Misstify

"Separation Anxiety" starring Will Ferrell and Judi Dench! Ha! Darlene looked stricken when Elliot asked if she remembered the snowman Kevin McAllister. I think there is still more to the story of the snowman and Elliot being pushed out the window. I'll be looking for hidden/obscure references to "Home Alone" this season, just in case! (Although right now the snowman story just makes me think of those terrible ads for the terrible-looking movie The Snowman). I need to go back and listen to Whiterose's lines about Angela's eyes. There's something going on there. Last season, Angela started to take on a weird, glassy-eyed look and wore her hair pulled tightly back emphasizing her face. When we saw her this season, she seemed more normal. I feel like there is more than one Angela or Angela is yet another character with multiple personas/identities. Also--what was the mine in the Congo that was mentioned? Whatever Whiterose's grand scheme is, it requires some mineral or element from the Congo.

Is Trump president in the Mr. Robot world? What year is it? I do think there is a time machine somewhere, and at some point the real, living Mr. Robot will join our characters but we won't know it's really him. In fact, that's what I thought was happening when Angela was speaking to Mr. Robot and referring to Eliot in the 3rd person, until the show made it clear she was actually talking to Eliot. I'm still confused about who/what/where/when Tyrell Wellick is. I love the neon wheelbarrow full of flames. It is a fitting symbol of the world in shambles.

I thought that about the parishioners too, at first. Then I realized it would make more sense if they are distributors rather than customers. Thinking about this some more (more than I should, really), the lake is serpentine, so cutting across the lake gets you to another town a lot faster than if you had to drive around the lake. The speedier trip makes for less exposure while the middleman is getting the product back to his or her turf. I don't know if this is actually what the writers mean, but it works for me, for now. (It would also have worked if they'd said the lake cops were bought off but the cop in town wasn't, or something like that, but the show has already established that the cop in town won't go after the drug kingpin, so that kills that idea).

Okay, someone help me out here. Why did the heroin manufacturers say that they're safe as long as they're on the water? Lake of the Ozarks is entirely within Missouri. It's not like they're in international waters or something...plus, we know there are lake police from the first episode. Ash was clearly horrified to hear that they are soon going to have a church on land. Is this really about land vs. water? (Because they did make a point of saying those words). Or is it just because the floating congregation, each in their individual boats, makes it easier to get the drugs off the property that Ash is standing in and onto individual boat-owners' property? Maybe this will be explained more in a later episode. As far as the FBI agent's steamy saga goes, I'm assuming at this point he's building up a persona to get himself "in" with the locals. I guess closeted Langmore patriarch is now compromised and will be actively working against Ruth/Marty.

I enjoyed the lesson in Money Laundering 101, and the whole scheme of how Marty and Ruth stole the strip club. I'm finding a bunch of the added story elements to be a little too much, though. You don't have to put *everything* in the story (Wendy's brother has a past they don't like to talk about, patrons of the Blue Cat casually chat about owner's sexcapades, FBI agent pays for sex, bobcats, vultures, folksy lethal injections,...) FBI agent kind of looks like Martin Shkreli.

I assumed the plot reasons for this scenario would be that it's a lot harder to hide whatever Marty is up to when there's a non-family member living on the premises. A built-in snoopy neighbor, if you will. But now that a good chunk of the residents of Lake of the Ozarks know that Marty is a money-launderer (his kids, the strip-club owner, at least five members of the Langmore family), it doesn't seem like adding one more could possibly hurt. I hope the character of the old man does get used in some later plot twist.

Thank you! That's why she looks familiar! I just started watching this and I think I've watched 3 episodes. I, too, can not stand the scenes with the Langmores. And there are a few too many moments where a character is conveniently explaining something aloud to another character for our benefit. I'm intrigued though...and the money-laundering scheme is somewhat akin to stuff that happened in Fargo season 3, so I feel like I'm learning a lot of good lessons about not accepting investments from shady people.

Why did this show put Larry back on my screen again?

Yes. Now they are doing just what Lorna said of all mental health treatment--they are giving her something because her behavior is inconvenient. Cindy thinks the pills might make her go to sleep for a while, and has no idea if they will help or harm her. It's awful. Of course, they would be giving her proper treatment if Lorna had allowed access to Suzanne's medicine, so Lorna also helped to make her accusation a reality.

Too much torture in this episode for me. I didn't want or need a Piscatella backstory, and the story didn't improve his character any (maybe it wasn't supposed to). He started out his career by having a sexual relationship with an inmate. I actually appreciate that the show never clarified the inmate's feelings about the relationship and left me wondering. Wes Driscoll didn't seem too keen on being called "chocolate" as a term of endearment, and I actually though he might be playing dumb a bit when he gave Piscatella crossword answers and hastily added, "I had to look it up." Most likely, he was just in the relationship because you do what you have to do to get by (and get chocolates, cigarettes, and a guard being somewhat nice to you). Seeing the (alleged) smeared tattoo scene wouldn't have changed that impression for me. But I like that the show left the interpretation up to us. Since this season already had a very prominent gun, the proverbial Chekov's gun became Frieda's blowdart, and I did love that.

