USAWarning: The following contains major spoilers from the season two premiere of Mr. Robot. If you haven't watched yet, you might want to look away. Proceed at your own risk!
If there was any doubt that season two of Mr. Robot might not be able to live up to the immeasurable hype surrounding it after the USA Network series' groundbreaking inaugural first year, tonight's two-part premiere should have put those fears to rest—a feat that's something of a minor miracle, all things considered.
When Sam Esmail's creation showed up out of nowhere on USA last summer, it was so specific in its vision and so sure of its story that it had us hooked from the first frame and never once let us down. That's a considerable amount of pressure for a young show with a first-time showrunner. We all remember True Detective's massive implosion. But with Esmail's decision to write and direct every episode of this new season, and with star Rami Malek's tour de force performance as Elliot Alderson as captivating as ever, that specificity of vision hasn't gone anywhere.
After last season left the world in disarray as Elliot and fsociety successfully hacked into Evil Corp and deleted a massive amount of consumer debt, tonight's premiere had plenty of heavy lifting to do. We were owed a check-in with everyone, and by and large, we got one. We learned that Angela (Portia Doubleday) was slipping ever closer to the dark side at Evil Corp, enjoying how good she was in her new position at the company responsible for her mother's death. We caught a glimpse of Darlene (Carly Chaikin), running fsociety in Elliot's absence and beginning the next stage of their revolution, all while seeming to wrestle with some guilt over what they'd already done.
We discovered how Tyrell Wellick's (Martin Wallstrom) wife Joanna (Stephanie Corneliussen) was coping with his mysterious absence—and it was as kinky and creepy as we'd come to expect. We saw what damage the hack had done on a macro level (the banking system was rendered nearly obsolete, creating an unstable cash economy) and on a micro level, in the form of Gideon Goddard (Michel Gill), Elliot's former boss and the disgraced face of Allsafe. Poor, poor Gideon. More on that in a moment.
Of course, the main attraction was Elliot himself and how he was coping after the stunning realization that Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) was nothing more than his dead father and the persona he often slipped into. What happened during those three days that Elliot has no memory of, when Mr. Robot took over, executed the hack, and possibly contributed to Tyrell's ominous absence?
It turns out that Elliot still isn't so sure. Instead, we find him after he's taken steps to keep Mr. Robot out of his head. He's living with his strict mother, he's back in therapy, he's attending a church group regularly; he's developed a routine, a sense of order to keep the anarchy in his mind at bay. Of course, it's not that easy. Much of the two episodes involved Mr. Robot fighting tooth and nail to get his control back, leading to one particularly graphic moment where Elliot is shot in the head. We know it's not real, but that doesn't make it any less hard to watch, especially in this current climate.
Aside from his mom, there are some new faces in Elliot's life, though how they'll figure into the larger picture still remains unclear. New friend Leon's (rapper Joey Badass) defining characteristic is that he's apparently only just discovered Seinfeld and can't stop talking about it. And Craig Robinson's Ray seems to know much more about Elliot than Elliot does about him—and sure seems shifty. Is Elliot's control over Mr. Robot not as strong as he believes? Of course it isn't.
We still don't know what happened during those three days, or where on Earth Tyrell is. But at least we know he's alive, as that phone call proves. Or does it? Could Tyrell have become just another voice in Elliot's head? With this show, you can never be too sure. And that's the electric fun of it.
And now, Gideon. That scene in the bar, where a lunatic vigilante lured him into a false sense of security before shooting him in cold blood, wasn't easy to watch. With the current state of gun violence in our real world what it is, Gideon's murder rang a little too close to home for our tastes. Did it feel authentic to the world Esmail's created thus far? Sure. But that didn't make it any easier. After Elliot cruelly rebuffed the man he essentially sacrificed to execute the hack, we've got a feeling news of his murder will rock our hero's fragile grasp on reality. At least, it damn well better.
That said, we're thrilled to have Mr. Robot back in our lives. Elliot may want order and stability, but our summer just got a whole lot more exciting thanks to the return of this unpredictable, but satisfying bit of chaos.
What did you think of the Mr. Robot premiere? Did it live up to your expectations? Let us know in the comments below.
Mr. Robot airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA.
(E! and USA are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)