyrell was another hallucination like Mr. Robot was.
In present day, we see Angela and Tyrell waiting for Elliot's surgery for the bullet be took in the Season 2 finale to finish. Eventually Elliot wakes up, and the surgery appears to have been a success, and while speaking about his experiences with Elliot, Angela hints to Tyrell that there indeed is something up with Elliot's state of mind.
There's something I need to tell you about Elliot. You're right. Sometimes he can become a different person.
We also saw an interesting, yet scary piece of backstory for Whiterose. We learned he was fully aware of Elliot's arrest and imprisonment, but they were too late to stop it. It was confirmed that he was a full party to the Evil Corp hack, and pulled some strings via the Dark Army to ensure Tyrell was taken care of. He also ordered the media narrative around fsociety to portray them as of Iranian origin. And finally, it was hinted that Whiterose sponsored Donald Trump's campaign for President. It won't be the last time a television series or movie attempts to align an outside entity with the Trump presidency, but I'm excited to see how the Mr. Robot showrunners play out their attempt.
One last thing. I may have a potential candidate for President I want you to back.
So in addition to being yet another brilliantly acted, written and directed episode of Mr. Robot, this episode told us several things. Irving has been around essentially since day one. Agent Santiago, Dom's superior, is a Dark Army member. Irving was part of the reason Elliot woke up in a car days after the 5/9 hack (though the reason for the 3 day gap, and why Elliot was asleep or unconscious is unresolved). Angela, and Tyrell to a certain extent, are aware that Elliot has a second personality in the form of Mr. Robot. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, we know why Tyrell has been essentially AWOL in more recent episodes.
It's all important information - if there's one thing I've learned from watching this series, it's that every piece of every episode is important, and can be referenced at any time. For now, I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode and the developments it made. Head down to the comments below to make yourself heard. Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll see you back here again next week.
