Robotreview contains spoilers
Mr.
Robot Season 3 Episode 2
Undo is a good episode ofMr.
Robot, an excellent episode of television altogether, and ultimately one that I find troubling.
Its a good episode because all episodes ofMr.
Thats all before the opening title card.
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Undo is bold and satisfyingly inscrutable like allMr.
Robotepisodes have been thus far and will likely be for the foreseeable future.
You know when you fuck something up and wish you had the power to hit undo?
Elliot asks at the beginning of the episode.
Like when you say the dumbest thing in front of your biggest crush.
Or when you talk shit about your boss in an email and then hit reply all at work?
Or when you crash the entire world economy and kickstart the inevitable downfall of human civilization?
Im just not entirely sure whyMr.
Robot,the show, wants to.
Deep within the creation myth ofMr.
Robotis the story that Sam Esmail originally envisioned the series as a movie.
Not that thats necessarily a problem.
Hell, theyre not even just signs.
One item that has now been removed entirely off the board is Joanna Wellick.
You were too uncanny valley-hot to make it through to the end of this.
That last bit doesnt go over so well with her young lover, Derek.
Its a gruesome scene by any measure.
Improvisational television is ok and in many cases superior to tightly-plotted and scripted content.Mr.
Robothas never presented itself as improvisational, however.
This is firmly in the category of Lester Freamon all the pieces matter television.
Why introduce Joanna at all if this was to be her end?
Elliots attempts to undo things are equally troubling.
At least stylistically it plays out well.
The aforementioned montage of Elliot trying to disassemble stage 2 is excellent.
*
*His plan seems straight-forward enough beneath all of the technical speak.
I just trust Elliot that it makes sense.
Thankfully, the areas in which Undo does unearth new narrative ground seem promising.
Darlene has gone half-hearted snitch for the FBI.
Mr. Robotis also beginning to develop a bigger heart under all the style than I ever had anticipated.
After Elliot begins the process of fixing all of his sins, he finds himself more despondent than ever.
He literally weeps through an episode ofDancing with the Starsand pops Zoloft like Tic Tacs to no relief.
He did it because he was in a lot of pain and didnt know what else to do.
Just two episodes into season 3,Mr.
Robotseems to be morphing into something far different from what we expected.
The alter ego of Mr.
Robot is stronger and clearer than ever and show no signs of abating.
Ultimately, thats more than interesting enough to continue this journey.
I just dont fully understand why it had to be so circuitous so far.
Rating:
3.5 out of 5
