Hello, friend. This article is a review and recap of the Mr. Robot episode “eps3.1_undo.gz” and it contains spoilers, so if you have not yet watched the episode, do so before reading this. If you’re looking to get caught up on last week’s episode, look here.
Can You crtl+Z the World?
At the end of the last episode, Elliot was left wondering if the 5/9 hack (his/Mr. Robot’s plan to ruin E-Corp by destroying all their debt-related data) has done more harm than good and this episode starts with him deciding to undo as much damage as he can. He does this by getting a job at E-Corp, living a pedestrian life (complete with collared shirts, Zoloft and a 401(k)).
Since he knows that Mr. Robot intends to destroy all E-Corp’s physical records when they are shipped to a single location, he gives a presentation to his boss on why the records should be digitized at their current and diverse locations. When his boss, more concerned with Goo Goo Dolls tickets than Elliot’s ideas, won’t help, Elliot does what he was doing in the first episode: he hacks his boss, finds evidence of crimes and sends them to the FBI. Meanwhile, he’s messing with the shipping orders to keep the records from ending up in New York. Another level of management won’t listen, so he pulls the same tactic and gets that boss arrested. Luckily, the third level of management respects the plan and tells Elliot she wants to get this presentation in front of the VP of technology. All this happens in the opening sequence set to INXS’s “New Sensation” and is one of the most impressive sequences in a show known for impressive sequences.
Unfortunately, not everything is going as Elliot hoped. Even with the Zoloft, he’s sad, alone, and feels like he’s losing control. He goes to see Krista, his psychiatrist (now working out of her home office, since the manager of her regular office stopped paying the utilities). He tells her he’s been avoiding his sister Darlene since she triggers the emergence of his Mr. Robot personality (Elliot is still unaware that Mr. Robot has started appearing without Elliot knowing). He tells her about his and Darlene’s childhood snowman, Kevin McAllister, which would have been a beautiful story if it didn’t end with his father pushing him out a window. Somehow this hasn’t come up before in therapy, and Elliot offers little in the way of details to Krista.
A Rat by Any Other Name?
We find out that Darlene has been working with the FBI (though to what extent is still unknown). A new fsociety video has been released about which she knows nothing, but she suspects the Dark Army is responsible.
She meets with Elliot to inform him she is heading upstate to hide out and wishes him a happy birthday. Then she tells him that she got into fsociety not really for the cause, but to spend more time with him. He asks her to stay at his place for the night because he’s afraid to be alone. Waking up early, she plants a bug on his computer and is caught, not by Elliot, but by Mr. Robot, who violently confronts her about messing with his computer. She tells him she was just looking for a pencil to leave a note and leaves. At the end of the episode, we see Elliot (or Mr. Robot) used the bug to find the FBI and shows up at their safehouse.
Let’s Be Frank
Joanna Wellick goes on national TV to discuss her life since the 5/9 hack and talks about how she filed for divorce from her husband Tyrell who (as the prime suspect in the hacking case) is the most wanted man in America. Only now she says she still loves him and recanted the divorce. One problem, though: her boytoy Derek thought she really was going to divorce Tyrell to marry him. Overwhelmed with jealous, he stalks Joanna and is confronted by her bodyguard Mr. Sutherland, who tells Derek to forget about Joanna. Instead, he shoots Sutherland and kills Joanna. Sutherland recovers enough to kill Derek.
Currency War
E-Corp CEO Phillip Price gives a speech discussing how 19 out of 20 countries involved in a summit on currency have agreed to use E-coin as a new standard. The one holdout is China, whom he accuses of declaring a currency war, based on their decision to use bitcoin instead. A showdown ensues between Price and China’s Minister Zhang (aka Whiterose) over the endorsement of E-coin and the UN vote to allow China to annex the Congo. Whiterose, angry at Price and for seemingly the first time choosing emotion over logic, says she now wants Stage Two to happen whether or not the UN vote goes in China’s favor.
In another therapy session, Krista speaks for the first time with Mr. Robot, who hits on her, threatens her, and says that nothing will come of her sessions with Elliot. After the confrontation, Elliot doesn’t remember that it happened. Upon returning home, Elliot is confronted by Michael Hansen (Krista’s sleazy ex, whom Elliot hacked and blackmailed) who gives him back the dog that Elliot once took from him.
