S02.E09: eps2.7_init5.fve

[formerlyfreedom]

Angela wants more from Evil Corp.; Dark Army's allegiance is in question; Elliot and Darlene seek answers.

[WatchrTina]

The last line of this episode is, "Hello Ollie."

Who the fuck is Ollie?

[formerlyfreedom]

Isn't Ollie Angela's ex? Which would throw a whole NEW wrench into this all...

[morgankobi]

In the "Previously On," we're reminded that Elliot told Mrs. Tyrell his name was Ollie when they met in front of her house.

[morgankobi]

Peepholes, people. For Pete's sake!

[Miles]

Ray being the warden of the prison does make some things more plausible. Never thought that he could be so high up. Still not quite sure on the timeline, with Elliot's injuries healing from scene to scene, with seemingly not much time elapsing in between.

The rest of the episode was interesting.

So Angela really thought it was a good idea to just leak this stuff in the current political climate and also do it in person? Bad move. Maybe if everything wasn't on the brink of collapse... But even then, I'd get the help of my hacker friends to leak this stuff annonomously and securely.

Stage 2 was Elliot's plan... So either Elliot forgot again, or there is a third personality. I'd guess the later. That could also be a way of Tyrell bing alive and Mr. Robot not knowing. Maybe the third personality took over and protected Tyrell.

Cisco should really find a better girlfriend, with all that domestic abuse going on. Wonder who he found in madam executioner's apartment. Mobly, I'd guess. Although didn't really sound like him. Sounded more like Tyrell. No idea how he'd get there though.

And then we have that fucking door thing again. I liked it the first time, now it's getting annoying. At first I thought it must have been Cisco, with whomever he found, but he should have a key to his own flat. Maybe hard to unlock the door when you are carrying a guy though.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Miles

[AliShibaz]

I had a very hard time with this episode. I have only watched it once. But the beginning just made no sense to me.

First, Elliot pleads guilty against the advice of his lawyer. This made no sense to me. It would only make sense if he has some brilliant plan whereby pleading guilty would do something wonderful for him. But I just can't see that. Did he need to go inside the prison to somehow infiltrate it? Maybe. But the likelihood of that is so low as to be absolutely ridiculous. Asking the audience to swallow that is just ... well ... it just makes me very angry and the only way I can discuss it at this moment is to use a bunch of curse words.

Second, the charges make no sense. What Elliot did wrt the dog cannot be called "theft" in any stretch of the imagination. If he had a veiled threat behind the statement, "I need your dog", then maybe the state would charge him with extortion. But theft? Absolutely ridiculous.

Again, unless he had some bizarre strategy for pleading guilty, the state had such weak evidence for a theft charge and Elliot had a ton of ammunition to counter that charge (like the way the asshole previous owner would abuse that dog by physically pulling her leash and lifting her off the ground by her neck), he could claim he was trying to "rescue" the dog from her abusive owner and the case would have just fallen apart. IMHO, there is almost no way the state could ever convict him of theft.

After that, it just became very difficult for me to accept the rest of the episode. I was so out of sorts I honestly couldn't concentrate. I'm going to have to watch it again when I calm down before I can even come close to reaching a reasoned opinion.

But I loved the closing scene when Johanna appears and says, "Hello Ollie". Only interesting events can follow that.

Edited September 1, 2016 by AliShibaz

[Miles]

5 minutes ago, AliShibaz said:

First, Elliot pleads guilty against the advice of his lawyer. This made no sense to me. It would only make sense if he has some brilliant plan whereby pleading guilty would do something wonderful for him. But I just can't see that. Did he need to go inside the prison to somehow infiltrate it? Maybe. But the likelihood of that is so low as to be absolutely ridiculous. Asking the audience to swallow that is just ... well ... it just makes me very angry and the only way I can discuss it at this moment is to use a bunch of curse words.

He plead guilty because he was desperate to get rid of Mr. Robot and thought the structure of a prison could help him with it. At least he could be sure that Mr. Robot couldn't hurt anybody else while he was in there.

At the beginning of the season he talks at length about his routine and how it's designed to get rid of Mr. Robot, part of it being that he put himself under the control of "his mother". His mothers house ofcourse being the prison in reality.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Miles

[Unapologetic]

Yeah, his pleading guilty seems pretty obvious...

I thought the charges were sort of funny because it focused on the dog rather than the hacking, which is what he was mainly arrested for.  Pet theft in a lot of places, including New York, is punishable by pretty hefty sentences.  That Elliot didn't fight the charge on the basis of animal abuses was obvious, for reasons listed above.  

