Mr. Robot: Eps3.1undo.gz

October 19, 2017 8:20 AM - Season 3, Episode 2

Elliot becomes encouraged trying to undo five/nine; Darlene gets stuck between a rock and a hard place; Mr. Robot sparks a panic.

‘Mr. Robot’ Season 3, Episode 2: Elliot Hits Undo (NY Times)

Mr. Robot Might Be the Most Challenging Show on TV Right Now -- And it's absolutely worth every second. (Esquire recap)

Mr. Robot Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Undo -- Elliot has a very awkward birthday with help from Dancing with the Stars, some emojis, and the FBI. (Den of Geek review, 3.5/5)

Music from this episode, listed on Tunefind

posted by filthy light thief (16 comments total)

But didn't we see that his father was a weak-willed man, and that Mr. Robot is a weird coping mechanism? In other words, I don't think AI implanted from his father's brain would be so forceful. It was his mother who was the (scary/ overwhelmingly) strong/forceful one.

And a bit of context to a brief note from White Rose's second in command/ assistant person: "Sir, Stage 2 is only meant to be implemented if Price doesn't come through. If the U.N. approves our annexation of the Congo, we can finally move our operation to the country's Luwow mine."

Luwow and other mines are sources of tantalum, and while it used to be a conflict mineral, it is now conflict-free, but not without serious concerns: Picks, pans and bare hands: How miners in the heart of Africa toil in terrible conditions to extract the rare minerals that power your iPhone (Daily Mail exclusive, Oct 2015)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:13 AM on October 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

Rami Malek continues to mesmerize, as does BD Wong.

Some pretty gruesome moments there, on the mortician's table - there's such tense restraint throughout this series that that kind of cathartic horror was kind of unexpected. Not unfitting, though, given the ice-queen evilness of Joanna. Will season 5 be far enough in the future for her blood-spattered infant to come back for revenge?
posted by progosk at 4:12 PM on October 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

There is a very real controversy of China systematically taking over land and mines in Africa through its state-sponsored corporations. I can only hope this brings it that issue to more people's attention.
posted by numaner at 3:12 PM on October 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was surprised Joanna was killed off, and not exactly how I pictured it either. Kind of underwhelming yet ironic given the bravado of the character.
posted by numaner at 3:14 PM on October 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

Amazing episode.
posted by roolya_boolya at 9:56 AM on October 21, 2017

I read some spoilers (here! I am thankful for FanFare!) before I watched this episode and I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous one, so it looks like that's my plan of attack from here on out.

Still, when Whiterose said (I think this is verbatim, but I'm not 100% sure), "don't confuse my generosity for generosity", it really annoyed me. I understand but, ugh. Whiterose is so precise. That should've been better.
posted by minsies at 6:12 PM on October 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have never seen a person on film say "I'm lonely" and cry, let alone a man.

That moment was amazing for me. In its simplicity, in the fact that it is "daring" even though it's one of the simplest emotional experiences around. The stuff that no one talks about except anonymous people who like to reinforce their own problematic stuff in microscopic detail in subreddits.
posted by sylvanshine at 7:13 PM on October 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Hey folks. I'd originally sent this to someone who had, through their writing, motivated me enough to watch the show a while ago. Then I checked online and saw that it appeared no one else had done this yet, then I checked Reddit and saw that a few people were trying to do it, but were not successful.

So I created a throwaway Reddit account with an anonymous e-mail provider and posted this there. Just to be internet famous. Now I'm posting here just in case you're curious, and hope you enjoy it. Because I only care about you, MeFi.

The QR code from Elliot's ID badge.
(If you've seen the episode, this should not spoil anything at all.)
posted by herrdoktor at 11:34 AM on October 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

haha - but that's pre-Braddock, whom he saw to getting frog-marched out, in order to be able present to L Spencer (and that, too, seems to have gone according to plan...)
posted by progosk at 1:03 PM on October 23, 2017

Yes! And there's more to the e-corp-usa.com site -- including an employee login...
posted by fritillary at 11:40 PM on October 24, 2017

Still having a hard time with this season. It's just so grim. Also very complicated, I've kind of lost track of some of the plots. Killing off Joanna seems wise; as much as I liked her character, that side plot was nonsensical.

I was glad to see Eliot return to doing something positive and acting, even if it is "fixing" Evil Corp. Very glad to get back to Dom and to Whiterose/Zhang. Glad to see Darlene's story advancing, having her play a double agent is pretty good.

I loved the line "don't confuse my generosity for generosity"! BD Wong delivered it so deliciously slowly you were sure he'd say something more conventional. Instead, woah. They've got Michael Cristofer chewing the scenery a bit too much as Price though. He's got more range, he was great in Rubicon.
posted by Nelson at 7:23 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

herrdoktor: The QR code from Elliot's ID badge.

fritillary: Yes! And there's more to the e-corp-usa.com site -- including an employee login...

There's a full-on ARG for this show, some of it tied into Amazon's Alexa. Winners of last season's ARG got their names into the show and/or elements of the ARG.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:33 AM on October 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Alexa tie-in reminds me how awkward the Trunk Club product placement was. I assume these are paid placements? Alexa featured in a scene in the past season, too, although it didn't bug me as much.
posted by Nelson at 10:00 AM on October 26, 2017

I thought the Trunk Club thing was sort of a sideways slam. "Here, you want to fit in? Do this thing and you'll have an endless stream of ways to not be noticed at all."
posted by hippybear at 8:43 PM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I have never seen a person on film say "I'm lonely" and cry, let alone a man

There was a very similar scene in the pilot (they even mirrored the shot of him crying in the corner) and it was one of the things that hooked me into the show. It’s so raw and honest and unadorned.

I’m catching up after having completely missed the show when it first started airing (I heard people talking about it but thought it would be some white techbro nonsense or another too-clever but no heart mystery box show). But I was completely blown away by Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody so I decided to give it a shot. And it’s funny, one of the things I commented on in the Fanfare BH thread was how willing the movie was to show Freddie Mercury be lonely in a really human, non-glamorous way. And now I’m pretty sure that was all Rami (since the screenplay for that movie was not so brave).

(And now I’m trying to pace myself as I make my way through the seasons, like Elliot with his morphine, and having a lot less success.)
posted by lunasol at 7:35 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Loved the opener (up through the credits). Every time they have him do one of the repeated routines (e.g. his old morphine habit, his jail routine), I like it. With New Sensation in the background, it also reminded me of the season one episode where he gets a starbucks on his way to AllSafe because he's gonna really try and just be a normal employee.

"Don't mistake my generosity for [beat] generosity." Love

I have never seen a person on film say "I'm lonely" and cry, let alone a man

That was totally nice.

The stuff that no one talks about except anonymous people who like to reinforce their own problematic stuff in microscopic detail in subreddits.
posted by sylvanshine at 7:13 PM on October 22, 2017

I'm from the future, so I'm going to assume that r/menslib wasn't up and running yet two years ago. Plenty of men there talking about men's emotions in a really good way.
posted by mabelstreet at 8:35 PM on October 19, 2019