Summary: Janice ties up Dom and Darlene. Darlene refuses to give up Elliot so Janice stabs Dom and leaves her to bleed out in 15 minutes if Darlene doesn't cooperate. Janice threatens to murder Dom's family and has her men round them up, so Darlene gives up Elliot's location. However, it only leads to his phone so Janice continues her threats. Janice is unable to reach her men and Dom reveals that she had contacted Deegan and allied with them. Janice calls Deegan and learns that her men died and he has Dom's family safe. Dom pulls out the knife and kills the guard next to her, and she shoots Janice. Darlene frees herself and runs away as per Dom's instructions as Dom places a phone call for help. Krista helps Elliot process the situation and they escape the apartment. Krista gives Elliot some advice and heads to a police station. Elliot processes what has happened and realizes that he was fighting back against his father and didn't simply hide from him. Mr. Robot returns with Elliot an hour away from the Deus Group meeting. Mr. Robot apologizes and helps Elliot deal with his trauma. Elliot hugs Mr. Robot and tells him he can't do the hack.
The Good: This episode focused on two different stories, one methodical and emotional, the other urgent and suspenseful. Both worked very well. The first is Elliot's story in the wake of the harsh truth he realized in the previous episode. I'm very pleased that "Mr. Robot" is exploring Elliot's struggle to deal with this instead of simply brushing past this reveal for more dramatic plot. This was a pivotal moment in Elliot's life, and the show is treating it as such. I appreciated that Elliot was so out of it that Krista had to be the one to step up and get Elliot out of the apartment after she had killed Vera. Elliot is so lost that he doesn't know what to do with himself anymore. It's sad to see, and I like that Krista was able to connect with this and assure Elliot that she will continue to be there for him as his therapist. After going through such an intense and emotional experience together, it's sensible that Krista would prefer to keep in touch with him in spite of their rough history. That's some good awareness of how real people act. The rest of Elliot's story continued to be a great exploration of Elliot's difficulty to move forward with his life. His visions of his younger self were mysterious (see: The Unknown), but are symbolic of his regret for letting the younger Elliot down, allowing his father to abuse him so significantly. You can tell that this is the hardest part for Elliot to come to terms with: he is angered that he didn't fight back and simply let his father have his way with him. But then Elliot learns that he wasn't just a victim and that he did fight back, taking his father's key and hiding it. The flashback at the start of the episode shows this nicely, and also connects nicely to the past. We have heard Elliot and Angela reminisce about running away from home before, but now we have a better idea of why Elliot was so eager to run from home. It wasn't that he wanted to explore, it was that he was terrified of staying at home. Anyways, Elliot is able to learn from his younger self that he did fight back, and this brings immediate relief to him. Enough relief that Elliot decides to get back to work on the hack, which is coming up rapidly. The episode could have simply had him move on here, and I'm sure that most people would not complain. But this episode goes the extra mile and shows that even after making his peace, it's still not enough for Elliot to handle this kind of trauma. Elliot brings back Mr. Robot at the end of the episode because he realizes that he won't be able to handle things alone. Their bond is stronger than ever in this final scene, and I really felt the emotion with Mr. Robot apologizing for what he's done after seeing Elliot in this condition, cementing that he really just wanted to be there for Elliot and that he's not another monster like Elliot's father was. The bond between the two feels emotional here on a level that we haven't seen since "eps2.4_m4ster-s1ave.aes". This allows Elliot to really open up and reveal that he finds himself unable to even do the hack because of what happened, which is a sad and realistic scene that explores the extent that trauma effects your day to day life. There is another fascinating layer to this conversation. Elliot remarks that if he hadn't gone through all of this pain, he wouldn't be the person he is, and he wouldn't have Mr. Robot. He doesn't know it, but Elliot has directly opposed Whiterose's entire worldview with this statement, a great reminder of why Elliot is our protagonist and Whiterose our antagonist, and what makes them so different from each other. Whereas Elliot's story is emotional and reflective, Dom and Darlene are wrapped up in an intense experience that had me at the edge of my seat. The main reason that this works so well is Janice. I have my concerns about her (see: The Bad), but as a whole I thought that she was fantastic in this role. She's such a despicable, capable, and evil villain that her presence raises the stakes enormously. She stabs Dom so suddenly and ruthlessly that