Summary: Elliot and Darlene infiltrate Virtual Realty to give Elliot access. Darlene poses as a worker and allows Elliot to sneak in. Together, they head to the server room and Darlene starts hacking to create an account for Elliot. The security guard realizes something is amiss and investigates. Elliot and Darlene make their escape but the police are called and their exit is blocked. Elliot runs out and the cops chase him, giving Darlene a chance to get away. Darlene poses as a girl who went to the gym in the same building and is able to make her way outside. She takes her car to Elliot's location and picks him up after a lengthy chase. Dom wants to be with her family on Christmas, but Janice has her go to the burned van scene to ensure everything is covered up. Dom gives Janice information from a nearby traffic light camera and Janice determines that Elliot and Darlene are responsible. She tasks Dom with finding them. Price is given the location and time for the Deus group meeting and informs Elliot. Krista prepares to go on a date but she is met by Vera.
The Good: The heist is gripping to watch and it's a lot of fun. This is quite possibly the most suspenseful and dramatic that "Mr. Robot" has ever been. Darlene and Elliot's infiltration is signature "Mr. Robot", and there are a lot of neat details that are included here. We aren't exposed to their plan, so every step is a delight to watch. The way that Darlene distracts the guard to allow Elliot to come through was so simplistic, but logical, and I loved the way that Darlene ensured that she could copy the guard's fingerprint to get into the server room. The plan is good, but as always, something is going to go wrong. And naturally things do go wrong as the security guard realizes something is wrong after the tiniest of mistakes (the elevator panel is left slightly open). What follows is one of the most delightfully tense sequences of the whole show as Elliot and Darlene work to finish the hack in the server room while trying to avoid the guard that is hunting them down. The sequence is magnificent, and while their escape is a relief, "Mr. Robot" is ruthless with the tension and follows it up with a fantastic chase sequence. This chase scene had every chance of being ridiculous and overdramatic, but I think that it ends up being just about believable. The cops are slow and take a while to get back-up, which makes sense because the heist takes place during Christmas. At every turn, Elliot finds a realistic way to stay one step ahead of the cops, but he isn't quite able to get away. I love that getting on the bus was not enough for Elliot to get away, and he was only able to escape once Darlene picked him up. I also got a good laugh out of Elliot going through the ice rink only for the cops to simply run around it. All of these details, plus the heart-pounding music, made the chase sequence a blast to watch. Furthermore, we had it intercut with Darlene attempting to escape the Virtual Realty building. She comes up with a fittingly creative escape by coming out of the gym. Naturally the cops wouldn't suspect her because they already thought that they found their man (Elliot). The heist story is dramatic, but I'm pleased that it ends on an emotional note as Darlene and Elliot hold each other's hands after the grueling experience that they just went through together. The other characters in this episode have solid storylines too. Dom's eternal struggle against the Dark Army is as engaging as ever. She simply wants to spend Christmas day with her family, but Janice doesn't let her, because Dom is once more forced to clean up their messes. Dom is given a brief heist moment of her own as she hacks into the local police department to get the intel she needs. The sequence is well shot and quite fun. Price is given some time to reflect in this episode as the Deus group prepares for their meet. There are some lovely shots here as Price sees a family and is reminded of Angela, and also a lengthy shot showing Price looking up at the E Corp building, perhaps tinged with sadness since he is leaving his post. Lastly, we come to Krista who is living her usual life until Vera arrives to turn her world upside down in an exciting cliffhanger scene. The elephant in the room about this episode is that there is hardly any dialogue here. It's almost entirely silent, making this another bold gimmick episode. For the most part, it works here. The heist doesn't require much dialogue, and the writers do a good job of finding ways to tell the story without dialogue. For a silent episode to really work, there needs to be excellent music and this episode over-delivers in that department. From the Christmas music to the brutally tense heist music, the episode is a joy to listen to even without dialogue. Of course, this is not a surprise because "Mr. Robot" has always had spectacular music, but it is especially good in this episode. The episode is also aided by some lovely cinematography. I would call this one of the more cinematic episodes of the show because of how well it is shot with many dynamic shots adding to the experience. I liked the two lines of dialogue that book-ended the episode, with Darlene saying "it's okay, we don't have to talk" at the start, and Vera finishing things with "time to talk". The Bad: The silent gimmick is pretty enjoyable, but