Oh boy, what a weird pair of episodes. Masters & Slaves and Handshake (I'm just going to write the simple versions of the titles for the sake of it not being a pain to write) play some real interesting games with our understanding of what is happening in the world of the show.
Obviously, spoilers, so let's do a cut.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Mr. Robot's Logic Bomb Invites Horror Back Into the Series
Fsociety are the most wanted people in the world (well, them and Tyrell Wellick, though he might have technically joined before disappearing) but they didn't commit an act of violence. The effects of their little revolution are far-reaching, and the responses to it - particularly that of a conspiracy theorist who thinks Gideon was some sort of "crisis actor" and thus worth of death - have been far from joyous.
Last night's episode is filled with revelations, but also a growing sense that the hack has been co-opted by some very sinister people. Elliot and his team are idealists, but they're also operating in an underworld - and arguably an "overworld" - that plays with even higher stakes.
Dominique DiPierro - Dom for short - has been something of an alternate protagonist, even if she is technically an antagonist. She's an FBI agent who is, as she describes herself, disgusted by the evil of the world but also obsessed with it. That's our main explanation of why she wound up in law enforcement.
As part of the team dealing with the 5/9 hack - a name that implies an act of horrific destruction like 9/11 - she has been doing quite well. She's the one who found the arcade where fsociety would meet, and after working out of the E Corp offices, her team is now on their way to China to look at the other facilities hit by the Dark Army - the allied hacker group run by Whiterose that was instrumental in making sure that 5/9 happened.
In Beijing, Dom sees a couple of people wearing the scary Dark Army dragon masks - a kind of more malevolent version of fsociety's gilded-age-businessman masks. And when she comes to meet with the Chinese government officials, among them is Mr. Jiang, the Minister for Internal Security, who we know as Whiterose.
We knew at the end of last season that Whiterose runs in some very high circles indeed, but what are her motivations? Indeed, in the real world a lot of high profile hacks that hit American systems originate in China (we don't hear much about American hacks against China, though whether that's because we're not as good or far better at it, or that the Chinese media just doesn't report on it, is anyone's guess.) So it's actually not at all hard to believe that the Dark Army might, in fact, get its checks from the People's Republic of China.
Dom wanders off at the obligatory inter-agency social function and finds herself in Whiterose's hall of clocks - a collection that really drives home her obsession with punctuality. Whiterose even invites Dom to look at her dresses - claiming of course that they are her sister's, a sister that Dom is aware does not exist.
In this moment, perhaps Whiterose reveals too much of herself. Her passion for these symbols of her feminine identity perhaps causes cracks in her masculine facade.
The next day, in the episode's penultimate scene (though it is almost of a piece with its final scene,) a simple morning hangover erupts into a burst of horrific violence, when Dom and her fellow FBI agents are attacked by a death squad wielding submachine guns. Her friend (whose name I didn't quite catch) is riddled with bullets before we even know how to process what is happening, and soon a dozen people are lying dead in the hotel lobby. Dom manages to take cover and even wound an attacker with a fallen agent's gun. The attacker immediately shoots himself in the head - this is clearly a black op being carried out by an extremely dedicated group.
Was this Whiterose? Was Dom the target? We are left with no conclusion - we know that she is alive at the end of the episode, but only one of the attackers is dead and we don't know how many there are.
Elliot is gradually finding his way back into the hacking world. Accepting Ray's offer to help him with his server transfer at Mr. Robot's behest, Elliot puts together a hack that will erase evidence of his and his peoples' role in the 5/9 hack.
The thing is, Ray (and it is so weird seeing Craig Robinson in a role like this) is not just some friendly neighbor with a computer. Needing help from the former IT guy (who is still badly injured from the beating he received,) Elliot begins to understand what kind of operation that Ray is running - it's a black market for drugs, weapons, assassins, and child slaves.
All he needed was a terminal, but Elliot's righteous fury is such a defining part of him that even as Mr. Robot urges him to leave it alone, he begins concocting a plan to destroy Ray and his network.
But Ray's ahead of him, and Elliot finds himself pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, beaten by Ray's goons. Just like Dom, we're left in a precarious position. What are they going to do to Elliot? Is this beating a warning, or are they ready to terminate the relationship in a hideously violent way?
In a sense, Elliot has kind of been stuck in a side-plot of his own show - that's what it means to lay low, I guess - but this threatening jolt might be enough to push him out. He just needs to escape the anger of a seemingly friendly monster.
There are other major plots - Darlene is commanding her fsociety people, though it's not clear how effective her acts of protest will be. Angela is getting swept closer and closer into Elliot's plans, even as he tries to keep her safely away. And Johanna demonstrates this week exactly the kind of coldhearted person she is as she has a panicking accomplice murdered to keep covering up... we're still not totally sure.
