I think one of the themes of the season was how Russia at the individual level can still value kindness and mercy:
- Gabriel wants Martha to be happy
- Mischa deserves to know his family
- Oleg's father wants him to be honest and find love
- Oleg can't stand the injustice of prosecuting the secretary
- Unwillingness to…

There's some truth to that. He obviously didn't want to do it, but he didn't hesitate because he thought it was absolutely necessary. It was weighing on him, but even more so once he found out that the man was innocent. His government's intel about the purpose of the wheat program was bad. His government lied to him…

I agree; look at the contrast with earlier in the season, where he kills the lab tech with no hesitation, only to find out later that the man was innocent of any wrongdoing. At minimum, he can no longer tolerate the thought of killing someone who he isn't sure has it coming.

Wrong Durst.

Also, the vision person said he "knows" Chris, not that he "knew" him, as you would usually say of a dead person. Perhaps they were in a plane where it is possible to continue knowing a dead person.

The question about killing a baby to cure cancer reminded me of the IQ test that Mark Linn-Baker tells Nora all of the applicants must pass before they're allowed to "pass through" or whatever. I read the immolating man's lines to mean that he had given the wrong answer and was therefore not allowed to pass through.…

Kevin Sr. also opened it to a page with a map of Cairo, which was an important place in Season 1.

I was positive that we would learn at the end that the drug being manufactured in Sherlock's kitchen (and the cause of his concentration/memory issues) was TD-12, to which Sherlock was building up a tolerance so that when Smith attempted to deliver a lethal dose after confessing, Sherlock would survive (and remember).…

Thank you for bringing up the symmetry of Daniel listening to his headphones. I would note further that in Season 1 Daniel spent some time listening not only to the music of his teenage years but also to his original confession, itself a traumatically formative event.

My girlfriend and I had a pretty spirited discussion about this move after we walked out. She saw a cathartic, maybe even tentatively happy ending, with Chiron perhaps starting to realize that he can begin anew and accept himself. I saw a tragedy where a man comes to terms with the fact that the only two men he ever…

No, it wasn't great for me, as an adult…but I was watching it with an 11 year old girl who has one black parent and one white parent, and as much as zombies spook her, she was genuinely terrified by the slavery scenes. I have to say that watching her reaction to it made me see it through new eyes; from her…

Oh, I agree, and I don't want Tyrell to be another personality. Just commenting that almost nothing can be taken for granted until Whiterose or someone says "Tyrell, I'm glad you're a real person who definitely shot Elliott for real in his actual stomach to bring him to his senses."

So people seem quite content that Tyrell's shooting of Elliot proves that Tyrell is real. How is it any different from Mr. Robot himself shooting Elliot in the head earlier this season? Until we have proof that his wounds can be seen by others (more Messianic allusion here, perhaps), this is not a definitive…

Elaborate, please. I thought they were both clearly talking about Elliott. Doesn't Angela even say "Is Elliott with you?" or "Are you with Elliott?"

They apparently burned through the plot for Aasif Mandvi's character without even airing any of it.

Agree. I can't tell if it's an intentional attempt to inject a more episodic "hack of the week" element into the show, or if I'm really supposed to be gleaning something important about these interactions. I'm completely enraptured by those plots in the moment; once they're over, they leave me wanting. They're so…

Wasn't Aasif Mandvi supposed to be in the cast this season as FBI agent Jesse, who is described as "a bit of a dog?"

The only explanation I've seen so far that coheres at all is that if someone successfully becomes a machine or uploads their consciousness to a computer or something, then a digital currency (a la E Coin) may be necessary. And that makes sense, sort of, but I have questions about why anyone outside of the…

Okay, I can dig it. So fsociety's goal was just to bring down E Corp and the banks, etc., and they knew that Dark Army had independent goals that somehow dovetailed with their own. What they didn't know is that Dark Army's goal is to pursue Stage 2, which Elliott himself planned, and Stage 2 is actually a way to…

That's an interesting theory, but my question is what all of that had to do with Stage 1 and 5/9? Like, why does one have to be done in order to achieve the other?