MR. ROBOT — “eps3.8_stage3.torrent” Episode 309 — Pictured: Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/USA Network)
With Elliot’s restored faith in humanity after his odyssey last episode, he is now full force ready to stop the Dark Army from getting away with everything they’ve done. The same can also be said for Mr. Robot, who still isn’t on speaking terms with Elliot, but continues to drop hints to him via other methods. This episode is actually told out of order as Elliot awakes in his apartment, but with basically the entire night’s events gone from his memory, meaning Mr. Robot took over. He also see the note left on his newly fixed bathroom cabinet saying that the Dark Army owns the FBI, which was Mr. Robot’s main lead he discovered from his night out that we’ll get to later. It is then up to Elliot to take advantage of Mr. Robot’s tips to come up with his fake “Stage 3”.
Before this, a flashback is shown of the old Allsafe days where Gideon is pitching his services to Price, Colby, and Tyrell before E Corp decided to hire them as security. It seems that Colby and Tyrell were unimpressed with Allsafe’s services, but Price notices Angela working there and instantly has his mind set that they should hire Allsafe. It’s still unknown if this is in part because Price feels responsible for the sickness and death of Angela’s mother or if he’s secretly the father of Angela. Either way, we also get to see a glimpse of why Tyrell became so power hungry as he is instantly shut down by Price when trying to convince him otherwise and doesn’t seem too pleased about it.
As for another flashback, Mr. Robot takes over Elliot shortly after Elliot sees Trenton’s email. He does some additional searching into Tyrell’s release and decides to pay him a late night visit. Tyrell arrives at his now empty home and begins sulking to himself before Mr. Robot interrupts him and, after condemning him for destroying the 71 buildings, tries to convince him that he’s not free from the Dark Army and they’ll use him again when necessary, so he should fight back with Mr. Robot instead. Tyrell partly blames Elliot/Mr. Robot for the death of his wife and the loss of his child, so he takes these demands harshly and resorts to violence. Luckily for Mr. Robot, Price also decided to pay a visit to Tyrell, for the very reasons Mr. Robot was trying to convince Tyrell of.
MR. ROBOT — “eps3.8_stage3.torrent” Episode 309 — Pictured: Grace Gummer as Dominique “Dom” DiPierro — (Photo by: Michael Parmelee/USA Network)
Since Price fell right into Whiterose’s plan, he has no choice but to appoint Tyrell to CTO of E Corp, but he quickly dampers Tyrell’s excitement by stating the title is basically meaningless and he’ll be nothing more than a puppet. Mr. Robot takes this time to ask Price if he knew about the 5/9 hack and Stage 2 all along, to which Price echoes Irving’s words from two episodes ago that these things only happened because he allowed them to, though he wasn’t aware of all of Whiterose’s plans. He also recommends that Mr. Robot drop his “lone wolf” act as revolutions need to be inspired rather than forced. After Price leaves, Tyrell realizes Mr. Robot was right about the Dark Army still having a hold on him, but Mr. Robot sways him to his side by explaining he doesn’t have to be a prisoner and can use the position for what it’s worth, even if he’s powerless in it. With this, Tyrell gives Mr. Robot the intel that the Dark Army has a higher-up within the FBI.
In the present time, Elliot takes all the info Mr. Robot and Trenton gathered up and brings it to Darlene at their old fsociety hideout. They put together that Romero’s keyloggers will be what they need to reverse 5/9, but those keyloggers are locked up tight in the FBI’s Sentinel security system. Darlene suggests the plan that they use Dom as a way in, but Elliot reminds her that Mr. Robot said the FBI are compromised. She insists that there is an angle she can work with, so she’ll handle the FBI and Elliot will just have to handle the Dark Army in the meantime. And with that, the two split to move Stage 3 forward.
For Elliot’s part, he pays a visit to Irving and demands that he schedule a meeting with Whiterose. Irving initially declines, but when Elliot reveals there’s a Stage 3 to his plan, Irving gives the call as he doesn’t want to be on the bad side of Whiterose. Upon returning home from this, Elliot runs into Angela, who seems like an emotional wreck. She shows him a newspaper article about Tyrell becoming CTO and feels this is the first sign that things are going back to how they were suppose to, though Elliot isn’t able to get her to reveal what the hell that means. Her paranoia leads her to want to talk inside Elliot’s apartment instead of the streets, but Leon is waiting for Elliot once they get inside. Angela takes this as a sign Elliot is working against her somehow and leaves, allowing Leon to do his job and bring Elliot to the meet site.
