Who Is Mr. Robot’s Landlord? Eps3.6fredrick&tanya.chk

Okay, so I was wrong about E-Corp being done, but they would have been done but for the Dark Army wanting them to survive...Fine fine, I can’t always be right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Robot Eps3.6fredrick&tanya.chk is about coming to grips with complicity and accepting the expectation of sacrifice. In other words, things are totally nuts (as usual). Enjoy!

Anyway, In case you missed last week’s  “Who Is Mr. Robot’s Landlord?” here is my recap of Eps3.5.kill-process.inc

Oh, and if you missed it last week, I also put together a Spotify playlist of songs that I think could easily fit on Mr. Robot and which speak to some element of a character or the show in general to me,  here is that playlist:

You can also follow me on Spotify, I am ypsifactj (I do regular playlists and my top 20 albums of 2017 will be coming soon).

If you have not watched every episode of Mr. Robot or read Red Wheelbarrow this could contain spoilers *Spoiler Alert*

Angela Has (Not) Left The Buildings

I wasn’t expecting this.

Angela is broken.

In case you missed it, last week there were some pretty heavy hints that Phillip Price is Angela Moss’s real father (he may or may not have acquired the power of the Dark Side of the Force too).

Phillip Price agreed, way back in the post-credit scene from Season 1, to get rid of the lawsuit that Angela Moss was bringing against the Washington Township Facility. Turns out, as we later learned Price did not get rid of the lawsuit and ‘whiterose’ had to spike it himself by meeting with Angela.

Now here is where things get trippy and theoretical (not sure I am right here) but there were heavy overtones that ‘whiterose’ (I know it was Zhang but Zhang is really ‘whiterose’...respect) was getting revenge not just by running Price out of  E-Corp but also by breaking Angela.

Yes, what I am saying is that ‘whiterose’ was so pissed at Phillip Price for not doing what he said he would do that he used his inside knowledge about Angela to take her “faith” from her mother and used it to turn her and break her mind.

Remember, until the end of last season, Angela was the only person who was not morally complicit in 5/9 or with the Dark Army. Angela had actually tried to take down the WTF and E-Corp through legal and legitimate means.

Portia Doubleday has said in interviews for years that she and Elliot were trying to do the same thing through different means. Yes, she was trying to do them without hurting anyone while Elliot was taking down the entire world economy marooning millions in poverty.

Whiterose convinced Angela that he could change the world and reunite her with her mother and Angela changed sides believing in the essential goodness of ‘whiterose.”

Big mistake.

Now, all Angela, who is really deep down a fundamentally good person, can do is sit and rewind the tape of the 71 buildings collapsing to convince herself everyone will be okay.  Over and over and over and over again.

And remember, this was because Price showed that his true allegiance was to Angela (family) more than to the Dark Army.

This was also the purpose of the last scene when Grant explains that every member of the Dark Army believes in suicide at a minutes notice because they believe in the cause.

So, ‘whiterose’ wanted to not only humiliate and ruin Price, he wanted him to see what happens to the people more important to him than his allegiance to the Dark Army.

Wow.

Brutal.

I don’t think Price knows what has happened to Angela, but she is in pretty bad shape. As I said last week, her faith is coming into conflict with her complicity, and now it is impossible to ignore her complicity.

Poor Angela is just sitting there, watching the building collapse, repeating the casualty count, and then rewinding the footage over and over.

I would not be surprised if Angela is part of the leverage WR will use to ensure that Price stays in line since he already signaled that she was more important than the DA to him.

By the way, I personally think ‘whiterose’ has seriously underestimated Price (as I mentioned in an article earlier this week, although I was wrong about the E-Corp part and the E-Coin part <sigh>).

Oh, and in other news, we now know two more things:

1. At the very beginning of the Mar A Lago scene, Zhang said, and I quote, “nothing creates profit quite like global conflict.”

2. Zhang told Price that he is going to help the DA move the WTF to the Congo before he has to name his own successor.

Hello, Dr. Strangelove theory is ON. Cobalt, Congo, Nuclear Power, and ‘Global Conflict.’

And yes, I do understand that he could be referring to the terrorist attacks, although that is not really “global conflict.”

Now, this could be a way to start a global conflict between the United States and Iran (started with a dirty bomb, supposedly of Iranian design, set off somewhere in the United States).

I have been trying to figure out why a sub-state actor, without territory, would want a WMD, but it could be to start a war.

Anyway, it was very sad to see Angela so broken, she is my second favorite character and she just got devastated by my first favorite character <sigh>.

Just Irving Being Irving

For some stupid reason, Mr. Robot decides to tell poor Krista that he set off 5/9 and is at least connected to the 71 buildings.

The writers cover this up by having Krista’s lawyer inform her that she isn’t obligated (and might lose her license for sharing that information with the authority, which is technically correct because he confessed to a past crime and not to a future crime.

As some quick legal information site I looked up quickly put it:

Generally, when does a therapist have to break confidentiality with a client?

