After last week's bombshell reveal, I was hoping that Elliot would finally be able to rejoin the main story and take centre stage in this episode. The truth is, he wasn't in it at all. Instead, pretty much the whole thing follows the other members of f-society. As a result, the episode felt like a totally different show. It also means that this is the first episode in the series not to contain a single hallucination. While I am disappointed in the total lack of Elliot in this instalment, I did really enjoy it. I think the decision to take a more focused approach worked quite well. By not jumping around all the time from scenario to scenario, not constantly forcing the viewer to question what is and is not real, and not distracting the viewer with flamboyant directing, the episode gives the viewers a chance to invest in the characters. The relative 'normalness' of this episode compared to other episodes this season helps to highlight some of its darker elements.
While the episode was quite eventful, there were also some things that I couldn't help but feel unsatisfied with; namely the cliffhanger ending, the lack of Elliot, and the short run-time. If you count both parts of the premiere together as one episode, then every episode this season has been slightly shorter than the one before it. I hope that changes soon.
As always, Esmail crams in some really nice detail. There are a couple of callbacks to the pilot in the opening scene of this episode. The face on Mobly's shirt is reminiscent of the face that appears in the painting that DiPierro and Whiterose were admiring in China. Some news footage of Edward Snowden appears on a TV, presumably speaking about the events of the show.
While it fails to satisfy my craving for information, and it is perhaps more conventional than most episodes of this show, this is still a competent, gripping instalment in the series.