With three episodes left this season, Mr. Robot is finally unleashing its finishing kick. Season two has largely been inside Elliot’s head, as he tried to sort out his head while in prison. What he didn’t consider, however, is that the world would go on without him and the people he loves would have to deal with the consequences of fsociety’s 5/9 Hack.
Episode 10, “h1dden-pr0cess.axx” began to make that glaringly clear for Elliot with surely more impact to come. The past nine episodes have lacked much of the drive and suspense that made season one so riveting, but showrunner Sam Esmail apparently intends to make up for that. At the very least, he packed a bunch of suspense into this episode with a significant cliffhanger and a couple of lingering questions that are crying to be answered.
Picking up where last week’s episode left off, with Joanna Wellick approaching Elliot near his apartment, it appeared that “h1dden-pr0cess.axx” would largely focus on the search for Tyrell Wellick. As we’ve seen for nearly two seasons now, Joanna’s a rather scary woman and Elliot gets the correct vibe that it probably won’t end well if he tells her that Tyrell is dead. Oh, and by the way, he probably killed her, but doesn’t know for certain because his other personality embodied by his father is the one that put a bullet in his head.
But Elliot plays the “I don’t know where he is” card, and Joanna believes him. However, she doesn’t believe that he has no way to find her husband and makes it quite clear that she’s not a person that you say no to. Her bodyguard and henchman, Mr. Sutherland, also isn’t inclined to let Elliot just leave and go on with his business. Besides, since he wasn’t able to find Tyrell himself — something Joanna is holding over his head with withering disdain — his only chance at winning redemption with his boss is to make sure Elliot can do it.
Seeing no way out of this that doesn’t result in him ending up dead, Elliot has Sutherland take him to Micro Center for some fresh new hardware (since the feds confiscated all of his equipment when he was arrested). While there, the cell phone Joanna gave Elliot (presumably from Tyrell) rings and he hears some heavy breathing on the other line. Was that Tyrell? Was it someone else calling with some kind of proof of life for the nation’s wanted man? Was the call all in Elliot’s mind, considering Mr. Robot completely disappears after he picks up the phone? (Probably not, since Joanna has also been receiving calls.)
Oh, and if you ever wanted to know how to create a high-powered wifi antenna out of a Pringles can, some clamps, chips from a cell phone, a tripod and various other parts, maybe a liberal use of the pause button will provide a guide for you. There’s probably also a Reddit thread that explains and diagrams all of this. Maybe season three of Mr. Robot can show Elliot creating hacking hardware out of spare parts every week, MacGyver-style.
Back at his apartment, Elliot schools Sutherland in hacking and information theft, working up a phony fax request for the unknown number that dialed Joanna’s phone. Tell the cell phone carrier you’re from the NYPD and there’s concern over a suicide threat (“exigent circumstance”), and there’s no need for a warrant or any other bureaucratic concerns that would waste time. While they’re waiting, Sutherland passes time by telling Elliot about all the weirdo clients he’s had over the years. Elliot tunes out and talks to us, wondering if we can find anything in his apartment that Mr. Robot may have been looking for. What are the chances that someone online found a possible clue by the time you read this?
Elliot gets a trace on the call and the address where it came from. Sutherland sees the address and thinks it’s impossible that the call originated from that location. Was it from the Wellicks’ townhouse? Someplace else that only he and Tyrell know about? Where the call came from is a question left for the next episode.
Another thread picked up from episode nine is the identity of whomever was lying on the couch in Susan Jacobs’ home breathing uneasily and presumably in bad shape. It’s Vincent, a fsociety member that Darlene sent to Washington D.C. to lead the group that dropped those brass bull testicles on the House of Representatives floor. He’s been beaten severely and needs hospitalization, likely after a run-in with The Dark Army that he apparently escaped.
Darlene is ready to continue the dark path she began walking after murdering Susan Jacobs (what is it about that house?) and wants to let Vincent die. He’s seen her face, he can expose fsociety’s secrets to the FBI or the Dark Army. Cisco talks some sense and compassion into her, convincing her that they can still save Vincent’s life if they get him to a hospital. They can just drop him off at the ER without being discovered. However, Cisco has already been discovered and he doesn’t know it. The feds were tracking Vincent after D.C., and surveillance cameras caught him and Cisco leaving Jacobs’ home. Neighbors described the man they saw for a composite sketch that matches one the FBI already had.
Agent DiPierro wants the FBI to keep the sketch to themselves, but her boss decides to release the image to the media, hoping it will lead to a tip or draw Cisco out of hiding. DiPierro disagrees with the strategy, but has no recourse. As it turns out, her boss may have made the correct decision. When one of the nurses sees the sketch on TV and recognizes the face belonging to the man who was just in their waiting room, she alerts the authorities.
DiPierro initially thinks that Cisco saw the news and went into hiding, but after talking to the nurse (who called in a while after Cisco left the hospital), she realizes that he doesn’t know his face is all over TV. He’s probably coming back to the hospital. Perhaps wanting to avoid a chase and/or shootout at a hospital, she begins to search for where he might have gone with an hour to kill before more information on Vincent is available. DiPierro quizzes a local merchant on the nearest places to eat and finds a diner five blocks away that has to be where Cisco went.
But when she calls for back-up at the location, the Dark Army also finds out where Cisco is. They’ve probably tapped and hacked the FBI’s communications, just like Darlene did, but maybe there’s a leak in DiPierro’s department too. How did they know which hotel the FBI was headquartered in during its visit to China? Regardless, a Dark Army operative beats the FBI and NYPD to the diner, stands in front of the window where Cisco and Darlene are sitting (with DiPierro also standing at the table) and sprays the place with machine gun fire.
Esmail built the suspense wonderfully by keeping the camera pulled back in a long shot from across the street from the diner. Though it’s frustrating that we didn’t follow DiPierro into the diner when she confronts Cisco and Darlene, it quickly becomes apparent that the camera is staying back to capture action surrounding the scene. And when we see a motorcycle pull around with two people clothed in black, we know what’s coming.
Is Darlene dead? Cisco almost certainly is, and he was likely the chief target of the hit. But Darlene was surely a target too, as The Dark Army has been looking to wipe out all the members of fsociety connected to the 5/9 Attacks. We do know that DiPierro survived the shootout, as she clipped the gunman (who eventually killed himself, just like the hitman in China) and ran across the street to look for other operatives. She’s covered in blood, and likely trying to process that someone else has been a step ahead of the feds all along.
The other question “h1dden-pr0cess.axx” leaves us with is who are the two people that confronted Angela on the subway after she meets with Elliot. She sent him text messages (under the alias of “Claudia Kincaid”) to say she wanted to meet. Angela then tells Elliot that she knows all about fsociety and that he’s the mastermind behind it. Whatever his plans were, they no longer matter. Angela is going to turn herself in and confess. Maybe Elliot can still get away. But she’s done trying to fight Evil Corp because they’re going to win.
At least Elliot had one last chance to act on his conflicted affections toward Angela. Will he get a chance to follow up on that or is Angela done for after being confronted on the subway. (Federal agents? Evil Corp operatives? The Dark Army?) Is there going to be anybody left for Elliot to save if he can figure out how to fix the mess he created?
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