In season 1 of Mr. Robot, the big reveal was that Elliot was in fact, the title character. It was a fan theory that turned out to be reality. The reveal that Elliot and Mr. Robot were the same person threatened to mess with the entire audience’s perception of reality on the show.
Almost as soon as season 2 started, a different theory, in a similar vein, sprang up. Many fans assumed that Elliot’s strange new life circumstances suggested that there was more going on that meets the eye with the main character. In this episode, the secret behind Elliot’s life and his regimented routine are finally revealed. It’s the rare twist that manages to both be completely expected and absolutely jaw-dropping. A paradox and confusion just like Mr. Robot is as a series.
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Reunited and It Feels Pretty Threatening
Elliot and Mr. Robot have agreed to work together now. Since Mr. Robot is obviously just another part of Elliot, this really just means that Elliot has decided to become more ruthless. The result is terrifying.
Mr. Robot finally confesses the truth to Elliot about Tyrell. Mr. Robot did shoot Tyrell, presumably killing him. Elliot corrects Mr. Robot saying that he actually shot Mr. Robot. This seems like Elliot is getting really technical and annoying with semantics but I’m not going to argue. The combination of Mr. Robot and Elliot is taking no prisoners. No one should disagree with Elliot right now.
Case in point, Elliot goes back to Ray and his illegal trafficking business. It takes Elliot a matter of a few keystrokes and he is able to bring the FBI right to Ray’s doorstep. The most intriguing thing is, Ray lets it all happen. Ray confesses to Elliot that when he set up the site with his wife they never looked at what the site was trafficking. They let the market decide what it was selling. It’s not until Elliot came along that Ray finally looked up what he was trafficking. Ray now realizes that he is a monster and he wants to be stopped.
Angela’s Actions
Elliot and his adventures is just a small slice of this crazy pie of an episode. Elliot really does feel like a supporting character in his own series. Angela continues to shine and be equally terrifying.
Angela easily dispatches a questioning Dom at her desk, who is lingering there from the last episode. With Dom gone, Angela successfully pulls off the hack for Darlene. Afterwards, Angela not-so-subtlety threatens Darlene. Angela lets Darlene know that she could easily expose Darlene (and Elliot) as the masterminds of fsociety. She’s not as dumb as the Aldersons sibling thinks she is.
Angela is far from done burning bridges with her family though. Angela goes to visit her father. Angela tells her dad that she is working to get rid of a lawsuit contingency at Evil Corp caused by her mother’s death. The result is that Angela’s father (and other families) will get huge pay-outs but Evil Corp will have some of their government restrictions removed. This horrifies Angela’s father as much as it delights Pryce.
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Angela uses the goodwill gained from Pryce to move into an another department. It’s a department which specifically deals with the lawsuits brought against Evil Corp. No one in the department wants Angela there, but she couldn’t care less. Angela has some kind of plan and she’s not telling anyone, including the audience. Judging by constant stone-faced callous expression, chances are good that it involves drowning puppies and setting things ablaze. Girlfriend is scary!
Out of the Frying Pan…
Elliot’s good fortunes are short-lived. Elliot moves from one danger into another. Elliot might have taken down Ray but he still has Ray’s “clients” to deal with and they are not too happy about losing their outlet for all the evil criminal activities.
A group of skinheads (it’s always the skinheads) track down Elliot and are about to attack him. This is like the 36th time this season that Elliot has been attacked and it is still somehow scary. It looks like the skinheads will nearly get away with it too until Leon shows up brandishing a knife. He saves Elliot’s ass (literally). Leon gets all stabby and the skinheads are stopped from assaulting Elliot.
Leon reveals himself to be a member of the Dark Army. Leon tells Elliot that he will get a letter and he should go to the location that is listed. Leon tells Elliot that when he sees Whiterose next, Elliot should tell her that Leon took good care of him.
The Big Reveal … Again
It turns out that letter refers to Elliot being released from prison soon. Yup, Mr. Robot did it.
It is finally revealed that all of Elliot’s adventures this season have not been taking place outside in the city. It’s all been inside a prison. Everyone Elliot has interacted with this season has either been another inmate, an employee or a visitor of the prison. Elliot is locked up for reasons yet unknown.
Normally this gotcha twist would be the cause of insane raging from me. Mr. Robot manages to have its twist cake and eat it too. It all happens with one small but very effective move.
Elliot explains that he has always really known that he was in a prison. He was just keeping that information from us, the audience, because sometimes it is easier to cope with dreams than dealing with reality. Everything that happened with Elliot this season is real. It’s just the setting that was the manipulation. Elliot promises he won’t lie to us again and hopes that we can start over.
It is rather genius move to have this big twist and still try to keep the confidence with the audience by directly assuring them. Whether it works out not is up to you. I am (stupidly perhaps) inclined to believe Elliot. This feels like the last big twist for Mr. Robot. At least that’s my hope.
Mr. Robot airs Wednesdays at 10pm on USA.
(Image courtesy of USA)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
