Mr. Robot 3×06 – kill-process.inc Review

Mr. Robot took it to another level this episode. While the previous episode was hyped up quite a bit by USA and rightfully so in certain aspects, this was the stealth 2nd strike that ended up hitting way harder than the last punch. Mr. Robot has been said by Sam Esmail to be a 5 season show and this episode officially marked the halfway point of the series…and did so in a devastating way.

Beginning the episode, we get more of the hinting that alternate dimensions and worlds may soon come into play in a flashback. Angela’s mother is having a going away party, except not in the traditional sense as it’s for her impending death. She refuses to continue with chemo, despite some hints that a wealthy figure was willing to do so for her (Speculation is that Phillip Price may be the secret father of Angela and this very wealthy figure, which would explain his current attachment and protection of Angela). Angela seems creeped out by this party, rightfully so, but Mr. Alderson convinces her that her mother would probably appreciate her company. It is here that Angela’s mother reminds her that death isn’t the end and that they may very well see each other someday, somewhere.

Flashing forward, Elliot and Angela are still face to face with each other from the end of the previous episode. Elliot demands to know why Angela has been playing him, but she explains it’s what “Elliot” wanted after all. It just so happens that Mr. Robot’s plans match with Whiterose’s plans, so Angela has to go along with them. She also seems to be fully drinking the Dark Army kool-aid as she insists to Elliot that they’ll keep their word and nobody will die…and they’ll even get to see her mother and his father again. Elliot’s attempts to have Angela assist him go sour and she cold shoulders him, going into corporate mode and stating Elliot shouldn’t be in the building as he’s been fired. Luckily before departing, Elliot notices the Red Wheelbarrow bag in Angela’s office and begins to put things together on his own.

Dom is disappointed that Darlene blew their cover and admitted to Elliot that she was working with the FBI, but Darlene still thinks everything will work in their favor as she hopes Elliot will work with them to stop the Dark Army. Almost right on cue, Elliot gives Darlene the location of Red Wheelbarrow, where he believes Tyrell will be hiding out. He’s done trying to do everything on his own as he knows time is running out for the E Corp recovery building, but the FBI also get sidelined thanks to Dom’s boss Santiago. Being a undercover Dark Army member, Santiago tries to convince Dom that they can’t rush into getting Tyrell just yet and they’ll need more intel than just Darlene’s word. In the meantime, Santiago takes this time to let Irving know that Tyrell’s cover is blown and he’ll need to be dealt with ASAP.

A small plot point that I don’t think I fully went into last episode is that before and during E Corp’s riot attack, television screens were occasionally shown depicting the UN voting on the Congo annex. By the end of the episode, it was clear that China had gotten what they desired and the Congo was annexed. Zhang and Price are celebrating the vote going through at Mar-a-Lago during this episode. After some Trump digs and the two pretending to like each other, Price reminds Zhang of their deal. Price helped the Congo be annexed and now Zhang will need to support Ecoin. Zhang assures Price the deal will be signed by the end of the day, but if everything goes right for Zhang, Price will have other matters to attend to by the end of the day as well. A call arrives which informs Zhang of Tyrell’s compromised location, but Zhang wants the train to keep running as he’s so close to his victory.

In the basement of Red Wheelbarrow, Tyrell is confused at the Dark Army removing all the equipment as Stage 2 has still not officially been completed. He also desires to know when he’ll be able to head to the airport so he can leave for the Ukraine with his family. Irving sadly has to inform him that things aren’t going to go the way they discussed earlier and, after some brief suspense on whether Irving would just kill Tyrell or not, hands Tyrell a envelope with everything he’ll need to do from this point on. Irving reminds him that all evidence will need to be burnt after reading and sincerely apologizes to Tyrell for what he’s about to learn. After Irving departs, Tyrell reads the letter, burns it with vodka, and then starts to stage the room to look like he was working as a captive for the Dark Army rather than a collaborator.

