Still slick as hell

 

Show creator, writer, and director, Sam Esmail, has promised this season of Mr. Robot won’t deal so much in “tricks” as it has in the past with Elliot (Rami Malek) as our unreliable narrator. But I suspect it’s just another ruse to catch us unawares. I know your game Esmail!

Dark Army fixer by night and used car salesman by day, Irving (Bobby Cannavale), is a breath of fresh comedic air in this dark collapsing world Elliot helped create. Irving saves Elliot from his bullet wound, a cliffhanger from Season Two when Tyrell shot him, supposedly at Mr. Robot’s (Christian Slater) behest. Elliot is again competing against his alter ego, and breaking good for a change, even joining E Corp (with the help of Angela) to fix the mess he created.

Angela’s (Portia Doubleday) on a whole other playing field. Half the time I don’t know whose side she’s on. Sure she wants revenge on E Corp for killing her father, but that can’t be the sole reason she’s been doing what she’s been doing, working her way up the ranks of E Corp.

Darlene (Carly Chaikin) is having some serious issues, after a particular death last season and is now caught between the FBI and the Dark Army, as well as the tough situation that is dealing with Elliot’s two personalities.

As for the current socio-political state of things, as well as rebuilding E Corp’s database from paper backups, Bitcoin has become the primary cryptocurrency in China, instead of E Corp’s ECoin, which enrages Angela’s boss, E Corp CEO Phillip Price, as he confronts secret Leader of the Dark Army, Whiterose, and publically China’s Minister of State Security, Zhang, (B.D. Wong) who has all the power. Technowhatsits be damned, I have no idea where this show’s going next and that’s exciting.

With FSociety all but disbanded, the Mr. Robot mask has largely disappeared, and to replace the looming figure, Elliot instead imagines giant emoji heads that appear over people’s heads, revealing their feelings. Not as intimidating as the killer from The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie, but a cool gimmick. And if Esmail knows anything, it’s how to make stuff look cool.

Mr. Robot is still slick as hell. I don’t see this show going on forever and Esmail is planning to wrap it up soon. Season Two was mostly introspective so let’s pray this is the season that kicks off into a higher gear.

Show Mr. Robot: Season Three

Network USA Network (US), Lightbox (NZ)

Release Date 11 October 2017

Episodes S01E01 “eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h” & S01E02 “eps3.1_undo.gz”