Mr. Robot
Season 2 Episode 5 “eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc”
Directed by Sam Esmail
Written by Sam Esmail
Created by Sam Esmail
Starring Rami Malek, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Christian Slater, Michael Cristofer, Stephanie Corneliussen, Grace Gummer
USA Network
Air date: Wednesday, August 3, 2016, 10pm

Last time on Mr. Robot, Elliot (Rami Malek) was one step closer to letting Mr. Robot back into his life. The reason? Darlene (Carly Chaikin) feared the Dark Army was after them. The Dark Army are the most dangerous hacker group on Earth who helped fsociety pull off their massive hack of EVIL Corp. One member of the group had already been murdered and Darlene was paranoid she’s being followed. Angela (Portia Doubleday) was beginning to see how deep the evil of E-Corp runs. So far this season, Mr. Robot was like the Republican National Convention, full of fear, paranoia, eccentric business tycoons, and undeniably crazy fun.

Spoilers for this week’s Mr. Robot below.

Elliot is hacking the FBI. But more importantly, Elliot is alive, awake, and sounds as if he’s enjoying himself for the first time in a long time. I guess it’s fun using incredible talents… even if your talents are criminal in nature. Darlene goes to Angela to ask her to be the one to facilitate the hack of the FBI. Angela says absolutely not, but Darlene seems to have her between a rock and a hard place. Darlene and Elliot argue over Angela’s involvement, and of course Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) is not on Elliot’s side.

The FBI heads to China and Agent DiPierro (Grace Gummer) doesn’t have the subtlety tha the Chinese are used to, jumping right in with questions about the Dark Army. Part of the delegation is Whiterose (BD Wong), who has become an expert at playing the sneaky, slyly confident villain on television, akin to his rise as Dr. Hugo Strange on FOX’s Gotham. Meanwhile, Joanna Wellick (Stephanie Corneliussen) proves to be as psychotic as her husband, as she gets her man servant to murder her courier and explains why he needed to be sedated first… it gives him answers as to why he’s dying… otherwise they’d just be psycho killers. Yep!

Angela meets her ex-boyfriend and co-worker, and he’s recording their conversation. She finally meets up with Elliot. She’s got her back to the wall. “Either I act, or I wait to get caught,” she tells him after agreeing to hack the FBI. They have an adorable few minutes together, and again Elliot seems genuinely comfortable for the first time this season. “My dead father’s standing behind you,” he tells her. She looks, and then smiles. “I can be a friend,” she tells him, and you know she actually means it.

Elliot figures out what Ray’s (Craig Robinson) modus operandi is. He runs a “black market of evil.” A secret encrypted website where you can buy hard drugs, sex slaves, weapons, and even order hits online. He argues with Mr. Robot about what to do about this. Mr. Robot wants his head clear and focused on hacking the Feds, but Elliot has empathy and wants to help the people abused by Ray’s site. Before he can do anything either way, Ray’s goons grab him from his bed and beat the holy hell out of him. If you think Elliot’s situation is bad, DiPierro and the FBI agents in China are attacked by a pair of machine gun toting, mask wearing killers.

Just when you thought Elliot would get a fraction of peace in his life, things go uber chaotic in the final 5 minutes. Ray and his goons have Elliot, and who knows now what’s in store for him. Angela is working with fsociety to pull off the FBI hack, and The Dark Army is lurking, killing anyone getting close to answers. More paranoia, more fear, and sadly, it all feels totally real. I think that this is both the best and worst part of Mr. Robot; the show describes a world that is disturbingly realistic. At a time where one Presidential candidate has been hacked, and the other is asking for Russia to help hack more, it’s not at all inconceivable that groups like The Dark Army and fsociety are out these causing problems… or solving them. This continues to be the most compelling watch on television.

Mr. Robot returns Wednesday at 10:00pm ET on USA.

Videos

Mr. Robot: ‘Joanna Explains an Unconventional Murder’ from_2.05

Killing a man instantly robs him of explanation.

Mr. Robot: ‘A Peek Inside Whiterose’s Closet’ from_2.05

I have never touched something so beautiful.

Mr. Robot: ‘Angela Figures Out She’s Being Recorded’ from_2.05

I hope this is cool…

Mr. Robot: ‘Elliot Looks Into Ray’s Business’ from_2.05

If/then conditional programming.