Mr. Robot
Season 2 Episode 9 “eps2.7init5.fve”
Directed by Sam Esmail
Written by Kyle Bradstreet & Lucy Teitler
Created by Sam Esmail
Starring Rami Malek, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Christian Slater, Michael Cristofer, Stephanie Corneliussen, Grace Gummer, BD Wong, Joey Bada$$, Sandrine Holt, Azhar Khan
USA Network
Air date: Wednesday, August 31, 2016, 10pm

We are at paranoia overload in season 2 of Mr. Robot. Last week’s episode was the first in the series to not feature both of the top stars, Rami Malek and Christian Slater, and yet the tension was palpable. Susan Jacobs (Sandrine Holt) returned to her home and found fsociety there. Their response was to tie her up and hold her hostage. Mobley (Azhar Khan) is convinced the Feds are after him, and that intuition turns out to be true. Luckily they have nothing concrete on him. Unluckily, they may be safer in custody as they potentially are targets for The Dark Army, the deadly Chinese hacking group that already shot up the FBI on an Asian visit. Darlene (Carly Chaikin) reached several breaking points. She not only murders Jacobs by stun-gunning her into her swimming pool, but then helps destroy the evidence and batters her hacker boyfriend with a bat after finding he’s in cahoots with the Dark Army. Also off the deep end is Angela (Portia Doubleday), as her dual role in helping to hack the FBI while sleazing it up with E-Corp execs is taking its toll. Fsociety needs its leader back. They need Elliot.

Spoilers for this week’s episode of Mr. Robot below.

We get the full details on why Elliot was in jail, and no it has nothing to do with his crippling hack on the world’s biggest company that has nearly destroyed the American economy. It was the dog, the dog he “stole” from the jerk who was sleeping with her psychiatrist. Computer hacking and grand larceny = 18 months. Ray (Craig Robinson) is the warden, his goons the prison officers, and his friend Leon (Joey Bada$$) is a talkative fellow inmate. He’s into 90’s sitcoms because that’s all they have in the prison DVD cart. That’s everything. Genius storytelling by Sam Esmail, who managed to pull the same trick twice in two seasons and get us both times.

Darlene clues Elliot into all the craziness he’s missed, including the fact that both Mobley and Trenton (Sunita Mani) are missing. Meanwhile Whiterose (BD Wong) just commands the screen. He is the cross-dressing leader of the Dark Army, as well as a leader in the Chinese government. His interactions with E-Corp CEO Phillip Price (Michael Cristofer) are riveting. These are two truly evil and vindictive men as Price says, one end result of their talk could be WWIII. Back with fsociety and Elliot is taking control, hacking Whiterose to ask for a face to face, to discuss the next stage of the plans… but Mr. Robot is feeling off. Could it be Elliot is losing his need and thus Mr. Robot is losing his reality?

Everyone is losing their minds and questioning everything. Elliot still can’t get his reality straight. Darlene and Angela are crumbling fast, the walls closing in on both. One wall is the FBI, another the Dark Army, and another rides around in Tyrell Wellick’s SUV… but Tyrell Wellick is dead. Wow. This show is a total brainf*ck each and every week. It’s compelling and edge-of-your-seat viewing, because you literally have no clue what’s going to happen next, or if what you’re watching is even real. I feel like this show is one that would work so much better on Netflix or another streaming site, because the week of waiting in between is just too much. The last time I felt this compelled to tune in week to week was first season of LOST.

Mr. Robot continues next Wednesday at 10:00 only on USA network.

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Mr. Robot: On the Next: Season 2, Episode 9

angela wants more from evil corp than they want to give her. unsure if dark army is working w/ or against them, elliot and darlene seek answers. the truth is out there. Watch next week’s episode “eps2.7_init_5.fve” on USA.