Mr. Robot
Season 2 Episode 8 “eps2.6succ3ss0r.p12”
Directed by Sam Esmail
Written by Courtney Looney
Created by Sam Esmail
Starring Rami Malek, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Christian Slater, Michael Cristofer, Stephanie Corneliussen, Grace Gummer
USA Network
Air date: Wednesday, August 24, 2016, 10pm

Sorry for the delay in this review, but I was in Orlando with my family last week. In the last episode of Mr. Robot, two bombshells were dropped. The first one was that Elliot (Rami Malek) killed Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallstrom), and the 2nd was that he had been incarcerated this whole time. Everything was in his head, and the whole Ray (Craig Robinson) storyline was the vehicle his brain needed to come to compromise with Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), and go back to finish the job of crippling E-Corp. Without him, Darlene (Carly Chaikin) enlisted Angela (Portia Doubleday) to help hack the FBI in efforts to keep them off their tails.

Spoilers below.

Fsociety launches a new video to the internet. Using their FBI hack, they were able to listen in on a conference call, where the FBI admits to spying on over three million Americans because of the five/nine hack, even covering it up from higher ups in the bureau. Mobley (Azhar Khan) is getting nervous. The FBI claims to have 16 suspects under surveillance, and his paranoia is building. Suddenly, Susan Jacobs (Sandrine Holt), the corporate lawyer from E-Corp whose apartment became the fsociety homebase, returns home.

They act fast and tie her up, but the panic is setting in. After a fairly pathetic escape attempt leaves her unconscious, the team works to find dirt on her, while Angela’s sad karaoke version of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is juxtaposed against it. It’s funny to see how just as Elliot has finally pulled himself together, everyone he knows is crumbling apart. None more than Angela. She’s working at E-Corp, the company responsible for her mother’s murder. Her father is disgusted, as are many who once respected her. She’s complicit in the FBI hack. And now she’s drunk and hitting on an older man at the bar (Mark Moses).

Things take a big step darker as Darlene finds herself alone with Jacobs by her swimming pool. She lets Jacobs know that she remembers her from age 4, watching her gloat and smile as E-Corp won the lawsuit in her father’s death case. Darlene uses a stun gun to zap Jacobs into the pool where where she floats to her death. This is the final straw for Mobley and Trenton (Sunita Mani), who flee instantly leaving Darlene and Cisco (Michael Drayer) to clean up the scene. The paranoia levels hit Cold War highs. Trenton tries convincing her dad to move. Mobley is paying delivery men to scope out his apartment, and Darlene and Cisco ride the train avoiding all eyes.

Mobley is a sitting duck for the FBI, but they have no real dirt on him, just empty suspicion. He arranges a meet up with Trenton at the coffee shop where they met. She waits, and waits. Darlene wakes up with Cisco in the shower and gets into his computer to find he is working with The Dark Army. Suffice to say their relationship ends with a bang.

What an episode! This was intense and made the viewers as paranoid as the characters involved. Best of all, there was no Elliot, and no Mr. Robot in the entire episode so we got to really sink our teeth into the emotions of the fsociety team. Angela is an absolute mess and Portia Doubleday is so good. Her response to an insult in the bar is just superb. Fsociety is unraveling, The Dark Army is an even bigger threat, and the FBI; as exposed and clumsy as they are, are circling like vultures. This could be where Elliot returns to be the leader he once was.

Mr. Robot returns Wednesday night at 10:00pm ET only on USA.

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Video

Mr. Robot: On the Next: Season 2, Episode 8

fsociety releases a video. darlene acts on a desire from long ago. trenton and mobley smh.