'Mr. Robot' Recap: eps1.4_3xpl0its.wmv

Halfway through its first season, the intensity that Mr. Robot launched with remains. At the moment, numerous questions are still unanswered and more plot twists get introduced each week. In “eps1.4_3expl0its.wmv” Elliot and the rest of fsociety attempt to complete their plan to take down E(vil) Corporation from their Steel Mountain facility. They run into roadblocks along the way, but Elliot with the guidance of Mr. Robot hacks into E(vil) Corp. Yet all of it appears to be for not when they arrive back to their headquarters and discover that The Dark Army, a group of Chinese hackers, weren’t willing to work with them, thus killing any of the chances of their plan coming together. They came so far, but with so little to show for it.

But Elliot and crew aren’t the only ones attempting to figure out the next step in their lives. Frankie, the drug dealer that Elliot got arrested, is reintroduced staring down the fact he probably won’t be getting out of jail any time soon. But that kind of desperation pushes him to realize the person that got him in this position is Elliot and, with nothing to lose, he’s ready to exact revenge before the rest of the books are thrown at him. Just as Shayla is getting a fresh post-drug dealing career start, she is no where to be found at the end of the episode when Elliot finally returns from his trip up-state.

Angelia similarly turned over a new leaf at this midway point in finally leaving Ollie, her cheating way less-cool-version-of-Chris Pratt boyfriend. She returns back home to her father, who appears more than excited to see his daughter is back home with him and that she finally left her lousy partner. Still, this isn’t an ideal situation for Angelia and the repercussions of what she did to Ollie cannot be over. She started off as Elliot’s only connection to the normalcy, but at this point is falling into this shadowy world the rest of these character operate within.

Early in the season there appeared to be a divide between the lives that Elliot lead during the day and in the evening. That there was a group of people that knew “9-5 Elliot” and those that knew “Off-the-clock Hacker Elliot,” but at this point those lines appear irrelevant. Everyone is in some way connected to this twisted dark other-world of computer hacking and if someone isn’t directly plugged into, then his or her life can and will be affected by it. What started off as a lone hacker stumbling into a secret society, keeps unfolding to show that fsociety isn’t the only player in this world and even if Elliot was the key, there are more a few people that know how to pick through the locks of reality.