second best so far and probably the most immersive episode ever. “power saver mode” fires off in all directions. feeding on your paranoia after the season 2 finale, it reestablishes and re-grounds the entire cast. mr robot is on the attack, darlene is spiraling, angela is changed and elliot is trapped in the middle of the chaos. after the cold open we become synonymous with elliot, waking up with him and finding ourselves in his state of mind: panic, trying to find stable footing in the hellscape that is this episode’s setting and situation: a blacked-out new york, its shadows cloaking the hackers and feds hunting us. through handheld cameras we talk to characters in dark and cramped settings, so as clear as they’re being about their motives, they’re constantly entrenched in darkness, partially lit by a candle or a phone if lucky.

we follow elliot for the entirety of the episode, the dark and desolate new york city deeply explored through his eyes as we try to shut down stage 2, all the while skeptical of what’s being presented to us. we don’t understand why angela has changed so suddenly. we don’t know if dark army wants darlene and we really don’t know whiterose’s motives, despite the importance of them. irving says stage 2 is down but we know nothing of him, and later we learn through mr robot that elliot is being lied to think that. what else is a lie? what else is being orchestrated behind our backs? the paranoia that engrosses this episode is infectious. is the shift in direction as a whole a lie? even something as massive as this could be true, the show has destroyed its own direction before and it can do it again. nothing is off the table, and new york city is a dangerous place.

much of my love for this episode comes from its suffocating atmosphere, but i also owe a lot of that to elliot’s earth shaking monologue. elliot reverting back to his old, revolutionary self from season 1 is the moment where things really start. just like in the shield’s 5x2, this scene is when all the useless and irrelevant plot-lines are cleared out so the crystal clear focus of this show’s direction can start to strangle us. nothing gets in the way of revolution anymore, this show’s original premise is now its sole focus. mr robot has entered its prime.

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