The scene is the core of Tyrell, an ex-hacker who has applied that dogged ruthlessness to the boardroom. “You’re a strange creature,” Anwar tells him after sex, to which Tyrell responds, “I’m just a businessman.”
He sleeps with Anwar and then exploits a backdoor in his Android to, in part, learn the name of his competitor, Scott Knowles. After some thorough Instagram stalking, he meets Anwar, the CEO’s assistant, outside a gay club. To help you right a wrong, and what feels better than that.” Tyrell’s CTO maneuvering is sidetracked, and he sets a course to get that power back. Later in the episode, Elliot continues to ruminate on bugs: “A bug’s only reason for existence is to be a mistake that needs fixing. Even his tie, which the CEO compliments - “Let me guess, Brioni? Great taste, as always” - is reminiscent of American Pyscho’s business-card scene. From Tyrell’s early morning workout routine to his well-stocked closet of color-coordinated suits and shirts and the knockdown, Tyrell does a mean Patrick Bateman impression. Sam Esmail, the show’s creator, has stated in interviews how certain films have influenced his work, and the initial six minutes of “d3bug.mkv” seem like a slight homage to American Psycho.
The man appears to know Tyrell, asking for more money “this time,” and Tyrell’s security team watches the affair with a resigned look. It would be shocking if the whole encounter didn’t feel so casual. Listlessly, he is then driven to an underpass where he, after dispensing $300 to a homeless man, proceeds to beat the man to near-death. Tyrell mutters a mantra, “You will be the next CTO of this company,” even moments before meeting with the CEO, only to be embarrassed when told the board is more interested in another candidate.
The episode’s opening scene features Tyrell practicing his pitch to be permanently promoted - his predecessor, Terry Colby (Bruce Davidson), was arrested after Elliot aided a massive hack by the secret collective FSociety, and its subsequent data dump. We’ve also seen those that affect both Elliot’s best friend Angela (Portia Doubleday) and Krista Gordon (Gloria Reuben), his therapist (poor choices in men), but we now begin to learn about the bugs for the other people in Elliot’s orbit. We’ve been shown glimpses of Elliot’s bug: the loss of his father, a longtime Evil Corp employee whose leukemia - and death - was caused by the company. Popping with a revelation you’ve secretly known all along … A bug buzzing its way towards me, to gum up the works, until it forces me to make a call - kill me, or embrace me.” Like an unconscious bubble floating to the service. “But that is bullshit … its existence was no accident.
“Most coders think debugging software is about fixing a mistake,” he says. He stares at a fly buzzing around his room and begins what eventually becomes an episode-long monologue on the nature of these bugs. Elliot Alderson, played brilliantly by Rami Malek, calls them “bugs.”Įlliot is lying in a hospital bed with bruises about his hands and face, the aftermath of a ten-foot fall onto a rocky Coney Island beach (precipitated by a push from Christian Slater’s Mr. Robot, USA Network’s hacker drama with surging ratings - only AMC’s Better Call Saul had a stronger scripted-series premiere this year - is all about the weaknesses we hide from others.
These are the peccadilloes that make us human, helping us to relate to the billions of people on Earth and not become, as Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström), the interim chief technology officer of E Corp (better known as Evil Corp), says, “a cold robot.”