[rating=8.00] “eps.1.3_da3m0ns.mp4”
You know those defining moments in a series? The ones that make or break the season and send everything into a tailspin? We got one of those this week on Mr. Robot. Last episode, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place with Elliot leaning towards the destruction of “the system” as we know it, and his boss onto the fact that he’s left a virus in the Allsafe servers. Oh yeah, and the Angela stuff too. She’s a character. Well after sitting on all of that for a week, we opened right where we left off. Elliot has come up with his solution to not murdering a whole bunch of folks, though it doesn’t seem to please his hacker team.
Again, we’re sitting in the shadow of the dull stares directed Mr. Robot’s way. I have to say, since I’ve gotten it in my head that Robot is going the way of Tyler Durden, I’ve had a hard time looking at the character interactions he’s involved in without skepticism. That is until this episode when I was shocked out of it. During what later turns out to be a withdrawal fever dream, Robot and Elliot head to a drug den in order to get whatever they can get their hands on so that Elliot can get a quick fix and continue to function at half-capacity. While making the transaction, the point-man talks directly Robot. Like he’s an actual person! What…I mean it completely changed every theory, idea, and notion, whatever, that I’ve been cultivating about the show. That is until Elliot shoots up heroin, takes a bullet, and wakes up to a crazy fever dream involving a key, the Monopoly man “Pennybags” mask and Robot.
It was a little disappointing, it felt like there was finally ambiguity that’s been missing in the mystery of Elliot’s sanity. Though, towards the end of the episode there was a moment where one of Elliot’s hackers seemed to look at Robot and order him to keep getting Elliot to drink a horrid concoction in order to help dry him up. It could be said in that moment that the comment was directed at the other programmer dude, but then again I don’t recall seeing him in the room. Whether or not this counts as a point towards the corporeality of Robot is up for debate, the shake-up was definitely needed to steer the audience away from what seems to be the glaringly obvious truth.
Getting back to the fever dream, there was this over-all theme behind every subsect and vignette that Elliot ran into. “Find your monster,” was demanded of him over and over again. His “monster” could mean any number of things, the most importantly being the reason that he was doing drugs in the first place. Once Elliot is able to locate that monster, those feelings, perhaps he’ll be able to grow past moments that have led him down the crooked path he’s so fond of following.
One of the most jarring (and aesthetically pleasing) moments was the switch that occurred surrounding Elliot’s fish. One moment the stormy beta is demanding Elliot to give him a change of scenery, the next he’s being devoured by the actual object of Elliot’s affections, Angela. Magically the fish has grown to the size of a large trout, though his decorative fins and dark color still adorn the plate, leaving the mournful Elliot aghast when Angela offers him a bite, “He was my friend.” “Yes and he’s delicious.” Elliot refuses the bite, but turns to see his mother doing the same thing to his younger self, only this time he doesn’t get a choice.
I could happily write a whole piece simply going over the ins and outs of the dream, but for the sake of time, just know that this was the moment in the show that I’ve been waiting for. This was the time that made the grumpy critic in my brain yell, “Yes! Finally!” The potential has been unleased, and shit’s getting weird. The basic premise of the dream was to remind Elliot of all the things in his life that have gone awry, one of the biggest issues being his inability to be alone. As timid as he is in social interactions, and as frightened of people that he seems to be, he still finds a way to make sure that he’s never a lone. Waking up, he’s found his monster. He yells out, terrified that he’s been left alone, and from the shadows comes Robot, assuring him that he’s not going anywhere “kid.”
So the big news aside, we did get a little more about Angela and her debacle. After running to Elliot for help, and instead finding solace in the arms of Shayla (both in a literal and emotional sense), Angela is able to do something for herself for once and decides to go ahead and infect the Allsafe computers. Now, Angela doesn’t know who’s blackmailing her (we find out this episode it’s China’s hackers extraordinaire) and instead of reaching out to the police, or even her company—whose job it is to prevent this sort of thing—she gives in. Again, as I said last week, Angela is weak. There’s only so much she’s capable of, and mostly of her energy seems to go into furrowed brows and forlorn looks at her childhood best friend. Of course, we need something to keep the plot going, so Angela’s fuck up makes sense for the overall storyline. I’ll allow it, for now.
Things are moving pretty fast on the series. Now as we move through into heavier plot points, the “fsociety” logo seems to be littered throughout the city. It’s a good thing in a sense, because it gives the movement a depth that I don’t think the team has yet. Elliot saw it in his dream, but then the Pennybags’ face is plastered all over the nightclub bathroom where Angela and Shayla are rolling. Next week’s episode promises more about the basic plan to get into the secure “mountain” full of data, at which point the next step will be activate the non-violent plan. Look at USA Network go, keeping things interesting…
One Response