unfortunately the strict adherence to silence in every scene takes away from the episode. What do I mean by this? Well for a show that features a whole lot of talking, there needs to be an explanation given for why everyone has suddenly stopped talking. People like to talk, even to themselves, so it's hard to buy that in every scene in this episode, there is no speaking at all. Some scenes feel awkward because you get the sense that the writers specifically had to go out of their way to stop the characters from talking. Take Darlene's interactions with the security guard which feel wooden because the characters inexplicably refused to speak, or Dom's silence during the can investigation which is out of character for her (her awkwardness typically makes her somewhat chatty). These scenes feel strange because they have been manufactured to not include any speaking. What's more frustrating is that the episode doesn't commit to having no communication. There is frequent texting going on to replace speaking, which is tedious to follow, and you get the sense that these scenes would be more effective with phone calls instead of texts. Overall, these factors all create the feeling that this episode is being modified to accommodate its gimmick instead of telling its story in the way that it should be told. Compare this to "eps3.4_runtime-error.r00", which was a gimmick episode where the story could not have been told in any other way. "405 Method Not Allowed" felt like it was forced into its gimmick, which is a huge immersion-breaker while you are watching the episode. Another major problem is the nature of season 4 as a whole. The main story feels like it has been disconnected for the sake of these gimmick episodes. This week is the silent episode, last week was the trip into the woods episode, and the week before is the Whiterose backstory episode. These episodes don't flow well into each other and feel very disconnected. A big consequence of that is that I have forgotten a lot of the random plot details that have been introduced. Cyprus National Bank, the Deus group, and Virtual Realty are all important to the plot, but they aren't interesting story details that I am invested in. As a result, I don't care enough to remember how all of these things are connected, and that meant that I actually forgot why Darlene and Elliot had to hack Virtual Realty in the first place. When I finally remembered, I realized that this highly intense experience served no story purpose; its only role was to further a minor plot detail by giving Elliot access to the servers. Compare this to the emotional importance that Elliot's previous hacks have had, and it doesn't hold up favourably. Had there been more effort to emotionally connect us to Elliot's goals and actions in this season, this heist could have meant a lot more. But as it stands, it feels like a plot event that is disconnected from the story. I have some issues with the details of this episode too. I wish that we had seen more of the preparation that Elliot and Darlene took before this hack. We never got to see how they organized their entry and the necessary steps that they had to plan out. These details weren't completely necessary, but they would have enriched the experience. I sense that accommodating the silent gimmick is one of the reasons that these details were excluded, which is disappointing. I'm not pleased with the suggestion that Darlene and Elliot got away from this scot-free. Elliot was spotted, so surely people will be on the look-out for him. Furthermore, I found it a bit hard to believe that Darlene was able to get out of the building so easily, when such a serious crime had happened. Lastly, shouldn't Virtual Realty take steps to figure out what exactly was changed by Elliot and Darlene? The guard knows the exact place where they were working. Surely it wouldn't be hard to figure out what they had changed and undo it. I'm a bit confused by Dom bugging the police department. Perhaps I missed something, but how did she move the officer's phone? Plus, how did she ever place the bug with nobody noticing? There were several other officers in that room, and not one of them questioned what she was doing? That's ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous, the "all about that bass" ringtone made me want to cry. Who in their right mind would ever have that as a ringtone? This was too much for me to handle. The Unknown: How will the Deus Group meeting go for Price? Who is Deegan Maguire? Why did Dom take notes on the Dark Army van? Is she planning something? Is she going to hunt down Elliot and Darlene? What is she going to do with them? What is Vera planning to do with Krista? Best Moment: The entire chase sequence through the city was a wonderful dramatic spectacle that was packed with tension. Character of the Episode: Elliot. Conclusion: This episode saw "Mr. Robot" execute another impressive gimmick episode, but this time it felt like the story had to accommodate the gimmick at times. Furthermore, the disconnected storytelling style of season 4 is also hurting the show at this point. There is plenty to enjoy about this episode and it is as suspenseful as the show has ever been, but its flaws prevent it from hitting the highs of season 3's best episodes. Score: 68
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|