Mr. Robot: eps2.0_unm4sk-pt2.tc

July 13, 2016 11:25 PM - Season 2, Episode 2

Five/nine has changed the world; Elliot is in seclusion; Angela finds happiness at Evil Corp.; fsociety delivers a malicious payload.
posted by Pendragon (25 comments total)

I feel like this second hour of Mr. Robot was the other best hour of television this year. (Besides that Game of Thrones battle episode.)
posted by Catblack at 6:23 AM on July 14, 2016

The first season I didn't really bother to look too closely at the screen shots of hacking, they were clearly unix command lines (and I'm pretty nearsighted) but the shot of building a root kit and an unmount thumb drive command and an immediate cut to the drive going in the hackers pocket had good continuity. I'd have added an aside about hiding the files with some embarrassing family photos but it turns out the hacker is a perfect insider.

I'll be disappointed if the entire series turns out to be a fever dream and Eliot wakes up and goes to his regular job as an accountant.

I didn't know about the after show, whew long, the actor that plays Eliot seemed to be happy to be in a strong role but I had the sense that he was holding back wondering how to get out of this without being typecast as a crazy. Also it turns out that smashing a cell phone is hard. As to the cell in question, I thought I saw a bit of a progress bar during the stamping, the crew may have outed themselves and show will soon pivot into an FBI cat and mouse procedural?
posted by sammyo at 6:55 AM on July 14, 2016

The first season I didn't really bother to look too closely at the screen shots of hacking, they were clearly unix command lines (and I'm pretty nearsighted) but the shot of building a root kit and an unmount thumb drive command and an immediate cut to the drive going in the hackers pocket had good continuity.

From the "Mr. Robot_dec0d3d.doc" Season 2 Episode Zero documentary/teaser (transcript):

Jeff Moss ("Dark Tangent"): People are screen-capturing the images on the computer screens, and looking at them to see if they're real. And they are real, and that takes a lot of time. One screenshot that was shown, I think, for less than a second took somebody over ten hours of work to make that an authentic load-up sequence.

Their technical consultant, Kor Adana, also spoke about how much he works with the SFX/graphics folks to make the screens accurate and real. From an interview with Paste Magazine:

“Sometimes I’ll do the hack myself and do a screen recording or I’ll find footage of the hack being done. Then, it’s a battle with the legal department about clearing the right pieces of software or hardware. I come from a place of wanting everything to be as authentic as possible. So if you can do this hack for real—which you should be able to, because that’s what we set out to do in the writing phase—I want to use the tools you’d actually use, I want the hardware you’d actually use and I want to show that on the show.”

Also mentioned in the documentary, the show also relies heavily on social engineering, which is just as much a part of hacking as the technical side.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:12 AM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I feel like this second hour of Mr. Robot was the other best hour of television this year.

I agree, it followed the set-up episode well, and did a great job staging this season without being a "stage setting" episode only (as seemed to be an issue with GoT).

I loved Scott Knowles' "reverse" paranoia - instead of Elliot who saw men in black suits following him everywhere, Scott was out in public, unsure who was the fsociety representative, where before he was so confident when talking with other E Corp suits.

And fsociety just topped KLF's burning of a million quid (which could be converted to $1,331,400 USD today, and adjusting for inflation from 1994 to today, we get to 2,139,331.61 in 2016).

Music from this episode - I rather liked Bull in the Heather (YT with lyrics) as Angela's "fuck this noise" music, and Joanna Wellick's unboxing video.

Question: why was Antara Nayar (the lawyer) meeting with Angela? Did she want Angela to work for her? I thought that wasn't an option. I think (hope) Angela has a bigger plan for her work within E Corp, especially as she's in their PR side of things, and is skilled at negotiating with major media companies.

Observations: there was a bit of repeated/ mirrored language with fsociety wanting one of E Corp's "chiefs" to do the ransom drop, and Ray (Craig Robinson) calling Elliot "chief" ("You feeling OK, chief?")

Also, Ray is shot centered, facing the camera, while almost everyone else in this show is shot on one side or another of the screen, usually looking towards the center of the frame, often away from someone else. Assumption: he'll be a good influence for Elliot, maybe even pulling him back to center? Now I want to re-watch the first season to see who else, if anyone, was shot centered like this. Gideon was centered, but facing the right of the frame.

