Summary: Flashbacks show Angela at a party for her mother who is going to die soon from cancer. Elliot's father speaks with her and she goes to talk with her mother. In the present, Elliot confronts Angela about what she did and Angela gets him to leave by reminding him that he's been fired and isn't allowed in the building. Elliot goes to the Recovery building to stop stage 2, but Mr. Robot fights him for control and forces him to backtrack whenever he takes over. Elliot continually fights Mr. Robot in an attempt to reach the battery room to prevent an explosion from happening. He is able to communicate that there aren't any paper records in the building and Mr. Robot ceases after realizing it's true. Elliot prevents an explosion and leaves satisfied, but he realizes that the Dark Army instead bombed the 71 other E Corp buildings where he distributed the records. Darlene tells Dom that Tyrell is in the Red Wheelbarrow, and she goes to Santiago to turn in Tyrell. Santiago says to be cautious and warns Irving they have been found. Dom and Norm go investigate the Red Wheelbarrow anyways but find nobody there. Irving gives Tyrell instructions on what to do next. When Dom goes outside, Tyrell runs around screaming to stop "the attack" and he is arrested. Angela returns home and finds Darlene who tries to convince her to stop what she's doing. They both receive notifications of the attack and are shocked. Whiterose and Price speak at a party and Price is later given news of the attack.
The Good: Angela's flashback was an effective way to start the episode. We haven't delved too far into her upbringing, so it's good to see how the events of the past have shaped who she is. To start, the casting choice for young Angela was picture perfect. I immediately knew I was looking at young Angela without needing a word of dialogue. The opening scene was interesting because it paralleled Angela's mother's words to her with Angela's current belief that she can prevent her death by following Whiterose. It's a curious connection that helps us understand why Angela would have been susceptible to whatever it was that Whiterose told her. There's also a great scene with Elliot's father, reminding us how capable of a parent he was as he sees Angela feeling sad and alone and goes over to help her out which simultaneously looking out for Elliot. I found these scenes to be surprisingly emotional and impactful, complete with an excellent soundtrack and memorable lighting scheme that helped give this scene an almost heavenly feel to symbolize that we are celebrating a character's death. But immediately after this lovely flashback, the episode launches into another thrilling and intense experience. We start in the midst of a terrific dramatic confrontation between a betrayed Elliot and Angela who is trying her best to defend her actions to ease her own inner conflict. Their argument is brilliantly written and the acting is top-notch. It's a huge turning point in their relationship that lives up to being a monumental moment. We don't even get to see a proper resolution because Angela runs away from their debate, retreating into her cold business personality to get Elliot away from her in an attempt to keep believing the illusion that she is doing the right thing for the betterment of the world. But the rest of the episode makes it clear that she doesn't believe this anymore. She's like a ghost as she echoes her belief that nobody will die when she faces down a thief with a gun later in the episode. Having just listened to how much the 5/9 hack has affected the lives of two senior ladies on the subway, Angela falls into guilt, so much so that in this moment you suspect that she may have even welcomed being shot to get away from the guilt she feels. Then in the final moments of the episode she is confronted by Darlene, who knows her well enough to want to give her another chance. But once again Angela hides away from the truth, until reality checks in for both of them with a simple phone notification. Angela has been handled much better this season, and once you get over how sudden her character change is, there is a great story being told with her. Elliot's efforts to stop stage 2 are highly dramatic. The episode makes it crystal clear what Elliot's goal is and why. He is going to stop stage 2 and save the lives of the many and prevent the Dark Army for blowing up society into being even worse than it has already been in the past couple seasons. It's easy to root for him, and the episode does a terrific job of giving him setbacks that originate within his own mind. It's dramatic to see him working hard at a solution that may work only to be forcibly shoved away by Mr. Robot who emerges to make him lose time. It's disorienting, and every time Mr. Robot takes over, you can feel the suspense rising as the explosion gets closed and closer to going off. We eventually make our way to one of the episode's most creative and most "Fight Club" sequences when Elliot is physically fighting himself while walking down a hallway. It's equal parts dramatic and hilarious, especially when a random worker walks past Elliot as he continues to harm himself while heading down that hallway. The build-up is suspenseful, the comedy is nicely integrated, and there's a nice bit of exploration of Elliot's relationship with Mr. Robot as he uses messages to try to talk some sense into him. All of it leads to a great climax where Mr. Robot realizes that his plan isn't going to work so he allows Elliot to save everyone in the building and stop the explosion. This worked pretty well, and it was a relief