Age of The Nerd
We discovered that Elliot has actually been in jail this whole time for hacking Krista’s ex and in this episode he takes the time to catch us up on what we missed. Ray was the warden (and Lonestar was his guard-thug); Leon is a fellow inmate who had been planted by the dark army to protect Elliot from the beginning; and the most interesting part of it all is that Elliot was going to serve 18 months but only served 86 days due to the 5/9 hack. Something I’ve been saying in these reviews lately is that f society has been lost without Elliot and it’s great to see them back together. Elliot, Darlene, and Cisco hit the ground running after Elliot’s release and decide to hack a Dark Army member’s phone. I find this interesting considering it’s heavily hinted at by Leon that Whiterose arranged Elliot’s early release, but hey, Elliot never makes sense.
The truce we saw between Elliot and Mr. Robot earlier this season gets a little shaken up in this episode as we see Mr. Robot talking to Darlene and Cisco without Elliot’s knowledge. Mr. Robot convinces Elliot that he only took over because Elliot stopped responding but I don’t buy it. Elliot fought off Mr. Robot so hard while he was in prison that I think Mr. Robot, pretending to give Elliot what he wants, is once again taking control when Elliot isn’t paying attention. This show has always been about illusions and I don’t think they’re going to stop now; this is the biggest illusion of all, but Elliot isn’t lying to us again… he’s also being lied to.
We revisit Angela, once my least favorite character but now pretty alright, as she uses the rubber ducky Mobley gave her to perform her very own solo hack on E-Corp to gain access to the files she so desperately wants to put E-Corp under once an for all. She takes these files allllllll the way down to FBI headquarters, climbs up the power chain all the way up to the director, to only chicken out due to paranoia that E-Corp also owns the FBI. I can’t blame her though, it seems as though Dom might be the only straight-arrow FBI agent on the show. The FBI director dismisses all of Angela’s important questions, and short from actually kidnapping her, seems to be leading her into a lion’s den.
Speaking of Dom, she does actually show up this episode and lets Angela know that the FBI has been aware of the Allsafe CD hack this entire time. Why the FBI isn’t more up Angela’s ass is beyond me. Angela, more stone faced than ever, doesn’t budge and Dom threatens that the next people who come asking questions might not be so nice. I’m starting to think this is an Icarus situation waiting to happen – Angela thinks she’s become part of this big hacking revolution but in the end, she’ll get in too deep and fly too close to the sun. Angela isn’t cut out for this sort of thing, and no one knows that more than she does.
Darlene, for the second week in a row, has royally f**ked up. Remember that VHS tape that Trenton replaces? The one that shows Darlene removing her f society mask? Yeah, she left that at Susan’s house. Seeing as Susan is currently missing it’s definitely not a great house to revisit, but Cisco being the knight in rusty armor that he is, decides that he’ll go find the tape because he’s not the one currently being hunted. Mr. Robot relied on these cheesy cliffhangers while Elliot was gone but even with his return in this episode they’re still at it as Cisco finds the tape but also follows the sound of heavy wheezing over to the couch to discover something we don’t get to see.
Two more important things happen in this episode:
- Elliot heads home, leaving Darlene to monitor the Dark-Army-phone-hack.
- Joanna pays Elliot a surprise visit.
Darlene, who’s been listening to this phone all day, finally gets some information on phase 2. The Dark Army is confused as to why Elliot is so interested in phase 2… because it was his idea. Not only does this set off alarms in Darlene’s head, but it also confirms my theory that Mr. Robot is acting without Elliot’s permission. And finally, as Elliot tries to regain some normalcy by sleeping in his own bed, he’s greeted by Tyrell’s SUV outside his home. Instead of Tyrell (sadly), Joanna rolls down the window and kindly greets Elliot with, “Hello Ollie.”
Mr. Robot returns next Wednesday at 10PM/EST on USA.
