This one loses the streak this season has built and it's because it feels as though it misunderstands that Mr. Robot has evolved past the antics we may have seen in the previous seasons. Although Vera was a good character to motivate Elliot in previous seasons, I don't feel as though he's been utilized properly to match this season's themes yet. It might still be on the horizon, but I'm skeptical.
To see what I mean even further, compare the plots that Darlene and Elliot go through in this episode. While Darlene is dealing with being Dom's hostage, Elliot is exploiting Olivia (the best new character of this season, hands down). Darlene's narrative here feels thin. She's holding out information to protect her brother from Dom who's working reluctantly for the Dark Army. A good setup, for sure. But the execution is quite hollow: Dom wants the phone, can't get it, is instructed to shoot Darlene. Darlene, in order to protect her brother and herself, bargains with Dom who is in turn just trying to protect her family. But it doesn't feel like it ever possesses the spirit of these two characters. It runs the same beats for the long while, just biding time until the episode ends.
But Elliot and Olivia actually fall more clearly in line with the themes. It's about Elliot using the same exploits he's been using, but now it's against someone the show has empathized with, turning the audience's critical eye against Elliot. Game of Thrones wishes it could have done this well. When Esmail is doing this good of a job being self-critical, every other plot starts to feel ever so slightly hokey. It's clearly setting up another big conflict in the next episode, but I was disappointed by this one because of the range in quality between the subplots.
Review by filmboicoleBlockedParentSpoilers2019-11-20T14:33:27Z
This one loses the streak this season has built and it's because it feels as though it misunderstands that Mr. Robot has evolved past the antics we may have seen in the previous seasons. Although Vera was a good character to motivate Elliot in previous seasons, I don't feel as though he's been utilized properly to match this season's themes yet. It might still be on the horizon, but I'm skeptical.
To see what I mean even further, compare the plots that Darlene and Elliot go through in this episode. While Darlene is dealing with being Dom's hostage, Elliot is exploiting Olivia (the best new character of this season, hands down). Darlene's narrative here feels thin. She's holding out information to protect her brother from Dom who's working reluctantly for the Dark Army. A good setup, for sure. But the execution is quite hollow: Dom wants the phone, can't get it, is instructed to shoot Darlene. Darlene, in order to protect her brother and herself, bargains with Dom who is in turn just trying to protect her family. But it doesn't feel like it ever possesses the spirit of these two characters. It runs the same beats for the long while, just biding time until the episode ends.
But Elliot and Olivia actually fall more clearly in line with the themes. It's about Elliot using the same exploits he's been using, but now it's against someone the show has empathized with, turning the audience's critical eye against Elliot. Game of Thrones wishes it could have done this well. When Esmail is doing this good of a job being self-critical, every other plot starts to feel ever so slightly hokey. It's clearly setting up another big conflict in the next episode, but I was disappointed by this one because of the range in quality between the subplots.