Mr Robot: eps2.8_h1dden-pr0cess.axx – Dark Army (Recap/Review)

Dom must be getting pretty tired of being right all the time. In Mr Robot “eps2.8_h1dden-pr0cess.axx” she did tell her boss that distributing that picture would invite the Dark Army to interfere and it did.  Last week she played her hunches and this week Dom took a team of agents into Darlene’s hideout, missing both Elliot’s sister and Cisco.

Darlene:

We learn that it was indeed two people at the door in the previous episode. Cisco and a badly beaten Vincent (Anthony Jennings). He was the heavy breather on the other side of that whiter-than-white couch. 

Cisco and Darlene talk  about whether to take the unconscious member of  fsociety to the hospital.  Eventually, they opt to get Vincent medical treatment.

The couple have an argument. Initially it is about whether or not Vincent should be allowed to survive his beating. Later it turns into an assessment of Darlene’s ability to run fsociety.

As they wait to see how badly injured Vincent is, Cisco’s picture is run  on the national news. The two go to eat and while they are gone the nurse who dealt with them calls the FBI hotline.

Darlene admits to Cisco at Lupe’s that she is not the leader Elliot is. She also tells a story about being abducted by an old lady with smeared pink lipstick when she was a child.  No doubt about it, those Alderson kids had a pretty screwed up childhood.

Elliot:

Joanna questions “Ollie” about where her husband is. He denies all knowledge and she shows him the mobile phone that Tyrell “sent” her. He has been calling her and Joanna asks Elliot to  track him down.

She tells Ollie about her cubic zirconia earrings that she made Tyrell get for her. They belonged to another woman and Wellick had to have sex with the woman for the earrings.

Mr. Robot warns Elliot about getting involved with Mrs. Wellick. He tells him that  she is dangerous, just like Tyrell was. Elliot decides to help and gets a lot of computer equipment so he can hack the phone.

At the store, Elliot is suddenly alone, Mr. Robot has disappeared. This happens immediately after the phone rings and Elliot answers. Amid the heavy breathing on the other end, he hears what sounds like Tyrell saying “no.”

This is when Mr. Robot vanishes and in fact the entire store looks deserted. This odd scene makes it seem that this could be another “interlude.” Later, Elliot gets the phone call triangulated, by impersonating a cop, and Joanna’s  bodyguard sees where calls are coming from.

He is clearly upset, or at least surprised. Before leaving the man tells Elliot that Tyrell would never call from that location. (A place that is roughly 12 meters away.)

Angela:

As Elliot tracks the phone’s signal, via pinging its IP, Angela calls him repeatedly. The visit from Dom has shaken her. When they meet on the subway, Angela tells Elliot that she is going to confess. She will admit to installing the equipment in the FBI offices.

Angela seems overwhelmed and not a little confused. She asks Elliot why he started fsociety.  As he goes to leave the subway car, they kiss.

Lupe’s:

Dom figures  out at the hospital that neither Darlene nor Cisco saw the news bulletin about his being wanted by the police.  The FBI agent starts looking for places nearby where they might be. She finds the two eating at Lupe’s.

She goes in the restaurant to question them. Outside a  motorcycle arrives with a passenger on the back of it. That man dismounts and takes what looks like an uzi with him to the eatery.

He hoses down the window and wall in front of the couple and Dom, who sees the man raise his gun. She takes cover. It appears that both Darlene and Cisco are shot.

Just like Hong Kong, Dom shoots the assassin and wounds him. The killer then shoots himself in the head.

Finally:

Joanna and Elliot are an interesting mix here. She is clearly as dangerous as Tyrell and her veiled threat,  “you don’t really want to tell me no, do you,” was bone chilling.

Her telling the bodyguard that if he had done his job, Elliot would not be a “problem” was also disturbing. What is interesting was the man’s reaction to the address where the calls were coming from.

He is adamant that Tyrell would not be calling from there.

So where is “there?” Thinking of the most unlikely  place leads to the conclusion that the calls are coming from the Scott Knowles’ residence.  It would be the last place on earth that one would expect Wellick to be.

Philip Price revealed much about himself in that conversation with E Corp scapegoat Terry Colby (Bruce Altman). A  megalomaniac and slight paranoiac it seems that Price will always be  looking behind his back while planting a knife in another. 

The question that is still up in the air is what Elliot’s “stage two” plan is.  Has it been instigated already? Is stage two killing off all those who pose a threat?

Another issue is why did Mr. Robot disappear when Tyrel’s voice is heard on the phone. Has he been lying all along?

Mr. Robot airs Wednesdays on USA. The season is rapidly coming to a close, tune in and see where Esmail takes the series this year.

CAST:

• Rami Malek  –  Elliot Alderson
• Christian Slater  –  Mr. Robot
• Carly Chaikin  –  Darlene
• Portia Doubleday  –  Angela Moss
• Stephanie Corneliussen  –  Joanna Wellick
• Martin Wallström  –  Tyrell Wellick
• Michael Cristofer  –  Phillip Price
• Grace Gummer  – Dominique “Dom” DiPierro
• Joey Bada$$  –  Leon 
• BD Wong  –  Whiterose/Mr. Zhang

Guest starring  Michael Drayer as Cisco