Dang, this was a fun episode!  Let’s talk about it (no pun intended)!

Silence is Golden

Like last week, we pick up right where we left off.  Elliot grabs Tyrell’s cell phone (which had a pic of Joanna and the baby on the lock screen…aww…), the Dark Army operative’s gun, pours gasoline over everything, lights the lighter and throws it in the van, setting it ablaze.  Light ’em up, burn ’em up, flame on!  Elliot and Mr. Robot watch as the van gets cooked ’til tender.  And that my friends, is the only appearance Mr. Robot makes in this entire episode.  I guess runnin’ around with Elliot non-stop for the last day and some change wore him out.  Mr. Alderson, however, has stamina in spades, as we’ll soon learn.

Darlene is driving around the area, still looking for Elliot.  The cell reception there seems to be working somewhat now, because she’s able to pick up his location again.  However, the phone pings the country store he went to hours ago.  Darlene doesn’t see him there, of course, but she notices smoke nearby and decides to check it out.  Sure enough, when she gets to the source, she sees the Dark Army van, still aflame.

Darlene stares at the carnage for a minute, before Elliot knocks on the passenger door.  She lets him in and pulls off.  Elliot is about to tell her something, and she says, “It’s cool, dude. We don’t have to talk.”

And they don’t talk.  Not for the next 49 min.  Neither does anyone else.

Back at Elliot’s apartment, he’s printing a fake Virtual Realty ID card for Darlene, using her hacker handle, Dolores Haze.  He notices the blood on his hands and goes over to the kitchen to wash it off.  He breaks down, and eventually crouches in the corner, trying his best to hold back his tears.  A lot of folks think that he was crying because of what happened to Tyrell, but I personally think it was a combination of things:  Tyrell, Angela, his mother’s death, the fact that he and Darlene aren’t really on the best of terms right now, the realization that time is running out for him and Darlene, etc.

Darlene emerges from the bathroom and Elliot quickly straightens up and finishes washing his hands, not wanting her to see him upset.  The ID card finishes printing, and Elliot sits down to conduct his research on Virtual Realty.

What Do the Lonely Do At Christmas?

Dom is packing store bought Christmas cookies to take to her mother’s house when she gets a text from Janice.  She tells Janice she can’t talk (LOL), but ol’ girl lets Dom know that one of the Dark Army vans was found in Pike’s Hollow burnt to a crisp with a body inside.  Dom has to get out there and use her FBI credentials to ID the body and gain intel…now.  Fuck your plans, Dom.

Somewhere on the rich folks’ side of town, Price is dining alone at a restaurant on Christmas morning when he gets a text from Elliot telling them that Tyrell won’t be at the Deus Group meeting.  Price is visibly annoyed, but his annoyance turns to sadness when he sees a happy family sitting nearby, enjoying each other.  You can see that he’s mourning the loss of his daughter and the family that he could have had with the woman he loved.  A waiter slams the check on Price’s table, and when he opens the booklet, he sees the receipt instructs him to go to the E-Corp building and tip the trombone player outside $20.00.  $20.00!?  When I was in New York, the street performers were lucky to get a buck from me!

Elliot and Darlene:  The Dynamic Duo!

The plan commences at 11:00 AM sharp.  Darlene shows up at Virtual Realty, wearing a black wig and a frumpy outfit.  Elliot stays in the car, putting his gloves on and getting ready for action.  The security guards are chillin’, watching Die Hard.  When Darlene enters the building, she scans her ID badge, but it doesn’t work.  She continues trying, but she still can’t gain access past the lobby.  This is all well and fine, however.  It’s all part of the plan.

Elliot gets out of the car and walks over to the building, stopping to briefly smoke a cigarette.  Darlene gives the security guard a warm smile and lets him know that her ID badge isn’t working (of course, you can’t hear any of this, but you can put two and two together).  She knocks her bag over and the guard helps her pick it up.  That’s Elliot’s cue.

He sprints through the lobby with all the grace and silence of a cheetah and runs down the hall to the door of the control room.  He uses a decryption key to override the lock and once Elliot’s in, he hacks the building database and adds Darlene’s credentials in the computer.

While all this is happening, the security guard is looking for Darlene’s name in the employee directory.  As he searches, Darlene wipes off the screen of her phone and places the device down on the front desk.  Elliot uploads the info in the nick of time, because the security guard finds Dolores Haze listed as an associate.  He opens the gate for her, and Darlene walks away slowly…very slowly.  A second later, the security guard whistles at her.  She turns and sees him holding her phone with his thumb resting on the front screen.  Got ’em!

Darlene gingerly takes the phone from him (gripping it on the sides) and walks out of the lobby at a normal pace.  In the control room, Elliot uploads a firmware update for the the surveillance cameras that knocks them out for 40 minutes.  That gives him and Darlene and little over half an hour to do their thing.

In the elevator, Darlene takes the tempered glass off her phone and places it in a case.  She has the elevator go down to the basement to meet Elliot, and then they both go to Kraftwerks, a 3D printing office in the building.  Side note, I wonder if Sam Esmail is a big fan of the group Kraftwerk.  He used their song “The Hall of Mirrors” in the second season (love that track!), and now he’s using the name of their band in the show.   Just an observation.

When the Aldersons get to the printing office, Darlene puts some super glue and hot water in a case, along with the tempered glass containing the thumbprint, a la Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop 2 (which was the best film in the trilogy, IMHO).

Once the fumes from the super glue stick on the fingerprint, Darlene scans it, and Elliot uses the image to print a 3D version of it!

Scavenger Hunt

Price arrives at the E-Corp building and wistfully looks up at the E logo.  The trombone player sitting nearby starts playing his sad tune of woe.  Price walks over and hands him the 20 bucks (doggone).  The trombone player turns his hat upside down for Price to place the money inside, and it turns out there’s a ticket sitting inside.  When Price takes the ticket, he sees it’s for a dry cleaning company.  Another dag gum breadcrumb to follow.  Sheesh.

Pike’s Hollow PD

Dom is in Pike’s Hollow, where the Dark Army operative has finished roasting on an open fire.  The coroner handles the body while Dom leaves the crime scene and heads off to the police station.  On the way there, she’s stopped by a red light.  No one else is coming so she runs the light, and sure enough, the camera takes her picture.  By the way, it irks me to my soul when a traffic light is red, but there’s no other cars driving on the opposite side.  But the doggone light stays red because…reasons.   Also, I can’t believe this little po-dunk town has cameras on their traffic lights.  Not that I want it to get any, but the little town I live in doesn’t even have those, and we have a whole Wal-Mart here.  A Walgreens and a Lowe’s, too!

