Things get dicey for fsociety as Elliot and Mr.
Robot take a well-deserved break.
Robotreview contains spoilers
Mr. Its a plot-mover, a place-holder, a midseason-inhaler whatever you want to call it.
Mr. Robotis in that sublime artistic territory where even its seemingly filler episodes represent entertaining, sometimes riveting television.
Removing Elliot and his alter-ego entirely from an episode ofMr.
Robotis a bold move.
The fact that it works for the most part is a credit to those aforementioned fsociety b-teamers.
Then Successor rolls around and gives the audience another chance for grace.
Here we have Darlene, our heros sister and our de facto second-in-command protagonist.
Maybe she can be a moral center to latch on….and shes a murderer now too.
Mr. Robotnever runs out of rugs to pull out from under the audience.
We see the beginning of their fsociety collective at a coffee shop during Thanksgiving.
The scene is interesting on several fronts.
For one there is the implication that fsociety took down the global economy in less than half a year.
But more important to me, however, isMr.
Robots newfound love of the flashback structure.
A few episodes ago, I may have called it annoying.
Robots insistence on opening so many episodes with flashbacks to me doesnt represent stalling.
Back in the present day, however, things are much less cheery for the fsociety crew.
Successor reveals so starkly just how small and insignificant the remnants of fsociety are.
Elliot is in prison and the rest of the hangers-on are busy dropping brass bull balls into Congress.
Occupying the home of Susan Jacobs was always a short-sighted move for an internationally-wanted crime syndicate.
After youve watched enough television, you kind of learn to expect from events like these.
Act one: fundamentally good people are forced to take innocent-ish hostage.
Act two: they make a run at find a way around killing said hostage.
And then by act two its over by a cold, ungraceful murder.
Darlene doesnt say much after she murders Susan Jacobs via TASER into a pool.
She claims to not have recalled Susans heart condition in the research they did on her.
But its fairly clear that Trenton and Mobley dont believe her and Darlene realizes this.
*
*The pound guy is upset that the fsociety people released all the dogs last time.
Its ok though because they all ended up back at the pound…like they always do.
Reminds you of the questionable success of some of fsocietys other works.
Killing also seems to come pretty easy for the Dark Army.
After Trenton and Mobley are let go, they are rightfully concerned about the FBI tracking them down.
And the Dark Army tends to get what it wants.
The Successor is a tightly-structured and bleak episode ofMr.
Any episode that excludes Elliot Alderson as a character is fundamentally weaker for doing so but whatMr.
Robotis able of getting done with some b-characters, a TASER and a karaoke night is admirable.
Rating:
3.5 out of 5
