Age of The Nerd
When we last saw Cisco he was infiltrating the late Susan’s house to retrieve a tape left behind by Darlene and stumbled upon a heavily breathing cliffhanger. This week we get to see what that was: a severely beaten up member of f society. Darlene, pretty savvy with things you shouldn’t do while being hunted by the FBI, is hesitant to bring their comrade to the hospital for fear of being spotted. Cisco convinces her that it’s the right thing to do and away they go. Unfortunately for them, a good samaritan spotted Cisco leaving Susan’s home and now the FBI thinks her “vacation” is more of a “disappearance.”
Joanna has taken Elliot (and Mr. Robot) back to her home to question him (them) about her husband. We’ve seen how cold and calculated Joanna has been all season and everyone else feels it too. “I feel like she can hear us,” Elliot tells Mr. Robot, “I feel like she can see me,” he replies back. Presumably scared shitless of Joanna like he damn well should be, Elliot takes her driver back to his place to trace the calls on her phone that have been coming from Tyrell. During this phone hack we’re treated to one of the coolest shots this show has done to date: we get a full 360 view of Elliot’s apartment and he asks us to look for what Mr. Robot wants so badly there. It’s likely a red herring, but the shot is amazing nonetheless. When Elliot finally decodes where the calls are coming from and asks if it’s him, Joanna’s driver cryptically leaves Elliot with, “Trust me, he wouldn’t be calling from that house.”
Later that night, Elliot and Angela meet on the subway; Angela tells Elliot that she can’t handle the pressure anymore and that she’s going to confess what she did to the FBI. After all of her progress during this season I really thought she had become a badass part of the team, a hacker in her own right, but it looks like she’s just plain old scaredy cat Angela. She does warn Elliot not to trust Mr. Robot, though, which is solid advice considering he’s been having memory lapses again. After Elliot exits the train Angela is approached by two people. Now, it’d be odd to be meeting her lawyer underground, so this could be bad for Angela.
The FBI is chomping at the bit to catch Cisco and the rest of f society but Dom warns that releasing a composite sketch of Cisco could lead to another attack from the Dark Army. Of course they do it anyway and Dom goes on her own hunt to find Cisco and Darlene before the Dark Army does. She manages to find them at a nearby diner and just when you think everything is going to be okay (I mean, they’re getting arrested but at least they’ll be alive) a motorcycle pulls up across the street and starts shooting into the restaurant. It’s meant to be another cliffhanger, but you can clearly see Cisco takes a bullet right to the face while Darlene and Dom take cover. It can’t be satisfying to say “I told you so” when someone dies, can it?
We’re left with a lot questions after this episode: will Angela even make it to her lawyer? Who’s at this mysterious address that the phone calls are coming from? Is Mr. Robot still tricking Elliot? Who pays the bill when someone dies at the table? Even if Angela doesn’t implicate anyone else in her part of the hacks, Dom likely has Darlene in custody now and this doesn’t bode well for anyone in f society.
Mr. Robot returns next Wednesday at 10PM/EST on USA.
