[rating=7.00] “eps1.5_br4ve-trave1e
Robot was a little slower this week, mostly focusing on a single plot point that would ultimately lead to the biggest shocker of the season. Elliot’s put into a position he’s not sure he can get himself out of. Shayla has been kidnapped by Fernando’s people. The only way he’ll get Shayla to safety is by hacking him out of prison, a move that would surely serve as a danger to Shayla and Elliot. Ultimately it becomes less of “will he do it?” and more “can he?”
The episode opens with Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra’s “Some Velvet Morning,” a haunting melody normally reserved for those moments in a film or television show where the couple is either teetering on the brink of leaving one another or quietly falling in love. In this case, it serves as the ominous tone-setter to explain the feelings Elliot will go through at the end of the episode. We see him and Shayla sitting together at a diner, solemn and still. They attempt to form a semblance of a conversation, when suddenly we hear “Times up!” and Shayla is forcibly dragged outside. There’s no chance of getting out of the situation using his typical tricks, but without Elliot’s help Shayla has no future. So he begins piecing together what he can to make it work.
This is the first time Elliot isn’t capable of thinking the way we normally see. Instead of the typical read of the room and subsequent hack of not only electronics, but also the mind of any being he needs control over, Elliot bumbles through the simplest of tasks. There’s several things going through his head: one, he’s stuck in the right versus wrong debate. Not in the usual sense, but within the grey area in which he lives. Letting Fernando out could start a slew of problems, but it’s also the only way to save his lady love. Two, since his father, he hasn’t had to hold the weight of a loved one’s safety on his shoulders. His harbored feelings for Angela will have surely led to not only heartache but also an added stress he secretly deals with. However, the extent of their relationship was never something that had the ability to pull Elliot from out of his head and into the real world. And finally, Elliot has no control. For the first time in a long time, he has absolutely no control over the situation. But not for long.
With the help of Darlene, Elliot commits several rookie mistakes that ultimately put the whole operation at risk. The first attempt at a semblance of a plan was to leave USB drives scattered around a precinct in order to hack through the firewall of a police department, and ultimately the justice system. Darlene’s codes don’t hold up, even after an officer loads the USB drive on his computer Elliot cannot get in fast enough. The failure is ultimately a blessing. While brainstorming the next move, Elliot is able to pull information off the cell phone of Fernando’s brother, a move that would prove to be a heavy handed attempt at a leg up. Finally getting his head on straight, Elliot visits Fernando in prison to both reveal his plan (use a cellphone to block firewalls undetected) and set the terms for his release (no funny business or he loses his money and immediately heads back to prison.) Impressed, Fernando agrees to the terms if he’s released that night.
The subsequent series of events are a blur. Elliot’s life is threatened by Fernando’s brother, leading to the reveal of true feelings and harbored resentment. The plan is altered, and Elliot sits in a comfortable position knowing his problem will be handled for him. The plan goes off without a hitch. Instead of just releasing Fernando, Elliot disables every cell door. The mass prison break enables Fernando to slip through mostly undetected, with room to move about while he figures out the next step. Reaching the car where Elliot and co are waiting, Fernando promptly kills his brother for conspiring against him. Elliot does his best not to react, knowing full well that this changes any plans he had for Fernando’s demise. With his side of things taken care of, Elliot demands to know Shayla’s whereabouts only to be told that she was with him the whole time. Cue the heavy music.
The discovery of Shayla in the trunk, throat slit, is a turning point for the series. Not only did they kill off a character of interest to the main story plot, but they did so in such a gruesome manner that there’s no way Elliot will recover from the shock. I will commend the writers on the perfect reveal. Standing outside the prison with blood spilling from the body at his feet, Elliot is bombarded with death as he stares into the trunk at the cold and bloodied corpse of the girl who will always be his almost. The Lee and Nancy song used early on would serve as an indication for the fate of the lovers’ romance, i.e., Elliot is now going to have Shayla on a pedestal where she’ll be forever untouched by the corruption of the life he leads. Simultaneously she’ll be the crutch on which he can lean on for all future mistakes as nothing he ever does will be worse than, or make up for this moment in time.
I’m impressed with showrunners, as this was an excellent way to propel things along quickly. Elliot will surely spiral, and the deviated plot point will ultimately be a driver towards next season. For being network television, Robot consistently surprises me with its ability to demonstrate gore, sex, and violence in a way that’s satisfying to the big cable fans, yet light enough for the network hold outs. There’s only room for Elliot in his universe, and moving forward we can surely expect to see this realization wash over him in a comfortable acceptance of the loneliness he strives to attain.
