TV Review: MR. ROBOT: Season 3, Episode 9: Eps3.8_stage3.torrent [USA Network]

Mr. Robot Eps3.8_stage3.torrent Review

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 9: Eps3.8_stage3.torrent has its share of good moments but never quite comes together as a whole.

It’s almost frivolous to describe Mr. Robot as “confusing”, but Wednesday night’s episode somehow is, apparently jumping back and forth through time and showing us different events over the course of the show. It starts simply enough with a meeting between representatives of E Corp and Allsafe. While the presence of Philip Price (Michael Cristofer) and Tyrell (Martin Wallstrom) aren’t anything out of the ordinary, the sight of not only Terry Colby (Bruce Altman) but Gideon (Michael Gill) is likely to take viewers by surprise, gently jolting them before they realize that this, as indicated by the agreement being negotiated by the two parties, is a flashback.

Adding to the confusion is the episode’s cutting to and from Tyrell and Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) bickering in the former’s home about their activities as Elliot (Rami Malek) goes about trying to set up  a meeting with Whiterose (BD Wong). Admittedly, the first cut isn’t hard to follow at all, but the decision to return to this scene after Elliot has already been established as being in a separate place comes across as jarring for jarring’s sake.

The instance in which this nonlinear narrative device works best is when Mr. Robot writes a message on a mirror for Elliot warning him that the Dark Army “owns” the FBI while in the present, Elliot rubs the message off the mirror. If the rest of the program’s time jumps had been able to connect their respective parts as well as this one did, it would have been more coherent, to say nothing of stronger.

What the episode also handles well is its depiction of the growing relationship between Darlene (Carly Chaikin) and Dom (Grace Gummer). Although it’s been hinted that the two are interested in each other, “torrent” takes it to 11 by having the two make out. Of course, it wouldn’t be Mr. Robot if there wasn’t a curveball for the show to throw at us, and one it does by making Darlene try to steal Dom’s badge as they kiss. The thing of it is, we’re never quite sure if she did it to get close enough to Dom to get what she wanted from her or if she really does like her. In all likelihood, it’s probably a combination of both, something that would keep in line with the moral grayness that the show is so partial to and could serve as a springboard for any number of major developments as it goes on.

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