Summary: Flashbacks show that Elliot tried to kill Tyrell in the arcade but the gun jammed. Tyrell takes it as a sign of fate and Elliot thinks he's crazy. Irving and the Dark Army show up while they work on stage 2, revealing that Tyrell has been exposed for the hack. Irving takes him to a safe location and Tyrell remains out of contact with Joanna and his son. Tyrell is questioned by the Dark Army and they determine him trustworthy due to his loyalty to Elliot. Tyrell stays there alone, waiting for Elliot to get out of prison, doing his job. After missing Joanna for some time, Tyrell tries to sneak out but is caught by a cop. The cop calls the FBI but is killed by Santiago, who is working for the Dark Army. Irving speaks with Tyrell and fakes a story to relate to him and restore his resolve. Eventually, Elliot is freed and Tyrell is taken to a hotel where he waits to meet with him. After Elliot is shot, Angela tells Tyrell about his multiple personalities. Another flashback shows Whiterose is allied with Frank Cody and intends to bring Trump into power.
The Good: I don't think that the story of what happened during the 3 days needed an entire flashback episode to be explained, but Sam Esmail ran with an idea and created a thorough and satisfying character exploration of Tyrell. I enjoyed Tyrell a lot in season 1 and was disappointed that he barely featured in season 2. But this episode satisfied the entirety of the time he was missing and explored the character's more emotional side, recontextualizing the events that we saw in season 2. Tyrell is such a loose cannon. He's insane, unpredictable, and unhinged, with a strange new religious side and an obsession with Elliot, whom he apparently loves. Martin Wallstrom brings these aspects of the character to life tremendously well, and he's thrilling to watch. Tyrell gets a lot of fantastic moments throughout the episode. His near-breakdown with Elliot during the hack did a terrific job of bringing his obsession with god, fate, and destiny to light, an aspect of his character that was suggested in prior episodes. It was an exciting scene that was acted to perfection. I also thoroughly enjoyed his interrogation (see: Best Moment), which dived into Tyrell's natural reflex to hide from the truth by lying. His relationship with Elliot is also recontextualized nicely by showing us Tyrell's perspective. Where we thought that Tyrell's scenes in Elliot from season 2 were from a man who knew everything, we now realize that Tyrell did not know everything and was simply excited to be back with Elliot again. His confidence, sleek persona, and charm is all just to make himself look more desirable to Elliot; in truth he did not know much more than Elliot about anything! This was a surprise, and I appreciate that Tyrell's plot-heavy scenes in season 2 have been given an emotional context, retroactively making them better. Tyrell's phone call with Elliot is turned into a moment of ecstasy as Tyrell finally reconnects with him, only to be disappointed that Elliot sounds so confused and different. Additionally, the events of the season 2 finale also have more emotion to them, as we can only imagine how heartbroken Tyrell is that Elliot doesn't seem to care for the plan they created together, the plan that Tyrell had waited so long to resume. Another aspect of Tyrell that gets explored is his family life. Tyrell is motivated by the idea of coming back to Joanna and his son, but as time goes on, he gets hurt by the distance and the troubling news that suggests that Joanna is divorcing him. It's clear how much this affects Tyrell, who we know wants nothing more than to return to her. His attempted escape makes unfortunate sense, and as expected, it goes badly almost immediately. This leads into a terrific scene where Irving decides to relate with Tyrell to keep his resolve going. Irving delivers a terrific speech about his own family life, which has such an air of tragedy to it. Irving tells a good story and connects to Tyrell's heart, making it clear that Tyrell is forcing himself through this to make his return all the more sweeter. But of course we know that Tyrell is not going to have a family to return to, which adds a strong sense of tragedy to the scene. Further, we also get a reveal that caught me almost entirely off guard: Irving was lying the entire time! This caught me totally off guard and further characterizes Irving nicely; he's a man who does and says what he needs to, no matter if it is true or not. He does his job, and it is as simple as that. Here's someone who has nothing other than the work he does, and I think that's a good set-up for a character to be expanded upon. I enjoyed how this episode pulled back the curtain on him. This episode did well to answer a lot of the questions we had about the 3 days, finally closing out the mystery and fully catching us up with the narrative and characters. Now instead of looking backwards, we can finally push forwards with a new story. So many loose ends were answered: the bullet in the arcade, what Elliot and Tyrell's arrangement with the Dark Army was, where Tyrell was all this time, what he was doing, what happened to the femtocell, how Tyrell's phone call to Elliot came to be, and confirming that it was Whiterose who arranged the shootout in China at the FBI hotel. There was a lot of ground covered, and a lot was cleared up. And for good measure, we also got a significant reveal that Santiago was a Dark Army agent. This caught me off guard, yet it makes so much sense with how difficult he was during Dom's investigation. It has now clicked with me that he knew about the impending shootout in China, and that he was likely the one who informed the Dark Army on Cisco's location so that they could kill him. That's great foresight by the writers, and I'm sure that rewatching season 2 will be much more rewarding now that we know more about Santiago. I enjoyed a lot of little things. We had some welcome cameos from Leon and Cisco. Leon is a free spirit and is fun to watch every time he appears. Meanwhile Cisco's scenes were more tragic in nature, furthering that he has long been doomed by his association with Darlene and the Dark Army. I also enjoyed the brief scene with Whiterose. Frank being a Dark Army associate is a good reveal, and I liked the small moment where Whiterose chuckles about Elliot stealing Michael's dog. The Trump scene is a fun connection to real world politics, and while it's a bit cheesy, I don't think it takes away from the episode. The intro sequence referencing the opening of "The Shining" was a nice touch. The Bad: The only issue I take with this episode is a question of its necessity. This was a good experience, and it was satisfying to finally catch up on everything. But did we need an entire episode dedicated to the past in a season that has been making such big moves to propel the plot forwards? I'm not entirely sure that we did. Perhaps there was a better way to tell this story, maybe even throughout season 2 to help make that season feel more satisfying. This episode feels like it is slowing the momentum of season 3 because it feels like it is much more connected with the plot of season 2. The Unknown: Why does Tyrell love Elliot so much? This is seeming like an obsession more than anything else. Why is Tyrell afraid of becoming his father? What was his father like? It seems that Angela told Tyrell about Elliot's multiple personalities. How will this affect their relationship and Tyrell's obsession? I suspect that Tyrell is "in love" with Mr. Robot rather than Elliot. Is Whiterose going to help Trump rise to power? How will this affect the story of the show? What will come from Frank Cody being a servant of the Dark Army? What happened when Elliot woke up with Tyrell and Angela? This was clearly Mr. Robot. What did he say? What was he told? Why is Santiago working with the Dark Army? What does he expect to get from them? Will he be found out by Dom? Best Moment: Mr. Williams questioning Tyrell. The editing was outstanding, and the show did a tremendous job of making us feel the intense pressure in Tyrell's mind that led to him breaking. Character of the Episode: Tyrell. Conclusion: This episode wasn't an essential experience, but it was a strong episode that filled in blanks, offered up some twists, and explored Tyrell in a unique way. Another great episode for season 3, which is off to a great start. Score: 69
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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