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Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007

Witchfinder General

Whoooooops that was a great opening.

edit:

:stare:

No one else live watches it?

Hollismason fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Aug 25, 2016

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Matt Zerella
Oct 7, 2002

Norris'es are back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (fox Howl)
:stare:

cochise
Sep 11, 2011


Darlene is cold as hell. :stare:

ApexAftermath
May 24, 2006

Darlene is a loving bad rear end.

siggy2021
Mar 8, 2010
Sooo a whole Elliot free episode and it was still real good.

Borrowed Ladder
May 4, 2007

monarch of the sleeping marches
Really wanted to know more about the prison stuff but this episode was great.

If I did have a gripe, I felt Angela singing tears for fears karaoke was a bit too. . .I dunno, up its own rear end? Too clever by half (to quote Community). This is my favorite show on tv right now so I'm not hating on it at all, but this song, plus the Phil Collins song from earlier this season, and the risky business train song last season, it's like, alright, you love the eighties!

Also it felt similar to Kevin singing karaoke in the Leftovers finale. These are the tiniest of complaints though.

Matt Zerella
Oct 7, 2002

Norris'es are back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (fox Howl)
Tears For Fears owns so I didn't have a problem with it.

No.1 Special
Apr 4, 2011
Elliot's gonna have a hell of a time once he gets out of prison.

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007

Witchfinder General

I actually really liked this episode because it focused on the tertiary characters. I was convinced the FBI interrogation was going to go differently.

a dog from hell
Oct 18, 2009

by zen death robot
God drat this show is dark and I don't see any light coming in any time soon.

Takes balls to put a show this dark on cable.

Max Hammer
Jan 3, 2008

ANTIFREEZE!!!

a dog from hell posted:

God drat this show is dark and I don't see any light coming in any time soon.

Takes balls to put a show this dark on cable.

Hopefully the show's overwhelming success will encourage other channels to take the risk and produce thought provoking shows, instead of 10 more hours of watching the loving Kardashians. But I know this is just too much for me to hope for.

Also, at first I was disappointed when I got the feeling that we weren't going to check in with Elliott at all this episode. But whoever said it a few posts before mine, the focus on the lesser characters and the advancement/integration of their storylines really turned out fantastically. I now put my full trust in Sam Esmail.

Chef Boyardeez Nuts
Sep 9, 2011

The more you kick against the pricks, the more you suffer.
That was tense as hell and I loved almost every minute of it. The end was weird though. Why would the Dark Army monologue to their errand boy?

Poppyseed Poundcake
Feb 23, 2007
So did mobley give her up? Also this is a better show without eliot.

PhazonLink
Jul 17, 2010

LmaoTheKid posted:

Calling it now, that dropped VHS tape is going to come back on them.

Speaking of the tape.

Why the tape if they're going to upload it anyway? Is that how anonymous videos work? Use analog first, then convert for reasons? I assume it has to do with meta data?

Man computers sure are magicl super science tech.

Highblood
May 20, 2012

Let's talk about tactics.
I'm an idiot so I wouldn't know any technical reasons but I figured it was just an aesthetic choice to make the video look the way it does or something.

The Sean
Apr 17, 2005

Am I handsome now?


I have an Amazon subscription to the show so I have to wait until tomorrow to watch it, unfortunately.

To scratch the itch, though, I restarted the series. It's been pretty fun to see things in a new light between knowing the twist of season one and also not trusting Elliot at all. Some fun things I'm contemplating on:

I feel like Elliot is a superhero analog and I recently posted about my view of his "origin story" when Darlene showed up at his place on Halloween in a flashback and he donned the mask from the movie they watched as kids as well as his dad's Mr Robot jacket. In the first episode alone he takes down the coffee shop guy with the illegal porn ring and tries to protect his shrink against the guy lying to her about being single. He escalates this to taking out E Corp, proverbially castrating the prison guy's business in the first season, and doing a similar thing to the (presumably) warden in the second season. It's an ultimate superhero persona thing to have a secret identity and have that identity be hidden from the hero themselves. Like if Bruce Wayne didn't realize he was going around as Batman at night. Similar to Batman, as well, Elliot and Angela lost their parents when they were children to something not so different from murder.