1. If the client may be an immediate danger to himself or others

2. If the client is endangering a population that cannot protect itself, such as the case of child or elder abuse

3. To share diagnosis information as necessary to obtain payment for services

4. As required by federal or state laws

Still, there are some exceptions, for instance, if Krista was subpoenaed or if she reported that she believed he was a risk to himself and others she might have to report. I am not 100%, but I think in this instance she might be able to cover her disclosure by saying that she believed Elliot was a risk to himself and others and might be involved in a future attack on the United States (yes, there is a Patriot Act exception - but it is generally when subpoenaed).

Anyway, Krista isn’t going to tell on Elliot. Okay. I guess my question is why Krista cares more about her career than Elliot’s dangerousness, but okay whatever.

Mr. Robot leaves Krista’s place and goes straight to Irving’s where he tries to confront Irving (who is fixing a car) but gets knocked out from behind by the Dark Army.

When he comes to, Irving points out a party going on in a penthouse and tells Mr. Robot that it doesn’t really matter what happens (not even the death of 1000s), nothing will stop that kind of party.

He tells Mr. R that the only reason his plan ever happened was because people like the people at the party let it happen (wanted it to happen) and suggested not too subtly that it was time for him to face facts and move on.

In other words, rich people don’t give two damns about anything but themselves and other rich people (see POTUS tax cut plan for more proof).

After sharing this story with Mr. Robot, Irving leaves him on the street alone and heads up to the party to remove the now dead mistress of a Senator who did too much blow (Boogie Night's style).

Sam Esmail, a plea, could we arrange a movie where Irving and Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction work together (buddy comedy)?

But here is what I still don’t understand, why is the Dark Army leaving any of these folks alive? I mean I get Angela because ‘whiterose’ is using her to punish Price.

I guess I get Tyrell because they have his kid (or know where his kid is).

But why are Darlene and Elliot still alive?

Why does ‘whiterose’ still need them alive? Given that Elliot is a real risk of trying to get revenge or muck up the Dark Army plans, this problem is really baffling me right now.

If you have theories, let me know, I will think about it and get back to you.

Santiago is a Real A-Hole

No nice way to put this. Santiago was about as much of a jerk as he could possibly be to Tyrell and for what reason?

One thing that I did get right was that Tyrell would play along because the Dark Army has his kid.

I am a bit confused as to why he played along up until the point where Santiago told him his wife was dead (I want to read the damn note) but he played along.

So, Tyrell made a deal with the FBI to tell them who the real terrorists were and he also, of course, points out Fredrick and Tanya aka Trenton and Mobley.

In other news, Dom is pretty sure Santiago is corrupt (you think?). When Santiago read her the riot act and said that she worked for him, she seemed pretty unconvinced. She is a super-agent, or at least always has been, she called his bluff last week and I fully expect she is going to take him down soon.

At the moment, however, she thinks 'whiterose' is going to get away with it because the bureaucracy seems to prefer the lie over the truth (simpler to sell).

Also, since they keep showing Santiago doing questionable things on his cell phone, I suspect he will be in trouble because of his cell phone (he sent the text "location burnt" with his phone and also told his Mom she could get him in trouble because she told her friends that he warned her about the 71 buildings). Maybe Dom turns him and maybe she just turns him in, but that phone is important (no wasted information on Mr. Robot).

By The Time I Get To Arizona

So we finally paid off the post-credit scene from Season One and we also got the payoff from the post-credit scene from Season Two.

Yes, earlier in the season, I suggested that Trenton and Mobley were making the new Fsociety videos with Leon in Arizona which turned out not to be true. However, they were being set up to be framed for making the new Fsociety videos (so I was close).

Leon was babysitting Trenton and Mobley until the time when they were needed to play the role of the Iranian’s responsible for the 71 buildings disaster and planning an attack on American airports using planes as bombs (9/11 style).

Leon, as usual, was hilarious.

He killed Mobley’s roommate and then forced Trenton and Mobley to go with him to bury the body. Trenton got herself out of her handcuffs while Leon was digging the hole and proceeded to drive herself and Mobley right into a rock.

“That’s no way to treat a Caddy,” said Leon.

My favorite line was probably:

“You guys are funny in a George and Elaine kind of way, don't try me, you don't wanna know where this knife been, feel me?”

Oh, and probably important to mention that Leon is now obsessed with Knight Rider and the Knight Rider theme.

Anyway, it was a swan song for Trenton and Mobley, Grant showed up and the Dark Army soldiers staged a double suicide right before the US troops showed up.

RIP Trenton and Mobley <sigh>.

Also, Dom thinks this was all wrapped up in a neat bow way too conveniently, she knows it is all bullshit.

Okay, we only have three (or maybe four) weeks left.

Lessons from tonight:

1. Leon is still funny

2. Don’t mess with ‘whiterose’

I am still predicting that a combination, not necessarily a coordinated combination, of Elliot, Mr. Robot, Dom, Darlene (maybe Angela?), and Price take ‘whiterose’ and her plan down.

Much anger will be the result.

Okay, see you next week!