my jaw dropped, and I fully believed that she would kill Dom's family in a heartbeat because that's just the kind of heartless person that she is. There was a really effective monologue by Janice which reflects how shockingly normal her sadism is. It was unsettling, it was creepy, and it certainly raised the stakes. Darlene's choice was fantastic to watch. She says she will never give up Elliot no matter what Janice does, and it is easy to believe that. But Janice's methods are so shockingly brutal and unexpected. I never expected that she would sacrifice her big asset Dom to get Darlene to cooperate, but Janice takes the gamble and it is horrifying when you realize that she would actually let Dom die. Having to force Darlene to choose between Elliot, who she loves, and Dom, who she feels immense guilt for hurting so badly, is brutal. It's a terrible situation and it is easy to relate to Darlene as she struggles through this. The most heartless moment happens when Darlene's information ends up being useless and Janice decides to murder Dom's family anyways. It's a hopeless moment that only works because of how bleak "406 Not Acceptable" was. I fully bought that Dom might suffer the ultimate price and even die brutally here because "Mr. Robot" has done that good of a job of raising the stakes and establishing that consequences happen in this world. I think that's what made me love the reveal that Dom had concocted a back-up plan to save her family all along. It was a much-needed injection of hope in an otherwise bleak episode, and the realization that Janice had been outsmarted, coupled with Dom's brutal and spectacular escape had me almost jumping out of me seat. This all felt so satisfying and cathartic, a just reward for Dom who has been suffering all season and had to use her resourcefulness to successfully break free. Ordinarily Deegan would feel like a plot device, a cheap way to solve Dom's problems, and I would be unsatisfied with skipping over how he magically killed so many men. But I actually think it was the right decision to save this moment as a surprise. If we had seen any more than the small hints we had received in previous episodes, the elation of Dom turning the tables on Janice wouldn't have been anywhere near as satisfying. I love the decision to keep Dom's plan under wraps, and I think that it significantly elevated the drama of this episode. The fallout of Vera's death was well done. Elliot and Krista managed to escape in a realistic way, and I greatly enjoyed how the goons reacted to Vera's death. Their insistence to come back inside anyways was sensible and human, and I got a laugh out of them deciding to steal Vera's cash before leaving the scene. Someone like Vera was never going to inspire much loyalty from his goons. The Bad: Nothing outright bad, I just have a few small gripes and thoughts. Janice was a great villain, but I can't help but feel that she was used simply to plug in the hole that Irving left due to Bobby Cannavale's unavailability. That's not a bad thing necessarily; I think that she filled his role well and managed to stand out as her own character. But I can't help but lose my immersion a bit when Janice is on screen since I view her as a replacement to Irving. Dom surviving for so long after being stabbed is a bit unrealistic. The 15 minute time limit seems very loosely adhered to. Are you telling me that Darlene was able to correct her phone, track down Elliot, and wait for Janice's men to find his phone and report back in less than 15 minutes? These little details did not quite add up. While Janice being so ruthless with Dom did add to the intensity, it wasn't the most efficient move in actuality to leave Dom to die in a way that nobody would be able to help her. The Unknown: Will the key have another role in the show outside of helping Elliot cope with what happened? Is the kid Elliot vision just a vision or artistic choice? Or is there something more to Elliot hallucinating a kid version of himself? Will Dom survive? She was looking in rough shape and surely it had been 15 minutes by the time she called for help. I hope that she does. How will Darlene feel about leaving Dom? I'm sure she won't be happy about it, but will it cause her further grief? I expect that we will see Darlene follow up on Dom at some point because there is certainly a conclusion to their relationship that we will need to see. Will Elliot be able to do the hack or is he going to back out? How will this affect Price during the meeting? What is going to happen during the meeting? Best Moment: Dom turning the tables on Janice was immensely satisfying, and a great end to that storyline. It feels good to see the good guys finally get something to go their way. Character of the Episode: Dom. Conclusion: To follow up on the show's best episode so far, we get a surprisingly intense and emotional episode that delivers in every way I had hoped it would. This wasn't exceptional like the last one by any means, but it's still an excellent episode. Score: 72
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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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