Mr Robot — Series 2: Episodes 4 and 5 eps2.2_init_1.asec and eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc

17th May, 2017.

You know, I’ve had time off, just recently.   Where work’s cut everyone’s hours: as a result of going from a busy winter season to a less busy summer season.

There’s a downside.

Less pay, next Friday.

But more time to myself, this week.

Frankly?

I usually don’t spend enough time in front of the TV.

Nor — usually — do I want to.

But, in the case of an exceptional film or TV show?

I fell I have to.

I felt — when I first saw it — that season one of the show meant Mr Robot was one of those exceptional shows.

I’m thinking season two carries that on … 

~≈Â≈~

Episode 4 — eps2.2_init_1.asec — starts with A flashback: showing us Darlene (Carly Chaikin) and Elliot (Rami Malek) speeding some quality time together: only for Elliot to suggest a MAJOR hack … !

It throws forward to the present day: seeing a conflicted Elliot refuses to help Darlene with follow up attacks on Evil Corp.

It’s only when Ray (Craig Robinson) allows him access to a computer?   That Elliot changes his mind.

Episode 5 — eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc show us Agent DiPierro (Grace Gummer) and the rest of her team visiting China: in an effort to find out what fsociety have down to E Corp’s Chinese Servers.

Only for someone to launch a suicide mission against them: leaving only DiPierro as a witness.

Whilst this is going on?   Elliot has found himself in deep trouble: having found out exactly what the site Ray wants him to migrate is for … 

~≈Â≈~

Now … ?

Good?

Yep!   Once again, cast, writers and producers have put together a taught package … that, once again, leaves us wondering exactly where Elliot is.

AND only tells us half the story, whilst giving us the salient points is a form leaving me with only half a clue what’s going on … 

But enjoying the guessing game, all the while.

~≈Â≈~

Now?

One thing before I move to the meat.

I usually watch Mr Robot on my Apple TV  basically, I have the episode stored as digital files on an extra hard drive in my Mac Pro.   When I want to watch them?   I turn on iTunes, drag the files into my iTunes library, then turn on the Apple TV and change channels on my TV set.

By then?

They’ll show up on my Apple TV, over my local network, and are ready to play.

However, tonight, I did something a little different.

Just recently, a version of open source app, vlc has been released for the Apple TV.

Given I’ve been watching a show about a group of hacktivists, I thought using it would be nice.

It’s simple enough to download: it’s just a regular download from the Apple TV version of the App Store, in that regard.

It’s a little trickier to use than the iTunes equivalent: I had to switch on the vlc remote playback function, then feed the URI the software gave me into a browser, THEN drag the files I wanted to watch into the browser — I used Safari — then open them on the Apple TV.

I must admit,  the picture quality in vlc — playing exactly the same files — doesn’t seem as good as using the regular media playing software.

Basically, iTunes and tvOS seem a lot better at smoothing out the bumps that HandBrake seems to produce in a video file.

But?

The Apple TV version of vlc promises — like its versatile desktop cousin — promises to play pretty much anything you throw at it.

That could come in handy, at some point.

~≈Â≈~

At any rate?   And how ever you watch it?

Go watch Mr Robot.