Mr. Robot Recap: Hidden Process

*Editor’s Note: This post contains major spoilers for USA’s Mr. Robot. Proceed with at your own risk if you haven’t watched! 

This week’s episode of  Mr. Robot was quite the doozy. I guess you could say that about the entire season, but nonetheless, there was a lot that went down for Elliot and the rest of fsociety during Wednesday’s latest episode, “Hidden Process.” Now that the protagonist has his alter ego on a mental leash, the plot is pushing ahead at full speed. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in.

At the end of  last week’s episode, Elliot found Tyrell’s wife, Joanna, waiting for him outside his apartment. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long to find out what she wanted, because we picked up with the scene immediately after the intro credits rolled. Like we’d already assumed, Joanna is under the impression her husband is alive and is doing everything in her power to find him. But it isn’t just blind hope; she’s been getting calls from a blocked number and she’s sure it’s her husband. Over the course of the season, we’ve seen her frantically trying to both clean up the mess he left behind, and find out where he is. After Elliot was released from prison last week, it was only a matter of time before she found a way to use him.

After grabbing him off the street, Joanna demanded that Elliot help her trace the blocked number—or else. Despite his hesitance (and Mr. Robot’s clear disapproval of joining forces with her), Elliot went along with the plan and was able to track the calls to an actual address. We don’t know who the residence belongs to, or whether it is actually Tyrell, but Joanna’s goon had a curious reaction when Elliot pulled up the address. According to him, there is no way Tyrell would be calling from that address.

There are a number of people it could be based on that reaction. My number one guess is Scott Knowles, because there’s no way Tyrell would go back to the home of the man whose wife he murdered, but we’ll have to wait and see. Whatever the case, Elliot was done after that, and able to meet with Angela in secret—and spoiler: it wasn’t good news. Angela told him she was going to come clean about planting the femtocell, but was going to leave Elliot and the rest of fsociety out of it. Before he left her alone on the train, Elliot kissed her (what?!) and took off.

While Elliot was busy completing the mission for Joanna, Darlene and Cisco were busy making more mistakes. Remember last week when she asked her ex-beau to go back to their former headquarters (a.k.a. murder scene) to fetch a VHS tape, and he heard strained breathing coming from somewhere in the room once he got there? Well, the breathing belonged to one of Darlene’s fsociety contacts, and Cisco found it in his heart to bring his body back to the apartment. After the two quarreled about it, they ended up bringing the man to the E.R. because Cisco didn’t want him to die. Afraid that he was going to talk, Darlene told him she wanted to be there when he woke up.

While they were waiting, Darlene told Cisco about Elliot’s involvement in the Dark Army’s mysterious “phase two,” and opened up about the time she was abducted. In short, she got lost during a family trip to Coney Island, and wound up being taken home by a strange woman. Instead of being scared, she found comfort in her new caretaker, and hoped it was her new home because the one with her own family was terrible. That dream came crashing down when the cops found her and took her home. Her only silver lining was that she was able to develop a closer relationship with her brother.

After discussing Darlene’s past, the duo decided to take a break from the hospital to get some food at a local restaurant. The only trouble? Dom was hot on their trail after a witness’ description of Cisco led her to the hospital they were at. After questioning the nurse at the reception desk, Dom learned that the pair was probably eating somewhere nearby, and would be back to check on their friend. Instead of waiting to catch them upon return, Dom took to the streets to find them.

When she finally found them, all here broke loose. With the show’s camera on the other side of the street, we saw a motorcycle round the corner as Dom entered the cafe. While Dom was confronting Darlene and Cisco, one of the mystery bikers (there were two) hopped off the cycle, walked to the cafe window and fired several shots. Dom was able to duck (is she from the Matrix, or what?), and had enough time to pop up and shoot the person in the leg before the cops showed up and shot them.

At the moment, everyone’s fate, except for Dom’s, is up in the air. Cisco definitely looks dead, but it’s unclear whether Darlene was able to get out of the way in time. We also don’t know who the shooters are, but based on Dom’s fear that putting out Cisco’s character sketch would get him killed, I’m pretty sure the person who killed them is a member of the Dark Army. Is this all part of phase two? Hopefully we find out next week.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Who do you think shot up the cafe? Let us know in the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or start one with me on Twitter:  @Samantha_Sofka.

Images: USA

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