Enoch rescues Fitz and Simmons from a mind trap in a Fitzsimmons-centric episode that might have been the most brilliant hour of television I've ever seen. Great acting, great dialogue, terrific humor, wonderful callbacks. Just brilliant.
Nothing whatsoever happens to advance the season hack arc, but this is an incredible episode that brings together a lot from all four years of the show and provides a ton of insight into both Elliot and what all has driven him to this point. Great stuff, and it will certainly drive his actions for the remainder of the season and series.
The actor who played Vera needs to submit this one for an award or ten. The rest of the limited cast here was terrific, as well.
Wow. Just...wow. I have to imagine that Michael Cristofer read this script and then went out and bought the writers a nice bottle or ten of single malt. What an EPIC exit for a fantastic character. Every single moment of Phillip's verbal exchange with Whiterose in this one was terrific, and Wong was no slouch here, either. Phillip was stalling for time and used that time to taunt and mock Whiterose, who was just a step behind in figuring it all out for the entire hour. Just phenomenal.
Philip is awesome. His character arc has led him to such a decent place that I'm convinced that he's gonna end up dying. I can only hope that I'm wrong.
Many people might say that nothing much happened in this episode until the final few minutes. And to the extent that they are correct, it was some of the most beautiful "nothing" that I've seen in quite a while. In an episode full of moments worthy of awards, none stands out more than the scene between a suicidal Elliot and Trenton's little brother at a mosque.
Psychologically and emotionally, the entire series up to now can be summed up by an exchange later in the episode between Elliot and Angela, where Elliot brings up a "wishing game" that he and Angela used to play as children. "After we made all our wishes, we'd close our eyes really hard, hoping that when we opened them, it'd all come true," Elliot says. "And we thought the harder we closed them, the stronger our wishes would be. And even though they never came true, we still liked doing it. Because the ending was never our favorite part, anyway. It was the wishing. I didn't get that at first. You remember what you used to say to me right before we opened our eyes that would make it all better?"
Angela, hurting every bit as much as Elliot, takes a moment before replying. "No matter what happens, we'll be okay."
By this point, Elliot has decided not to delete himself after all. "That's the thing about deletion. It's not always permanent. There are many reasons why you wanna recover a file you just deleted. When you have that moment of panic, where it hits you, where that thing you thought had no value suddenly becomes important. Where you suddenly find new purpose for it. Maybe there are still things left for me to do."
For Elliot, one of those things is to restore some digital data that Trenton had sent to him and that had previously gone unread. Specifically, an email that she referenced in the previous episode. An email that Elliot now reads. An email that begins with: "I may have found a way to undo the hack."
Amazing episode.
For a show that consistently has some of the best dialogue out there, this was even better than usual. An A+++ effort, and the talented cast did a terrific job of delivering it. The actor who plays Eliot, in particular, really did a fantastic job in this one.
Great episode. An interesting story made even better by terrific casting. I was rooting for them all the way.
An amazing episode. Great stories and plot development, smart and funny dialogue, great delivery of those lines, and the usual solid production values. This show is firing on all cylinders at the moment.
Poor Nellie. Poor sweet Nellie. The spooky train is barreling down the tracks at full speed in this one as we learn more about Nellie's childhood experiences at Hill House and the mixed results of her adulthood. I was rooting for her and her husband, so that particular tragedy was a real bummer. But the way that they took her long-term nightmare and turned it in on itself was impressive, and both the young and adult Nellie actors did a terrific job. Also, this outing did a great job of revisiting various scenes and bits of dialogue that we were first exposed to in previous episodes, giving us a chance to see them from a new perspective. By far the strongest outing so far, both in terms of the fear factor and just the humanity of it. Again, poor sweet Nellie. At least the suffering and the nightmares are over. Now we just have to find out what really happened to her in that final scene since she was hardly a reliable narrator type at that point.
"I guess he didn't like my note." Heh. I didn't think that they'd ever match last week's episode and then they went and did it the very next time out. Amazing. The Angela and Elliot stuff was solid, and the subsequent alternation between the slow burn of Dom's discoveries versus the frenetic pace of Elliot's efforts was terrific. And seeing Elliot literally battling himself like that would have been hysterical in another context, but here it was just nerve-wracking. And in the end, it was all for nothing. So many people were played. So many people still have no idea what's going on. But Elliot and Mr. Robot are starting to understand. And now they would seem to be on the same side, which would seem to make all the difference going forward. Good stuff.
I'm going to miss this show...
Mike Flanagan has another winner on his hands. I was already a big fan, so I shouldn't be surprised that this one hooked me early and hard. It has it all: great characters, a terrific setting, no shortage of interesting plot elements, slow burns juxtaposed with moments of intensity. And while I can't wish it on real-world Beverlys -- who are legion -- I can and will wish a slow and painful death in a fire on this one. What a horrible human being. All kinds of ugly, but clever enough to cover it up enough to avoid being outright accused of being the nasty, bitter and controlling piece of work that she is.
