Robot keeps the action going in the thrilling, unexpectedly climactic Kill Process
ThisMr.
Robotreview contains spoilers
Mr.
Robot Season 3 Episode 6
Mr.
Robot, what has gotten into you?
Robotseason 3 has been bad thus far.
But season 3 has been, lets say, deliberately paced.
Hell, one could argue thatMr.
Robot in a frenetic Times Square post-hack in the season 1 finale.
Kill Process doesnt reach the same creative heights of Runtime Error.
So Kill Process doesnt bother with any outside-the-box visual techniques.
Instead it settles for merely pulling off the thrilling and upsetting conclusion to stage 2.
If nothing else,Mr.
Robotguarantees that well have a second calendar date to memorize.
Within the shows mythology, Elliots successful hack has come to be known as the 5/9 hack.
Now we get the 9/29 attacks.
I really thought Elliot had pulled it off.
Poor Elliot Alderson goes through hell to do so.
Having said that, Elliot should not by any means be a sympathetic character.
Nearly every episode we are reminded why.
All because Elliot Alderson couldnt make friends and wanted to f society.
Kill Process features one of the most striking examples yet.
Then she heads out into the streets like a sleepwalker and ends up on the subway.
Shes seated across from two elderly women discussing their living situation.
One woman is going to be moving in with her daughter and shes embarrassed by it.
Its another subtle reminder from Esmail as to the devastation Elliot hath wrought.
It then turns decidedly unsubtle when a nervous goon in an fsociety mask robs the woman.
You could have died, the woman says to Angela after the gunman has taken off.
Angela is not at her best in Kill Process.
Elliots father is there, the real one, not the ghostdad one.
Give him a little push for me.
As we cut back to the present it seems like this should be a good justification for Angelas behavior.
That intro never quite comes close to justifying her behavior.
Elliots previous behavior does though.
We cant turn on Elliot.
Part of it is certainly Rami Maleks superbly empathetic portrayal and big ol doe eyes.
Part of it is that the show has made us complicit.
The biggest factor at play though is that its finally become easy to believe that Elliot and Mr.
Robot are distinct entities.
Of course, thats obvious within the context of the show.
Theyre portrayed by two different actors.
The mind cant help but cry bullshit.
Thats why Elliots psychic battle against Mr.
Robot in Kill Process is so striking.
Elliot first tries to shut down the hack from his laptop.
Robot takes over for fifteen minutes and gets their shared body in a cab heading towards 8th and Houston.
So Elliot recovers and gets back to the buildings computer lab.
Robot is in control for 5 minutes.
Elliot is getting better at this.
But not good enough.
Elliot reaches out to Mr.
Robot via typed out messages to negotiate a truce.
Robot smashes the computer in response.
And so Elliot must try for one last desperate gambit.
He has to make it to the server room and freeze them so they cant explode.
*
*Or something like that.
Im never 100% on the technical details ofMr.
The show is already this far indebted to David Finchers masterpiece, whats one more battle between alter-egos?
Its slapstick-y in an equally funny and disturbing way.
More importantly: its exciting.
There is real, sustained and thrilling tension here.Mr.
When Elliot reconciles with Mr.
Stage 2 has been foiled, Elliot and Mr.
Robot are bros again.
The FBI has Tyrell Wellick in custody.
But of course things cant really end that way.
Theres always another man behind the curtain.
One more conspiracy to uncover.
In the end, of course, it didnt matter.
Elliot saves the building and the people inside it.
Elliots last hope to make things right is gone.
Thousands of people have died.
Elliot and the rest of us did the same.
Stage 2 was in front of us.
White Rose was above us.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5
