USA’s Mr. Robot
Season 2, Episode 8: “eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12”
Directed by Sam Esmail
Written by Courtney Looney
* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “eps2.5_h4ndshake.sme” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “eps2.7_init_5.fve” – click here
Now that fsociety’s hacked into the FBI via Evil Corp, what’ll happen next? They’ve got the e-mails, all kinds of accounts of people linked with the federal government. So much could go down right now.
First, we flash back to Mobley (Azhar Khan) meeting Trenton (Sunita Mani) at a coffee place, albeit awkwardly. They’re noticeably computer nerds. They bond over phones, as he tries hard to talk with her and keeps on fumbling. They wind up comparing speeds on their phones, him not knowing she’s doing a bunch of coding at the same time. Until Darlene (Carly Chaikin) shows up talking about dropping the “proverbial soap” like she would, bringing them together. This is the first time she brings them a message from Elliot (Rami Malek) about E.Corp, the shadowy businessmen running the world from behind the curtains.
Flash forward to all of them, including Cisco (Michael Drayer), listening in on a conference call between the FBI and the Department of Justice about “Operation Berenstain” – like the Bears? Everything’s laid out for fsociety to hear plainly. They find out there’s illegal surveillance of about 3 million citizens, among other things like the fact they have 16 specific people under their focus, one of whom’s dead; i.e. Romero.
Darlene dons the mask to bring another unfettered message to the masses in hopes of causing more unrest for the revolution. Big uh oh when Susan Jacobs (Sandrine Holt) shows back up at her Smart House, their little base. That’s gonna cause some shit after they’re forced to zip tie her by the pool. The hole gets deeper.
But it all gets worse when Trenton is about to help Susan use the bathroom, then the woman berates her saying she’s part of “ISIS” and Muslims are all a bunch of “animals.” One slip sends Susan’s skull cracking into the wall. Complicates the situation, big time. She needs a doctor, her head’s busted open. So that means fsociety’s got to think of something quick.
They dig into her life. They need to own her.
Darlene goes to talk to her. She was the lawyer who ultimately fucked her father (Christian Slater) over, before he died. She laughed at them, something only four-year-old Darlene saw. Now, she’s planning big things for Madame Executioner. After all that she stun guns her, now there’s a death on her hands. And everyone’s pretty sure she did it purposefully, to kill the woman. I don’t doubt it, either.
Everyone’s left reeling. Mobley’s known, for a while, things are all wrong. Slowly we see Trenton discovering the same. Too bad they didn’t get away from Darlene before, she’s let the power of it all sour her morality. All that’s left is the body. So they get back to familiar territory, the dog kennel where they burned fsociety’s paper trail. Worst part is Susan has to “pay for her own funeral,” as Darlene uses money from her cold storage to pay the kennel guy. More proof of the jaded, disappearing ethical self.
Paranoia is getting to both Mobley and Trenton, they worry people are watching them, coming to kill them. And the scariest part is it’s likely true. The FBI comes to get him, Dominique (Grace Gummer) interrogates him in relation to the Five/Nine hack. She found him from the party poster, took her all the way back to a DJ Mobley Angelfire page he was linked to, years ago. They’re looking for Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström), they need more information.
But Mobley’s lawyering up. He gets free, sending word to Trenton they’ve got to get out of Dodge. Only she waits for him and he doesn’t show up.
When Darlene wakes up later at Cisco’s place, she’s suspicious. She finds messages from his Chinese contacts. He’s letting them know that Darlene is there. Something dirty’s going on. So she knocks him out with a baseball bat.
Whoa.
Gimme “eps2.7_init_5.fve” right now.
Joanna (Stephanie Corneliussen) keeps finding gifts left for her, the baby. Of course they’re from estranged, lost husband Tyrell (Martin Wallström). We see that these little gifts were always a thing. We’re briefly flashing back to a time when Sharon (Michele Hicks) was still alive. Then quickly we’re back to the present, where a woman tosses a bucket of red paint all over her: “Capitalist pig!”
Dad’s telling Elliot they killed Tyrell. Of course it’s all under the guise of protecting his son, protecting them all. Supposedly, they used the gun from the popcorn machine. But is that true? Hard to tell. Just as control is an illusion, as is the truth most often.
The missing Wall Street Bull’s balls come crashing down on the senate floor.
Elliot keeps running into the tough guys, they beat him more. They’re about to do something awful when he’s saved by none other than Leon, always watching out for his friend. A vicious, bloody scene that was totally unexpected. Leon only asks that Whiterose (B.D. Wong) hears about how he did right by our hacker.
Jesus, this show constantly reinvents itself, and flips the script on the viewer so well, in interesting, inventive ways. So much to look forward to going forward, particularly where things go with the FBI.
Just about time for Angela to work whatever magic she can. First, Darlene sets up in a hotel room nearby with all the computer gadgetry necessary. Across the way, in the heart of Evil Corp, Angela starts in on her end of the hack. In the bathroom she clicks away on the keys, rushing against time. She barely slips away from an FBI agent before she can get on to the rest of her tasks.