[AliShibaz]

I understand that he wanted to rid himself of his imaginary father and thought structure would do that. But his lawyer was talking to him about pleading "not guilty" and then fighting the charges. Not necessarily with the expectation he would walk away from them. But more likely the result would be far less jail time or a different kind of structure, such as community service.

Elliot got very lucky the state released prisoners early. From what I recall, he was sentenced to 18 months but only served a few weeks. He could have gotten a similar result had he plead not guilty and  put up a fight without needing the early release. If he had to serve 18 months, I think he would have regretted pleading guilty. It was a ridiculous thing to do. He could have gotten everything he wanted or needed without taking the chance he would have to do 18 months.

I realize he would probably go to prison for a shorter time. But  how much time did he think it would take to get rid of his psychosis? A few weeks should have been enough or he would need to look for some other kind of remedy.

Bottom line for me was that it just didn't make any sense for him to plead guilty. He could have found a way to get some structure with much less time. In fact, I would think he could have found another way to get structure without ever going to prison. Checking himself into a mental health facility for example. Had he done that, he could have then checked out once he felt he was cured. Or once he discovered that wouldn't cure his problem.

Also, the "theft charge" really didn't make any sense to me and my problem was that the combination of the state charging him with theft and his pleading "guilty" to all the charges just didn't make any sense and I was very disappointed the show runner would ask the audience to expect such a thing.

I have really enjoyed this show because of all the different ways the show runner asks the audience to stretch our imagination. But when he asks us to accept premises which fall outside the realm of the possible, that just crosses the line, IMO.

Edited September 1, 2016 by AliShibaz

[yourmomiseasy]

1 hour ago, AliShibaz said:

I understand that he wanted to rid himself of his imaginary father and thought structure would do that. But his lawyer was talking to him about pleading "not guilty" and then fighting the charges. Not necessarily with the expectation he would walk away from them. But more likely the result would be far less jail time or a different kind of structure, such as community service.

Elliot got very lucky the state released prisoners early. From what I recall, he was sentenced to 18 months but only served a few weeks. He could have gotten a similar result had he plead not guilty and  put up a fight without needing the early release. If he had to serve 18 months, I think he would have regretted pleading guilty. It was a ridiculous thing to do. He could have gotten everything he wanted or needed without taking the chance he would have to do 18 months.

I realize he would probably go to prison for a shorter time. But  how much time did he think it would take to get rid of his psychosis? A few weeks should have been enough or he would need to look for some other kind of remedy.

Bottom line for me was that it just didn't make any sense for him to plead guilty. He could have found a way to get some structure with much less time. In fact, I would think he could have found another way to get structure without ever going to prison. Checking himself into a mental health facility for example. Had he done that, he could have then checked out once he felt he was cured. Or once he discovered that wouldn't cure his problem.

Also, the "theft charge" really didn't make any sense to me and my problem was that the combination of the state charging him with theft and his pleading "guilty" to all the charges just didn't make any sense and I was very disappointed the show runner would ask the audience to expect such a thing.

I have really enjoyed this show because of all the different ways the show runner asks the audience to stretch our imagination. But when he asks us to accept premises which fall outside the realm of the possible, that just crosses the line, IMO.

You are forgetting one very important thing -- Elliot is batshit crazy so what he does isn't always going to be logical or make sense.

[AliShibaz]

1 hour ago, yourmomiseasy said:

You are forgetting one very important thing -- Elliot is batshit crazy so what he does isn't always going to be logical or make sense.

Yes. Heh Heh. That is definitely true.

[green]

7 hours ago, Miles said:

Ray being the warden of the prison does make some things more plausible. Never thought that he could be so high up. Still not quite sure on the timeline, with Elliot's injuries healing from scene to scene, with seemingly not much time elapsing in between.

The rest of the episode was interesting.

So Angela really thought it was a good idea to just leak this stuff in the current political climate and also do it in person? Bad move. Maybe if everything wasn't on the brink of collapse... But even then, I'd get the help of my hacker friends to leak this stuff annonomously and securely.

Stage 2 was Elliot's plan... So either Elliot forgot again, or there is a third personality. I'd guess the later. That could also be a way of Tyrell bing alive and Mr. Robot not knowing. Maybe the third personality took over and protected Tyrell.

Cisco should really find a better girlfriend, with all that domestic abuse going on. Wonder who he found in madam executioner's apartment. Mobly, I'd guess. Although didn't really sound like him. Sounded more like Tyrell. No idea how he'd get there though.

