Robot starts its third season off on the right foot with an uncharacteristically clear yet still paranoid episode
ThisMr.
Robotreview contains spoilers
Mr.
Robot Season 3 Episode 1
When its all said and doneMr.
Ok, thats probably not true.
The this was all a dream/hallucination/snowglobe hasnt been attempted in a meaningful way sinceSt.
Elsewherein 1988 and rightfully so.
Its cheap and it undercuts rule #1 in the television Hippocratic oath: What youre seeing matters.
Robotwe often have a very little meaningful concept of exactly what were even seeing.
Elliot is beyond an unreliable narrator.
Hes an unreliable everything.
Hes a former drug addict, inhumanly brilliant, and quite literally insane.
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It wont be of course because how could it be.
Creator Sam Esmail is too smart for that.
- Whats important, however, is thatMr.
This is a gorgeous, at times philosophical show, that almost always feels like an extended hallucination.
Robottook some well-deserved hits here and there.
I enjoyed it but I empathize with people who didnt.
The extended hallucination in season 2 was both very extended and aggressively hallucinatory.
Were reminded of this in the previously on segment of season 3.
Its so…surreal.
Wellick seems off, the weather seems off, Elliot seems off.
Wellick recites William Carlos Williams The Red Wheelbarrow for seemingly no reason.
Then Elliot tells him Youre only seeing what its in front of you.
Youre not seeing whats above you.
I….what does that mean.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, ELLIOT??!?!?!?
Its significant enough to be the first item in the previously on segment.
In hindsight Im even more impressed by the intense and dedicated weirdness of season 2.
Power Save Mode* obliges.
*A note on episode titles again this year.Mr.
Robotrather creatively likes to title its episodes in the format of file names like so: Eps3.0power-saver-mode.
Its hard to call any episode ofMr.
Robotconventional, but Power Saver Mode is the closest weve had in a long time.
We open, as all things should, with Bobby Cannavale.Mr.
Robotif it didnt open with a character were unfamiliar with.
Thanks to Cannavales truly dedicated and having-the-time-of-his-life-performance were able to recognize the archetype very quickly.
One thing Ive always appreciated about Sam Esmail is he knows how to nail the big moments.
That is to say hes particularly invested in big narrative milestones like beginnings, middles, and ends.
Id be surprised if he hadnt had this fixer vignette planned for a long time.
He has to leave and come back to get his milkshake next time.
Irving is not pleased with this and makes this known in a subtle, yet threatening way.
Its not about the money, its about the principle, he says.
Whiterose recognizes that Elliot has something all the other hackers will never have.
Righteous, unrepentant rage.
Time presented us Mr. Alderson when we needed him, Whiterose says.
His will must be our guide.
Of course, there are some artistic concessions that must be made in the service of all this clarity.
For as good as the opener is, it does come along with objectively cliche dialogue.
I didnt get rid of the invisible hand.
I didnt start a revolution.
I just made us docile enough for their slaughtering.
It places all the cards on the table in a way the show has not yet.
Even if it is overly-expository.
Moments like those are a necessary evil because Power Save Mode is all the better for it.
And I expect season 3 will be made better for it too.
The post-gunshot wound Elliot of season 3 has a clear purpose: undo the damage hes done.
He begins by closing the backdoorMr.
Robothad opened to make stage 2 possible.
This is accomplished at an underground internet…club?
since New York hasnt had power for going on a week.
Elliot and Darlenes excursion into the seedy underbelly of hackerdom isMr.
The show also excels when it is giving its non-Elliot characters plenty to do.
Darlenes panic attack upon seeing the Dark Army in the hipster WiFi dungeon is uncomfortably palpable.
It calls to mind just how brutal the diner attack from last season was.
Angela sometimes had a difficult time fitting in season 2.
There were so many factions at play and she couldnt quite seem to figure out what her motivations were.
That changes pretty conclusively with Power Save Mode.
Shes with the Dark Army and Mr. She is valuable to the Dark Army as Elliot/Mr.
Robots handler because lets be honest: he really needs to be handled.
I think a lot of people assumed Christian Slater as Mr.
Robot would bounce after it was revealed he was a hallucination/alter ego in season one, Tyler Durden-style.
It can be hard to glean just exactly whatMr.
Only in this case.
Elliot is against himself and…his other self.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5