to realize that Elliot succeeded and stopped the attack. But the relief feels hollow and you can't help but escape that sense of dread that something is not quite right. Whether it's Tyrell screaming to stop the attack, or Angela and Darlene getting mysterious notifications, you get the sense that something big is about to happen. The dread comes from the fact that Elliot has not clued in and believes that he has won. It's a slow and scary moment when Elliot realizes that something has gone wrong and we are hit with a stunning reveal that Elliot's interventions ultimately made things worse as Tyrell attacked 71 different E Corp buildings instead, executing the plan flawlessly while murdering thousands. This moment is outstanding and the realization hits like a truck when you learn that Elliot failed and that the Dark Army may have just successfully ended E Corp. This is a monumental moment and it absolutely feels like it. Kudos to Sam Esmail for telling this story well enough that we understand the consequences of this scene. We also get a strong storyline as the FBI close in on Tyrell. Darlene relays intel from Elliot to Dom and they work on stopping the Dark Army. But unfortunately they have to go through Santiago, and knowing that he is a traitor raises the suspense massively. We know that Santiago is actively working against Dom and Norm and we hope that they can find a way to prove him wrong. This helps make them going rogue feel like such a satisfying moment. It's not just a bold and rash decision, it's the only move that can stop Tyrell and the Dark Army, so we can celebrate when Norm and Dom feign asking each other to go get food. The suspense picks up as Dom's investigation begins while we are shown scenes of Irving and Tyrell packing up to leave. There is a whole load of tension as we await to see if Dom can make it in time, and there's even some extra tension in Irving giving Tyrell the letter because we know that Tyrell learning about Joanna's death is a bomb that is waiting to drop on him. Cutting these scenes together added to the suspense, and it led to an interesting and exciting moment later in the episode as Tyrell is arrested, presumably on the Dark Army's orders (see: The Unknown), and Dom is still struggling to put the pieces together on how this all adds up. What made all of these storylines so effective and so intense was the choice to splice them together and frequently cut from scene to scene, creating an enormous sense of tension. It's a trick similar to "eps2.8_h1dden-pr0cess.axx" which made the ending of that episode so heart-poundingly thrilling. The tension rises exponentially through the episode, and all of the already exhilarating storylines that I discussed above were elevated to a whole new level of tension. Furthermore, the return to regular pacing when cutting between scenes at the end of the episode helped create that false sense of security that made the ending twist hit even harder. I appreciate that Santiago was humanized in this episode through an excellent call with his mother (see: The Unknown). It's great to see the minor characters in this show proving to us that they have some extra depth. The Bad: Nothing I would call outright bad, but I do have some reasons for not scoring this above an 80. Despite being an astonishingly intense experience, I did not feel personally invested with the characters as much as I would in a top-tier episode. A consequence of the rapid cutting between scenes is that each individual character feels more disconnected from myself, and that hurts my investment in the individual storylines even if the episode as a whole remains intense. I know it's a strange complaint, and it's tough to put into words why it affected me, but this problem meant that this episode did not hit the same highs as "eps3.4_runtime-err0r.roo". The Unknown: Who is Angela mother's anonymous benefactor? How will this character play a role in the story? Will Angela come to realize that she's fighting for the wrong cause here? It's hard to justify blowing up 71 buildings and killing thousands no matter what you believe. Did Mr. Robot do anything else while he was in control of Elliot's body? What were Tyrell's instructions? Is the Dark Army making it look like Tyrell was a hostage while someone else was doing this attack? Who are they going to blame if not Tyrell? Did Tyrell end up finding out that Joanna died? Why did Santiago tell his mother to stay home? Was it to make sure she doesn't get caught in the explosions? How much did he know about what was happening? How does he feel about it? How are these explosions going to affect the futures of E Corp and the world at large? How is Price going to handle what just happened? Best Moment: The twist reveal at the end completely caught me off guard. What a brilliant way to end the episode, sharply switching our emotional state from relief to dread as we realize the scope of what just happened. Even though we didn't see it happen ourselves, it's easy to understand that this is a monumental event that could potentially change everything. Character of the Episode: Elliot. Conclusion: Another fantastic and suspenseful episode that completely changed everything. The twist at the end was a brilliant piece of work and I'm excited to explore the fallout of stage 2's success. Season 3 has been firing on all cylinders so far, and it is well on its way to being a terrific season of television. Score: 78
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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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