And then we have that fucking door thing again. I liked it the first time, now it's getting annoying. At first I thought it must have been Cisco, with whomever he found, but he should have a key to his own flat. Maybe hard to unlock the door when you are carrying a guy though.

Darlene mentioned it was about a month since they killed Susan so it should be very early August 2015 now.

And yes I agree Angela is still being written as a complete idiot. 

I love the idea that Tyrell would be the person Cisco heard at Susan's house.  And I agree Cisco needs to get out of his relationship with Darlene.  When I saw her throw away that first VCR tape in the other episode I assumed it would come back to bite her, not Cisco.

5 hours ago, AliShibaz said:

I understand that he wanted to rid himself of his imaginary father and thought structure would do that. But his lawyer was talking to him about pleading "not guilty" and then fighting the charges. Not necessarily with the expectation he would walk away from them. But more likely the result would be far less jail time or a different kind of structure, such as community service.

Elliot got very lucky the state released prisoners early. From what I recall, he was sentenced to 18 months but only served a few weeks. He could have gotten a similar result had he plead not guilty and  put up a fight without needing the early release. If he had to serve 18 months, I think he would have regretted pleading guilty. It was a ridiculous thing to do. He could have gotten everything he wanted or needed without taking the chance he would have to do 18 months.

...

 

Not luck no matter what the guard may think.  Elliot even said (to Darlene was it?) that the Dark Army made the moves to get him released early.  Also he mentioned that he had been in "the box" or whatever he called his cell for was it 87 days or 86?  Something in the 80's.  Given the 3 days+ he was out after the 5/9 hack and before his arrest that would move the time line to very early August to match with what Darlene said above.

What was said above about getting rid of Mr Robot is certainly true.  But also the best place he could hide from both the 5/9 hack and the "murder" he thinks he committed (Tyrell) is in prison on a petty charge as well.  Going to prison wasn't just what a crazy person might choose but you could make an argument that a sane person in Elliot's position could also choose it.  And not fighting the charges and avoiding a public trial got him into hiding quicker.

Edited September 1, 2016 by green

[AliShibaz]

I may be mistaken but I seem to remember the guard who released Elliot said words to the effect that large number of prisoners were being released due to the hack and that was the reason Elliot was released. I didn't hear very clearly so I may be mistaken. But my understanding was that huge numbers of non-violent prisoners were being released. I def heard the guard say "non-violent" and I'm fairly sure that despite what Elliot thinks, the reason that many prisoners were released was due to the hack.

Of course, it may be possible that both causes were in effect. Maybe the Dark Army did make some moves to get Elliot reduced at the same time as many other non-violent prisoners were released. It would be quite a co-incidence, but it might well be true. Did anyone hear what was said clearly or have close-captionaing playing?

Edited September 1, 2016 by AliShibaz

[benteen]

Good episode.  I enjoyed the beginning showing what Elliot's time in prison was really like.  I laughed with how bugged out his responses were to the judge and when Mr. Robot appeared on the video feed asking him what the hell he was doing.  It's interesting that the people Elliot initially got the better of keep biting him in the ass.

What's wrong with Elliot's mother?

That deputy director leading Angela down the hall was creepy.  Been enjoying's Angela's storyline a lot this year and like Dom's involvement in it.  Angela was a little less thousand mile stare this episode so that was good.

Loved the scene with Price and Whiterose with Price telling Whiterose to basically **** off.

It took me a while to realize that Joanna had said Ollie too.  A review reminded me that Elliot being behind Stage 2 and not knowing it is another nod to Fight Club.

[green]

Okay in my first post in this tread I talked about the stuff I was more sure of.  In this, the stuff that I have basically no idea about.

The meeting between White Rose (in his Chinese gov't official persona) and Price is perhaps the second biggest new stuff we saw this episode.  It always seemed weird that radiation had caused the deaths at the Jersey plant originally.  Now this is the first hint of why it was radiation instead of the usual toxic chemical soup killing them.  And it involves White Rose himself.  Who earlier was seen peeing on the grave of the former E Corp exec who was in power at the time of the deaths.

Price actually seemed more desperate for money for real than I thought he really was.  But not fearful per se of White Rose's power.  And he alludes to White Rose having "owned" the plant at one time or was it that White Rose wanted to buy it but the US gov't was seizing it?  I'm totally confused about all of this.  Which is what the show runner wants me to be I'm sure, heh.

