The series follows Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, who is recruited by an insurrectionary anarchist known as "Mr.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.799 million household viewers and gained a 0.3 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
In present day, Elliot (Rami Malek) talks with Tyrell (Martin Wallström) over the phone, who won't disclose his location.
The kidnappers take him to a warehouse, where they force him to ingest cement, causing him to later vomit the Adderall pills in his bedroom.
Dominique (Grace Gummer) is called to investigate the crime scene, finding a printed list on the computer table denoting FBI agents and their information, of which she takes a snapshot.
The site's consensus states: "The dense, beautifully crafted 'k3rnel-pan1c.ksd' highlights new characters, new alliances, and a huge final reveal while maintaining a haunting, visceral account of Elliot's mental collapse.
"[4] Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.5 out of 10 and wrote, "We certainly learned a lot this week - about new characters, new alliances, and old arcades - and Elliot's mental collapse due to Adderall abuse made for some killer, stylized TV.
But a lot of the show's self-indulgence goes to sequences so remarkable that I just have to smile, go with it, and accept that all the different excesses come from the same basic place: Sam Esmail saying to himself, 'How can I present each moment in a way that looks, sounds, and feels like nothing that's ever been on television before?
'"[7] Kyle Fowle of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "The world outside of Elliot doesn't stop so he can play games though.
Dominique, thanks to some expertly placed moving materials, finds the old Fun Society, the classic arcade that was the headquarters for fsociety.
"[8] Jay Bushman of IndieWire gave the episode an "A–" grade and wrote, "The season's tag line is 'Control Is An Illusion,' but Ray makes it much more colorful: 'Control is about as real as a one-legged unicorn taking a leak at the end of a double rainbow.
'"[9] Genevieve Koski of Vulture gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "The closing moment where the camera pans up as Dom looks at the arcade's F__ SOCIETY sign is a thing of beauty, bringing full circle the cold-open sequence with Romero and Mobely discussing the arcade’s bloody history.
"[11] Caralynn Lippo of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.6 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "'Kernel Panic' was, as usual, a brilliant installment of an always-brilliant series.
Particularly impressive was the way the show managed to weave in time to significantly develop new characters Dom DiPierro (the FBI agent investigation the 5/9 Hack) and Ray, Elliot's new, very questionable, friend.