Elliot raced against time and battled against himself in order to prevent Stage 2 on Mr. Robot Season 3 Episode 6 – only to learn that he, Mr. Robot, and Angela were nothing but pawns all along.

"Kill Process" ended with a devastating twist and left off with several huge questions about where the show can possibly go from here.

Whereas Mr. Robot Season 3 Episode 5 narrowed the focus for an uncomfortably tense and intimate hour following only Elliot and Angela (in turn), "Kill Process" went in the complete opposite direction.

"Runtime Error" was purposely crafted to have the appearance of a long single take with no cuts. This installment, on the other hand, was filled with more quick cutaways and juxtaposed scenes than any other hour of the series, if memory serves.

Again, everything was anchored by the strong, impeccable performance of Rami Malek as Elliot.

From his emotional, heartbreaking confrontation with Angela in the opening to his intensely physical battle against Mr. Robot in the recovery building, Rami was just sublime, as usual.

Elliot spent the entirety of the hour attempting to undo what Angela was helping Mr. Robot, Tyrell, and the Dark Army accomplish: the destruction of the recovery building. As he was attempting to enact a "Kill Process" on what he thought was the Stage 2 plan, Mr. Robot was attempting to do the same to him.

At that point, Robot would have rather died than allow Elliot to bungle the plans.

Seeing Elliot thrash around, lose time, and fight Mr. Robot's brief takeovers of control was so creatively done. It could've been goofy, but it wasn't. It felt high stakes and dangerous.

In this case, a stalemate means Mr. Robot wins.

Elliot

• Permalink: In this case, a stalemate means Mr. Robot wins.

Visually, I loved the "glitching out" effect that happened every time Elliot slipped out of the driver's seat and unwillingly yielded to Mr. Robot.

Incredibly, in the end, Elliot got through to Mr. Robot and convinced him that Mr. Robot was being played by the Dark Army. Unfortunately, he was more right than he'd realized – they were all being played.

Mr. Robot allowed the door to open so that Elliot could prevent the explosion in the Manhattan recovery center, but Whiterose orchestrated the destruction of 71 other E Corp buildings all over the country – a massive, wide-scale terrorist attack resulting in the deaths of thousands.

The most intriguing question inspired by this is how it will affect Mr. Robot. Elliot seemingly convinced him that working with the Dark Army and Whiterose had corrupted his once-noble revolution. Now that he knows he was used, will he double down on his anarchist ways or fight back alongside Elliot?

What about Mr. Robot? Does he now understand that Tyrell and the Dark Army have corrupted his alleged revolution? Does he have any fight left? If so, who’s he gonna fight? Them or me?

Elliot

• Permalink: What about Mr. Robot? Does he now understand that Tyrell and the Dark Army have corrupted his...

The shock and horror on Elliot's face in the closing moments of the hour – as he realized all he'd done and all the pain he'd experienced fighting against Robot was for nothing – was totally gutting. But it's nothing on what we're sure to see from Angela on Mr. Robot Season 3 Episode 7.

Angela seems to be slowly losing touch with reality. She's convinced herself that Whiterose's plan will allow for either time travel or the ability to reach an alternate universe: one where neither her mom nor Elliot and Darlene's dad died.

Angela clearly wasn't comfortable with the idea of causing any deaths – soon, she'll find out that she was responsible for the brutal killings of thousands of strangers.

Angela's eagerness to believe Whiterose has been rooted all along in something her mother said to her shortly before she died, as this installment revealed.

The opening scene was a flashback to young Angela at a living funeral for her mom. While Emily had accepted her fate, Angela struggled with it, getting angry and withdrawn. But in an utterly heartbreaking moment, Emily pushed Angela to have faith that they would meet again.

Emily's talk of "another world" was clearly meant to indicate the afterlife. But in Angela's current interpretation, it's a literal new world – one that she can help Whiterose to create to set everything right again. The lengths she's willing to go to achieve this goal are slowly but surely turning her into an unhinged villain.

The other major moment was the FBI's capture of Tyrell, which confused me a bit if I'm being honest.

Dom and Norm spent a lot of time trying to work with Darlene to track down Elliot or Tyrell. Of course, they had no idea that Santiago was working to subvert all their efforts and was in cahoots with the Dark Army.

The Red Wheelbarrow BBQ scene was creepy and well done. After Irving told Tyrell the FBI was closing in and gave him detailed instructions on what to do, I legitimately had no idea what Dom would find as she ventured into that room.

My initial thought, once Irving didn't kill Tyrell himself, was that Tyrell had been instructed to commit suicide, thereby cleanly tying up the loose end for Whiterose. Instead, Tyrell escaped, ran to the recovery building, and got himself arrested screaming about stopping the attack.

While at first glance it appeared that this was Tyrell betraying the Dark Army's cause, I think it's more likely that this was all part of Irving's now-burned instructions. But to what end? I have no clue and can't wait to find out.

Stray thoughts:

• Great casting for both young Angela and Angela's mom.

• The show's subtle but convincing fake ads, airing alongside other real ads, are so fantastic. That Red Wheelbarrow BBQ spot almost slipped right past me! It was so mundanely realistic.

• Does Tyrell still not know about Joanna's death and the whereabouts of his son? Or was that what Irving's "I'm sorry" was referring to?

• Scenes where Darlene and Angela get to interact are sadly few and far between, so I was glad to get a great one.

• I was fine with the reveal earlier in the season that Whiterose was behind Trump's rise to power in the Mr. Robot universe. But honestly, I find the repeated Trump references to be kind of clunky and lacking in subtlety.

• Is Dom finally starting to get suspicious about Santiago? I sure hope so.

• Will the show really go down the sci-fi route it seems to be headed towards? I'm torn about whether I do or don't want that to happen.

What did you think of "Kill Process"?

Share your thoughts by commenting below, and don't forget that you can watch Mr. Robot online here at TV Fanatic any time!

Caralynn Lippo is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.