Of course the biggest news is that Elliot is the one that has planned this Stage Two.  Also that he is a "master" or something?  We are certainly down the rabbit hole with this show.

AliShabaz, yes that is what the guard said.  That's why I said the guard probably has no clue as to what is really going on and repeats the latest edict to come down from on high.  But Elliot either knows or thinks otherwise.  And who is to say that making the conditions so bad that they are forced to release a lot of the non-violent prisoners wasn't orchestrated by the Dark Army as a smoke screen to get Elliot out anyway.  And it would mirror Elliot's smoke screen of freeing all the prisoners to get Vera out too as an added bonus to think about.

Edited September 1, 2016 by green

[SailorGirl]

I haven't watched the episode yet but from the posts here around Elliot's release, I think its pretty clear that White Rose/Dark Army hacked the prison system to get Elliot placed on the early release list. Even if we have no other evidence indicating White Rose/Dark Army was involved, Leon knew Elliot would be getting notification of his release a week before it happened and told Elliot. How would he have known that otherwise?  There's so much bureacracy in agencies any more, no one would think twice about Elliot being in and out in a short time -- to the casual observer, he is just another nonviolent prisoner, one in a line of many cycling through. 

Edited September 1, 2016 by SailorGirl

[luna1122]

Leon waxing rhapsodic about Paul Reiser's genius and not getting the credit he deserves after watching all of 'Mad about You' was, like, my favorite thing ever.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

The hack --> economic meltdown --> cutting prison budgets --> early release for non-violent offenders. 

[possibilities]

1 hour ago, luna1122 said:

Leon waxing rhapsodic about Paul Reiser's genius and not getting the credit he deserves after watching all of 'Mad about You' was, like, my favorite thing ever.

In a show that's generally not a barrel of laughs, I laughed really hard at that, too. I think the contrast between the serious and the goofy makes it even funnier than it would be in another context.

[Primetimer]

Because COME ON MAN.

View the full article

[cali1981]

13 hours ago, saoirse said:

Isn't Ollie Angela's ex? Which would throw a whole NEW wrench into this all...

Yeah and if you recall, Ollie was given the CD by a "street guy" (Dark Army stooge?) that he foolishly inserted into his work PC's drive and that triggered the hack of Allsafe Security.  I don't think that Ollie was known by Tyrell so Joanna might not know who he was, although with all of the twists and hidden turns on this show, who knows?

 

If Elliot is the force behind Stage 2, he in some way shape of form is in cahoots with the Dark Army which explains his early release from County.  Like others have said, maybe Elliot has a third personality.  Mr Robot probably knows nothing about this and "real" Elliot may not either.  Mr. Robot and Elliot seem to be breaking apart at this point.  I do like how the show drops a bomb at the end of one episode and then, at the beginning of the following episode goes back in time to explain what we saw the previous week.  It doesn't always work for shows but for Mr. Robot it does.  I loved the scene between BD Wong and Michael Christofer, two excellent actors at top of their game.  Mr. Green sure has as set of cajones speaking to aka White Rose in the way that he did.  I hope that they don't kill him off. He's just so deliciously evil.

Edited September 1, 2016 by cali1981

[Neurochick]

11 hours ago, AliShibaz said:

Second, the charges make no sense. What Elliot did wrt the dog cannot be called "theft" in any stretch of the imagination. If he had a veiled threat behind the statement, "I need your dog", then maybe the state would charge him with extortion. But theft? Absolutely ridiculous.

I think the charge against Elliot regarding the dog was that the dog cost $1,200 or something like that; that would be grand larceny.

Basically Elliot pleaded guilty because he thought being in prison would rid him of Mr. Robot.

What is wrong with their mother?  She looked so old, but she's about fifty or something, so I don't remember if it was mentioned what was wrong with her.

I thought the Price/WhiteRose stuff was interesting; so the Chinese owned that plant in Jersey and maybe that's what WhiteRose is fighting for?

And another cliffhanger.

[Cardie]

Are the Chinese (or a rogue Chinese faction led by Zhang/Whiterose) working on a two-decade-long plan to produce nukes on American soil? That's what the conversation between Price and Whiterose strongly suggests. If so, what do they plan to do with them? Hold our country for ransom? Wipe out much of the Eastern seaboard?

And if Elliot authored Stage 2, I agree that there is some malign third personality that neither he nor Mr. Robot was aware of; but they are now sensing that something is off as that presence begins to impinge on them.