Anyway, the camera gives Dom an idea.  Maybe the people that burned the van made the same mistake at the intersection she did…

Later, Dom’s at the police station, sitting at an officer’s desk.  She gets up for a few moments and disappears in the back.  Once Dom’s out of sight, a female cop in the office hears her phone going off.  She looks around for the phone, but she can’t find it.  The ringtone seems to be sounding off from the back.  Sure enough, the cop finds her phone inside a pastry box.  She didn’t think to question why the hell it was in there…or who put it in there?  As she retrieves her phone and goes back to her desk, Dom leaves, and we see that she placed a device on the officer’s computer.

Dom goes out to her car and activates the device to spy on the cop’s desktop.  Darlene must’ve taught Dom some hacking skills during their torrid night together.  Dom texts Janice and lets her know she hacked the local PD’s network and to look out for any red light camera reports.  After speaking with Janice, she looks over at the cookies she was supposed to give to her family and starts to cry.  Dom soon gets another text—this one is from the FBI, letting her know that the Irish sex trafficker guy has been released.  Hmm…

Stalkin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Krista, who’s planning a hot Yuletide date with her new man, is shopping for groceries. While she’s looking around, Young MA—yeah, that Young MA—bumps into her.  Krista sees this as nothing and keeps shopping.  However, when she goes to pay for her items, Young MA is outside the store, watching her…

I have to say, that has to be the UGLIEST nativity scene I’ve ever seen in my life!  And this is supposed to be a so-called high end store!  Who the hell okayed that monstrosity!?

Wonder Siblings Powers Activate!  Form of…Hackers!

Back at Virtual Realty, a badge is needed to gain entry to the server room on the 9th floor, so Elliot picks the firefighters’ lock to override the scan.  Once he and Darlene get to the 9th floor, Elliot breaks into the IT room to print a badge to allow Darlene access into the actual servers.

Darlene uses some putty to make an impression of the 3D thumbprint they printed, and once they press it on the scanner for the server room, they’re in!  The security guard tries to override the firmware upgrade to see what’s going on with the surveillance cameras, but to no avail.  He seems to let the issue go, and and he walks his rounds.  While on the elevator, he sees the firefighters’ panel is open.  Realizing that the firefighters’ lock is the only way to enter the 9th floor without a badge, the guard decides to investigate.

Once he’s up there, he uses an app on his phone to see if anyone may have legally gone in the server room.  The app shows that he just went inside.  The guard sends a text to his co-worker downstairs stating that someone went into the server room using his credentials, and to call the cops.  Oooohh…

In the meantime, Darlene locates a computer in the server room and gets to work.  However, time is running out.  Elliot looks at the timer on his cell phone and sees that they’re down to about 56 seconds.  He shows Darlene the elapsed time, but the poor child can only move so fast.

To make matters worse, the security guard has now entered the server room, looking to see who’s in there.  Thankfully, he can’t see or hear Elliot and Darlene…yet.  Elliot spots a sticker on the pipes overhead, showing that the lights are powered digitally.  Elliot gets to work and hacks into the system, just as time runs out and the cameras come back on…

The lights go out mere seconds after the surveillance cameras come back online.  Darlene is still working, adding the credentials in the servers.  The security guards doesn’t give up his search.  He continues to walk around the server room with a flashlight, looking for the intruders.  When he finally comes to the row we all hoped he wouldn’t walk down, Elliot and Darlene are gone!  Whew!

We see the dynamic duo darting out of the server room and Elliot zip ties the door shut so the security guard can’t get out.  They’re about to take the elevator, but they see that the other security guard is coming up.  They hurry away and take the stairs, resulting in a camera shot that I’m certain will become iconic (property of USA Networks/NBCUniversal):

They make it to the lobby, but the cops just pulled up, and they see the security guards are heading back down on the elevator!  Elliot and Darlene run back into the stairwell and hide.  However, while Elliot looks out of the little window on the door to see what’s happening, the security guard spots him!

The security guard tries his best to open the stairwell door to get to Elliot, but Elliot’s strooooong.  He manages to hold the door closed, ensuing a struggle.

He looks over at Darlene, who’s inwardly panicking, and knows what he has to do.  He throws his backpack off, knocks the security guard down with the door, and sprints out of the building.  Go, Elliot, go!

Skinny Superman (In a Black Hoodie)

Elliot starts running and the cops follow, which results in a foot chase through most of Manhattan.

GO, GO, ELLIOT!!! 🏃🏾

The cops chase him through Central Park, and it’s especially funny when Elliot makes his way across the ice skating rink.  He goes down a hill and tumbles a bit, hurting his leg, but still manages to evade the cops and get on a bus.

Darlene, on the other hand, is still in the building.  She runs upstairs and hides in an empty office, not sure how she’s going to escape.  She spots some water bottles and a sweatsuit laying around and remembers there’s a gym downstairs…

We see her back in the lobby some time later, sans wig, now holding the bottled water and wearing the sweatsuit.  She pretends to exit the gym and slowly walks out the door, managing to avoid the cops and the guards.  Boss.  When Darlene gets to the car, she tracks Elliot’s signal again.  He’s somewhere on the Upper West Side.

Elliot’s still on the bus, and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees that he’s lost the cops chasing him on foot.  Oh, but he’s not out of the woods yet (once again, no pun intended)!  A police car pulls up and tries to cut the bus off!  Elliot jumps out and takes off running again.  Unfortunately, during the chase, Elliot gets hit by an SUV.

Y’all know it takes more than a sports utility vehicle to keep our Elliot down (literally)!  He wakes up and hobbles away, clearly injured this time.  He comes to a nearby bridge, and looks over the side.  When he looks to his left and right side, he sees the cops coming after him.  Elliot braces himself, climbs on the railing of the bridge AND JUMPS!

Y’all know it’ll take more than a neck breaking fall to keep our Elliot down (literally)!  He takes some hard tumbles down the cliff below (turns out it wasn’t a straight drop) and rolls over to the sidewalk, where Darlene is waiting for him.  Elliot hobbles to the car and they pull off.

Elliot struggles to catch his breath as Darlene drives.  In a sweet moment, Elliot reaches out and places his hand on top of hers, just as he did when they were children (Darlene mentioned this before on “402 Payment Required”).  No words are spoken between them, but Elliot keeps holding her hand.  Awww…

All I Want For Christmas Is My Life Back

Price is back at his house, with the suit he retrieved from the dry cleaners.  The invitation to the Deus Group meeting is tucked in the lapel, instructing Price to be at The Brentano at 9:00 PM.  Price texts Elliot and lets him know that Tyrell or no Tyrell, the meeting is happening.

