‘Mr. Robot’ Recap Season 2 Episode 7: eps2.5_h4ndshake.sme

By
Roberta Valdez
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Mr Robot Season 2 Episode 7
Portia Doubleday as Angela Moss in ‘Mr. Robot’ (Photo by Michael Parmelee / USA Network)

Elliot’s (Rami Malek) true location is revealed in the seventh episode of season two of the USA Network series Mr. Robot. There have been many hints that he was in some type of institution this season: the sparse nature of his “mother’s house;” the vertical lines on the wallpaper; the way that all his visitors have sat at a table across from him; that his room looks more like a cell than an actual bedroom; the fact that he ate all his meals in the same place with Leon; and that he had no access to computers. The only question has been whether he was in prison or a psychiatric facility. Finally, in a session with his psychiatrist, Krista (Gloria Reuben), we learn that he has been in prison all along.

When we first see Elliot in his fantasy, he is still in the basement where he is holding hands with Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). Elliot tells him that he had never experienced Mr. Robot protecting him before. However, he still wants to know what happened to Tyrell. Mr. Robot acquiesces and tells him that Tyrell was raving about killing some woman and us being gods, so he shot him with the gun hidden in the popcorn machine.

Ray (Craig Robinson) brings Elliot up from the basement in order for him to work on Ray’s site problem. When Elliot finishes, he asks Ray to play a game of chess. During this game, Ray confides that his wife set up the site and that he only recently learned of the kind of illegal and unsavory transactions taking place there. He tells Elliot that he thought that he’d be Elliot’s savior but it was the other way around. Ray knew what would happen when he let Elliot back on the computer. Elliot muses that he gave Ray a chance to make the right move and a remorseful Ray left himself wide open. Elliot was able to add code so that the FBI could find Ray’s site. Before Elliot leaves him, Ray thanks him and warns him to be careful.

There are, indeed, consequences to Elliot’s actions. Several of the inmates lost money when Ray’s site was shut down. At first, they threaten, and then they begin to assault Elliot when Leon interferes and stabs the assailants. Leon tells Elliot to do what a letter he will receive says, and to say hi to Whiterose for him.

In another plot thread, Tyrell’s wife, Joanna (Stephanie Corneliussen), opens a box wrapped in red ribbon. She has received several similar boxes this season and by way of a flashback we see that Tyrell has sent gifts wrapped in a red ribbon in the past. Later she is outside on the street with her baby in a stroller when someone comes up to her and throws a thick, red liquid on her. The color red shows up many times in the series but it is not clear what it signifies.

Derek, who met Joanna at an E Corp party, gives her an ultimatum: come to a party as his girlfriend or they are done. Although she doesn’t go, she later shows him a petition for divorce from Tyrell. Joanna remains a mysterious character.

When we left Angela (Portia Doubleday) in the last episode, FBI agent Dominique DiPierro (Grace Gummer) appeared at her desk as she was receiving hacking instructions from Darlene (Carly Chaikin). Dom asks Angela what she was doing on a restricted floor. She tells Dom that she was making plans with Agent Thomas to meet for lunch. The FBI agent is not content with this explanation and she tells Angela that her story is fascinating: she leaves Allsafe just one week before the company is hacked and ends up at E Corp. Clearly suspicious, Dom tells her “whatever this is, it’s not you.”

After Dom leaves, Angela is able to finish the coding that allows fsociety to hack the FBI. When Dom sees that the agency was hacked, she tells them to check Angela’s computer though she doubts that they will find anything.

When Angela meets Darlene, an unhappy Angela tells her that Darlene and Elliott were always smarter than her. She now realizes that they were behind the 5/9 attack. She recalls that the masks worn in the Halloween movie that Elliot and Darlene made her watch are just like those worn by fsociety.

Later Angela unsuccessfully tries to get one of the parties bringing a class action suit against E Corp to drop the independent inspections contingency. She tells him that she can settle the lawsuit. He asks, “Is that how they suckered you?” to which Angela responds that they value and respect her. She already has enough signatures though, as the plaintiffs care more about money than anything else, she tells him.

Angela then meets with E Corp CEO, Philip Price (Michael Cristofer) and tells him that she got the contingency dropped. She wonders why the contingency was so important to Price and muses that it was to protect a secret, evil agenda. Even though he tells her that she is squandering the capital earned by asking for a lateral move to Risk Management, he agrees.

Once in Risk Management, Angela learns of a class action lawsuit against E Corp for its role in the water contamination in Flint, Michigan. She asks to sit in on a director’s level meeting. While there it is clear that Angela hopes to gather information about other lawsuits against E Corp. After her boss quickly adjourns the meeting, he tells her that he knows about her. It appears that it is not going to be easy for Angela to destroy E Corp from within.

In a final voiceover, Elliot tells us that control can be illusion and that he needed illusion to gain control. In a sage observation of our world where people are more engaged with their devices than with others, he states that we are attached to our screens to avoid each other and avoid the truth.




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