Brilliant Or Bonkers? ‘Mr. Robot’ Went Full ‘90s Throwback Last Night, Complete With An Alf Appearance

Last week, we questioned whether or not Mr. Robot was hitting its sophomore slump, and we may have spoken too soon. This week’s episode of USA’s critically acclaimed drama was one of the most darkly interesting examples of 2016 TV so far. Angela (Portia Doubleday) was finally given a substantial plot that shows off how badass she is, and Elliot (Rami Malek) went through even more trauma that made us all die a little inside. However, those are not the Mr. Robot moments everyone will be talking about. For the first 17 minutes of this season’s sixth episode, Mr. Robot went into full ‘90s throwback mode. Spoilers ahead.

Mr. Robot had a lot of ground to cover after its action-packed fifth episode. There was a hyper-violent shooting, the increasingly non-friendly role of Ray (Craig Robinson), the origin story of FSociety’s notorious mask, and the most exciting and Mr. Robot-y cliffhanger of all — Elliot declaring his intention to hack the FBI. Keeping all of this in mind, it’s weird that show creator Sam Esmail would choose to start Episode Six with the darkest Full House homage since “Too Many Cooks.” Was that ‘90s sitcom intro brilliant or insane? That’s the question we’re going to attempt to answer today. Decider’s Kayla Cobb and Lea Palmieri are split on this issue and are going to duke it out in a Decider Debate.

Kayla: I loved the intro, in that weird, twisted way I’ve grown to appreciate all things Mr. Robot.

Lea: I did not care for it. The opening to this Mr. Robot episode is arguably the most disturbing chunk of Mr. Robot we’ve seen yet, and yes, that is saying something. Sure, the “dream” is explained, and I guess as viewers we should be happy when this show pauses to explain anything at all. But is “JK he’s just dreaming!” a crutch Mr. Robot will get too comfortable leaning on? I say this noting that a dream and a hallucination are two different things.

Kayla: While I do despise the “JK he was dreaming the whole time” explanation, I think Mr. Robot carries it off well if only because of the universe it’s established. Bouncy ‘90s sitcoms are so far removed from the tone of Mr. Robot, you immediately know that something is seriously wrong in the episode. Also because of Elliot’s struggles with Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), we can guess we’re in Elliot’s mind on some level. It’s really messed up, but I found it weirdly refreshing. Finally, we’re even deeper inside of Elliot’s messed up psyche, and it’s even more disturbing than I thought it’d be. Sure, it’s a heavy handed device that hinges almost entirely on the viewer trusting the show, but it pays off.

Lea: TGIF is beloved for a reason: it’s comforting and nostalgic and for the most part, happy. It’s understandable why Elliot’s subconscious would go there, but it’s not fair to the rest of us. We don’t want to be disturbed by the cartoonishly bright yellow font we’ve all associated with Full House or Family Matters or Step by Step for years. Now I’m going to shiver when I see those 90’s credits and this all your fault, Mr. Robot.

Why is Alf there. Why. The show explained why, but still. Why. I didn’t find it charming in the way most of Twitter did last night. I suppose I felt bad for Alf, like, leave him out of this craziness. He did nothing to deserve this.

Within the context of the show, it is more disturbing to see Elliot and Darlene’s mom punching Darlene in the face (to a laugh track!) than it is to see Mr. Robot causing a young Elliot to fall out of a window.

Kayla: OK fair enough. No viewer jumped into Mr. Robot last night hoping their favorite childhood sitcoms would be ruined by a tied up man in a trunk and cigarette burns. But Mr. Robot has always been a dark show that doesn’t hold back. Ruining TGIF wasn’t the nicest thing, but it’s certainly in line with the show. But more than that, I feel like the intro taught us a lot more about Elliot’s family and current mental state than it hurt our sense of nostalgia.