[Scott]

12 hours ago, AliShibaz said:

Second, the charges make no sense. What Elliot did wrt the dog cannot be called "theft" in any stretch of the imagination. If he had a veiled threat behind the statement, "I need your dog", then maybe the state would charge him with extortion. But theft? Absolutely ridiculous.

Also, don't forget--at that point he was only being _charged_ with theft, probably based mostly on the word of the guy he got the dog from.  They may not have been able to prove that charge in court, but they didn't have to, since he pled guilty.

[Cekrypton1]

I believe Mrs. Wellick calls Eliiot "Ollie" as that is how he identified himself to her when they met outside her apartment at the end of S1. It was in the previouslies for this episode, so it's not exactly any new bombshell piece of information. That is how she knows him, not that Eliot has been Angela's ex- Ollie all this time.

[Rinaldo]

Well of course. I'm not a taker of notes or rewatcher by any means, but I recalled that right away.

[Sydka]

Seriously?  Has Angela never seen "Michael Clayton" or "The Bourne Ultimatum"?  When you find damning evidence on a corporation or any entity more powerful than you, you DO NOT bring it to the authorities yourself.  And you do not confront that entity.  The first rule of whistleblowing is "Disseminate Disseminate Disseminate."   If you're the only one holding the evidence, you've got a target on your back.  Bring your evidence to trustworthy media outlets.  More than one.  Because if you give it to just one reporter, then that person has a target on her back too.  2 people are easy to get rid of.   The entire staff of 10 different media outlets -- not so much.  Angela was lucky to get out of that creepy hallway alive.

Generally I found this episode unsatisfying.  There were little moments I loved -- Darlene bringing Elliot French fries; Darlene on the couch with Mr. Robot -- but otherwise the whole hour felt like set up.  Getting the chess pieces into position for some future attack.   I understand the writers and producers approached this season as one long, 12-hour movie.  From that perspective the episode does work within the story.    But as a stand-alone hour of television, it felt kind of empty.   I wonder if this show might be better as a binge-watch.  That's how I watched Season 1, and I loved that experience.  This episode set up about 6 shoes that need to drop within just 3 more episodes.  Waiting a week between episodes is frustrating.  It's important in serialized TV that each episode stand on its own, and this one didn't for me.

[marcee]

3 hours ago, Cardie said:

Are the Chinese (or a rogue Chinese faction led by Zhang/Whiterose) working on a two-decade-long plan to produce nukes on American soil? That's what the conversation between Price and Whiterose strongly suggests. If so, what do they plan to do with them? Hold our country for ransom? Wipe out much of the Eastern seaboard?

Huh?

What did I miss? Nukes?

[Cardie]

49 minutes ago, marcee said:

What did I miss? Nukes?

The Washington Township factory that poisoned Angela's mom and Elliot's dad was leaking radiation and continues to do so. When Angela got all the info on the place, she went straight to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It's not such a leap to go from these facts to a suspicion that Whiterose's long interest in the site has something to do with nukes.

[green]

4 hours ago, Cardie said:

Are the Chinese (or a rogue Chinese faction led by Zhang/Whiterose) working on a two-decade-long plan to produce nukes on American soil? That's what the conversation between Price and Whiterose strongly suggests. If so, what do they plan to do with them? Hold our country for ransom? Wipe out much of the Eastern seaboard?

And if Elliot authored Stage 2, I agree that there is some malign third personality that neither he nor Mr. Robot was aware of; but they are now sensing that something is off as that presence begins to impinge on them.

Well something radioactive might not be a nuke.  And the plant would have been pretty obvious if it was building a nuke there I would think.  Weapons grade uranium and heavy water being brought in and a huge facility would be pretty hard to disguise.  The radiation wouldn't have stayed hidden at that level for years either.  And there were too many regular people like Elliot's father and Angela's mother working there to hide stuff going on to that degree.

Besides  White Rose seems too subtle to go that route.  And Elliot's father was a hardware engineer there or a "computer engineer" I think they termed it.  Can't put bombs inside computers. The mystery deepens.

Edited September 1, 2016 by green

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Cardie said:

The Washington Township factory that poisoned Angela's mom and Elliot's dad was leaking radiation and continues to do so. When Angela got all the info on the place, she went straight to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It's not such a leap to go from these facts to a suspicion that Whiterose's long interest in the site has something to do with nukes.

I was assuming a nuclear power plant. But why is Whiterose/Zhang so possessive of it?

[Cardie]

That was my point. More may be going on there--or is planned to go on there--than meets the eye.

