Mr. Robot: Season 2/ Episode 10 "eps2.8_h1dden-pr0cess.axx" – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Trigger Warning(s):
Gun Shots

Main Plot (with Commentary)

Topic 1: An Unlikely Team (Elliot & Joanna)

Joanna’s driver is a menacing man, and perhaps the sole reason Elliot even entertains Joanna. Someone who, despite seemingly ready to divorce the man, is trying to claim how much she loves him and how this breathing on the phone must be him right? Surely Elliot, the master hacker, can find her husband? Well, little does she know her husband is dead and she is a widow but Mr. Robot doesn’t think it is smart to reveal such information.

{Commentary}

As usual, Joanna remains a bit of an outlier. To me, she is the only character who hasn’t really become someone you get an emotional reaction of. She is still the hot wife, as is reinforced by her mostly appearing in sexual situations and not even in a femme fatale type of way. But maybe one day she may evolve.

Switching to Elliot, the old boy has a few new toys thanks to Joanna pushing him to help her. But what is perhaps noteworthy here is Joanna’s driver. This mysterious bodyguard dude has this vibe that he may be an undercover agent. One who could be, long term, trying to catch wind of where Tyrell maybe and with Elliot, thanks to hacking the NYPD, gets a ping, off that man goes. Leaving Elliot to deal with an old friend.

Topic 2: The End of the Line (Cisco, Angela, Dominique, and Darlene)

It all had to catch up to them sooner or later right? Cisco hanging with Darlene, who is losing it and, as Cisco says, has masqueraded as a leader and has done so terribly. After all, Trenton and Mobley have taken off to the wind, when Vincent, one of the DC operatives, shows up her first thought seems to be letting him die, and it shows Darlene has gone off the deep end. Though all things considered, she may have been screwed up for a while. Take for example how fondly she remembers being kidnapped and almost wishing she wasn’t fond. For, outside of missing Elliot, she liked the change of pace.

Well, it may be time for Elliot to miss her. For, you see, with multiple people identifying Cisco, and the FBI deciding to use the media to smoke him out, well the Dark Army possibly gets involved. We still can’t say the men whose faces we never see are part of the Dark Army, but considering the same night Cisco face is revealed they go to the diner he and Darlene are at and shoot it up, needless to say, there is a likely chance these soldiers are the fingers of White Rose.

But who survived? Well, Dominique, after following many bread crumbs to find Cisco and Darlene, she makes it out alive. However, it isn’t clear if the shooter got his target, much less Darlene. So, it is going to be one of two things: Either one or both will end up in the hospital or Elliot might be planning a funeral.

Which will be the 2^nd downer of the night for Angela, under the alias Claudia Kincaid, reveals Dominique is onto her and she is prepping to admit to her part in the F-Society and 5/9 attacks. She isn’t going to mention Elliot or his friends, but she does want to know before it goes down, why did he start F-Society? Of which an answer isn’t really given. However, with this being a real possible goodbye, for a while, a hug turns into a kiss and then comes what may be the final stop in their relationship. For once Elliot gets off that empty train car, either the FBI or Dark Army get on and that leads to another character maybe at the end of the line.

{Commentary}

Will they actually kill off a lead character? Gideon’s death was a shock, but honestly, I forgot about it until I started thinking of who else died on this show. But Gideon’s death didn’t send shockwaves. His death seemed to just signify it was the end of his story and, at that point, he was just fat on the meat. When it comes to this situation, though, the people who might be killed, or imprisoned, are a bit more essential.

Granted, killing Cisco would be the easy choice. But then you have to factor how Darlene will react. Arguably, even more so than Elliot, Cisco grounds her. Yes, he may fight with her constantly, but he tries to gear her toward normalcy and chilling out. That is, as opposed to Elliot who, in my opinion, perhaps took advantage of her need for his approval and companionship. Hence why, when he disappeared, she took over. Not because she perhaps fully believes in the goal to take down E-Corp as he does, but because she knows this project is important to him and she doesn’t want to have him have one less reason to come back.

Yet, honestly, it seems unlikely that either she or Angela may be in mortal danger. For while this season has done its best to make a compelling twist and shock us, it hasn’t really done it well. It has often picked the safest route and chosen whatever can best fill the episode order of the show. So for them to kill one of the two female leads, I don’t think Mr. Robot, as a show, has the guts.

Highlights

Dominique finally being on the brink of catching a member, and an accomplice, of F-Society.

Low Points

Joanna’s existence on this show.

On The Fence

What will happen with Angela, Darlene, and Cisco? Are they about to die, go to jail, or will something else happen to them?