This is the first time since Game of Thrones' Red Wedding that something on a TV show has disturbed me so deeply. I genuinely do not feel okay after watching this episode. The reveal and denouement at the end of this episode is one of the most shocking things I have ever seen. Normally there's some joy in the reveal of a twist, but this... this is just brutal. It's going to take me a while to recover.
Mind you, when I mention how disturbing and intense it is, I'm mostly talking about the ending. The majority of the episode takes the pace down a notch, instead luxuriating in the atmosphere and catching up with the characters in the aftermath of last episode's big event. Angela is shell-shocked, Elliot is madly searching for answers, Dom realizes she's just a cog in the machine, and Phillip finds himself backed into a corner. On paper it's quite slow, but in execution it's mesmerizing and powerful.
But even as the episode takes the time to catch up with all the characters, it's already slowly building the tension and setting up the next phase of this story, which comes to a head at the end of this episode. I've already mentioned how surprising and disturbing it is, but it also didn't come out of nowhere; in retrospect there were a great many things setting it up earlier this season, lines from Whiterose that now have new significance. There's also a very real (almost too real) layer of social commentary to it, making the whole thing all the more visceral.
In summation, this is a stunning, brutal episode of Mr. Robot that will leave you drained, depressed, and even more amazed at the brilliance of this show.
