One of my favourite things about this show is the way events get recontextualized over the course of the show. After every season (hell, every episode), you can rewatch all the previous episodes and they'll take on a completely different meaning - while still making just as much (and often more) sense. Every detail is so intricately and fully planned in advance - the experience is like zooming out of a painting. As you see more and more of the big picture, all the tiny incongruous details jump into place until everything finally fits. Time and again I am made to marvel at the exceptional planning behind this show, never more so than in this episode.
Request Timeout focusses on two storylines; Elliot dealing with the fallout of last week's revelations, and Darlene and Dom pleading with Janice. With the former, the big reveal has already happened and now we are picking up the pieces, as it were. We get a lot of great character development and we fill in some gaps created by last week's twist. In the latter storyline, we also get a twist, which has been set up very subtly throughout this season and which is incredibly satisfying to see unfold.
Incredible episodes are pretty much par for the course this season on Mr. Robot - we are racing towards the finish line - but however obvious it is, it still must be said that Sam Esmail really knows what the hell he's doing, and he has all along.