Not trusting Elliot anymore led me to think on Evil Corp a bit. I wondered if E Corp was just called E Corp and Elliot tells us the viewers that it's Evil Corp because of his subjective opinion. I should do a service to the thread by quoting it exactly, but when I restarted the first episode Elliot says something like "I just see 'Evil' when I see 'E Corp." Following the whole Elliot's lying to us all the time thing, I noticed that when Elliot is looking at his shrink's dating page and her lover's page all of the details are made up. His shrink apparently studied IT in college but is working as a psychiatrist. His shrink's profile describes her openly as a desperate woman. The dude she's dating (that he takes the dog from) has the opening lyrics from Sir Mix-A-Lot's big butts song.

I mentioned a theory recently in this thread that Elliot encrypts the actual story to hide the real story from the viewers. I think that movies may be the common cypher given that the first season apes Fight Club pretty hard. I noticed in the first episode his dad wears some pretty Durden-esque sunglasses, later the credit debt wiping theme, in addition to the "where is my mind" track playing later in the season. I don't remember the glasses showing up in the second season. Someone in the thread recently brought up the similarities with the second season and Shawshank Redemption. I never watched the movie but from the poster's description as well as the Wikipedia page I can see a ton of correlations. I'd expect that the third season will focus on a different movie as it's clue to the audience when the story isn't exactly as it seems. On that note, as well, Mrs. Tyrell's badass bodyguard grabs Elliot in episode 1 and returns him to home in episode 2. Before he releases Elliot he says to call him "Mr. X" and refers to the film JFK as the reference. After her makes clear that he's joking the guy say "You can call me 'Mr. Sutherland' for now." The actor that played Mr. X was Donald Sutherland.

One thing that really bothers me so far is that in any of Elliot's flashbacks to his childhood we never see his sister Darlene. Maybe I'm wrong but I only have seen his dad and his mom--including what seems to be family photos early in the first season. I don't want to make the call so far, but Elliot seems to interact with his sister in the first few episodes in situations separate from his hacking crew and I haven't seen his crew speak to her directly. About mid-way through episode 2 Darlene says some snappy poo poo about their operation and the bearded white guy responds "Boss, blah blah blah" assumedly at Elliot. At this point Darlene shouldn't be his boss, right? I'm not going to say she's fake right now but I'm questioning everything and Darlene keeps showing up out of nowhere. We obviously see Darlene chilling with Angela later in the season, I'll admit.

Lastly, I don't even think right now that Elliot's dad pushed him out the window or was a dick to him. He seems super nice in all of the flashbacks but his mom always seems like a bitch.

The Sean fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Aug 25, 2016

YouTuber
Jul 31, 2004

by FactsAreUseless
Holy poo poo this thread is dense as gently caress about the Silk Road thing. It's the prison black market. People smuggle in crack or sell butt boys and Elliot rationalized it as a webpage market. The Warden was ignoring at first ignoring but then taking part by having the guards beat the poo poo out of prisoners. Elliot snitched and had the Warden and corrupt guards taken away.

GutBomb
Jun 15, 2005

Dude?

YouTuber posted:

Holy poo poo this thread is dense as gently caress about the Silk Road thing. It's the prison black market. People smuggle in crack or sell butt boys and Elliot rationalized it as a webpage market. The Warden was ignoring at first ignoring but then taking part by having the guards beat the poo poo out of prisoners. Elliot snitched and had the Warden and corrupt guards taken away.

So... That's incorrect. There was a scene not featuring Elliot where they go beat up the original IT guy. And why would ray let him use a computer in his office which he used to coordinate the FBI hack in IRC if the site wasn't real? And what would Ray's wife have to do with a prison black market?

Dense.

DaveKap
Feb 5, 2006

Pickle: Inspected.



It really is the best when the person insulting "the thread" is in fact just projecting their own inadequacies. .... The word "inadequacies" looks really weird.

Anyway, gently caress, guess the dark army is out to kill fsociety then? Does that not mean White Rose is going to somehow silence Elliot? After saving him? I am so confused now.

Edit: Okay, I need to just get this out of my brain and shuffle it around with string on a tack board.
1: The FBI is willing to plant an agent into gently caress-mode just to investigate someone.
2: The Dark Army is willing to plant an agent into gently caress-mode just to get access to America's poo poo.
3: I have no loving idea what Angela is doing anymore. That said, she owned that rear end in a top hat old guy real good. Why the gently caress you would tell your neighbor's/friend's/brother's (they didn't mention relation) daughter that she swallows cock real good is beyond me. I feel like even a person who didn't know her, after hearing the simple story of "girl's mom died due to company, company got away with it, girl is now high rank in company" would be like "yeah, she's sabotaging the company or making it so they can't get away with murder again." How is this flying over so many heads?
4: When I saw the pacemaker e-mail in there I was like "that's important." The story about how the lawyer laughed made that kill feel good.
5: Do note the symbolism of the fact that they freed the animals from the pound... and they all came back.