At Mrs. DiPierro’s house, everyone’s enjoying their Christmas, except poor Dom.  While she’s walking the family dog, she notices the Dark Army vans parked around the neighborhood.  Dom takes note of the license plates of each van and where they’re located, and jots the info down on a notebook when she gets back to the house.  Bump relinquishing control.

After making her notes, she sees a news story about Elliot in Central Park channeling his inner Usain Bolt.  Then her phone vibrates.  It’s Janice, again.  Someone should dedicate this classic track to her.  This time, she wants Dom to drop everything to find “a couple of troublemakers.”  She sends Dom a pic of the folks she’s talking about, and it’s Elliot and Darlene.  Turns out Darlene ran the red light and the camera caught her.  Dammit.

The Gift That Ain’t Givin’

Krista happily walks home from the grocery store with all the goodies she needs for her hot date.  When she gets to the door, she has an uneasy feeling and looks across the street.  There’s Young MA, staring at her.  Young MA proceeds to cross the street, and Krista nervously drops her keys and her groceries.  *Sigh*

Young MA helps her pick up the Ben and Jerry’s that rolled onto the sidewalk.  Krista takes it from her, and when she turns around, she’s face to face with none other than crazy ass Vera.

“It’s time we talked,” he says.

Now it’s okay to be scared, Krista.

The end.

Y’all…this episode was so doggone good!!  Hands down, “405 Method Not Allowed” is now my favorite episode of the season.  Everything was on point:  the acting, the music, the cinematography, the plot, everything.  And the fact that there was only two doggone lines of dialog spoken?  Brilliant.  It’s official:  Sam Esmail is a genius.

The folks that dogged out “404 Not Found” last week and started writing the entire fourth season off put away all reservations after watching this episode.  As of now, it holds a 9.8 rating on IMDB.com.  Mr. Robot was the even the number one trending topic on Twitter after the show aired!

This episode deserves every accolade; it was great.  It reminded me a lot of “eps3.4_runtime-error.r00,” which you all may know as the episode shot with one long tracking shot.  Both installments had nail biting tension and an artistic technique utilized to convey the story (that a lot of people didn’t notice right away thanks to the brilliant performances and intriguing plot).  “eps3.4_runtime-error.r00” still reigns supreme between the two (along with the conclusion, “eps3.5_kill-process.inc”), but “405…” runs a very close second.

Let’s talk about the acting for a minute.  Everybody did the damn thing, and I mean everybody.  You could look into the actors’ eyes during their respective scenes and see what they were thinking and/or planning.  Darlene’s panic.  Price’s remorse.  Dom’s hopelessness.  The security guard’s suspicion.  Elliot being overwhelmed and later determined.

The camera work was nothing to gloss over, either.  Man, that stairwell shot was ingenuity at its finest!  I also loved all the Die Hard allusions that were incorporated into the film.  First, with “Ode to Joy” playing in the first part of the episode (I know what you’re thinking, “‘Ode to Joy’ was around centuries before Die Hard was released!”  True, but it was also featured a great deal in the film, and when most folks hear that song, they think of that movie), then with the fellas actually watching Die Hard in the lobby.  This time though, the good guys are the ones pulling the heist in the building.

I’m glad Elliot and Darlene were able to patch up their relationship…at least at the moment.  Elliot made up for the way he treated his sister throughout the episode, showing that he meant what he said to Tyrell.  The way he led her away from the elevator when he noticed the security guards were coming up, how he ran to place all the cops’ attention on him, allowing her to escape; and don’t get me started on the hand holding scene.  Loved it all.

Unfortunately, the target on Elliot and Darlene’s back will be even bigger at this point.  With the break in, the photo from the intersection, the deep fried Dark Army operative, Elliot’s hot one night stand with the Dark Army’s account manager and Price’s impromptu Deus Group meeting, there’ll be no doubt in Whiterose’s or Ms. Thang Jr.’s mind that Elliot is plotting against them.

Speaking of which, in the last 24 hrs., Elliot’s broken into someone’s apartment, had drinks at a club, had sex, walked through the woods, disposed of a body, prepped for a break in, pulled off the break in, ran through the majority of Manhattan, has had zero hours of sleep, AND IS STILL GOING.

Just give me a third of that energy.  I could make miracles happen.

On to Dom…you’re too damn smart for your own good.  Doggone your time for hacking that computer and getting Darlene and Elliot in even deeper trouble.  Despite all that, I do hope that Dom finds a way to be free of the Dark Army.  Maybe relinquishing control will keep her alive, but she’ll always be restrained and never have peace of mind.  I mean hell, the poor woman couldn’t even enjoy Christmas with her family thanks to Janice’s messy ass blowin’ up her phone every five seconds (kind of like in this old school PSA!).  I see the Irish sex trafficker guy is going to be more important to the story than we initially thought.  I’m very interested to see how he plays a role in the narrative.  Will he help Dom gain her freedom?  As for Mr. Phillip Price, I can’t wait to see what happens during his Deus Group meeting.  I have a sinking feeling this isn’t going to end well for him…

I’m still a bit irked at Krista for the way she treated Elliot in the “403 Forbidden” episode, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.  With Vera however, her chances of survival are slim to none, I hate to say.  Can Elliot save her?  Will she blame Elliot for all of this happening?  We’ll just have to wait and see!

Next ep, Vera and Young MA hold Krista hostage in her own house, Elliot asks Olivia for a favor, Whiterose demands that Elliot be brought to her, and Dom and Darlene are reunited…and it don’t feel so good.  Can’t wait!

By the way, next week’s episode comes on USA at 8:00 PM instead of 10:00!  I hope they don’t cut the cuss words!

—Written by Nadiya

So what did y’all think about “405 Method Not Allowed?”  Was it better than the previous episode?  Did you notice there was no dialog?  Did you enjoy the Die Hard references?  What do you think about Elliot being a slender Superman?  Did you get the feels from Elliot taking Darlene’s hand?  Are you scared for Krista?  Do you think that Dom will escape the Dark Army?  What do you think will happen at the Deus Group meeting?  Let me know in the comments section!

Okay…that happened.  Let’s do this.

Usually with my Mr. Robot recaps/reviews, I write them in chronological order, but since this particular episode didn’t have too much going in terms of plot (which isn’t a bad thing in this case), I’m going to separate it by the characters’ events.  Enjoy!

Walkin’ In a Winter Wonderland

The episode picks up where we left off last week.  Tyrell is shooting his mouth off about taking down Whiterose, and Elliot has to shut him up.  Meanwhile, just as we all suspected, a Dark Army operative is sitting in a van outside, listening to it all.  After a brief moment of silence, we hear Elliot offer Tyrell a drink of water and then check some stuff on his computer.  As Elliot continues to diagnose what’s going on with his PC, interference starts to come through on the microphone.  The static gets worse and worse until full on feedback starts flooding the operative’s headphones.  He opens the doors to the van to fix the antenna when Tyrell appears and clocks ol’ boy in the head with a hammer!

