Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Mr Robot 2x05 Review: “eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc” (Don't Peek) [Contributor: Jon]


“Eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc”
Original Airdate: August 3, 2016

In this week’s Mr. Robot, not only do we find out Ray’s true business, but we finally see a return of the old Elliot from season one. Elsewhere in the episode, Agent Dom gets deeper and deeper into the hacking world — perhaps too deep. And right from the get-go, we got a rather big update in the form of Angela, who was approached by Darlene.

IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ‘EM...


So Darlene approaches Angela for assistance in the hack on the FBI, despite Elliot’s protests not to get her involved. Angela initially refuses, and goes to meet up with her ex-boyfriend Ollie. Ollie, as you remember, was the Allsafe employee who Angela used to sabotage the company.

However, Angela soon discovers that Ollie is not only recording their conversation, but that he talked to the FBI and gave her description to them, claiming to do it to save his own skin. (Although it wouldn’t surprise me if he was still bitter about him being used as sabotage.) Angela then agrees to aid with the hack if it means saving her own job and not getting implicated.

The sweetest moment in the episode happens during Angela’s arc, when she reunites with Elliot. This is one of the more tender moments of the season thus far, as we got to see Elliot — the real Elliot. He was not someone being controlled, and genuinely felt remorse for not staying in touch with Angela. We actually see him crack a genuine smile at the sharing of a small joke. It’s a nice, tender, human moment in a show where technology often trumps all.

DIGGING DEEPER


When we last saw Agent Dom, she had just found the location of fsociety’s base and the evidence of a single bullet within the arcade. While digging deeper into the Five/Nine hack, she heads to China to investigate how the Dark Army is involved. She and other FBI agents meet up with the Chinese Minister of State Security, Minister Zhang, who just so happens to be Whiterose.

This is actually a really clever twist. Not only can Whiterose carry out hacks anonymously, but he has a persona that no one could ever suspect: who would ever accuse the Minister of Security, a highly respected position, of being a secret underground hacker? It’s a brilliant move that only serves to question Whiterose’s true motives, and how he covers up the Dark Army’s involvement.

After Dom gets asks about getting dossiers regarding The Dark Army — ignoring all diplomacy, although Whiterose seems to take no offense — the FBI is invited to Whiterose’s home for a dinner party in their honor. Dom soon gets lost in the house trying to find the ladies room, when she stumbles across a room full of ticking clocks.

Whiterose soon finds her, and they have a personal conversation, which includes asking why Dom joined the FBI, as well as showing Whiterose showing Dom his collection of dresses, claiming they’re his “sisters’.” This conversation is more intense than usual, only because we know who Zhang REALLY is.

The next day, Dom is getting ready to leave to investigate a site in Beijing when her team is killed by unknown gunmen. Dom manages to kill all of them, but now she’s alone. Props to Sam Esmail for doing a really cool third-person perspective for this gun fight.

RETURN OF THE HACKER


Finally, we get to Elliot’s story, as he is about to begin hacking into the FBI in order to find out what they know regarding fsociety. From the moment Elliot returns to the terminal, it’s back to season one Elliot — from the explanation regarding his hack right down to the music that accompanies it.

After performing the hack and trying to fix Ray’s computer problem, Elliot tells Ray that he needs to bring in his previous IT specialist, nicknamed “RT.” And RT just so happens to be the same man that Ray ordered to be beaten back in episode three. As RT and Elliot look over Ray’s problem together, Elliot secretly types out a message asking RT what happened. After some prodding, RT reveals that he found out Ray’s true business: that he runs a black market site that trafficks in drugs, weapons, and sex slaves. Later that night, Elliot is suddenly pulled from his bed by unnamed men, led by Ray, who warned him not to peek. The men then proceed to beat Elliot.

At least we now know who Ray truly is. But the question remains: what does he plan to do with Elliot? Is he going to become a temporary ally for Elliot and fsociety’s needs? Will he now be an enemy? Or will he need Elliot for his own nefarious purposes alone? It’s a whole new ballpark now that we know Ray isn’t such a good guy after all.

POINTLESS THINGS ARE POINTLESS


Finally this week, we have the return of everyone’s favorite subplot: Joanna’s tale. This week, Joanna’s contact is scared of being found out (the guy from last week), so Joanna orders him killed. There’s also a part involving a baby (I assume her child), and what we assume to be Tyrell creepily breathing into a phone when he calls his wife. As you can see, another riveting week in this subplot.

Other than that plot, it was another strong week for Mr. Robot. We finally know Ray’s true work, and Angela (possibly) is now on the side that her employers are trying to fight. Dom and Whiterose also got fascinating stories, and the only question that remains is exactly how long it’ll take Dom to put two and two together.

What did you think of the episode? Let us know in the comments below!

0 comments:

Post a Comment