DaveKap fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Aug 25, 2016

HorseRenoir
Dec 25, 2011



Pillbug

DaveKap posted:

It really is the best when the person insulting "the thread" is in fact just projecting their own inadequacies. .... The word "inadequacies" looks really weird.

Anyway, gently caress, guess the dark army is out to kill fsociety then? Does that not mean White Rose is going to somehow silence Elliot? After saving him? I am so confused now.

They view Elliot as valuable, not his friends. The Dark Army has no qualms getting rid of some expendable nobodies to avoid an FBI investigation. The DA probably saw the death of ECorp lady as a sign that fsociety was getting too sloppy, and now they're taking them out before the FBI connects the dots and gets information from them.

DaveKap
Feb 5, 2006

Pickle: Inspected.



HorseRenoir posted:

They view Elliot as valuable, not his friends. The Dark Army has no qualms getting rid of some expendable nobodies to avoid an FBI investigation. The DA probably saw the death of ECorp lady as a sign that fsociety was getting too sloppy, and now they're taking them out before the FBI connects the dots and gets information from them.
Except her death was an unexpected surprise, only the DA liaison knows about it, and they wouldn't be like "oh this is phase 2" directly after the liaison told them about it. They began killing with Romero; this wasn't a cleanup from the lawyer's death, it was a plan from the start. Even if Elliot is valuable, killing his group is not going to gain any favors or make him more effective.

Toplowtech
Aug 31, 2004

DaveKap posted:

5: Do note the symbolism of the fact that they freed the animals from the pound... and they all came back.
The animals there shouldn't be the same. Even if the liberated animals came back or were captured back, they probably died&burned a long time ago. Still the system still works so there are still animals there.

Rocksicles
Oct 19, 2012

by Nyc_Tattoo

YouTuber posted:

Holy poo poo this thread is dense as gently caress about the Silk Road thing. It's the prison black market. People smuggle in crack or sell butt boys and Elliot rationalized it as a webpage market. The Warden was ignoring at first ignoring but then taking part by having the guards beat the poo poo out of prisoners. Elliot snitched and had the Warden and corrupt guards taken away.

Nice try. Doesn't add up. That type of thing isn't about to make Elliot flip. I think Ray was a councilor.
I sort of hope we don't find out who he was, I can live without an answer.

sticklefifer
Nov 11, 2003

by VideoGames
Either Mobley flipped on Trenton, or he got killed by Dark Army on the way to meet her. Though all the feds have is hearsay, so if it's the former I don't see her getting busted unless she has a record.

That scene between Darlene and Cisco on the train has so much subtext to set up the ending, and I still didn't see it coming. The Dark Army attack on him, her feeling fine about killing, him suddenly asking her to stay over when she'd usually be alone, it all pointed to that last shot. Though I still can't look at Cisco and not see Turtle from Entourage if he lost weight.

Vanderdeath
Oct 1, 2005

I will confess,
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.



PhazonLink posted:

Speaking of the tape.

Why the tape if they're going to upload it anyway? Is that how anonymous videos work? Use analog first, then convert for reasons? I assume it has to do with meta data?

Man computers sure are magicl super science tech.

Metadata is what I was thinking, too.

Also goddamn, Darlene. You went from 0 - 100 in no loving time flat.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
This is the worst time ever to have Elliot take a week off. What the fuuuuuuuck Esmail do you actually hate us :(

ok ep though but I can't get over why anyone would possibly leave the house and go home knowing they would almost definitely get picked up by the FBI or Dark Army.

geeves
Sep 16, 2004

sticklefifer posted:

Though I still can't look at Cisco and not see Turtle from Entourage if he lost weight.

Turtle did lose weight!

uncertainty
Aug 8, 2011


Solice Kirsk posted:

OK guys, so I haven't seen any of season two since I'm planning on binging through the whole thing in a weekend once it's finished, but last night I sat around listening to all the friends that I watched season one with say it's almost as bad as the second season of True Detective. Please thread, tell me this isn't true and they were just messing with me/idiots.

S1 is a psychological thriller / drama / mindfuck disguised as an action show about hackers, S2 is more of the first (which is what appeals to me) and less of the latter.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
The idea that someone could think this is the less good season is beyond my comprehension

Rocksicles
Oct 19, 2012

by Nyc_Tattoo
This season has been stellar. Craig Robinson had a lot to do with it though.