Agreed. Season one was about the big hack, and uncovering Elliot's mental issues. But having additional seasons of the show means more story is needed; personally, I think a story about the aftermath of 5/9, and how it didn't pan out quite the way Darlene and f.society hoped, would have been a good story in itself (with maybe the FBI hunting for them). Elliot being in prison for part of the season could have worked fine with that too. The stuff with Angela joining E Corp, Tyrell vanishing, Joanna scheming with her chauffeur, and something mysterious and super-important in Washington Township is all a bit over the top. And while I enjoy puzzling through it, I'm not sure I really believe it will all come together into a fully cohesive story.

I definitely agree on that. I certainly won't spend the next year thinking about/debating whether Tyrell is real; I'm open to anything and enjoying the story. But I do like thinking about all the possibilities. Here's one more: Tyrell died, but then was replaced in some way. So he's real, AND he died. Why does my mind even go there? Probably because of the "previously" and opening scene which both showed Mr. Robot/Elliot saying "You're dead wrong" (so I heard that phrase twice as the episode began) and because of previous speculation about Angela's change in demeanor and Whiter0se saying Angela should be dead by now. (Of course, "you're dead wrong" could also be a nod to us viewers...no matter what theories we come up with, we're wrong!).

The soundtrack to the movie Magnolia is mostly Aimee Mann. I don't think there's a direct line from Mr. Robot to Magnolia, but given the number of other movie references, it's worth a passing thought. This song wasn't in Magnolia, so maybe it's too much of a stretch to connect to the movie with a different Aimee Mann song.

I've never watched Fringe. Maybe I should. I agree about seeing 12 Monkeys in it too, didn't think of that one. I was thinking of the season of Lost "we have to go back" stuff (forget which season that was). The hon/babe stuff I thought was: Dom starts out calling Darlene "hon" both because she's playing good cop and as a "we're both Jersey girls" thing. Darlene finds this condescending and proceeds to call Dom "hon" and "babe" to retaliate/show that she isn't buying it. With regard to the wall chart: thoughts on whether Darlene was pissed to see who they thought was the ringleader? Or was she shocked by it?

I am not sure I believe Tyrell is real at this time. He certainly once was alive; there are pictures of him. But is he alive now, or an alter based on a once-alive man? Was Elliot really shot, or has something else happened to him that he has interpreted as being shot? I just don't know. That shot of the three of them, Elliot in between Mr. Robot and Tyrell...that is the main thing that keeps me wondering. As for the epilogue, that was a major Lost vibe, to the point of making me think it's a joke! "Do you have the time?" Really? And they are going to un-do everything? I think on one level, Trenton/Tanya does have the decryption key as hincandenza described, and can undo the hack itself. But there was an implication that they could undo everything...as in, all the chaos that's happened...which implies time travel, bolstered by Leon's comment. That's the part that I think might be a joke, a teasing Lost reference, or...maybe not??

I do know what python is, but there wasn't any python programming in this episode. I guess that will be in part 2 of the episode. I didn't mean to imply that an unspoken possible reference to a scene in Blade Runner was the whole intent of the episode title, just that it's a shade of meaning that can be added to whatever the title explicitly refers to. And really, that would only be the case if there's a Blade-Runner-esque part of the story, which we really won't know until...either tomorrow or next season, I guess. Getting back to themes that are strong throughout the show, I think identity should be on the list. Elliot obviously has suffered confusion about his true identity and his alter. All of the hackers have their hacker names (I would assume that some of them, like Trenton and Mobley, don't even know each other's real names). Whiterose is a transgender woman who uses a male gender in her career. Masks are worn by people in f.society and the Dark Army.

I agree about not being on board with an "all a dream/Elliot is age 8 this whole time" ending. Time travel, parallel universes, replicants, and alters are all things I'm fine with. I also wanted to add that I haven't seen Blade Runner in ages (too long!) but one thing I just thought of was the woman in BR with the snake. Python?? Hmmm.

Here's one way it could have come about: season one had a lot of similarities to Fight Club. Maybe Esmail decided, hey, I'll drop some movie clues as red herrings...people will be thinking about Back to the Future and Blade Runner, not just Fight Club, and will be wondering: is this movie gonna have time travel, or replicants, or alter personalities? (Note: I don't think people really did much speculation about those other two in season one; I seem to recall it was all, is Mr. Robot an alter or is he a real person?). Anyway, having sprinkled hints about Back to the Future (VHS tape, music, 80s stuff) and Blade Runner (the name Tyrell and hmm...maybe some of the stuff about pets?), Esmail later decided "Why not go there??" ...or else he is continuing to make them red herrings. I really do think there is something weird about Angela, in the acting and styling of her, and she is different than the Angela we used to know. Thanks for reminding me of this. I might need to go back and watch that scene.

You're right, I do. :) I can't believe I forgot that Back to the Future 2 was Eliot's favorite movie. That should have been a big clue. The creepy photos with tape/paper over the faces in the Commodore 64 house are kind of reminiscent of the photos with disappearing bits in BttF.