What a killer episode, in many ways. Heavy, dreamy at first (as are many of these episodes). Plus, we really get to see Rami do good stuff, and also Slater, whose star shines brightest in a long time here on this show. Cannot wait for more, as we unravel the new dark relationship setup between Ray and Elliot, too.
Last we left Elliot (Rami Malek) he was hacking into the FBI, as he’s working on the computer and website issues for Ray (Craig Robinson). “I live for this shit,” he tells us as he hacks away at the armour the federal government has setup. We hear more of his past; when he was eleven, he hacked into the municipal government in his town, controlling everything.
Then there’s Joanna (Stephanie Corneliussen), her contact continually getting paranoid, believing the feds are tapping his phone, watching his place, all the usual. She seems to be getting tired of him. Although she plays it off with a straight face and assurances. But, I wonder… a little later, we discover she’s absolutely tired of him. She takes care of that, quick. Once and for all.
Mr. Zhang and Dom get talking at a reception, as she’s poking around. They briefly chat with a bunch of ticking clocks surrounding them. “Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more,” (Macbeth Act V Scene V) he quotes. Clocks, time, they signal mortality. Another tick is another sec towards death, ultimately. Pleasantly morbid, beautifully depressing. Dom winds up telling Zhang about her personal reasons for joining the FBI. Well, she tells him a story, maybe not the real one. He comes close to revealing himself, as well. Stopping short at showing her a closet filled with the finest dresses, claiming they belong to his sister.
Sometimes Mr. Robot can verge on scary, not just existential fear but straight up, real life terror. This is one of those episodes, feeling steeped in horrific things. The ending, especially. Cannot wait for more.
Elliot (Rami Malek) hears incessant knocking at the door. It’s Darlene (Carly Chaikin) wearing the fsociety mask. They watch a movie (a fake slasher from 1984) called The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie; where the mask came from. They light up, watch the flick. Will Darlene taking a picture of the slasher movie, in which the mask for fsociety originated, and putting it on Instagram lead to her being investigated? Bit of a dumb move.
Brother and sister are at odds. Elliot doesn’t want to do anything more, not right now; it’s Mr. Robot who wants more revolution, no matter what the cost. He believes his sister isn’t being honest with him, hiding some other intention from him. But what?
A chess game is set: dad v. son. If son wins, dad goes away forever, never comes back, and he can confess to whatever he wants. If dad wins, he “gets to be in charge, once and for all.” Then Mr. Robot tells him he’ll be in a “deep, black void” for the rest of his days, doing the bidding of his dead father’s momentum. Like it couldn’t even be stopped if dad wanted that. Meanwhile, Elliot is still seeking help from psychiatrist Krista Gordon (Gloria Reuben). She’s got his best interests in mind, sticking by him after so much. She now wants to talk to his father, but he’s afraid that will legitimise his power, in turn giving him more control. Resistance is the only thing that’s keeping him relatively sane.
Gorgeous little cover of “Basket Case” by Green Day over Elliot imagining the future, a normal one with people he knows getting married, Darlene and Cisco happy together, he even goes to make up with the guy from Season 1 he berated to get a job done for fsociety. It’s a “future with friends and family” he never thought possible, everyone eating together at a big table out in the street. In the background a large building is demolished, they clap happily. Something to fight for, to motivate him in his resistance against Mr. Robot’s influence.
Another fantastic episode. The mystery’s always there, as little pieces are chipped away, and then comes all the brutal tension. I can never get enough of the series. Lots of good characters, all kinds of different intentions, desires, feeding so much plot.
Mobley (Azhar Khan) and Romero (Ron Cephas Jones) keep up the good fight for fsociety. We hear the oral history of their little arcade, from Romero, and the origin of fsociety’s name comes from the corporation title, “Fun Society Amusement, LLC.” A long, weird, ugly history. Out of which is now growing something good, or at least aimed at the intention of good. All boils down to this being the perfect place to do some hacking. Romero wants to sell the place off, under the radar. He doesn’t want to go back to jail, though. He doesn’t want to be involved. Although Mobley talks a good game.
“Panic. Here it comes again.”
I worry a bit about Angela (Carly Chaikin), who’s meeting Phillip Price (Michael Cristofer) for dinner on a Saturday night. Seems sort of, questionable? Until arriving to find him there with a couple of her colleagues, Sol and Jim. She looks disappointed somehow, though she ought to be happy. Maybe she’s finally being taken seriously.
Lord, I’m in love with this TV series! Great writing, fantastic themes being illustrated in ways we’ve not seen before. As much a show about mental illness as it is about hacking. Can’t wait to watch more. Haven’t even finished Season 2, already dying for Season 3.
CTO Scott Knowles (Brian Stokes Mitchell) is out in public, a big crowd, delivering the ransom money. Soon, a bike messenger shows up with a bag for him. Inside Scott finds one of the fsociety masks. He receives a call, “ten seconds” to do as he’s told or else everything’s finished. He’s informed to take out the money, wearing the mask, and then burn it in a pile as everyone watches on.