Mr. Robot is a show that like to play with pop culture. Sticking to in-universe examples, the way Elliot organizes the CDs of the people he’s hacked in Season One is by band names. Also, the episode before revealed that Elliot and Darlene took the FSociety mask from some B-grade horror movie they liked. It would totally make sense that Elliot’s safe space would be in the nicest pop culture space ever — a fake Full House world. But I don’t think Mr. Robot (the character) meant for that mental state to be disturbing.

At the end of the episode we learn that Mr. Robot was trying to save Elliot from all the terribleness going on in the real world (Side note: Oh my god, RAMI’S FACE). But as he’s trying to distract his son, the badness starts to creep in. Cue disturbing moments. I think this intro completely restructures Elliot’s relationship with Mr. Robot. Before they were constantly fighting, but through this, we’ve learned that there is a good side to Mr. Robot. I don’t know if that makes him a defense mechanism for Elliot or what, but it’s interesting.

Also, no idea why Alf was in there other than the fact that the show’s creator probably likes Alf.

Lea: See, that’s the thing. Did it? Do we really know more about Elliot, his mental state, and his relationship with Mr. Robot? Because I only feel more confused! I do appreciate the show’s pop culture references, from Seinfeld to Vanderpump Rules.

What really irks me about this episode and all the chatter that has come with it, is that this specific episode felt like the wrong place for this opening. The rest of the episode shined a spotlight on Angela (Portia Doubleday) in a way that nearly guaranteed this will be her episode submission for next year’s Emmys. Her acting was the possibly the best we’ve seen from her, certainly in season 2 so far, even during the opening. Standing at her mom’s casket and the line in the gas station were delivered perfectly, which, somehow, made the whole stunt even more annoying.

The tracking shot of her on the FBI floor was incredible and thrilling. It was done so well from a technical standpoint. It was exceptionally well-directed and well-acted, and in any other week we would all be drooling over it! It was what Mr. Robot does best: it looks cool, it’s suspenseful, and it moves the characters into new territories.

What they set out to do with the opening, they really did. They went for it and it was executed well in a lot of ways. Fine. But I didn’t like it and didn’t need it. This didn’t feel like the place to put it, and it took away from an episode that simply did not need a gimmick up top (despite fans’ disappointment in season 2 so far). We should be talking about Angela today, not Alf.

Kayla: I totally agree that this intro took some steam away from Portia Doubleday and may make Emmy consideration a little bit more difficult. Doubleday gave an incredible performance, and it was really refreshing to see the show finally use Angela in a significant way again. I love all of the Darlene (Carly Chaikin) focused plotlines, but the show can really shine when these two characters and actresses are working together.

Two more things, and I will have said my part. For a while in Season Two, I was like the rest of the world. I was sick of Elliot’s mental back-and-forth, but this episode showed me that Mr. Robot is working to a more complicated and nuanced story. Now we know Mr. Robot exists and that he’s neither good nor bad. What is he? Does Elliot have other alters? How much of this story can even be believed? I always like stories that smartly leave room for questions, and in Mr. Robot’s case, there are a lot of questions left to be answered. It’s hard to make a sustainable narrative about an unreliable narrator and the downfall of society without becoming eye-rollingly heavy-handed, but Mr. Robot walks that line well. I don’t know where the show is going to take me, but I’m willing to go along for the ride.

And apparently it felt the need to take us on a journey through TGIF last night. I don’t think the intro was used as a gimmick. It never felt flashy or exploitative for media attention to me. It had real narrative weight, and for that reason, I’m all about it.

Lea: I agree, I love Darlene and Angela scenes. Those two together are unstoppable, as we saw last night. I didn’t realize how much I was missing them, and in their absence, was enjoying the scenes between Ray (Craig Robinson) and Elliot. Gotta say, Mr. Robot the character (Christian Slater) has been annoying and creeping me out this season, with all his lurking. That was only reinforced in the opening, which, sure. This show isn’t one to pander to the audience, it knows what it wants to do and will do it no matter what. But you know they were very pleased with themselves and expecting quite a reaction from last night’s opening. It was the rest of the episode got me back on track to where you are, so I’m along for the ride, as long as we’re not going back to the ’90s.

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