Gonz
Dec 22, 2009

"Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?"
The last ten minutes of this episode were absurdly tense. I can't wait to see what the final two have in store.

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



Season 2 of True Detective is incredibly unfair as a comparison. That absolutely sucked. Season 2 of Mr. Robot is a bit slower than you would expect after season 1 but its excellent and can still throw total gut punches of suspense and absurdity.

Dugong
Mar 18, 2013

I don't know what to do,
I'm going to lose my mind

I think Angela is going to deck the next guy who questions why she is working for E corp.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
The more I think about it the more I'm really not a fan of the fact Elliot's story so far this season is like.....two thirds of his season arc. I'm happy with what we've had with him, but a lot of it has been repeating itself somewhat, and I'm hoping getting into the final act of the season means actual progression, the one thing this season has sorely lacked (and this is coming from a huge, huge fan of slow character-based storytelling).

blunt
Jul 7, 2005



leads to http://fsociety00.io ...

Boris Galerkin
Dec 17, 2011

I don't understand why I can't harass people online. Seriously, somebody please explain why I shouldn't be allowed to stalk others on social media!

DaveKap posted:

3: I have no loving idea what Angela is doing anymore. That said, she owned that rear end in a top hat old guy real good. Why the gently caress you would tell your neighbor's/friend's/brother's (they didn't mention relation) daughter that she swallows cock real good is beyond me. I feel like even a person who didn't know her, after hearing the simple story of "girl's mom died due to company, company got away with it, girl is now high rank in company" would be like "yeah, she's sabotaging the company or making it so they can't get away with murder again." How is this flying over so many heads?

I'm pretty sure what the guy was trying to get at was that Angela is where she is because she sucked some exec's dick to get promoted. I don't think her dad actually went around going, "My daughter? Yeah she's a cocksucker. :smug:"

The Sean posted:

Not trusting Elliot anymore led me to think on Evil Corp a bit. I wondered if E Corp was just called E Corp and Elliot tells us the viewers that it's Evil Corp because of his subjective opinion.

TV IV never changes.





What scenes in S01 do Elliot and Darlene appear in together? I kinda watched S01 in the background and didn't really pay too close attention to everything but now I'm curious and wanna go back and watch the scenes with them two before the reveal and see how they interacted again. I can't find any clips on YouTube other than the big reveal and I don't wanna sit through all of S01 again right now.

Idia
Apr 26, 2010



Fun Shoe
Playing that Mr.Robot game and it really gives you better insight of these characters. Darlene is callous. She has no sympathy for anyone. I feel like she can totally become a villain on the show. I also wonder if she was sexually abused as a child based on those library books. Hopefully more info about her past is revealed on the show. Elliot is a lot more manipulative than I initially thought. I wonder if this show will end up portraying them as the "bad ones" in later seasons.

I'm kinda sad that I'm missing this week's episode. I'll have to catch up with everything next weekend.

ricro
Dec 22, 2008

Boris Galerkin posted:

TV IV never changes.
There are folks that watch TV who miss details or don't understand scenes because they watch casually and aren't paying close attention. Then there are people who obsessively look into every detail and rigidly dissect and discuss them on the Internet. TV IV is the rare intersection of people who pour over every detail while still missing everything and understanding none of it

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
fuckin Lois never replied to my initial message to her, I guess it bugged out :( yeah you look at your big donut, rear end in a top hat

SlipkPIe posted:

There are folks that watch TV who miss details or don't understand scenes because they watch casually and aren't paying close attention. Then there are people who obsessively look into every detail and rigidly dissect and discuss them on the Internet. TV IV is the rare intersection of people who pour over every detail while still missing everything and understanding none of it

The post they were quoting said "hm I think this" about something stated explicitly in the first episode. Admittedly he says as such, but there is an element of "how the gently caress did you not realise to begin with"?

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nomapple
Apr 27, 2012
Another great episode. I am loving season 2 personally. This is the first episode I have had to wait for and I didn't notice a massive change of pace between the two seasons to be honest. I thought the change of pace settled in the first season where it went from being some sort of hacker action thriller to being more of a dark, surreal psychological thing within a few episodes. The show is so dense that it was nice to have an episode where they're not juggling too many plotlines. Although I love the density of the show, I think they are at risk of underdeveloping some characters like Escobarbarian mentioned with Elliott's plotline. Although I hope that Elliott's plot gets tied in with the rest of the plotlines within the next episode or so. Darlene was such a badass this episode, and that cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was great.

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