Elliot meets Tyrell downstairs seconds later (Elliot’s reaction to seeing that giant gash in the operative’s head was priceless, by the way), and the latter orders the former to check the logs and wipe everything if the recording wasn’t sent back to the Dark Army.  Finally, Tyrell’s common sense comes back!  Elliot asks what to do about the operative, and Tyrell declares him dead…without bothering to check a pulse.  And we’re back to being sloppy again!

The fellas take the van and drive off into a secluded area somewhere upstate.  It turns out the logs weren’t sent, so their only concern is the body.  They stop at a little convenience store where Tyrell fills up a gas can and has Elliot buy a lighter.

When they try to pay for the lighter and a stick of beef jerky, the cashier tells them the internet is down, so E-Coin can’t be used (and apparently the beef jerky and lighter came to a little over $19!  I hope that included the damn gas!  Looks like the economy ain’t boomin’ that much!).  The gentlemen soon learn that since they’re in the boonies, there’s no cell reception, either.

The cashier keeps asking Tyrell where she knows him from, but he plays coy and acts like he just has one of those faces.  The cashier doesn’t drop the subject, so Tyrell lies and says he was on Big Brother before he and Elliot go back out to the van.  There’s only one issue…the van is gone!

Apparently the Dark Army operative was alive, and now that he’s driven off, he’s free to send the conversation log to Whiterose and they’re all as good as dead.  Elliot and Tyrell (and Mr. Robot) go back in the store and ask the ditzy cashier if they can use her phone, but the phone was connected to the internet modem.  No internet, no phone.  Elliot asks the cashier how to get to the next town, as it actually has cell reception (now, whether or not it’s the right cell tower is a whole ‘nother issue!  Prime example, my uncle lives in a rural area that only has a Verizon cell tower, so if you have a phone with AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint, you’re SOL).

She mentions the quickest way to get to Pike’s Hollow is via a shortcut, but when Elliot asks her where the shortcut is, she pauses and just hollers out, “GOT IT!  TYRELL WELLICK!?  THAT’S WHERE I KNOW YOU!  But I didn’t know you were on Big Brother!”  😂😂

Tyrell still tries to convince the woman that he’s not him, but she won’t let up.  Even when Elliot tries to bring her back on track by asking where the shortcut is again, she continues to pester Tyrell about his identity.  By this point, she’s managed to even work Mr. Robot’s nerves and he cusses her clean out, demanding to give them the directions to the shortcut.  The cashier finally relents and tells them, berating Elliot for his lack of manners.  That doggone Mr. Robot always gets Elliot in trouble, but I seriously doubt he gave a damn in this case.

The men begin their journey in the woods, but the cashier’s directions must’ve been bullshit, because they end up lost as hell.  To be honest, it’s very reminiscent of the Kathy Bates “squirrel lady” scene from Rat Race (if y’all haven’t seen that film, please watch it.  It’s hilarious!).  During the walk, Tyrell sings Swedish Christmas songs and touches on deep subjects such as up and leaving his old life behind and being a failure because he always cares about what other people think, whereas Elliot prides himself on being an outsider.

Elliot lets it be known that Tyrell is getting on his last nerve, and he blames him for being lost in the damn woods in the first place, considering Tyrell was the one that declared the Dark Army operative dead.  All the while, some strange noise is heard in the background.  Tyrell freaks out whenever he hears it, believing it’s a omen.  Elliot just writes it off as an animal.

They eventually hear a car moving down the road and assume that they’re finally getting close to the next town.  The fellas run to the street and chase after the car, just to see the gas station they initially stopped at across the way.  These jokers walked in a complete circle!  BWAHAHAHAHA!!

The trio decide to just walk down the road, but they’re getting nowhere fast.  Tyrell starts freaking out again, saying that even if they make it to town, it’ll be crawling with Dark Army, seeing as the operative probably sent the log to Whiterose by now.  Tyrell stops, asking Elliot if he ever cared about him.  Elliot tries to dance around the question but Tyrell won’t let him.  Elliot, who’s fed up at this point, answers no and Tyrell gives up.  Poor Tyrell.  I’m sure this isn’t how he envisioned his and Elliot’s first date.

Elliot tries to get Tyrell to push on, but to no avail.  They hear the noise again, and Tyrell remarks that they’re just walking towards their doom.  Elliot can’t take anymore and Mr. Robot takes over to try to give Tyrell a pep talk.  Not workin’.  Elliot blows up, telling Tyrell he’s about to leave his ass right there in the woods.

They start having a screaming match (that sounds a lot like a lover’s quarrel, to be honest) and Elliot hollers, “STAY HERE! DIE!  I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU!  I’M DONE!!”  He even put his finger in Tyrell’s face for emphasis!  Damn, Elliot!  Tell us how you really feel!

Elliot walks off, while Tyrell screams at Elliot that all roads lead to the same useless destination.  Mr. Robot opts to stay with Tyrell.  How he manages this is beyond me, because Elliot is DFR…down the fuckin’ road.

However, Elliot realizes he’s wrong as two left shoes and doesn’t walk too far away.  He comes back and admits to Tyrell that he doesn’t like being an outsider; he’s just good at hiding how much it bothers him.  Tyrell asks why Elliot didn’t just keep walking, and Elliot tells him that it’s wrong to leave him alone…plus Tyrell is the only person that really likes him.  Elliot must’ve forgotten about Leon, Lloyd and Olivia.  Speaking of Olivia, Elliot sure does have a lot of energy for someone that’s been up all night with no sleep and is post-coital on top of everything else!

During this moment of confession, Elliot also owns up to the fact that he also believes they’re dead men walking.  Tyrell asks why Elliot even wants to continue if it just means death, and Elliot says he needs to get to Pike’s Hollow and warn Darlene.  After all, he got her into this mess, and he’s been so horrible to her lately.  The least he can do is call her and tell her to get away.  That’s all Tyrell needs to hear to keep moving.

The trio keep walking and come across a dead deer in the road.  When they look further ahead, they notice the Dark Army van, wrecked and sitting in the bushes.

I’m assuming the operative—who may still be dazed from that concussion—hit the deer (or he may have attempted to avoid the deer, but failed) and ran off the side of the road.  The three of them slowly approach the van, with Elliot and Mr. Robot on one side, and Tyrell on the other.

When Elliot creeps over to the passenger side window, the operative starts opening fire on both sides.  Elliot ducks just in time (by the way, I loved how Mr. Robot pulled Elliot away like a protective dad), and the operative uses his last bullet to blow his own brains out.

