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Iove that they don’t try to hide that Elliott is locked up (mental institution makes the most sense for the story, but prison fits the imagery better) but trust that, like with the Christian Slater being Elliott thing, we are just going to pick up on it. They are ok with being subtle, which makes the moments when they are not subtle very powerful rather than ham fisted.
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Ehhhhhh, I’m really not buying this theory.
Another good episode, although I hope Elliot’s story hooks back up with Darlene’s or Angela’s at some point soon. Him on Adderall was funny and amazingly his eyes became even more bug-eyed. But him vomiting and then taking the pills again was one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen on TV, I couldn’t look at that. I also liked how it was directed once his brain was going glitchy from the drugs and going without sleep for too long.
I’m curious what the head E Corp guy is doing with Angela, if he’s seeing himself as a mentor or if he’s using her in some way.
I was doubtful about those theories after the premiere and even more so after the latest episode, considering how it showed Craig Robinson at someone’s house playing good cop to the other guy’s bad cop. Also, since Elliot apparently had the hallucination that he was abducted and cement poured down his throat before being back in his bedroom and vomiting, it seems that if he’s really in an institution or prison it would require a hallucination within a hallucination.
I think Mom’s house and the routine is like a hallucination he is playing on us, because he doesn’t trust us, and is trying to control us. Then Mr. Robot plays the kidnap hallucination on Elliot. Elliot thinks he is trying to suppress Mr Robot because he is Elliot, and Mr Robot is a sub-personality of Elliot that is trying to get control. I think it is more like he is 50% Elliot and 50% Mr. Robot. Mr. Robot can do anything Elliot can, from interacting with people in the real world to elaborate means of self-deception. If Elliot can create a hallucination for the portion of himself he calls Imaginary Friend, the Mr Robot is just as capable of creating hallucinations for Elliot.
Well, that could be a scene from the character Ray’s actual life (as opposed to the Ray’s life that Elliot is ‘showing’ us).
The fact that we see Elliot in Ray’s office does seem to support the idea that Elliot is in some sort of institution, of which Ray is an employee (warden? psychologist? something else?)
But how did Elliot get sentenced/committed/whatever?
(It would be very easy for the show to become irritating to viewers, as we try to figure out what’s real and what isn’t. I greatly admire the way that danger is being avoided, so far.)
well, this is … challenging … 
I’m getting there, or more accurately my personal investment in the show decreases with each dream sequence.
Well, there was another dream sequence (of sorts) last night–rather well done, I thought, complete with era-specific commercials. And we got to see more of Elliot’s mother than we’ve seen before. (Though we might not be safe in assuming the portrait of her was accurate, of course).
I loved that sequence! It was perfectly done, and then made sweeter with Mr. Robot explaining why later.
Also, I loved the hacking sequence with Angela later in the episode. That was very well done, with the mechanics of what she needed to do, and how it was shot, and the tension building.
Angela couldn’t have acted more suspicious if she tried, and getting away with it by agreeing to meet up with creepy and stupid FBI guy wasn’t very believable, and very cliche.
Mr. Robot sparing us from having to watch Elliot getting beat up was nice, and a great way to further assert himself over Elliot, who frankly, is kinda stupid.
The ‘Angela tries to hack’ scene was amazingly suspenseful (even though, as levdrakon said, her behavior was very suspicious).
The way this show has morphed from ‘cool kids do hacking’ to ‘foreign power is using the cool kids to undermine US interests–will the kids catch on?’ has upped the complexity level in a pleasing way (in my view, anyway).
Minister Zhang/Whiterose, the Chinese Minister of State Security/the leader of the “Dark Army”, is clearly a successful, albeit conflicted person. He is clearly at least a transvestite and possibly a transsexual. He lives in an extremely repressive society and an even more repressive system (government job) within that society. Having risen to the top, he must’ve spent years with an utterly unassailable reputation.
Zhang “must be” one thing, but “needs to be” another. The “Whiterose” character is Zhang’s release, his indulgence.
This is all to say that I don’t think that the Dark Army works for the Chinese government. Perhaps, from time to time, their purposes will be in parallel. But, I don’t think that the one guides the other.
This show is a lot like “Wayward Pines” - the first season had some brilliant ideas (in WP’s case, more like the first five episodes) but once the first storyline was played out it seems to be wandering in circles. Both are like any number of one-note shows that had no second act in mind. (I suspect CW’s “Frequency,” adapted from the movie of the same name, will be the same.)
Anyone else feel as if the second season has bad case of, “Um, now what do we do?”
I get a bit of a *Lost *vibe from it. The first season was apparently a viral cult success and now the producers can add mystery on top of mystery and they’re so cool the audience will gobble up whatever they do. I watched one of the pre-shows before the season started and the producers seemed very pleased with themselves, like it’s the biggest TV hit sensation in years. Is it? I don’t know, haven’t checked the ratings.
I like it well enough, but it’s slow going and I’m not obsessing over clues like I did the first couple few seasons of Lost. Fool me once and all that.
DrForrester, I’m surprised Zhang would make the mistake of showing off his dresses and mentioning a sister he doesn’t have. He seems far too careful to make that mistake and the FBI agent noticed. He’s probably going to regret that.
Except that she didn’t get away with it.
I don’t feel the second season is floundering as much as some people, but I am not a fan of the “Elliot being forced to hack” subplot, which has done very little to distinguish itself from the first go-around in the premier season.
You mean when the female agent showed up at her desk? Yeah, it looks like she’s kinda busted, but we don’t know for sure do we?
“What were you doing on a restricted floor?”
“Um, (long suspicious silence) nothing.”
“Okay then, carry on with whatever suspicious thing you’re doing.”
Well we don’t know if she’s in actual trouble, but we know her little game with the FBI guy didn’t work out.
I tend to agree. But it may be that the Dom plot will hook up with the Elliot plot in an interesting way. (I like the Dom plot because the writers have made it clear that Dom is an admirable person–smart, kind, resourceful–yet she is a danger to characters we’ve come to like. So how can that be resolved? Creatively, I hope.)
And I remain interested in finding out how the Tyrell plot will be resolved (given the conviction I mentioned earlier in a spoiler tag in this thread).
I figured he was never at “mom’s house” from day 1 but it still came as a surprise where he actually was.
Yeah nice play… A few people picked up on the prison thing pretty quick and the show just kept on going, ignoring it, so even the people whew “knew” we’re surprised (I didn’t catch it in the beginning but the reveal did surprise me "huh! They were right!)