This hacker must not be confused with an Islamic terrorist.
This hacker must not be confused with an Islamic terrorist. USA Network

One of the many interesting things that the 19th century German philosopher Georg Hegel pointed out is that there is no relationship that's closer than that between a brother and sister. (Hegel was unusually close to his sister, Christiane.) The philosopher's high praise of this kind relationship has lead me to believe that if he were alive today, he would be a huge fan of Mr. Robot, which has at its center a very close relationship between a brother and a sister, Elliot and Darlene, two hackers who established a team called fsociety.

Late in the show's brilliant first season, Elliot tried to kiss his sister, his fried mind having forgotten who she was. (This error would undoubtedly have delighted Hegel and Christiane, who, by the way, was deeply upset when her brother got married in 1810.) In the second season, Elliot and Darlene are separated. The brother has been lost in his head and the sister has been leading fsociety, trying to keep alive the revolution the group instigated by crashing the network of E Corp, the biggest company in the world. (Hegel and his sister would probably not have liked this separation business.)

(SPOILER ALERT) Last week (Season 2 Episode 7 “eps2.5h4ndshake.sme"), we learned that Elliot is in prison; this week (Season 2 Episode 8 "eps2.6succ3ss0r.p12"), we learn that Darlene and her hacker team are on a sinking ship. The FBI and China's Dark Army are closing in on them. E Corp appears to be ascending, erasing all of the gains of the revolution. Darlene also kills an E Corp lawyer for no real good reason. (Hegel would have seen this murder and the manner in which the body was disposed as related to Reign of Terror that followed the French Revolution, and whose violence disenchanted many of its supporters.) The show ended with a fresh twist. Is Darlene done for? Is her team finished? Who will rescue fsociety?

To be honest, I have lost some interest in the show's plot and now simply enjoy its many beautiful and magical moments. One such moment in "eps2.6succ3ss0r.p12" involved two distressed members of fsociety, one wearing a rather plain hijab, sitting in a gritty subway station and waiting for a train. Here, director Sam Esmail really captures the cosmopolitan beauty of public transportation: the strangers, the worn white tiles, the ruddy pillars, the long lights, the sudden rush after a stretch of stillness. In another moment, the young, blandly-attractive Angela Moss, a friend of Elliot's who seemingly has crossed over to the dark side by joining E Corp, and who has started sleeping with older men, sings Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" at a rather swanky karaoke joint. We have not seen on film a karaoke performance with that kind of magic since Bill Murray sang Roxy Music's over-ethereal "More Than This" in Lost In Translation.


And most important of all, Angela understood the importance of the opening lines of the Tears for Fears tune: "Welcome to your life" (this is the good news); "there's no turning back" (this is the bad news).