Elliot’s okay, but when he and Mr. Robot check on Tyrell, they see he’s been hit.  Elliot tries to call 911, but there’s still no reception.  Tyrell tells Elliot he can’t go to a hospital.  If he does, the Dark Army will find him, and if they find him, they’ll find Elliot.

Tyrell has Elliot promise he’ll take Whiterose down before he leaves.  Elliot calls after him, saying that he can’t let him die.  Tyrell tells Elliot that he’s just going to go for a walk, and continues staggering down the street.  It almost seems as if he fades into the background.

Must’ve Been Ol’ Santa Claus

While Elliot and Tyrell are upstate reenacting a scene from Goodfellas (or should I say The Sopranos?), Darlene is still in NYC, pissed at her big brother, understandably.  Not only is she still upset at Elliot’s behavior towards her earlier that day, but she thinks he just flat out forgot to meet her back at Allsafe as they planned.  Not only that, it turns out Olivia’s access to the Dark Army bank accounts is no good.  Darlene can’t transfer money with Olivia’s credentials.  In order to do so, they’ll have to physically break into their servers at a data security firm called Virtual Realty.  Darlene leaves a brutal voicemail message on Elliot’s phone, cussin’ him out and telling him that she hates him, and that she wishes he were dead.  However, we all know that’s just a bunch of bull and Darlene’s just letting off steam, and she re-records the message.

When Darlene goes over to Elliot’s apartment to check on him, she sees the busted door and the “They’re listening” note, sitting beside a device we can only assume was used to scramble the Dark Army operative’s signal.  Darlene becomes rightfully concerned and sees Elliot’s cell phone pinging somewhere in the boondocks.

Darlene tries to boost a car, but a drunk Santa Claus catches her and chases her down.  She manages to talk the guy out of calling the cops, and in turn, he asks her if she’s seen his keys so he can get home.  Of course, Darlene hasn’t seen the keys, so he asks if she can start his car.  Darlene tells Drunk Santa—who we soon learn is named Tobias—he can’t drive home, and he should take a cab.  Tobias says he lives upstate, and cabs don’t travel that far.  Ding, ding, ding!  Darlene makes a deal with him:  she’ll drive Tobias home if he allows her to take the car later to “run an errand.”  Tobias takes the deal.

During the ride, Darlene loses Elliot’s signal, which makes her even more worried.  She’s also alarmed by her current company.  As she and Tobias make small talk on the way to his house, he touches on several topics:  he works as a Santa at a children’s cancer ward, he identifies with a man named Jimmy that may be suicidal, his wife was involved in an accident, and he carries a bottle of Percocet along with a bottle of liquor, saying “sometimes the pain is too much.”  Yeah.  Very disconcerting.

When she finally reaches Tobias’s house (which looks like Santa and his elves puked all over it), she sees that his car is actually there.  He remembers that he didn’t drive to the hospital, his friend drove!  Darlene asks whose car she just stole, and he’s all like, “I don’t know.” BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Darlene tells Tobias good-bye, and he remarks that good-byes are short and final.  That’s all the confirmation she needs, and Darlene jumps out of the car, telling Tobias that she doesn’t want him to hurt himself.  Tobias asks whatever gave her that idea, and she mentions that he kept talking about his suicidal friend Jimmy.  Tobias clarifies that he was referring to James Stewart’s role in It’s a Wonderful Life.  So what about the bottle of Percocet with the bottle of liquor?  Turns out it’s for Tobias’s wife.  He reminds Darlene that he told her his wife was in an accident.  Darlene says that can’t be it; his wife is dead.  Tobias has to correct Darlene on this point, too.  His wife didn’t die in an accident.  She just hurt her back trying to put the Santa Claus figurine on their roof.

It turns out Tobias is fine.  Darlene is the one that needs help and someone to talk to.  After Tobias tells her that she needs to confide in someone she breaks down and tells him that she’s lost everyone in her life:  her boyfriend, her best friend and both her parents.  The only person she has left is Elliot, and even though her brother treats her like crap, she’s extremely worried about him.  She doesn’t even understand why she’s so worried, considering that he told her he didn’t want to be bothered with her, so why should she be bothered?  Tobias takes all that in and goes in his house, leaving her alone.

A few minutes later, he comes back out and tells her that even though she’s worried about her brother, she needs to worry about herself.  Darlene says she’s trying.  Tobias tells Darlene he hopes Elliot’s okay, wishes her a Merry Christmas and goes back in the house—to his alive, and for the most part, well wife—while Darlene leaves to find Elliot.

Darlene still can’t locate Elliot’s signal, as he’s still in the area that has no cell reception.  After driving a little ways on the country road, she pulls over and has a mini panic attack.  However, some time passes and Darlene calms down again.  We can only assume she keeps searching for Elliot…

The Nightmare Before Christmas

So Dom’s home alone on Christmas Eve (no pun intended), double clicking her mouse to Darlene’s interrogation video.  Just nasty.  I understand everyone does it, I just don’t have to see you doing it.  Here’s what perplexes me…you hate Darlene so much, but you’re pleasuring yourself to her video?  Riiiight.  Looks like Elliot’s not the only member of the Alderson clan that can bring it in the bedroom.  The video leaves Dom unfulfilled, so she decides to join the IRC sex chat.  By the way, has anyone else ever noticed that when Dom digs in her cooch, she starts touching stuff right afterwards and never washes her hands?  Gross!  Once again, I get everyone does it, but just wash your dang gum hands afterwards…or fall asleep and don’t touch anything.  Just sayin’!

Anyway, Dom reaches out to her personal favorite chat fuck buddy, happyhardonhenry806.  Not too long after they start sex chatting, Dom dozes off.  She wakes up and apologizes for not responding, and happyhardonhenry suggests they meet up and do the do in real life.

Dom declines, admitting that she’s into girls.  That’s another thing that confuses me.  Why does Dom try to get her jollies chatting online about how much she wants thick dick when she’s clearly not into dicks period??  Sometimes I don’t get Dom.

Back on subject, happyhardonhenry has a confession of his own to make…he’s not a dude.  She’s a girl.  Dom’s like, “Come again?” (no pun intended) and happyhardonhenry says she likes to basically catfish folks.

Dom is intrigued, and lets happyhardonhenry, or whatever her name is, know that she’s DTF.  happyhardonhenry asks for the address.  Hmm…

Some time later, the mystery date is at Dom’s place, and it’s a bit on the awkward side.  However, after sharing a Tecate and having some brief small talk about Dom’s apartment, they start kissing and doing some heavy petting.