[luvly]

23 hours ago, AliShibaz said:

Second, the charges make no sense. What Elliot did wrt the dog cannot be called "theft" in any stretch of the imagination. If he had a veiled threat behind the statement, "I need your dog", then maybe the state would charge him with extortion. But theft? Absolutely ridiculous.

He did make veiled threats though. He told the guy that he knew about his wife, his multiple affairs, Ashley Madison account, escorts, etc. He specifically told him "I got digital proof of all of it" and that if he didn't tell Krista and break up with her, he'd tell his wife and the police (he lied and told him one of the escorts was underage). His last line to him is "And one more thing...I'm going to need something from you" and then he had Flipper. The threats are coercion and gaining money or property through coercion is theft by extortion.

12 hours ago, cali1981 said:

Yeah and if you recall, Ollie was given the CD by a "street guy" (Dark Army stooge?) that he foolishly inserted into his work PC's drive and that triggered the hack of Allsafe Security.  I don't think that Ollie was known by Tyrell so Joanna might not know who he was, although with all of the twists and hidden turns on this show, who knows? 

Cisco, Darlene's boyfriend, was the Dark Army street guy that gave Ollie the spyware CD. Ollie put it in his laptop and they gained access to everything on it, including the conversations between him and the girl he was cheating with, naked pictures of Angela, and her and her father's bank accounts. Cisco said he wouldn't sell their info is they infected Allsafe with the CD. Ollie didn't want to do it but Angela did because her dad's info was on there too, so she pretended to forgive him for the cheating and then took the disk and infected Allsafe, using his computer and badge, I believe.

[Miles]

13 hours ago, cali1981 said:

Yeah and if you recall, Ollie was given the CD by a "street guy" (Dark Army stooge?) that he foolishly inserted into his work PC's drive and that triggered the hack of Allsafe Security. 

The street guy was Cisco. That's where Angela recognised him from a few episodes ago.

13 hours ago, cali1981 said:

I don't think that Ollie was known by Tyrell so Joanna might not know who he was, although with all of the twists and hidden turns on this show, who knows?

Joanna just called Elliot Ollie, because that was the name Elliot gave her when they first met.

7 hours ago, green said:

Well something radioactive might not be a nuke.  And the plant would have been pretty obvious if it was building a nuke there I would think.  Weapons grade uranium and heavy water being brought in and a huge facility would be pretty hard to disguise.  The radiation wouldn't have stayed hidden at that level for years either.  And there were too many regular people like Elliot's father and Angela's mother working there to hide stuff going on to that degree.

Do we know what kind of plant it is though? Might be a nuclear power plant. We actually saw one with the E-Logo on the cooling towers in the intro of the Mr. Robot sitcom episode. Might have been a subtle hint.

You'd have all the materials you need to build a bomb in such a plant. Might be something else though. Still think that it's probably a nuclear power plant.

[AliShibaz]

51 minutes ago, luvly said:

He did make veiled threats though. He told the guy that he knew about his wife, his multiple affairs, Ashley Madison account, escorts, etc. He specifically told him "I got digital proof of all of it" and that if he didn't tell Krista and break up with her, he'd tell his wife and the police (he lied and told him one of the escorts was underage). His last line to him is "And one more thing...I'm going to need something from you" and then he had Flipper. The threats are coercion and gaining money or property through coercion is theft by extortion.

Cisco, Darlene's boyfriend, was the Dark Army street guy that gave Ollie the spyware CD. Ollie put it in his laptop and they gained access to everything on it, including the conversations between him and the girl he was cheating with, naked pictures of Angela, and her and her father's bank accounts. Cisco said he wouldn't sell their info is they infected Allsafe with the CD. Ollie didn't want to do it but Angela did because her dad's info was on there too, so she pretended to forgive him for the cheating and then took the disk and infected Allsafe, using his computer and badge, I believe.

If you check my post, you will see I clearly admitted that threats were implied. There is no question about that.

When someone commits extortion they are charged with extortion. When comeone commits theft they are charged with theft.

That is why one is called extortion and the other one is called theft. They are two different crimes - separate and distinct. You can't get charged with both. That is called "double jeopardy".

At least that is what they teach in law schools.

Edited September 2, 2016 by AliShibaz

[thuganomics85]

Wait, Elliot planned Stage two, instead of the Dark Army?  And neither he or Mr. Robot knows about it?  Is there another personality going on here, or does Elliot not remembers this part?  So much confusion!

