Editor’s Note: This post contains spoilers for USA’s Mr. Robot. Proceed with caution. 

We’re only a few episodes deep into the second season of Mr. Robot, and so much has happened already. While Elliot was busy struggling to suppress Mr. Robot, Gideon and Romero were murdered, Agent DiPierro located fsociety’s arcade hideout, Angela was given the ammo to ruin two Evil Corp employees, and the mystery of the iconic mask’s origin was revealed. It wasn’t until last week that the protagonist came up for air from his madness (or at least accepted and harnessed it), reunited with his sister, and planned his next move: hacking the FBI. While it was nice seeing Elliot emerge from the fog, I think we can all agree in saying that this show is at its best and most creative when we don’t know what’s going on. But now that we do (or think we do), the plot has progressed in a number of surprising ways.

First, we got to see more of Joanna’s activities this week—of course, that doesn’t mean we know exactly what she’s up to. When she wasn’t busy taking care of baby Tyrell, the new mama was dodging paparazzi (and the FBI, as we later learned), trying to ensure one of her men doesn’t talk (all while searching for her husband). Based on the fact that the above-mentioned man alluded to Elliot, we know that Joanna is involved and trying to clean up after the hack. She even went so far as to have him murdered and make sure he knew why as it happened. Our guess is that she (or Tyrell) is involved with the Dark Army, but who knows.

Speaking of the Dark Army, we got a fair amount of B.D. Wong this week, but not in the usual Whiterose form. When Dom and the FBI took the investigation to Beijing, Wong’s business man persona, Jung, welcomed them with open arms. As the Minister of State Security, he promised to help the agents look into the intelligence China has on The Dark Army. He also invited the group to a grand cocktail party at his home.

During the soiree, Dom stumbled upon an odd hallway featuring a bunch of clocks (remember Whiterose’s obsession with time?) while looking for the bathroom. When he asked her how a Jersey girl like her found her way into the FBI, we learned a bit more about her background. In short: she was proposed to during the final semester of law school, but ran away from the situation and wound up as a mid-level agent. Her life is clearly mediocre and she’s unhappy about it.

Things took a turn when Jung showed her Whiterose’s fabulous wardrobe, and claimed the garments belonged to his sister (a statement Dom knows is BS because Jung doesn’t have a sister). Jung also asked her if she ever wondered what the world would be like if the 5/9 hack never happened. It was weird, but posed the weird idea that there’s an alternate reality where every character in the show is leading a different life. I know the line was a reference to Whiterose/Jung’s double life, and probably that of Elliot/Mr. Robot, but it would be interesting to see an alternate universe thrown into the mix …but I digress.

The thing we do know is that the bureau’s time in China was NOT good for the agents. When Dom returned, a pair of men shot up the office. As soon as shots rang out, Dom took cover and reached for a handgun. When one of the shooters turned the gun on himself, another emerged. It’s unclear who’s responsible, but we have a feeling it was the Dark Army. We also still don’t know who murdered Romero, or who’s been watching the group.

However, The Dark Army isn’t the only dangerous group at play. During this week’s episode, we finally found out Ray’s dark secret. Remember when we thought he was working with Mr. Robot, or the Dark Army, behind Elliot’s back? Welp, we were 100% wrong. He’s actually involved in the black market. Elliot discovered what he was up to after the the previous IT guy (the one who was beat up a few episodes ago) pointed him in the right direction. What Elliot found when he go to the site was stomach-churning: he saw underage prostitutes for sale, firearms, and drugs.

This obviously ignites the side of Elliot that’s focused on exposing terrible people in defense of the innocent. It was nice to see the plot point that had since fizzled out readdressed. Mr. Robot, of course, doesn’t want Elliot to get involved because it’s dangerous and they have more important battles to fight. Elliot didn’t have long to ponder exposing Ray, though, as his thugs ripped him from his bed and beat him up, while he reiterated that he told him not to look. Despite his nice guy act, Ray means business. It’s unclear what they’ll do with Elliot, but it won’t be good, especially with his plan to maintain a low profile along with Darlene and Angela.

We didn’t get to see any Evil Corp/Price madness this week, but for good reason. Angela was busy worrying about the CD she was blackmailed into using at Allsafe to infect the network—a problem Darlene brought to her attention at the beginning of the episode. Though at first Angela wanted nothing to do with getting involved again (via Darlene’s plan for her to drop off a package on the fed’s floor at E Corp), her mind was changed after a chat with her ex, who was the only other person outside of fsociety (and Ellio)t who knew about what she did. Although Elliot doesn’t want her involved, she joins Darlene and the group towards the end of the episode.

Things are definitely getting interesting. Do you miss Elliot’s crazy side, or are you liking where things are headed? Let us know in the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or start one with me on Twitter: @Samantha_Sofka!

Images: USA