Robot" is never far from the pulse of current events. A couple of weeks ago, the dystopian computer hacker drama was in mid-shoot at an FBI field office when news broke that bureau Director James Comey had been fired. "One of the lines of dialogue is referencing Comey," Sam Esmail, the show's creator, recalled. "That was a little surreal and kind of an out-of-body experience." Esmail might as easily be describing the USA Network series, whose dark and downbeat second season unfolded much within the imagination of its mentally unstable antihero, Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), as he fought to free himself from his manipulative alter-ego, Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). By season's end, fsociety -- the underground hacktivist group led by the sidelined Elliot -- was shattered, and a deadly, explosive plot hatched by Mr. Robot and the Dark Army, a cryptic Chinese organization, was about to go off. Elliot himself lay bleeding, shot by a character he believed to be a delusional figment. The show's license to be uncanny is endorsed by the headlines, argues its star. "As ridiculous as this sounds, I feel that I'm reading my scripts as if I could be reading the L.A. Times tomorrow," said Malek, speaking by phone during a lunch break from a location shoot on New York City's Broadway. "I would approach Sam and say, 'Do you really believe that this is possible?'

"Jarvis, remind me to develop a personality for you later." Jarvis is the quintessential artificial intelligence of film ("Iron Man", "The Avengers"), and now Mark Zuckerberg has used his Stark-like fortunes to build his own. So is film invading your smart home or is it vice versa? Voice assistants, learning thermostats, smart security, connected light bulbs -- it sounds like a dream, but judging by the clever ideas dominating CES, our film fantasies could soon enter the mainstream. We've moved beyond the tacky smart home horror films of the past (a smart home impregnates a woman in "Demon Seed", and of course it's from the '70s).

Robot" Season 2 has already concluded, but there are a lot of questions about the installment that fans are still asking. After the end credits of the season's final episode rolled, it was revealed that Trenton (Sunita Mani) and Mobley (Azhar Khan) were still alive. The scene also featured Leon (Joey Bada) asking the two for the time, prompting viewers to assume that he was sent by Whiterose (BD Wong) to catch the two members of fsociety. Bada appears to be hinting that the meeting was not planned at all and that he might not exactly be working for the Dark Army. In an interview with MTV, the rapper-actor said that while he has not been keeping up with the theories about the show, he knows that "a lot of people do think that he's Dark Army." Even though Bada did not answer directly, he did tease that Season 3 will be good for his character. He also confirmed that Leon is a real person, contrary to some theories saying he might just be a figment of Elliot's (Rami Malek) imagination. The rapper is not the only cast member looking forward to the upcoming season, though. Stephanie Corneliussen, who plays Joanna Wellick, has also shared her hopes for her character in the next installment. Speaking to Ars Technica, the actress said she is still looking forward to a reunion between Joanna and her husband Tyrell (Martin Wallstrom). Corneliussen also said that if she can have it her way, she would like for her character to cross paths and work with Angela (Portia Doubleday), who appeared to have started working with the Dark Army before the season ended, and Whiterose. Meanwhile, series creator Sam Esmail has already teased what fans can expect in the upcoming installment. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Esmail said the third season will uncover where Angela's true loyalty lies. It will also show how Dom (Grace Gummer) and Darlene's (Carly Chaikin) relationship will transform after it was revealed that the FBI knows all about fsociety's workings. Here's what Joey Bada and Stephanie Corneliussen have to say about "Mr.

As Mr. Robot Season 2 comes to a close, the show's attention to detail may feel almost overwhelming. Looking back on the season is like staring into an abyss of plot lines and technical tricks. So we waded through it all and pulled out seven favorite hacks, easter eggs, and tidbits of the season that exemplify the show's impressive commitment to hackery verisimilitude, ranked by our highly subjective taste in nerd-cred references. In episode four, Darlene mentions that she's set up a hack to get extra clicks on her Postmate delivery service affiliate link, thus generating money she can use to order takeout. Even if you're not quite on Darlene's level of thrift--or grift--you've probably used your second email address at some point to sign up for a service again and get another new customer offer or deal.

Mr. Robot didn't have to imagine a new device for last week's episode. The phone used to tap into a certain Dark Army's conversation is a product from Pwnie Express, a Boston-based startup focused on device threat detection. For Pwnie Express, the device called the Pwn Phone allows anyone to test for vulnerabilities within wired, wireless and Bluetooth networks. There are more than 100 open source testing tools built into an Android phone, which retails for 1300. Robot' just revealed its latest mind-bending twist, but this one feels a bit familiar Pwnie Express specializes in making its penetration testing equipment look like air fresheners, power strips, and for the case of the Pwn Phone, a regular cell phone.

Robot" focused on Elliot's (Rami Malek) relationship with Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). The two finally sorted things out, and Elliot has accepted that the image he created of his dead father is a part of him. The episode also revealed what fans had been thinking of since the new installment started: Elliot is in prison. However, the upcoming episode, titled "eps2.6succ3ss0r.p12," While Darlene (Carly Chaikin) and the rest of fsociety were able to hack the FBI with the help of Angela (Portia Doubleday), they have not been able to turn the situation around and authorities will be on the hunt for their heads.

Robot" débuted, last year, it felt like a shock to multiple systems, one of them being the network on which it aired. That was USA, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and Comcast; the home of upbeat, aspirational procedurals, it's known as the "blue skies" network. Robot" was more of a hurricane advisory. Created by a newcomer, Sam Esmail, it was a parable of class rage, with a vigilante anti-hero, welding the paranoid style in American TV drama onto the ideology--and, just as important, the aesthetics--of both the Occupy movement and Anonymous. Esmail's plot was a Philip K. Dick puzzle box, exposing one false reality after another.

The revolution is here--and it will be televised, Friend. Tonight, in fact, as the highly anticipated season 2 of Mr. Robot premieres. The unusual show struck a chord with audiences last summer and garnered immediate praise from critics and the public, even stealing a Golden Globe from Game of Thrones. Now, the program will have to sustain that interest as it continues the arresting story of Elliot Alderson, a mentally unstable hacker and member of the anarchic hacktivist group fsociety. An amalgam of Fight Club, V is for Vendetta and The Matrix, the show was initially conceived of as a feature film by creator Sam Esmail--but his big-canvas aspirations haven't been lost in the move to smaller screens.

Cable network USA's hacker drama Mr. Robot came out of nowhere last summer and turned out to be one of the most surprising, thought-provoking, and downright entertaining TV debuts of the past decade. And ever since we learned the truth about troubled hacktivist Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), the wait for season two --and the questions about what happened to Tyrell Wellick, Mr. Robot, and Evil Corp-- have been maddening. But USA finally dropped the first full trailer for Mr. Robot season two today... and it looks just as crazy as the first season. Backed by an anxiety-inducing track from Zack Hemsey, we get only snippets about lead character Elliot's mental capacity, the hacker group "fsociety," and the state of global order and the economy in the wake of the events of season one. Sam Esmail, the show's creator, has left viewers with some tantalizing imagery and dialog.