Dom breaks away from her guest and excuses herself to the bathroom.  When she walks in there, she sees it’s been decorated with rose petals and candles.  Dom looks around, confused.  Just then, her date walks in…wearing a Dark Army mask.  The mystery woman then pushes Dom in the bathtub and proceeds to drown her!!

As Dom struggles, the woman tells her to stop fighting and give up control.  She needs to realize that she’ll never be free.  Just when it seems like Dom has drowned to death, her eyes open.

The scene cuts to Dom opening her eyes again, this time, in bed.  She’s still in bed, with her laptop lying on her stomach.  The real happyhardonhenry806 (who I’m assuming is really a man) logged off IRC 4 hours ago.  She checks her phone and sees that her mother called three times and left several text messages.  Dom then goes to the bathroom to rinse her face.  She looks over at the tub, which is empty, and back at her reflection in the mirror.

The Colorful Conclusion

Tyrell is still walking in the woods, alone.  The screeching noise continues.  We see something emitting a purple light nearby.  The noise is heard again, closer this time.  It appears the noise is coming from whatever is radiating the purple glow.  Tyrell staggers over to the source of the light, and when he gets to it, he seems to have a look of astonishment on his face.  The sound is heard again, and the screen fades to white.

The end?

Uh, yeah…this episode was weird.  Weirder than usual.  It was right up there with the “eps2.4_m4ster-s1ave.aes” episode; you know, the one where Elliot wakes up in a TGIF (or in this case, a TGIW) sitcom.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.  Hell, the sitcom episode is one of my favorites in the series.  Although I can’t say the same about “404 Not Found,” I will say that I got a lot of enjoyment from this installment (and it’s the first one from this season that didn’t make me lose sleep, although I woke up with a million questions).

A lot of people wrote this episode off as being filler for the final season, and I have to agree with them.  This chapter of the series has the fellas lost in the woods, Darlene driving home a drunk Santa Claus, and Dom having a bad dream.  However, it’s not filler in the true sense of the word, and my calling it such isn’t a criticism.  “404 Not Found” isn’t just some trash ass episode added in just so Sam and Co. could present a 13 episode arc to the network as promised.  The ep had meaning and importance to the overall story.  It’s filler simply for the mere fact that it slowed the action way down and still takes place on the most stressful Christmas Eve ever.  It makes sense when you think about it. Keep in mind that the entire season is supposed to span the course of eight days.  The previous seasons took place over a number of months.  Shoot, the entire series takes place in 2015!  So yeah, there’ll probably be a few more episodes that stretch the story out just to chronicle one day.  It’s not the first time Mr. Robot has done this.  In season two, episodes 9-12 told a narrative that took place in a day and a half.

If you delve a little deeper into the plot (or lack thereof), you’ll see that although the intensity has eased a bit, the stakes are still super high for our heroes.  If Elliot, Tyrell and Mr. Robot don’t do something about the Dark Army operative, they’re all dead.  Darlene has to find Elliot, but she has no idea where he is or how to find him, and despite that he’s treated her horribly, he’s all she has left.  Poor Dom can’t even escape the Dark Army in her fantasies.  They’ve taken control of every aspect of her life.  Will she relinquish control as the mystery woman advised?

Also, the nightmare is an interesting throwback to the dream that Dom told Angela about in season two.  If you don’t remember, before Dom was forced to flip to the Dark Army, she mentioned to Angela that she had a dream about a beautiful woman, and all of a sudden, someone was drowning her.  However, when she gave up control, she survived.  Dom may have to take her own advice.

One thing I really liked about this episode is that it was really funny.  The cashier at the gas station and Tobias the drunk Santa Claus kept me crackin’ up.  I especially LOL’ed when Tyrell, Elliot and Mr. Robot thought they were getting closer to the next town and ended up walking in a damn circle!  😂😂😂

To quote Darlene, Elliot’s really going the distance with the silent treatment.  I didn’t mention Mr. Robot’s narration this time, because although it was poignant, it was brief.  Once again, Mr. Robot doesn’t spill enough tea!  Not only that, but after Elliot’s night with Olivia, he’s still acting brand new!  He shocked me going off on Tyrell how he did.  I thought for sure he’d be back to his old self by now, but it looks like that may not happen until the end of the season.  I get why Elliot’s become so hardened, but I want my sweet Elliot back; the one that talks to us and isn’t so driven by a certain goal he can’t even think about anything or anyone else.  At least we saw some semblance of the old Elliot towards the end of the episode.

As for Tyrell, my reaction to his shooting surprised me.  Before the season started, I went on Reddit and made a list of characters that I wanted to live, die, and who could meet either fate.  Tyrell was in the “die” category, because although I liked him, he was too damn crazy.  When he left to meet his fate, I felt really bad.  Then, when he saw the purple lights, I was hoping it was the cops coming to save him.  But it wasn’t.  I can’t say I’m sure Tyrell is dead.  He saw a purple light, heard some weird noises, and the screen faded to white.  You best believe the wild theories are bouncing around social media.  Some folks believe he did die, others think he saw a computer screen, there’s people that swear down he came across Whiterose’s machine, and then there’s some fans that believe he was abducted by aliens.  Child, I don’t have the slightest idea what happened to Tyrell, and I’m not gonna pretend I know.  All I know for sure is that he’s gone.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.  It wasn’t my favorite this season (those accolades go to “402 Payment Required” and “403 Forbidden“), but I liked it.  I can’t wait until the next one.  It’s a “very special episode” (I won’t spoil the reason it’s so special) that showcases Darlene and Elliot breaking into Virtual Realty to get full access to the Dark Army’s accounts.  I’m lovin’ this season so far (except for Angela getting killed)!

—Written by Nadiya

So what did you think about “404 Not Found”?  Was it a filler episode in every sense of the word, or did it have significance for the overall season?  Are you upset that Tyrell seemingly met his demise?  Do you think Tyrell is really dead?  What did you think about Tobias?  Did you also mistakenly believe he was suicidal?  Is Darlene right to continue to be worried about Elliot after the way he’s treated her?  Do you like the change in Elliot’s character arc?  Do think Dom should allow the Dark Army to take control of her life, or should she fight back?  Did any part of this episode make you laugh?  Let me know in the comments section!

 

Alright y’all, it’s time for another (late as hell) Mr. Robot recap and review!  Let’s do this thing!

My Love Wears Forbidden Colours

In 1982 (during the best decade ever!), Whiterose—who’s known full time as Director Zhi Zhang at this point—and her translator are closing a major deal between China and IBM.  The folks at IBM believe they’re entering a lucrative enterprise, when really and truly, Whiterose has every intention of stealing their intellectual property, and even says so!  Of course, the fools at IBM don’t catch this because they don’t speak Mandarin.  Learn another language, y’all.