Dom starts to become impatient with her superiors always telling her to wait on them and subtly hints to Norm that they should go for “lunch”. Norm remains outside the Red Wheelbarrow, while Dom heads inside to find out where Tyrell could be hiding. After she manages to sneak into the kitchen, Dom notices a fire has started from the basement and calls in the FBI before investigating. Below in the smoke ridden room, Dom finds the burning remains of the envelope and letter from Tyrell, along with the handcuffs and his left behind jacket to show the FBI he was indeed there and may have been captive. Continuing through the room, Dom finds a escape route hidden behind a wall where Tyrell probably evaded from. Santiago and the FBI arrive and begin searching the escape tunnel for Tyrell, but he demands that Dom head back to the office as she disobeyed his direct order to wait, even though it did end up getting them closer to Tyrell’s capture.

While Elliot allowed the FBI to deal with Tyrell, he knows he has to personally deal with the E Corp recovery building on his own. Upon arriving there, he sees that the bomb threat he called in has been ended and everyone has started to reenter the building. This gives Elliot even more incentive to ensure that Stage 2 doesn’t go through, so he enters the building after stealing a guard’s keycard. He easily makes it into a secluded area to start his hack on the severs, but suddenly finds himself in a taxi with no memory of what happened in between. He returns to the building and sees his laptop has been hidden, so Elliot heads to the building’s computer lab to work with those computers. He then finds himself in an elevator heading down, once again with no memory of what has happened in between. It seems Mr. Robot is forcing control on Elliot to prevent him from stopping Stage 2. This battle starts to get more dramatic, with Mr. Robot destroying the computer lab and then beginning to physically injure Elliot to delay his progress into the main server hub.

Elliot knows he’s running low on time and that the fighting between Mr. Robot and himself is pointless, so he chooses to talk it out with him instead through text logs. Mr. Robot still remains hellbent on preventing Elliot from stopping the plan, until Elliot reveals to him that there’s not even a reason to destroy the recovery building as the paper records are all gone. Seems Tyrell wasn’t actually able to bring them all back to the recovery building in time, but why does the Dark Army want to still destroy the building then? Mr. Robot sees that he’s been played by Whiterose and teams up with Elliot to get into the server room, finally allowing Elliot to save the recovery building from being destroyed.

Darlene heads to Angela’s apartment and demands to know why she’s so fixated on being against their cause. Angela is still disillusioned and tells Darlene the same bullshit she told Elliot earlier in the day. Dom is making her way back to the FBI headquarters, but suddenly notices Tyrell running and yelling in the streets that the attack has to be stopped. Cops quickly subdue him, but Dom continues to ask him what attack he’s speaking of to no definitive reply. Elliot heads out of the recovery building, high off the success of his efforts and the fact that Mr. Robot may be on his side now. He still can’t shake the feeling of not knowing Whiterose’s true motives, however, but he stops in front of a television after noticing a crowd forming and sadly learns the answer he was looking for. Elliot may have stopped the NYC recovery building from exploding, but it wasn’t the sole target of Stage 2. Around the United States, 71 other E Corp buildings have exploded, with thousands of lives reported to been claimed. It’s not stated, but some of these may have been buildings Elliot shipped the paper records to, but others may have just been for Whiterose to spite Phillip Price. Elliot’s major success has now been turned into nothing but a minor victory, with the Dark Army playing him as well.

I honestly don’t know where Mr. Robot can go from here. “kill-process.inc” exceeded all my expectations for this season. I originally thought that Stage 2 would either not go through at all or be delayed until the very end of the season, but here we are with five more episodes left and Stage 2 going off in a extremely darker way than ever imagined. I’m sure the next episode will deal with the fallout of the events that transpired, to which I’m very excited to see how Elliot, Angela, Darlene, Dom, Tyrell, Whiterose, and especially Price deal with it. The preview also showed some Leon action and I’m more than glad to have more Joey Bada$$ on the show, hopefully we finally learn where Mobley and Trenton are.

kill-process.inc – 5 out of 5

Pros:

• That ending twist.
• Mr. Robot and Elliot fighting over control of Elliot’s body was great. That final hallway stretch of Mr. Robot just ragdolling Elliot’s body into everything was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
• Dom continuing to prove she’s a good ass FBI agent.

Con:

• I can’t even think of one.