Age of The Nerd
Remember back when I reviewed episode three and I mentioned the show getting weirder? Well episode six just went off the deep end… and I loved it.
The last time we saw Elliot he was getting beat down hard by Ray’s goons, but we start this episode to a full on sitcom style opening (they completely nail the early 90’s cinematography, it’s 100% brilliant!) with Elliot, Mr. Robot, and the whole gang. It doesn’t take very long to see what’s happening here – Elliot catches glimpses of himself getting said beatdown in Darlene’s Gameboy and in the side mirror of the car; Mr. Robot has taken over Elliot’s mind to protect him from the physical pain he’s experiencing. When Elliot awakens in the hospital, bloody, bruised, and stitched up, Ray and Lone Star are standing over him menacingly. Ray gives a long speech that I won’t bore you with, but the crux of it is that Ray is Elliot’s master now. Scary shit.
In a show where Elliot is constantly trying to fight Mr. Robot for control of his mind, it’s nice to see Mr. Robot protecting Elliot… even if it is a little selfish. No Elliot means no Mr. Robot, but there’s still that sense of a father/son bond that we haven’t seen much of lately. Elliot feels it too, as he collapses into Mr. Robot, crying and thanking him for what he did. The episode ends with a real flashback of how Mr. Robot got fired and started the computer store, even letting young Elliot give it its name. It’s a very touching moment, showing us what a good father Mr. Robot really was before he became a figment of Elliot’s psycho imagination.
That’s not the end of this review though, oh no, much more happened in this episode. Let’s talk about Angela. A character that I’ve been pretty hateful towards since the beginning; a character I didn’t think I could actually like. Let this be my formal recognition that I stand corrected. Mobley and Darelene need Angela to help them hack the FBI’s phones, we talked about this last episode… but this is the episode it all goes down in.
Mr. Robot goes full on 007 this episode with music, disguises, diversions and of course hacking. Angela has to infiltrate the FBI’s floor of E-corp, connect a box to their modem and hack the WiFi… No small task for a person like Angela. The tension during this sequence could be cut with a dull spoon it’s so intense! If the mission wasn’t dangerous enough, an FBI frat-bro nearly catches Angela in the act and threatens her if she doesn’t go on a date with him. Cue Angela’s dumb stare, as we think she’s going to fail, but instead she bounces back with a perfect diversion and agrees to meet him in the lobby (as if)!
The final part of this plan has Darlene helping Angela via phone to get their device the WiFi it needs to complete the hack. Easy peasy right? Darlene is a seasoned hacker, this should go off without a hitch, until our resident FBI babe Dom shows up to talk to Angela. “Oh are you on a phone call? I hate when people interrupt me, you can finish,” she says as Angela is just about to finish the hack on Dom’s entire task force. Cue once again that dumb Angela stare, but this time we don’t get to see her come through as we’re left with another cliffhanger. Does she do it!? DOES SHE!? I need to know.
But we’ll all have to wait until next Wednesday to find out when Mr. Robot comes back to USA at 10PM/EST.