It turns out that Whiterose’s translator is also her lover, who hopes the deal allows her to become an ambassador to the US.  That way, they can be together without facing persecution.  After the IBM deal is done, Whiterose and her man hang out in their hotel suite watching Culture Club’s “(Time) Clock of the Heart” video (that’s my favorite Culture Club/Boy George song, by the way!) and Whiterose has a bit of an epiphany.

Whiterose’s lover, who believes in extreme punctuality, lets it be known that they’re scheduled to have drinks with the IBM businessmen in 15 minutes.  Whiterose declines and has her man go ahead in her place.  A few hours later, Whiterose’s lover comes back looking rode hard and put away wet, and when he enters the suite, we are all treated to the first glimpse of the real Whiterose.

Take a lesson, y’all.  This is a bad bitch.

Whiterose is fierce as all hell with her curly wig and badass dress (that used to belong to her mama!).  Her man is shocked, but he doesn’t ridicule her or judge her.  As a matter of fact, he tells her she’s beautiful.  He kisses her, and the camera zooms in on his watch…the same digital watch Whiterose dons now.

Some time later, Whiterose’s man is getting married…to a woman.  Whiterose goes with the flow, and even delivers white roses to him to lighten the mood (white roses symbolize death) but her man is miserable.  At the reception hall, Whiterose tries to assure him that this “marriage” won’t change anything.  The lover asks if Whiterose will still be ambassador to the US, and she honestly answers that she won’t.  Things went so well with the IBM deal, the government appointed her as the Minister of State Security, a much more lucrative and powerful position.  She couldn’t turn it down.

Whiterose’s man is even more heartbroken.  She assures him to be patient, but he tells her that when folks ask you to be patient, they’re actually asking for your surrender.  The gentleman then takes a nearby knife from a platter and slices his own throat with it.  Whiterose screams for help, but it’s no use.  The camera pans around and we see that her man bled all over the white rose bouquet.

Time Won’t Give Me Time

In the present day (2015, to be exact), Whiterose has her assistant, Wang Shu (aka Ms. Thang Jr.) get her mother’s dress ready.  She wants to wear it when her project is shipped to the Congo.  Ms. Thang Jr. reminds Whiterose that she shouldn’t be poppin’ champagne just yet.  Elliot is still out there plotting against them.  The whole situation with Eddie Lomax committing suicide and Phillip Price’s sudden resignation request aren’t coincidences.  Whiterose suggests to deny Price’s request and to keep looking into Elliot via round-the-clock surveillance.  Ms. Thang Jr. tries offer comforting words, saying that they’ll figure everything out, it’ll just take patience.  Whiterose remembers what her late lover said about being patient, and abruptly changes her mind.  Give Price what he wants, but move the date up.  Ms. Thang Jr. is totally against this, saying that Whiterose’s rash moves will put them in jeopardy.  Whiterose is fresh out of patience, and she states that disrupting the timeline is the perfect way to force Elliot and Price into a mistake.  I have to agree.  Now, instead of Elliot having eight days to come up with a plan, he has less than 24 hrs.

Ms. Thang Jr. reminds Whiterose that once Price resigns, there’ll be no CEO at E-Corp.  Whiterose has the perfect idea…make Tyrell the CEO.  He’ll accept it.  You damn skippy he will!

Unexpected (and Unwelcome) Surprises

Mr. Robot is narrating…again.  Elliot, when are you gonna talk to us?  Anyway, Mr. Robot is nervous and on the lookout for Vera’s crazy ass, as he should be.  Elliot, on the other hand, is basically like this:

As he and his alter ego (the one we know of) walk down the street, they bump into Krista, and she ain’t too happy to see him.  As a matter of fact, she mutters, “Oh, shit,” the minute she realizes who it is.

Elliot tries to say hi and that he’s taking her advice about Mr. Robot, but Krista ain’t got time.  To summarize, she lets it be known she wants nothing to do with him, and she feels unsafe around him.  Krista even goes so far as to threaten legal action if he doesn’t leave her alone.  Really, Krista?  Elliot, clearly hurt, says he just wanted to thank her for helping him.  He pulls his hoodie back over his head and leaves.  Poor Elliot.  Little do either of them know that DJ, Vera’s right hand, is watching this entire exchange…

Elliot ain’t the one you got to worry about, boo!

Sibling Rivalry

Back at Allsafe, Darlene is telling Elliot about Olivia Cortez, Susan Jacobs’s US contact with Cypress National Bank.  Apparently, Olivia is the only account manager Susan dealt with, so they’re going to have to hack her to get access to the Dark Army’s accounts.  Elliot’s already hacked into her computer remotely, but he’s not finding anything useful…at least not regarding the Dark Army.  He does however, learn that Olivia has a date later that night and is involved in a custody battle.  Darlene tells him most bank employees have a laptop specifically for the job that has to be hacked in person, which is why he’s not seeing anything related to Whiterose’s money.

Elliot uses Olivia’s schedule to his advantage and decides to break in her house to get access to her work laptop while she’s out.  Darlene’s not down with that idea.  The plan was that she would hack the bank computer and Elliot was supposed to deal with the SS7 license (whatever the hell that is).  Elliot says that was before they found out that they have put hands on the computer to hack it.  It’s too risky for Darlene to go now.  Darlene, being her usual hardheaded self disagrees, and Elliot asks Mr. Robot to step in and talk some sense into her.  Darlene still doesn’t listen, so Elliot takes back over and the “protective big brother bit” Darlene was criticizing him for a second ago is gone.

Elliot grabs her arm, hurting her.  Darlene asks if it’s really him, and he lets her know that it is.  No Mr. Robot.  No mystery third guest.  This is Elliot being rough and hurtful.  Darlene is disgusted, especially after she figured they were in a better place since cremating their mother the night before.  She asks if things will always be this way with him, and Elliot tells her things’ll never change.  Before he leaves, he drives an even deeper nail in her heart by telling her that he wishes he never opened the door for her when she came by last Halloween.  Really, Elliot?  Darlene tears up as he leaves.

Olivia

As Elliot breaks into Olivia’s apartment, Mr. Robot tells us that there’s no word for someone that’s lost everyone:  his parents, friends, and his girlfriend.  Some folks would call him a survivor, but others would say he’s a ticking time bomb.  We all can see that Elliot’s in the latter category.  Elliot eventually locates the work laptop, while Mr. Robot searches her personal computer for any possible clues (it still cracks me up how Elliot and Mr. Robot “split up” and do different things when they’re together).  It’s soon revealed that in order to get into Olivia’s work computer, Elliot needs her security fob. Mr. Robot recommends other alternatives to get Olivia to log into her computer, but Elliot’s not trying to take a chance of her getting suspicious.  He knows there’s only one way to get his hands on the fob…crash her date.

