Dominique, Angela and Elliot are all out of their element in a creepy, superb episode.
Robot:Season 2 Episode 5
Mr. Robotcan create atmosphere out of thin air.
Thats one of its best aspects.
In addition to its fascinating lead character and somehow realistic yet bonkers plots, the mood thatMr.
Robotcreates is its unlike anything else on TV: frenetic, dissociative, fun.
In that sense, the show is not entirely dissimilar to a horror movie.
So many scenes establish a mood that ranges from creepiness to outright terror.
And the episode is all the better for it.Mr.
Robotalmost always feels viscerally exciting.
Logic Bomb is both viscerally exciting and terrifying.
Lets start with FBI agent Dominique DiPierro, who gets her biggest showcase of the season thus far.
Still, Im somehow drawn more to the dream-like horror of what leads up to it.
Only this time shes walking down a hill this time when she sees the creepy guys in surgical masks.
Dominique responds by saying she never dreams.
And then commences the most dream-sequence seeming episode that is for sure not an actual dream sequence.
Dominiques time in China is so compelling and perfect because its so weird.
The first four episodes ofMr.
Robotseason two have been almost uniformly excellent but were missing something.
And based on Logic Bomb what was missing is this fabulous sense of weirdness Dominiques storyline provides.
Its strange enough that the whole bureau is uprooting to China and its brought up so quickly and casually.
Still, theres something vaguely dreamlike about how quickly the trip comes to pass with no warning.
Out of nowhere, Dominique is in the Beijing airport and about to experience something even more dreamlike.
She descends on an escalator and on the adjacent escalator she sees two men in dragon masks.
Shes walking down the hill to men in masks, just like her co-workers dream.
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And their interactions are so profoundly creepy.
Dominique is looking for a bathroom when she stumbles across a room that highlights Whiteroses obsession with clocks.
The dialogue is substantive.
Dominique talks about her life that led to the FBI.
She fell in love in law school and when they proposed she ran away to the FBI.
Whiterose talks about the beautiful, perfect dresses in his closet that he says belongs to his sister.
Whats even better, however, is the atmosphere the show is able to create out of nothingness.
That dreamlike sensation from Dominiques previous scenes carries over and a pervading sense of doom creeps in as well.
Dominique and Whiterose begin their conversation at 10 minutes to midnight and end it at midnight.Mr.
Its terrifying in a real, visceral way.
Though in a sense the strange, dreamlike creepiness that preceded it was just as unsettling.
Dominiques adventures in Beijing isnt the only storyline thatMr.
Robotbrings a horror sensibility to this week.
On appearance alone, Joanna Tyrell is already one of TVs scariest characters.
As brilliantly depicted by Stephanie Corneliussen, Joanna is so equally attractive and mysterious so as to appear alien.
It doesnt hurt that shes always seemed to have an underlining sense of cruelty.
And when that cruelty manifests itself in Logic Bomb it is absolutely horror movie worthy.
So Joanna kills him.
Thats pretty well expected on a TV show.
Her bodyguard comes to her and she asks for the narrative of how Karim died.
Already unusually cruel but her bodyguard is honest with her.
He drugged Karim, staged a robbery and then shot him twice.
But then he asks a question.
To let him die with answers.
Otherwise, were nothing but worthless murderers.
This is still in the running.
Logic Bomb has a nice way of turning everything that slightly annoyed me about season two ofMr.
Robotinto something that intrigues me.
Tyrells absence is a prime example.
The longer hes gone, the creepier and more fascinating it gets.
At this point it seems as hes as likely to be in hell as he is anywhere else.
Still, Elliot is living the worse kind of horror movie.
The one thats real.
Ray told him to not look at what was on the site.
He likely could fix the site on his own but wants to get a measure of his new employer.
Its an invite only tor web client site.
And its as bad as it sounds with human trafficking, weapon trafficking and hitman contracts.
The beginning of Logic Bomb almost serves as a promise fromMr.
But Logic Bomb has a way of brining everything back to reality as a logic bomb would.
Like only the best horror can.
*Do you even Chekov, bro?