And then he died. Oh shit, Brock shot Gideon in the neck.

But good news! there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4-7, KJV - I linked to the full chapter, for more context to the passage read in the church group.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:43 AM on July 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

So has anyone tried to follow that QR code that was in Eliot's diary?

A good episode. I don't remember Season 1 being that... bizarre? Stylized? I mean, it was, but I felt like they turned it up for this season.

I'm very glad to see Craig Robinson and hope he becomes a major player this season.

Loved the Seinfeld stuff.
posted by bondcliff at 7:59 AM on July 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

So there's a theory floating around that Elliot isn't actually at his mom's house, but rather a mental institution, and has just overlaid it with a more comfortable imagery (and was maybe checked into the institution as a way of hiding him).

I mean, maybe? It answers a few questions as to why his regimented life seems so werid and stylized (how could he have met Leon?)
posted by The Whelk at 8:01 AM on July 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

The redheaded FBI lady ('Dom') passes by a bunch of posters for the FBI New York Financial Cyber Crimes Working Group, so that's a thing in the show. (Not quite as localized in real life.)

I couldn't read the blackboard, but the shop she was in accepted E-Coin and Bitcoin. Also the cover of the magazine she buys has the headline "Inside the Glamorous Wardrobe of Tyrell Wellick's Wife".
posted by Catblack at 9:23 AM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Did Angela have such pale eyebrows last season ? It really stood out to me.
posted by Pendragon at 10:55 AM on July 14, 2016

I found this image on Reddit. Possible clue ?
posted by Pendragon at 11:03 AM on July 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

The shot of Darlene speaking to the fsociety crowd also mirrored the shot from last season of the CEO of E Corp addressing the company, which was conveniently included in the "previously on" montage.
posted by stopgap at 11:50 AM on July 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

bondcliff: So has anyone tried to follow that QR code that was in Eliot's diary?

Nelson linked to info in the S02E01 thread, and in short, it seems to be a URL for Confictura Industries (www.conficturaindustries.com), and he linked to more Easter eggs hidden in the code. Serious props to the screencappers, dedicated digital trackers and NBC and anyone on the internet marketing/ design side for their support and dedication of these sorts of details.

And I was geeking out on Better Call Saul's use of local New Mexico phone numbers and having answer machines with show-specific answering machine messages (BCS S01E03 FF thread). This is what attention to detail looks like.


stopgap: The shot of Darlene speaking to the fsociety crowd also mirrored the shot from last season of the CEO of E Corp addressing the company, which was conveniently included in the "previously on" montage.

Nice catch. Are all major movements the same at some level, or are all vocal leaders more similar than they care to believe or realize? Are they swapping one disorder for another?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:54 AM on July 14, 2016 [5 favorites]

The Whelk: So there's a theory floating around that Elliot isn't actually at his mom's house, but rather a mental institution, and has just overlaid it with a more comfortable imagery (and was maybe checked into the institution as a way of hiding him).

Pendragon: I found this image on Reddit. Possible clue ?

Given that Mr. Robot appears out of nowhere, pulls a gun on Elliot, and shoots him with some frequency ("he shot me again"), which makes Elliot think he is bleeding from the head. Yeah, his head is messed up, to the point he talked to Ray (the guy with the dog) and doesn't even remember it.

Possibly related to all this: episode naming schemes (link to Wikipedia lisst of Mr. Robot episodes - possible spoilers, depending on when you read that page). The first season episodes all ended with digital video container format extensions (specifically mov, mpeg, mkv, mp4, wmv, asf, flv, m4v, qt and avi), and anything can be hidden in a digital container format.

The second season episode titles are appended with secure/ compressed/ backup file type extensions (tc, ksd, asec, sme, p12, fve, axx, and p7z). This feels like an escalation from the first season, in terms of security/ encryption focus.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:13 PM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Nelson linked to info in the S02E01 thread

Ahh, gotcha. I didn't see that thread. I guess I didn't even realize these were two back-to-back episodes rather than a single long episode.
posted by bondcliff at 12:27 PM on July 14, 2016

FYI Confictura (as in Confictura Industries, the place where the QR code goes) is Latin for fantasy or falsehood.
posted by kat518 at 4:56 PM on July 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

Holy crap, that was one cute baby.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:43 PM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Their technical consultant, Kor Adana, also spoke about how much he works with the SFX/graphics folks to make the screens accurate and real.

