‘Mr. Robot’ season finale: “please tell me you’re seeing this too”

“Please tell me you’re seeing this too.”

Whether quoting the iconic line from USA drama “Mr. Robot” or lead actor Rami Malek’s Emmy acceptance speech, this confusion is all too relatable in the aftermath of “Mr. Robot’s” season two finale. Even after reading multiple in-depth analyses and Variety interviews with creator Sam Esmail, my mind is still reeling and unable to pick apart what constituted reality in that episode.

Well played, Esmail. Well played.

Spoiler alert: Please pause this article if you have yet to watch last Wednesday’s finale episode (“eps2.9_pyth0n-pt2.p7z”). I don’t want to scramble your code before it’s programmed.

“eps2.9_pyth0n-pt2.p7z” (a title that’s as complicated as the show itself) opened on the the resolution of a cliffhanger written in “Mr. Robot’s” trademark fashion. More specifically, it opened on the return of Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wollström), who’d previously been MIA and assumed to be dead. This suave, stoic businessman (with way too much room for improvement in the anger management department) was declared dead halfway through season two. It’s surprising this was taken as concrete information since it came from the elusive Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) himself, the split personality of main character Elliot Alderson (Malek). However, it soon becomes clear that Mr. Robot lied to Elliot about Tyrell’s death and was, in fact, working with Tyrell to create Stage Two the entire time– Stage Two, of course, being the plot to blow up an E-Corp building housing monetary records.

Just as this twist is dramatically revealed with Kraftwerk’s “The Hall of Mirrors” blasting in the background, the ever-persistent FBI agent Dominique DiPierro (Grace Gummer) interrogates the rude yet lovable Darlene Alderson (Carly Chaikin). Her boyfriend (and fellow hacker) is confirmed to be dead after the previous episode’s shoot-out; if you thought (as I did) that Darlene couldn’t get any moodier, you’re dead wrong.

Speaking of being dead wrong, this phrase essentially sums up Elliot’s entire experience in this episode. Thought Tyrell wasn’t real? Wrong. Thought Angela (Portia Doubleday) was just an innocent corporate-worker instead of part of the Dark Army? Wrong. Thought the FBI remained clueless and didn’t have a web of Tyrell and Elliot’s hacks pinned up on the wall? Wrong. Thought it was possible to stop Stage Two? Wrong, with an emphasis on “dead.” Oh yeah: The episode ended with Tyrell shooting Elliot before proclaiming “I love him” on the phone to Angela. Even for a program that deems graphicly showing cement being poured down someone’s throat to be socially acceptable, Elliot’s near-death experience at the hands of his partner in crime is still seriously messed up.

So– what are my takeaways from this episode? First and foremost, Esmail and his production team are television gods. After throwing in plot twists left and right (I’m still not over the notion that Elliot was incarcerated for the first half of the season) and characters more complex than the hacks executed by fsociety, “Mr. Robot” maintains its impressive quality of being complicatedly simple. I may need to call Apple support when my laptop crashes, yet I still understand the intricate coding flashing across the screen because of Elliot’s constant internal monologue. It’s this same internal monologue that earned Malek his Emmy; He not only portrays his character’s failing grip on reality but also induces those same doubts in viewers. Elliot doesn’t know who’s with or against him, who’s real or fake– and I’ll be damned if I’m not wondering those exact same things.

In the realm of cinematography, “Mr. Robot” hits every mark. Each shot perfectly incorporates the rule of thirds, constantly changing points of view and sleek, dark color schemes to match the gravity of the Nine/Five hack and corporate power struggles. Neither plot nor acting have any holes, even with the introduction of multiple actors fairly new to the entertainment field (such as Wollström and Chaikin). The show is, to put it simply, a breathtaking masterpiece.

If anxiety-inducing cliffhangers and mind blowing plot twists are the price of “Mr. Robot,” at least I have another year to reset and reboot before season three.