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[Editor’s note: Spoilers for “Mr. Robot” Season 3, Episode 2, “eps3.1_undo.gz” follow.]
In an immediately classic opening montage, Elliot embraces his new job at Evil Corp, doing his best to blend into the corporate scene… while still using his hacker superpowers to try to prevent Stage 2 and along the way dish out his own brand of justice against the corruption within the company. But being normal isn’t easy for anyone, especially as he becomes aware that Mr. Robot isn’t gone — he’s just losing control of the moments when that aspect of himself arises.
Whiterose continues to lurk in the shadows, planning for Stage 2 — which will now coincide with a United Nations vote on annexing the Congo, though Phillip Price has his own political conditions. Meanwhile, Joanna Wellick’s plan to clear Tyrell’s name seems to work. Too bad that immediately afterward, her now-former lover Derek confronts her and her driver on the street, and she dies in the ensuing shoot-out — something the FBI wants to keep under wraps.
Speaking of whom, Darlene continues to work with the FBI, though betraying Elliot is clearly no easy matter for her. And Elliot isn’t so easily deterred, finding a way to trick the agents into revealing their location — though, thanks to that cliffhanger ending, what that means for everyone involved won’t be known until the next episode.
Not only is the answer not Elliot, but for the first time we get to really see what happens when Mr. Robot takes over — and it’s terrifying. It’s entirely possible to imagine these shifts in personality going way over the top, but Rami Malek’s performance is so subtle and nuanced that there are many times you’re not quite sure who you’re looking at. Between his work, the always fun support of Christian Slater, the camera tricks, and sharp editing, this new stage for the relationship between these two personalities is immediately fascinating, even if the fact that they’re no longer “whole” implies plenty of danger for everyone in their orbit.
“Perhaps calling them evil was my dorm room philosophizing run amuck.”
— Elliot
There’s always been something a little unsubtle about “Mr. Robot’s” stated politics, so it’s nice to see the show reveal that the pro-anarchy attitudes underlying Seasons 1 and 2 were part of a longer game, as Elliot comes to terms with the consequences of his actions, and what those actions have shown him about the complicated world he’s disrupted.
As Elliot rides the subway at one point, we see multiple posters for the upcoming Will Ferrell/Judi Dench comedy “Separation Anxiety” — which, based on the poster art, seems to involve Will Ferrell literally getting separated from his head? This could be not really anything, as far as jokes go, but it could be Sam Esmail planting a big league payoff for later on in the season. Either way, we hope that “Separation Anxiety” is a romantic comedy. (Ferrell and Dench would make a cute couple.)
Dom’s partner blasting her with the Barenaked Ladies was also pretty amusing, but for anyone who watches a lot of TV shows where people get shot and miraculously survive, the best joke of the episode might have been the dramatic cut to poor Joanna’s very graphic autopsy. No questioning this one: Girl, gone.
As usual, all credit to Mac Quayle’s haunting score, but this week featured another unique collection of songs.
A killer opening sequence, some crackerjack acting, and a few notable long take sequences make “eps3.1_undo.gz” more than watchable — Darlene’s ultimate confrontation with Mr. Robot and Joanna’s violent end especially stood out. However, it was ultimately a pretty talky episode on balance, with a couple of scenes stretched out a bit longer than necessary.
Take the scene between Darlene and Elliot at the pier: it’s never a good sign when you find yourself paying more attention to the music playing in the background than the actual scene taking place, even though it did prove to be a crucial one for the characters. And while Elliot tracking the FBI down is an important story beat, it didn’t quite have the juice needed to give the episode the sort of powerful ending “Mr. Robot” often delivers. It was a good chapter in the story, but not destined to be a standout favorite.
“Mr. Robot” airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA Network.
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