Phillip Price (Michael Cristofer) is finding business incredibly difficult, more and more. “The Big Three” are taking it hard, so everyone else is doing worse. Price has the FBI up in his grill constantly. Worse, he’s being asked to resign. He decides to go on an FDR-Great Depression rant, the nature of the American “business model” built on a con.
Angela Moss (Portia Doubleday) is continuing to keep her head above water, just barely. But she is forever stuck with the choices she’s made, the ones she keeps on making. Who knows if she’ll redeem herself, or if she’ll wallow in the mire of unethical businesses while the people she knows, from Elliot to Darlene, exist on the fringes.
Great episode to follow-up the Season 2 premiere. Continually mysterious, weird, intense, unsettling. One of the best TV series’ in the past 15 years, hands down.
We start on the fsociety mask, of course underneath is Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström), as many of us suspected. And the whole time he was recording that video, Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) was right there with him. So, what happened to Tyrell afterwards? Did our boy use the gun he hid in the popcorn machine ages ago on him? I’m not so sure.
The Wall Street bull is having its nuts cut off, fsociety sending that figurative message to the elites that they’ve neutered them. A clever gesture.
Seems the hack has made things a bit worse than better. People had their debt wiped out, though now the banks can’t verify how much people paid, if they did at all, their systems are all out of whack. And it’s getting worse. By worse, it’s Darlene hoping to make things better, to affect genuine change.
Damn. A very intense, mysterious opener that has me curious about what’ll happen to Scott, where Darlene is headed, and most of all how Elliot’s going to keep coping with dad.
Again, love the repetition of each morning Bill Hodges (Brendan Gleeson) experiences. Every day is exactly the same. Shows how he’s just going through the motions. His only added change are the bits and pieces of the Mercedes Killer case he works on. Across town and then right into the neighbourhood is Brady Hartsfield (Harry Treadaway), working from afar yet right out in the open, too. A tense situation that’s bound to explode sooner than later.
Bill has to “eat shit” because he needs computer help, which means he needs young Jerome (Jharrel Jerome). He feels bad, but isn’t willing to totally eat that shit. However, he does well enough to fix things between them. He needs to dig through Olivia Trelawney’s laptop. He’s getting Holly (Justine Lupe) to help them out, too. Turns out the girl’s got computer game, she knows just about as much as Jerome. She’s both quirky AND smart.
Deb, along with the old journal she apparently stashed away, found a length of rubber hose. She wonders what Brady does with it, asking him face to face. She likewise shows him the clown mask, asking why he’s got it hidden in the closet. He goes on a rant about running away with the circus. She keeps on prodding, looking through the journal, lamenting not having him “committed” years ago. Deb wants her son to have changed, from the budding psychopath that clearly existed long ago. Problem is, he budded. Fully bloomed.
Just outside the funeral procession, Brady watches on. Janey gets up to do the eulogy. A really sick moment, Mr. Mercedes right there, watching the family of the woman he drove to suicide grieve over another family member. So twisty and turny and unsettling.
Cora (Jessica Biel), with the help of Dt. Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman), has finally remembered what happened that night, up in the cabin near the Beverwyck Club. Or at least she remembers Phoebe (Nadia Alexander) dying, Frankie (Eric Todd) trying to save her life with CPR. She still doesn’t recall the truth about the man in the mask, the syringe scars. So Harry’s digging further into the story, the club, those involved.
Well, when Harry tracks down a private medical clinic looking for a guy named Duffy, Daniel Burroughs, a white guy and a black there both make a run for it. Things go haywire. Duffy pulls a gun, then Officer Caitlin Sullivan (Abby Miller) puts a few shots in him. Is there more to Caitlin than we’ve been led to believe? Maybe I’m thinking too much. Either way the cops are left with half answers, seeing as how one of the men’s dead.
Meanwhile, Cora wants Mason, her little boy to move on. He won’t have any of that, he insists they’re coming back next week, and every week after that. I love the character development in Mason, as well. He’s been amazing. Abbott really brought out the emotions of this guy, and also we see how Mason went from a sort of jealous man to a wholly devoted, understanding husband.
Flashback to that infamous night. Frankie calls his father to come out to the Beverwyck. He rushes there and finds a dead Phoebe, Cora unconscious on the floor. His son explains what happened, wants to go to the hospital. Yet J.D. claims he’ll tell everyone about Frankie having sex with a sick girl, high on pills. This leaves dad and the drug dealer to deal with the body, and a very much alive Cora. They even cart the two into the woods in a trunk together. They dig a hole; in goes Phoebe. That’s exactly when Cora wakes up, seeing the abandoned bus in the trees. Frankie’s dad almost kills her before deciding on a different course of action.
Back in court, things are different. “Extreme emotional disturbance” takes a murder charge down to manslaughter. Cora is ordered to a psychiatric facility, rather than prison. She’ll get therapy, some genuine counselling; she’ll get help. And her family will be able to see her more, plus now they know the truth, the devastating events which led her to that day on the beach. Only two years, then she’s free. In some ways, this has helped Harry free himself, though ultimately he’s freedom is up to him. He has to find a way of dealing with the past: either his masochism, or emotional catharsis.