I really wonder when we're going to see Tyrell again - they could drag it out for a season, but I kind of hope we get some better explanation sooner rather than later.
The world of Mr. Robot is expanding, but whether the lows of black market slavers or the highs of the Chinese government, none of it is very pretty.
Last night's episode is filled with revelations, but also a growing sense that the hack has been co-opted by some very sinister people. Elliot and his team are idealists, but they're also operating in an underworld - and arguably an "overworld" - that plays with even higher stakes.
Dominique DiPierro - Dom for short - has been something of an alternate protagonist, even if she is technically an antagonist. She's an FBI agent who is, as she describes herself, disgusted by the evil of the world but also obsessed with it. That's our main explanation of why she wound up in law enforcement.
As part of the team dealing with the 5/9 hack - a name that implies an act of horrific destruction like 9/11 - she has been doing quite well. She's the one who found the arcade where fsociety would meet, and after working out of the E Corp offices, her team is now on their way to China to look at the other facilities hit by the Dark Army - the allied hacker group run by Whiterose that was instrumental in making sure that 5/9 happened.
In Beijing, Dom sees a couple of people wearing the scary Dark Army dragon masks - a kind of more malevolent version of fsociety's gilded-age-businessman masks. And when she comes to meet with the Chinese government officials, among them is Mr. Jiang, the Minister for Internal Security, who we know as Whiterose.
We knew at the end of last season that Whiterose runs in some very high circles indeed, but what are her motivations? Indeed, in the real world a lot of high profile hacks that hit American systems originate in China (we don't hear much about American hacks against China, though whether that's because we're not as good or far better at it, or that the Chinese media just doesn't report on it, is anyone's guess.) So it's actually not at all hard to believe that the Dark Army might, in fact, get its checks from the People's Republic of China.
Dom wanders off at the obligatory inter-agency social function and finds herself in Whiterose's hall of clocks - a collection that really drives home her obsession with punctuality. Whiterose even invites Dom to look at her dresses - claiming of course that they are her sister's, a sister that Dom is aware does not exist.
In this moment, perhaps Whiterose reveals too much of herself. Her passion for these symbols of her feminine identity perhaps causes cracks in her masculine facade.
The next day, in the episode's penultimate scene (though it is almost of a piece with its final scene,) a simple morning hangover erupts into a burst of horrific violence, when Dom and her fellow FBI agents are attacked by a death squad wielding submachine guns. Her friend (whose name I didn't quite catch) is riddled with bullets before we even know how to process what is happening, and soon a dozen people are lying dead in the hotel lobby. Dom manages to take cover and even wound an attacker with a fallen agent's gun. The attacker immediately shoots himself in the head - this is clearly a black op being carried out by an extremely dedicated group.
Was this Whiterose? Was Dom the target? We are left with no conclusion - we know that she is alive at the end of the episode, but only one of the attackers is dead and we don't know how many there are.
Elliot is gradually finding his way back into the hacking world. Accepting Ray's offer to help him with his server transfer at Mr. Robot's behest, Elliot puts together a hack that will erase evidence of his and his peoples' role in the 5/9 hack.
The thing is, Ray (and it is so weird seeing Craig Robinson in a role like this) is not just some friendly neighbor with a computer. Needing help from the former IT guy (who is still badly injured from the beating he received,) Elliot begins to understand what kind of operation that Ray is running - it's a black market for drugs, weapons, assassins, and child slaves.
All he needed was a terminal, but Elliot's righteous fury is such a defining part of him that even as Mr. Robot urges him to leave it alone, he begins concocting a plan to destroy Ray and his network.
But Ray's ahead of him, and Elliot finds himself pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, beaten by Ray's goons. Just like Dom, we're left in a precarious position. What are they going to do to Elliot? Is this beating a warning, or are they ready to terminate the relationship in a hideously violent way?
In a sense, Elliot has kind of been stuck in a side-plot of his own show - that's what it means to lay low, I guess - but this threatening jolt might be enough to push him out. He just needs to escape the anger of a seemingly friendly monster.
There are other major plots - Darlene is commanding her fsociety people, though it's not clear how effective her acts of protest will be. Angela is getting swept closer and closer into Elliot's plans, even as he tries to keep her safely away. And Johanna demonstrates this week exactly the kind of coldhearted person she is as she has a panicking accomplice murdered to keep covering up... we're still not totally sure.
I really wonder when we're going to see Tyrell again - they could drag it out for a season, but I kind of hope we get some better explanation sooner rather than later.
The world of Mr. Robot is expanding, but whether the lows of black market slavers or the highs of the Chinese government, none of it is very pretty.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)