Thank you. I noticed the songs themselves but didn't connect it with Back to the Future (hey, it's been a while). I just thought the van drivers had weird taste in music. So when Angela entered the room with a Commodore 64 and phone, and then "little Angela" (as I think of her) entered, my first thought was, Angela's dreaming and that is her younger self. But the Back to the Future music does raise the specter of time travel. (noooooo) The Q&A session with Angela actually made me think of the Turing Test (the test where a human submits questions to...someone...to try to determine from their answers whether they are human or machine). And now I am starting to think...what if Angela is a machine of some sort? I mean, according to Whiterose, she should be dead by now. But she's not. She's...still ticking. And Whiterose is trying to figure out why. I have felt for some time that there was something intentional behind Angela's blank stare and the way her face looks like a kewpie doll, pale hair pulled back so her face looks kind of naked, just big eyes and false eyelashes. I wonder if the Angela we knew from season 1 is gone and this is a replacement of some sort? (This also goes along with those comments upthread about the Blade Runner replicants). ETA: wait, the company in Blade Runner was called the Tyrell Corporation? Oh, crap.

Maybe. But I think it was implied that the house was still in probate. When Stone looked up the house's ownership, I thought it said Andrea's mother's name and "probate". Meaning there is a court battle going on about the inheritance. The remark by the financial advisor, "Andrea said no way", I took to mean Andrea is fighting her stepdad in probate court about the inheritance. They didn't explain it well, for sure. But if the house is still in probate, I don't think Andrea owns it or that it would pass on to her beneficiaries in the case of her death. In fact, she can't make any changes to the house, or change the locks. (Probably isn't supposed to be living there, either, but I don't know). **Maybe they will explain this later. I realize I'm the only person in the world who hasn't seen the whole show yet and am commenting to air. I can't help it.

Also: I am not a crackpot, but I thought the shrimp cocktail at a work meeting was a bit of a Seinfeld shout-out. "The jerk store called..." (Not to say that the shrimp cocktail, and its timing, doesn't also have other meanings within the story. But I'm sure Leon would agree with me).

During season one, I was distracted by the eye-makeup of both Darlene and Angela. Eventually I realized that Darlene's copious eyeliner was perhaps an effort to make her eyes resemble Elliot's eyes a bit, hinting that they are related. I feel like there must be some reason for Angela's very fake eyelashes as well. I don't know what it is. In this episode, I felt like Angela's face was being made to look like a creepy doll's head, when the screen was filled with Angela's pale, round face with almost no hair visible.

I got a bit behind on this show and now have to catch up. I guess that could be a good thing, as people have mentioned the show benefits from binge-watching. Generally, I watch each episode only once, I don't worry too much about what's real and what's not, and just wait for it to fall into place. I felt from the beginning of season 2 that Elliot was not really at his mom's. I don't remember the exact line that made me think that, but it was something about that's how he prefers it...meaning, to me, he prefers to imagine that it's his mom shutting his bedroom door at night. I think he is in an institution, and that he put himself there. Darlene said something this episode about not understanding why he chose it. When she is visiting him, it looks like they're in a communal area. Elliot has all his meals with the same person (a person who talks about one topic only). He uses a phone that's in a hallway. We've seen him at a basketball court and playing chess outdoors, both in settings that could be institutional. He has no access to computers. I am not sure who Ray is, exactly, but his computer room looks like an office that has a door opening onto a hallway. Other parts of the show have me baffled, though. I have no idea what's going on with Mrs. Wellick! I don't understand how or why she has a driver. I'll wait patiently to find out more about what Tyrell's part in all this is. I'm also confused about Angela. In the previous episode, I thought she was severing ties with the lawyer because Angela felt valued at E Corp. Now she is back with the lawyer again. Was it the one dinner with the evil men and the evidence on the disk that brought her back?

The Meg and Marco cat-and-mouse game is excellent. In the scene at his house, I think there were real feelings on both sides; Meg truly does hate her family and wishes she could leave, and her breakdown was real; yet she also went there for the express purpose of manipulating Marco. Marco may have been responding genuinely to her outpouring of actual truth; but he also apparently knew she was trying to distract him (whether he realized it before or after the sex, hard to say). He jumped right back on the interrogation train without missing a beat. (As others have pointed out, Meg was stupid to give him a name and he will obviously check the dates that guy was in Florida). I can NOT figure out who to root for at this point. I don't need to root for anyone in all shows/stories, but it's quite a change from last season where I thought, for much of the time, that John was the "good guy". This season even Marco has a shady past! Hmm...maybe Nolan? He has an attitude problem but doesn't seem to have really done anything wrong. Janie is an annoying brat. No way would I be calling out my grandparents for how they raised their children (on the other hand, my grandparents never acted like they were the heads of an inn-owning royal dynasty). I'm okay with her pointing out that Nolan should be expected at a family gathering, but the rest of it was a bit over-the-top. In her defense, the grown-ups need to come up with a better answer for her than "there are things you don't understand". That's not going to cut it.