‘Mr. Robot’ season 2, episode 10 review: The mystery kill

To think, it was not too long ago that Elliot Alderson was sitting behind bars in prison, conjuring up his own world and spoon-feeding it to us. He augmented his reality, but as “Mr. Robot” starts to wrap up the second season, he is looking to have to face it.

As we entered the home stretch of this episode, Angela made it clear to Elliot that this world was on the verge of a collapse, and she was not going to sit around to prop him up. Angela was prepared to turn herself in, feeling Dom’s presence and knowing that she could not defeat the FBI. This admission was not an indictment on the character or her frequent attempts to find power; instead, we consider this more her embracing what is as opposed to what could be. The only change she had in order to move forward now was to deal with the shadow over her shoulder.

Now, we wish that there could be more of an actual deep dive on Elliot’s feelings for Angela. Sure, we know that this is not a series altogether concerned with romance, but in our mind it could still be intriguing. After all, that kiss happened. ‘Shippers delight.

Elsewhere, we had reminders Dom is a tremendous character. She’s hyper-intelligent, extremely perceptive, and while we want to dislike someone in opposition to our leads, we cannot. It’s refreshing to see an adversary with actual skill rather than the Keystone cops. Her lead-up to finding Darlene and Cisco proved to be the most thrilling part of the episode, and the shootout that ensued one of the most dangerous. Someone went after the diner, was hit by Dom, and then took their own life before the police could bring them in. Who are they? A mystery for another day.

As for the episode as a whole, outstanding, and a perfect exercise in the power of restraint with this show. Sometimes, you may think you want more, but with a little more of a condensed length, “Mr. Robot” tonight provided everything we wanted. Grade: A.