TV Review: MR. ROBOT: Season 2, Episode 6: eps2.4m4ster-s1ave.aes [USA Network]

USA Network‘s Mr. Robot eps2.4m4ster-s1ave.aes TV Show Review. Mr. Robot: Season 2, Episode 6: eps2.4m4ster-s1ave.aes brilliantly runs the gamut from satire to suspense in one of the season’s best episodes yet.

Its almost possible to assess last week’s show without discussing the extended gag that dominates its first fifteen minutes or so. In one of the program’s riskiest moves, the creators decided to plunge the comatose Elliot (Rami Malek) directly into a late 80’s/early 90’s-style sitcom, saccharine opening scene and all. Suddenly finding himself on a road trip with his sister Darlene (Carly Chaikin), his mother (Vaishnavi Sharma), and his late father (Christian Slater), Elliot is subjected to cringe-worthy one-liners and an obnoxious laugh track as he tries to make sense of his new surroundings. In particular, he is troubled by the presence of a man who appears to have been gagged and kept in the trunk of the car. The only other person who seems to notice this development is his dad, who makes concerted efforts to distract Elliot from it and focus on whatever mischief the family gets into. It sounds hokey when one describes it, but the execution is flawless as the episode indulges in humor to an extent it never has done before, poking – no, prodding – fun at not just the mindless TV fare that the show has to compete with, but with its own characters and plot thus far.

In contrast (strictly in terms of style, not quality), a majority of the episode is devoted to relaying Angela’s (Portia Doubleday) attempt to subvert E Corp on behalf of Darlene and f society. Beset by an amorous FBI agent and her own unfamiliarity with computer systems, Angela manages to overcome these obstacles in one of the most tense sequences in the show’s run yet only for her to be approached by Dom (Grace Gummer) as she tries to fix a small bug in the group’s virus from her desktop. We are left to wonder if Dom, who seems amicable as she asks to speak with Angela, knows what she’s up to, but we do know that Mr. Robot will continue to live up to it’s high reputation if it incorporates similar scenes in the future.

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