TV Review: MR. ROBOT: Season 2, Episode 8: eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12 [USA Network]

USA Network‘s Mr. Robot eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12 TV Show Review. Mr. Robot: Season 2, Episode 8: eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12 will undoubtedly intrigue audiences with its depiction of the conflict and intrigue brewing in fsociety.

Although viewers hoping to see what became of Elliot (Rami Malek) following his imprisonment at the end of the previous week’s show will likely be disappointed by the fact that neither the hapless hacker nor his hallucinatory familiar Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) appear once in the episode, the excellent story and the palpable tension running through it should more than make up for their absence. In contrast to the sprawling, occasionally globetrotting nature of earlier installments of the program, Wednesday’s show keeps both its action neatly confined to a select few locations, giving it the feel of a drama written for the stage rather than the screen (an observation meant in the best way possible).

Fsociety, under Darlene’s (Carly Chaikin) direction, continues to wage its campaign against E Corp and the federal government, but dissent is starting to grow in the lower ranks. Mobley (Azhar Khan) worries that the FBI is surveilling them, and his fears become even more pronounced when the hacktivist collective leaks an intercepted phone call proving the government is spying on millions of Americans without warrant. But the biggest threat to the group emerges when Susan Jacobs (Sandrine Holt), the E Corp employee whose house they’ve been secretly operating in, suddenly returns home.

This is the moment when Darlene and her compatriots seem to finally realize how serious the stakes they’ve made are. It isn’t a game or party like the one they threw after castrating the Wall Street Bull at the start of the season: it’s a power struggle that could end with them being imprisoned or killed, potentially necessitating the use of violence to defend their cause, to say nothing of themselves.

All in all, it’s one of the season’s more intimate episodes, but no less gripping than any action-packed, fast-paced one. The breakdown (or is it evolution?) of fsociety is a sight to behold, and Angela (Portia Doubleday) gets in a superb, unexpected rendition of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” as well as one of the show’s most satisfying exchanges after being insulted by a bitter family friend in a subplot of her own. Its characters’ futures may be uncertain, but Mr. Robot‘s own looks very promising following this episode.

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