The show also uses fellow cDc Ninja Strike Force member cJunky, aka Marc Rogers: The hacker who makes sure 'Mr. Robot' gets it right. Global domination through media saturation.
posted by scalefree at 8:56 PM on July 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

I enjoyed this episode a whole lot, but I'm not sure I understood it. I'm kind of confused and disoriented in the plot. A bit like Eliot. I'm OK with that, the emotional impact of the show is amazing.

Craig Robinson was great as Ray, the friendly guy at the basketball court with the dog. How does he know who Eliot is? How does he know about Eliot's hacking skills? It felt like some sort of magical realism thing, in a good way.
posted by Nelson at 7:48 AM on July 15, 2016

As part of the mental hospital/jail theory that the Whelk mentioned above, Ray might be a prison guard (complete with a stereotypical police bloodhound) or a therapist (complete with a totally adorable therapy dog).

I am so happy the show is back, but I need to remind myself to get used to being unsettled. I binged-watched the first season on Hulu, so I'm not used to having to wait a whole damn week between mind-fuck and clarification (or further mind-fuckery).
posted by bibliowench at 8:33 AM on July 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Was there a reason why, the first time we see Ray, everyone else on the bleachers got up and left when he sat down to talk to Elliot? Was it just to make room for Mr Robot to appear later on? It was weirdly conspicuous to me (especially how Elliot kept on glancing at the others as they walked away) and I spent that entire exchange braced for Bad Things to happen. But it didn't happen the next time the two of them were on the bleachers together, so maybe it doesn't mean anything...
posted by btfreek at 5:23 PM on July 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Where was Leon the second time Elliot spoke to Ray? According to Elliot, they go to the game together.
posted by CMcG at 6:49 PM on July 15, 2016

I noticed that too btfreek, I thought maybe Ray was the neighborhood badass and everyone expected him to be pulling a gun or something. Very confusing.
posted by Nelson at 8:20 PM on July 15, 2016

My assumption (before I heard about the mental institution theory) was that Ray is a cop or FBI agent who is trying to get information out of Elliot.

Following along with this theory of mine, Elliot might not have really talked to Ray the night before. Ray might have sprung that on him to see how Elliot responded. Maybe to test how out-of-touch with reality Elliot was.

Oh, and if Ray is a cop and the locals know it it would explain why they get out of his way. Also why they reluctantly accepted his authority when he broke up the potential fight.

As much as I hate Tyrell, I'm glad Elliot apparently didn't kill him.
posted by mmoncur at 11:35 PM on July 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

That Elliot's had himself committed or Angela or Darlene did is the only way I could parse the sections with Elliot going through his "program." It's where my mind immediately went after he started talking about routine and always having lunch in that diner with Joey Bada$$ (who is delightful so far). Even that he refers to it as "his program" is something. I don't think the show's trying to put one over on us by showing it the way they are. It's just more interesting than a series of rote hospital scenes. And we're used to the show giving us Elliot's edited perspective rather than "reality" at this point, yeah? I wonder if he'll start talking to us more directly again as he gets back out into the world and things ramp back up.

I wonder at Gideon (RIP, that genuinely shocked me, the poor man) being his only visitor, or at least the only one we've seen is interesting. Given the concern shown for him late in last season, I have to think that we haven't seen Angela or Darlene sitting across that table from him yet is indicative of something. Whether that's Elliot forced them away, or they don't know who he is, I'm not sure. It feels pretty clear that Darlene's going to come pretty soon and drag him back into the mess if he's not forced back out by Wellick or BD Wong's Chinese hacker crew.

Excellent premiere, and I'm super glad that this season is 12 "episodes" because that means we can have an extended premiere and finale without the second halves eating up part of the 10 chunks of story.
posted by sparkletone at 1:50 PM on July 16, 2016

There is no way Ray is real. When Ray stepped in and gave the ball back, that was Elliot. Ray is just another person that Elliot "doesn't talk to" in public.
posted by iamkimiam at 6:49 PM on July 16, 2016

That Elliot's had himself committed or Angela or Darlene did is the only way I could parse the sections with Elliot going through his "program."

We still don't know who was banging on Elliot's door at the end of Season 1.
posted by fullerine at 2:02 AM on July 17, 2016