The way that the William and Delos story was tied to the Bernard and Elsie story was terrific, as were the revelations that came out on the Bernard front. And the way that the Man in Black and Lawrence story was tied to the Raj woman's story was a real surprise, as well. "Hi, Dad" indeed. Just an amazing episode.
This was an amazing episode that was so densely packed with insights, information and interconnections that it was a blink-and-you'll-miss-something kind of deal. There was so much going on, in fact, that I'm going to have to watch it again to see what I missed on the first pass. All in all, another terrific outing for a show that's making that sort of thing the norm.
A strong and beautiful finale. I hope to see more from this show, but if this was a series finale as well as a season finale, then it just went out on an extremely high note.
When this show nails it, as it does here, there's nothing better on television. And c'mon. God drinking from a World's Greatest Dad mug? That's the existential cherry on top of the Chuck sundae!
This show is turning out to be WAY better than I could have hoped. All three story lines in this Halloween-themed episode are great and the time spent watching it all goes by quickly. Still, though, how many times does Grandma have to prove what a crappy babysitter she is before Kristen stops trusting her with her kids?
Another nearly perfect hour of television, with the only weak spots being in the area that Elizabeth Mitchell's character, Anna, was brought in to address. If the collective TV brainpower in Hollywood and Canada can't find a way to save a show of this quality, then the system really is irrevocably broken.
The pieces all fit together in the end. The Red Room provided each of them with what they needed, and perhaps with some of the glue to keep the pieces together. Other than that, can I just say that the Crain kids have the coolest dreams ever?
"Please...give us an ending."
I don't think that any show will ever be able to give us a better ending than this one just did, but I hope that they all try. Because this one was just phenomenal and hit on all of the timey-wimey and character points that the show has always been good at hitting. Everyone who needed a shot at redemption got it and nailed it. Well, except for Olivia, but we knew that all along, pretty much. (But even there, her bones served a purpose.) And perhaps most importantly, everyone got an ending. Or the beginnings of endings. And happy ones, at that.
Two nice touches that I really appreciated: (1) They didn't actually show Cassie hitting the Big Red Button, so we don't know for sure if she did. The results either way are similar, but also different in terms of where Cole ended up. I choose to believe that Cole ended up in the same new timeline as the "real" others. (2) As it clung by a thread to a tree limb, that red (!) leaf that the camera panned to so that it could lead us out of the show at the very end was perfectly symbolic of all living things having an ending. Cassie and Cole and the others have one life now. Free will over destiny. Do it right or go home. No do-overs. The way that it should be.
This show just keeps getting better and better. A great season finale, and I'm so glad that there will be more to come.
A superb ending to a superb season. After an extremely disappointing second season, it was so nice to see the show rebound to this degree in season three. I'll definitely be back for more.
Maybe I've seen a better and more exciting ending to a TV episode at some point in the past, but I can't begin to think of what it might have been. And then there's pretty much everything else that happened in this one, as well. Just a terrific outing all around. Bob would be proud.
"I'm the demon."
A superb twist on the maternity front, including how you-know-who became "Marion," which made perfect sense in that context while changing everything that we thought that we knew about Cole and his destiny. Next week's final two hours should be terrific.
Poor Teddy. Poor simple Teddy. This one lived up to my expectations in every possible way, even when it was doing some fresh table-setting and rearranging a few things. Not much to complain about here at all. Well, they could have shown cute Charlotte changing clothes instead of focusing on Bernard's struggles at that point, but that's just me being a pig. And now that things are off and running, I look forward to seeing how a Bengal tiger and a bunch of corpses ended up where they did; and I'm also very much looking forward to learning more about the new game that William is playing...and how it's going to play out.
P.T. should have seen that coming.
Plenty of great lines and zingers in this one once again, with a decent wrap-up in case an unlikely third season doesn't happen. And plenty of stupid. The good kind of stupid. The kind of stupid that's actually making fun of stupid. In a stupid way.
I'm going to miss this quirky, underappreciated gem. I'm assuming that the suits killed it back when they moved it to Sunday nights, but at least we'll always have this 13-episode season to revisit. And who knows? Maybe Gustav will get a spinoff show focused on his NSA duties. Because that would be awesome.
Birn deserves every acting award that might be coming her way after this one -- just an incredible performance on her part. But really, pretty much all of the primary actors in this one were impressive and brought their A-games to the party.
The story, too, moved forward at a decent pace and offered several characters some truly decent exits.
Overall, I have no complaints about this one.
This is a nearly perfect hour television, with a terrific narrative, fantastic dialogue, and incredible characters. The good guys, in particular, are really growing on me and making it extremely easy for me to root for them. I am enjoying the show tremendously.
