TV Review: MR. ROBOT: Season 3, Episode 6: Eps3.5_kill-pr0cess.inc [USA Network]

Mr. Robot Eps3.5_kill-pr0cess.inc Review

Mr. Robot: Season 3, Episode 6: Eps3.5_kill-pr0cess.inc throws quite a bit at the audience but manages to make it all palatable.

While the previous episode took viewers for a ride with its single extended take, this week’s doesn’t attempt anything so ambitious. But it would be a mistake to hold this against the show because, as I mentioned in my review of the preceding program, it would grow tiresome after a while to see every episode attempt something on the level of “runtime-err0r”‘s single take. Indeed, the producers have wisely decided to be more modest with the cinematography this time around, although there are still editing touches here and there that remind us we’re watching Mr. Robot and not just another TV drama.

Chief among these touches is the new use of the screen “glitching” when Elliot (Rami Malek) slips out of consciousness and the Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) personality takes over. Although it was intended in all likelihood as a simple plot contrivance (after all, it wouldn’t do for Elliot to be awake when Mr. Robot wreaks his mischief), it helps keep the interaction between the two fresh and reflects their increasingly-adversarial relationship.

On a side note, it’s interesting that as the show has gone on, Mr. Robot has featured less and less in it. Some might argue that his influence is still felt through the acts he commits, and while that was a tenable position in the first and second seasons when Elliot (and by extension, Mr. Robot) was the primary driver of events, it’s become much less so as old characters like Tyrell (Martin Wallstrom) and new ones like Irving (Bobby Cannavale) have taken the lead in pushing revolution this season.

With this in mind, it’s hardly a surprise that although Mr. Robot barely appears in the program, his presence is certainly felt and he even gets in a pivotal scene toward the end. With his alter ego determined to let the Dark Army’s bomb in E Corp headquarters go off, Elliot communicates with Mr. Robot over computer keyboard to explain that they played him. Without so much as a single word passing from one’s lips to the other’s ear, Mr. Robot has a change of heart and helps Elliot disable the bomb. Again, the two never actually exchange words with each other in the scene, so it’s incredible that they were able to portray such a transformative event only with the assistance of a keyboard and body language. However, it’s just what we’ve come to expect from Mr. Robot, and it’s exactly what will keep us coming back for more of it.

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