MR. ROBOT — “eps3.8_stage3.torrent” Episode 309 — Pictured: (l-r) Grant Chang as Grant, BD Wong as Whiterose — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/USA Network)
Once here, Elliot sees that he won’t actually meet Whiterose and instead is greeted by her assistant. The assistant states Whiterose was surprised to hear that there was a Stage 3 involved as that wasn’t the original plan, but Elliot explains Ecoin has to be taken out for E Corp to truly sink. The assistant remains skeptical of Elliot’s motives, so his lackeys download all the data off Elliot’s laptop with a USB. When asked if they’ll be on board with Stage 3, the assistant doesn’t give a straight answer and then cuts the meeting off as they’ve gotten what they wanted. Meanwhile, Angela returns home and begins to pack things into a cart. She then takes to the streets, looking as paranoid as ever, before being stopped by a white van. A man comes out of the van and states she needs to come with them.
On Darlene’s front, she meets Dom at the bar and attempts to get her FBI badge number through hacking, but her device reveals the badge is encrypted and a no-go. This resorts Darlene to have to use her knowledge of Dom being a lesbian to seduce her into bringing Darlene home. The plan works and Darlene sleeps with Dom, but Dom locks her gun and badge in a safe beforehand. After Dom is asleep, Darlene attempts to break into the safe, but as soon as things seem to look up, Dom is standing right behind Darlene, seemingly having been aware of her plan all along. In interrogation, Darlene is blunt and reveals her and Elliot’s plan to reverse everything and that they need the keyloggers in Sentinel. Dom suggests to her boss Santiago that they have nothing to lose by trying it Darlene’s way, but Santiago being the Dark Army plant has other plans and kicks Dom off the case instead. If that doesn’t help Dom connect the dots soon, I don’t know what will.
Whiterose’s assistant returns to her being extremely upset that they haven’t been able to move forward with their Congo plans yet, though the assistant reminds her this was a result of destroying the 71 E Corp buildings when there was really no need: they already had the Congo annex vote. Whiterose states she only went through with it because Price didn’t deserve her mercy. The assistant then informs her of Elliot’s Stage 3 plan, but finds that it doesn’t all add up as Elliot said he wants to take out Ecoin, but Darlene is currently in custody saying they want to restore E Corp. They now know Elliot is lying to them and his target is really the Dark Army. The assistant then asks permission for Elliot to go the way of his father and Whiterose seems to agree. So, while Elliot manages to use the USB that was inserted into his laptop to exploit the Dark Army network and take control of it, he also painted a huge target on his back in the same stroke.
“stage3.torrent” was an episode of highs and lows. Elliot succeeded in his part of the plan, but the audience knowing that the Dark Army is already onto him before he’s even done anything makes it feel like a hollow victory. Adding in that the preview for the next episode sports a very defeated Elliot monologue doesn’t bode well for the season finale. Even with Mr. Robot, Darlene, Tyrell, and possibly even soon Dom on his side, I don’t see Elliot managing to erase 5/9 next episode, if at all. I also have a inkling that one of the lead female characters won’t be making it out of the season finale alive, Dom being highest on the list. The Dark Army has surprised in many ways before and now that their entire system is at jeopardy, I don’t see them going easy.
stage3.torrent – 4 out of 5
Pros:
- Good to see Elliot and Mr. Robot continuing to work together, I wonder if the season finale will be when they finally return to speaking terms.
- I like the idea that Dom knew Darlene’s plan all along, but just wanted some sex to cure her bitter loneliness, though that’s also really sad.
- I’m hoping Tyrell becomes more of a good guy from here on out, he needs a redemption arc.
Cons:
- I hope this Angela downward spiral is finished up next episode because I’m starting to get annoyed with her vague wording of what she thinks is happening.
- I was excited to see Leon in the preview last week, but he was only in this for a small scene. Oh well.
- Santiago needs to go, ASAP.
