Mr. Robot - S2E3 - eps2.1_k3rnel-pan1c.ksd

Previously on Mr. Robot, “eps2.0_unm4sk-pt1.tc/eps2.0_unm4sk-pt2.tc”

Mr. Robot - S2E3 - eps2.1_k3rnel-pan1c.ksd | Starring: Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Michael Cristofer, Martin Wallström, Stephanie Corneliussen, Grace Gummer, Gloria Reuben, Michel Gill | Writer & Director: Sam Esmail

A phone call between Elliot and Tyrell - that may or may not have actually taken place - is enough to drive Elliot to drastic measures to keep Mr. Robot at bay. He can’t trust his routine if Mr. Robot is able to take control when he falls asleep, so Elliot’s only option is to not sleep. He achieves this by taking a massive amount of Adderall, which Mr. Robot makes him vomit up almost immediately. Committed, Elliot digs through his vomit to retrieve the pills and take them again.

This gives Elliot several days free of Mr. Robot, but also sleep.

During this time, Elliot still interacted with Leon, his Seinfeld-loving friend. Does this mean Leon actually exists and not another manifestation of Elliot’s personality?

Via flashback we’re shown the early days of fsociety and how they came to call the abandoned Coney Island arcade their headquarters. Romero tells Mobley tales of previous owners who met gruesome ends. Could the place be cursed? Mobley finding Romero with a bullet in the back of his head may lead him to believe yes. Though he later tells Trenton it’s possible The Dark Army is cleaning up the loose ends in their group.

Angela mistakes a dinner invitation from Price as a date, when really he wanted to manipulate her into doing his dirty work in exposing two employees who’ve been conducting a bit of insider trading. The fact that they were also present in the room when the decision was made that led to her mother getting cancer makes her the perfect person for the job. Though Angela is aware she’s being manipulated, she doesn’t say no.

I’m still not sure Elliot’s encounter with Ray (Craig Robinson) was pure happenstance, as it seems they have way too much in common. Ray is in need of someone with particular computer skills and he also happens to talk to someone who isn’t really there - his dead wife. The difference between him and Elliot is that he has learned to accept it as a coping mechanism. Instead of clawing your way up when you fall, embrace the fall and just hope you stumble in the right direction.

Agent DiPierro does just that as she finds fsociety’s old hangout while investigating Romero’s death.