Angela really should have leaked the information she found online or something.  Going in person is never a winning strategy.  Not sure how long she can keep this up.  Dom is now openly confronting her and trying to offer her an out.  But is she bluffing about how much they have over her? I could have sworn in a past episode that Dom's superior was telling her to knock it off, so would they be tailing Angela?

Cisco survived that bat attack, and is still helping out Darlene.  He has to go back to the apartment to find that video tape, only to find.... someone.  Darlene also answers the door and is surprised to see.... someone. I guess we'll find out in a week or two.  I'm guessing at least one of them will either be Mobley or Trenton.

The scene between Price and Whiterose was awesome.  As much as I love Whiterose, I love that Price isn't fazed at all by any of the veiled threats.

Joanna!  Joanna and Elliot!  Can't wait to see more of that.  Are we ever going to find out what happened to Tyrell?!

The opening of how Elliot went to prison was fun.  Ray being the warden was something.  I do hope we see Leon again, because he was pretty awesome.

Confusing episode and it mainly seemed to be setting up future episodes, so it wasn't my favorite.

[yourmomiseasy]

11 hours ago, Sydka said:

Seriously?  Has Angela never seen "Michael Clayton" or "The Bourne Ultimatum"?  When you find damning evidence on a corporation or any entity more powerful than you, you DO NOT bring it to the authorities yourself.  And you do not confront that entity.  The first rule of whistleblowing is "Disseminate Disseminate Disseminate."   If you're the only one holding the evidence, you've got a target on your back.  Bring your evidence to trustworthy media outlets.  More than one.  Because if you give it to just one reporter, then that person has a target on her back too.  2 people are easy to get rid of.   The entire staff of 10 different media outlets -- not so much.  Angela was lucky to get out of that creepy hallway alive.

Not only that, she used the stolen creds on her own workstation in the office.  I was like "oh, honey."  She's so in over her head.  They log that shit.  As soon as those documents surface it will be discovered that they came from her.

1 hour ago, AliShibaz said:

If you check my post, you will see I clearly admitted that threats were implied. There is no question about that.

When someone commits extortion they are charged with extortion. When comeone commits theft they are charged with theft.

That is why one is called extortion and the other one is called theft. They are two different crimes - separate and distinct. You can't get charged with both. That is called "double jeopardy".

At least that is what they teach in law schools.

It doesn't matter if the charges would have held up in court since he pled guilty.  Double jeopardy is actually when you are tried twice for the same crime after already being found innocent -- i.e. being tried for murder, getting off, then being tried again for the same murder because new evidence came up.  You can be tried on multiple charges for the same crime at the same time.  For instance if I committed bank fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion all as the part of one scheme I would be tried for all 3 at the same time at my trial.  Another example is if the DA isn't certain they can get a murder conviction they might also include the lesser charge of manslaughter at the same trial and let the jury decide which applies. 

[Kalliste]

23 hours ago, green said:

Of course the biggest news is that Elliot is the one that has planned this Stage Two.  Also that he is a "master" or something?  We are certainly down the rabbit hole with this show.

My understanding of the 'master' comment was about him hacking the phone. The guy said his phone was clean and then after that the connection died.

On 9/1/2016 at 2:31 PM, morgankobi said:

Peepholes, people. For Pete's sake!

Yes! I was thinking "why do these people just keep blindly opening their doors?"

 

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Angela really should have leaked the information she found online or something.  Going in person is never a winning strategy.  Not sure how long she can keep this up.  Dom is now openly confronting her and trying to offer her an out.  But is she bluffing about how much they have over her? I could have sworn in a past episode that Dom's superior was telling her to knock it off, so would they be tailing Angela?

I couldn't believe she'd be so stupid. Especially to show up there in person with documents she can't quite explain how she got. And that she logged into the bosses account on her computer! Did she learn nothing at All Safe.. so stupid.

Overall I thought the episode was average, I was thinking how I prefer the storylines that don't include Elliott and Mr. Robot. I'm really pretty tired of this fight for power between the two so now if we have a third I may just give up. I was hoping the glitches Elliott and Mr. Robot felt was Elliott regaining control or somehow losing Mr. Robot.. oh well, wishful thinking I guess.

[green]

I thought of one other new event in this episode I forgot to mention and maybe get you all to discuss.  For the first time Elliot mentioned the name Mr Robot in front of Darlene who gives him a very strange look.  Like she didn't know he had a second personality and it was their late father's or Elliot's version of same.

Yet there was a scene when he tried to kiss her on the bench out at Coney Island that she had to tell Elliot or hint strongly until he remembered that she was his sister so she knows he isn't playing with a full deck.

