Mr. Robot season 3, episode 4 review: eps3.3_metadata.par2

Mr. Robot season 3 dives into the story behind the data, with an episode that reminds us that Elliot’s not the only person who’s falling apart.

After last week’s extended flashback saga, which offered viewers a story that had little direct narrative impact on season 3, Mr. Robot gets back to business with an episode that features a lot of set-up for what’s to come.

“eps3.3_metadata.par2” ostensibly means to dig in to the story behind the data. (That’s what the “metadata” of the title implies, after all.) And it does so by reminding us that, while Mr. Robot is largely the tale of Elliot Alderson’s unraveling, he is far from the only person who is falling apart.

under the tide

The story of Darlene Alderson has always been one of Mr. Robot’s more interesting threads. A hacker who’s almost as good as her brother who brought down the world, she’s fearless, brash and just as broken as he is. Her presence in season 3 thus far has been rather limited, but her story is perhaps the most compelling, as her life is being pulled in two discrete and opposite directions. Mr. Robot’s decision to frame Elliot and Mr. Robot as two separate people draws clear, bright lines about the interior battle that’s taking place for Elliot’s soul. But we’re also watching the fight for Darlene’s soul play out, quietly and sadly and almost unremarked upon, in front of us.

Darlene’s choice, of course, is a much more binary one. If she doesn’t cooperate with the FBI, she’ll likely spend the rest of her days in jail. Her life is pretty much physically over. But if she does give them what they want — which means betraying Elliot — she’ll lose the only person who unconditionally loves her, and her life will be over anyway. Darlene seems clear on the fact that stopping what fsociety started is the right thing to do, which makes her decision to sacrifice her relationship with Elliot both brave and tragic. He’s the only thing she has left that matters to her, emotionally.

Her quiet unraveling in the episode’s opening moments, as she unloads her guilt, shame and sorrow on an unsuspecting pickpocket on the subway, is incredibly poignant. For all that Mr. Robot focuses primarily on Elliot’s mental unraveling, Darlene’s is probably just as significant. After all, she’s had more than her own share of suffering. She considers herself responsible for the havoc fsociety wreaked on the world. She murdered someone. And she watched her boyfriend — possibly the love of her life — mowed down in front of her by underworld hackers. No wonder Darlene’s falling apart. She has nothing left, and she must purposefully destroy the last real thing that matters to her.

As she leaves the Alderson family portrait on Elliot’s mantel, it reminds us that there’s so much unspoken history between these two siblings. They’ve never been great about talking to one another — Elliot even forgot Darlene entirely for the bulk of season 1. You get the feeling their lives together have always been complicated ones. (See also Darlene’s comment earlier this season about the fact that Elliot’s not the only one who had a bad childhood.) But when the two make a vengeance pact — vowing that they’ll kill whatever Dark Army or government operative happens to take the other out — it’s heartbreaking. Not because both of them seem to have realized that their story probably won’t have a happy ending, but because this is the only way they know how to tell one another they matter.

everything means nothing to me

Much of season 3 appears to focus on Elliot’s reevaluation of the reasons he created fsociety in the first place. Now, how much of the actual creation of his own personal hacker revolution he remembers is still up in the air. But now that it’s all over — or at least that Stage 1 is complete — Elliot must reckon not only with what he did, but whether it was worth it. People are dead; the world is in flames around him. What was the 5/9 hack good for? Elliot wrestles with this idea to some extent in the season 3 premiere, questioning whether he’s merely made things worse for those he purported to help.

“eps3.3_metadata.par2” asks more personal questions about Elliot’s involvement. Obviously, he feels guilty about the world fsociety brought about. The Dark Army’s willingness to kill innocents to facilitate their Stage 2 plans sickens him. And he’s trying his best to thwart their scheme. But, on some level, he’s also excited by the things he’s managed to pull off, and proud of the chaos he managed to create. Darlene is right — Elliot could just wrap a bunch of what he knows in a bow, deposit it on the FBI’s doorstep and be free of everything. That he doesn’t choose to do that indicates he, at least on some level, still likes the power that comes from hacking. He wants to be the one to stop the Dark Army.  And in a way, this is the same impetus as wanting to be the one to take down Evil Corp.

Mr. Robot may be working overtime this season to draw clear lines between Elliot and Mr. Robot, as personalities. (It actually marks a big shift from previous seasons, in which Mr. Robot himself often referred to the idea of an “us” rather than a “him”.) But at the end of the day, they’re connected, to some extent. Mr. Robot can apparently now operate independently from Elliot. And the series takes pains to insist that his actions aren’t necessarily sanctioned by his “host”. (See also: The scene earlier in this episode when Elliot insists he’s not the person that’s hurting Darlene.) But Mr. Robot doesn’t exist in a vacuum. He still comes from somewhere inside Elliot, and even though that place clearly scares him, it’s real.

This exploration of duality — in both Alderson siblings — is likely a key to the rest of the season. But the pessimistic skepticism that hangs over both of them — plus that whole revenge pact thing — probably doesn’t portend anything good.

Next: House of Cards: Doug Stamper should not get his own series

Mr. Robot continues next Wednesday on USA Network.