Is that it?  She knew he wasn't playing with a full deck but had no idea he is actually playing with two overly messed up decks?

She also looked totally surprised to find out Elliot was the one who had apparently planed for this Stage Two thing.  So she and f.society have no idea about this whole aspect at all.

How much does Darlene know about Elliot and/or Mr Robot?

Edited September 2, 2016 by green

[luvly]

12 hours ago, AliShibaz said:

If you check my post, you will see I clearly admitted that threats were implied. There is no question about that.

When someone commits extortion they are charged with extortion. When comeone commits theft they are charged with theft.

That is why one is called extortion and the other one is called theft. They are two different crimes - separate and distinct. You can't get charged with both. That is called "double jeopardy".

At least that is what they teach in law schools.

In the State of New York, extortion is not a separate crime. I'm sure you know this, but coercion +gaining money or property = extortion. Coercion on its own is a crime; a misdemeanor normally, but a class D felony if you coerce someone into committing a felony, injuring someone or violate their duty as a public servant. If you gain money or property however, New York no longer considers that coercion, it's now larceny. Grand larceny in the fourth degree is a class E felony and applies if the property, regardless of value or nature, is obtained by extortion (ie. theft by extortion) or if the property's value exceeds $1,000. So even if they couldn't prove the previous coercion, just taking a dog that costs more than $1,000 is grand larceny in the fourth degree. I really appreciate that TPTB really do their research about what they put on the show, whether is be coding or laws. 

[yourmomiseasy]

Given this is the Mr. Robot forum, I'm going to assume the above spam links are a nefarious exploit trying to p0wn our computers.

[Cardie]

17 hours ago, AliShibaz said:

You can't get charged with both. That is called "double jeopardy".

No, double jeopardy is the concept that prevents you from ever being subsequently re-tried for a crime of which you have been acquitted/

I'm sure Krista's creepy boyfriend said "That guy stole my dog" and because Elliot was making no defense, he never explained exactly how things went down. Thus he is charged with and pleads guilty to theft.

[morgankobi]

I had to go back and watch the Whiterose/Price scene a second time because the way Price was mostly framed off to the left, I spent most of the first time through waiting for something to kill/whack him from the right side of the screen.

[Guest]

Random thoughts about this episode:

* I think Stage 2 might have been created during Elliot's missing three-days and that's why he doesn't remember it.

* I actually thought when he first identified himself to Joanna, he said his name was "Amolé" (and I thought, wow, that's a weird, off-the-cuff fake name) -- instead of him saying, "I'm Ollie."  

* When Darlene opens the door to the mystery knocker, you can tell she's looking at more than one person - her eyes shift to several unseen people. So my thought is her boyfriend turned up at the door with whoever the moaning person was in the lawyer's house. 

I'm still hoping that, at some point, there's justice for dog. 

[queenanne]

On 9/1/2016 at 10:40 AM, luna1122 said:

Leon waxing rhapsodic about Paul Reiser's genius and not getting the credit he deserves after watching all of 'Mad about You' was, like, my favorite thing ever.

Agreed, I'd like to see Leon get out of prison and come to visit Elliot.  The actor sold it adorably.

I assumed because Darlene's eyes darted in both directions that she'd gotten a visit from her very own FBI double-team as Dom threatened Angela secondhand.  Can't wait to see for sure what happens next week.

[kat165]

I missed the first 5 min of the ep. Did we ever find out what happened to the dog?

[Kalliste]

14 minutes ago, kat165 said:

I missed the first 5 min of the ep. Did we ever find out what happened to the dog?

We just saw Elliott's place get stormed by the cops (?) and the main guy mentioned getting animal control in for it. Nothing mentioned after that that I recall.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, morgankobi said:

I had to go back and watch the Whiterose/Price scene a second time because the way Price was mostly framed off to the left, I spent most of the first time through waiting for something to kill/whack him from the right side of the screen.

Zhang/Whiterose looked so angry at Price in the beginning, that I was expecting we would lose Price as a character very soon--which would be sad since he's a great villain.

 

5 hours ago, queenanne said:

Agreed, I'd like to see Leon get out of prison and come to visit Elliot.  The actor sold it adorably....

Leon could be my favorite character. He better stay real -- in all meanings of the word "real." And yes, a visit would be nice. 

[mwell345]

The last two episodes have restored my faith in this show - prior to that, I was getting bored.  Glad to see Elliot back in the action again!