On a side note, I used to have one of those security fobs for my job.  We had to keep it on us at all times, preferably on our key chains (Mr. Robot suggested maybe Olivia got sloppy and left it at home, but I know for a fact that’s a no-no).  It’s also true about the security code changing every 60 seconds.  As a matter of fact, if you haven’t logged onto your computer after 45 seconds pass, you might as well wait for the next code to come up, because the current one will be considered useless.

Back on subject, Elliot and Mr. Robot go to the bar where Olivia is waiting to meet Evan, her date.  It appears she’s been stood up, and she’s about to leave.  Mr. Robot advises to regroup and try something else, but Elliot has some dirt on Olivia.  Earlier, he peeped a bottle of Oxycontin in Olivia’s bathroom.  Elliot also learned that as a part of her custody agreement, Olivia has to stay clean, or she’ll lose her son.  He can use that information as leverage to get the fob.  Really, Elliot?  It turns out I wasn’t the only one that didn’t like Elliot showing this ruthless side.  Mr. Robot blasts this idea and instead suggests they just have small talk with Olivia and snatch the fob.  Elliot ain’t goin’ for it.

He approaches Olivia, but as we all know, Elliot’s not always the most assertive guy, so he stumbles a bit before he’s about to lay out his blackmail scheme.  Before he can do so, Mr. Robot takes over, charmingly introduces himself (as Elliot) and offers to buy her a drink.  Elliot protests, but now it’s Mr. Robot’s turn to ignore him.  Olivia agrees, and Mr. Robot lets Elliot take over again.  Just like that, this encounter has turned into an actual date.  Hmmm…

The (Wannabe) King of New York

We’ve returned to the same restaurant Elliot and Shayla had their last conversation before she was snatched up by Vera’s men and eventually murdered.  We soon get confirmation on something all of us already figured:  it’s really a front for Vera’s drug operation.  This crazy fool is in the back stuffin’ dope in chickens and using kids as delivery boys.  DJ shows up, and Vera asks if he has any good intel on Elliot.  DJ can’t get a read off Elliot, considering that he always seems to run solo (I’m surprised he missed Darlene).  Vera starts going off on how he returned to be king of New York and how he needs a good architect to do that.  DJ offers to hold Elliot hostage and make him cooperate, but Vera says he wants Elliot as a partner, not a prisoner.  I still say this:

Vera presses DJ for info, but all he knows is that Elliot got into it with some chick on the street earlier that day.  He shows Vera a pic, and he sees Krista yelling at a distraught Elliot.  Vera tries to get more info about Krista’s attitude towards Elliot, but DJ fails to provide details.

Vera shows the pic to one of his pediatric drug mules and the kid remarks that Elliot looks sad, like how he does when his mother is mean to him.  Without even blinking, Vera takes his gun and shoots DJ in the gut.  As DJ’s bleeding out on the floor, Vera studies the picture and decides that Krista is the perfect target.  Then he proceeds to finish DJ off by shooting him in the head.  Really, Vera?

By the way, the scariest part of this scene isn’t Vera killing someone at random.  Anyone that’s a fan of the show is used to that.  The scariest part is that the kid that witnessed all this—who was sitting next to Vera when he fired the gun—didn’t flinch.  Eerie.

Match.com

Olivia and Elliot are still in the bar, having drinks.  Elliot hasn’t been able to swipe Olivia’s security fob yet, so they’ve been talking.  As it turns out, they both have a lot in common.  Olivia’s mother died, and she doesn’t get along with her dad that well.  Elliot admits (awkwardly) that he was addicted to morphine, but he’s clean now…except for the heroin he did two days ago that he really didn’t want.  It’s especially hilarious when Olivia asks if someone held Elliot down to do it, and he was just like, “Yeah.”  That’s fine, though.  She seems to be really into to him, and vice versa.  Elliot even manages to smile while he’s talking to her.  Yes, he smiled!  Just then Evan shows up.

It becomes more apparent that Olivia’s into Elliot, because she acts like she doesn’t even know who Evan is.  She tries to ditch Evan officially by hinting that she and Elliot are about to leave together, but Elliot doesn’t catch the clue.  Olivia says goodbye to Elliot and leaves, taking the fob with her.  Elliot runs after her and kisses her in the street.

Then the unexpected happens…

ELLIOT GETS SOME!!    😮😮😮

Sometime later, Elliot’s still at Olivia’s place, getting dressed.  By the way, Elliot’s sex game must be off the charts; he managed to put both Shayla and Olivia to sleep when he hooked up with them.  He put it on Shayla so good, she forgot what day it was when she woke up!  Anyway, Elliot finally gets his hands on the security fob and sneaks in the bathroom to text the code to Darlene.

Right after he sends the code, Price sends Elliot a text, letting him know that the Deus Group meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.  Dun-dun-dunnnnnn!  Olivia knocks on the door, startling him.  Elliot knocks over a small crate with some items on it, one of which was the bottle of Oxycontin.  Olivia tells him that bottle isn’t what he thinks it is.  She admits that after her mother was murdered, she became an addict to numb the pain, which harmed her relationship with her father.  She then opened the bottle to show Elliot what was really inside of it…a razor blade.  Olivia goes on to say that she uses it as a reminder that if she goes back to using, she may as well kill herself.  Elliot opens up and tells her about his own desire to commit suicide a few months ago and how Trenton’s little bro saved him (I wonder if Elliot ever kept his promise and took him to go see The Martian).  Elliot tells Olivia that she can’t scare him, and after she lets him know there’s plenty more crazy where that came from, she snuggles up with him.  Awww…

Elliot leaves and while he and Mr. Robot are waiting for the subway, the latter remarks on how Olivia overrode Elliot’s access to his heart, and now he’s learned that letting people in doesn’t have to hurt.

Tyrelliot In Full Effect!

After leaving the subway, Elliot notices a white van following him.  He can’t go back to Allsafe and meet up with Darlene, so he decides to walk home and act like everything is everything.  The only problem with that is, when he gets home, he sees that some fool pried the door open.  Mr. Robot wants to run, but Elliot knows that’s fruitless, considering the bad guys are outside, too.  Elliot pushes the door open, and who does he see?

It’s Tyrell, muthafuckers!

The second Tyrell sees Elliot, he’s all like, “HEY, ELLIOT!  THEY MADE ME CEO!  WE CAN TAKE DOWN WHITEROSE JUST LIKE WE PLANNED!”  *Sigh*

Elliot tries his best to shut Tyrell’s crazy ass up, but this fool…keeps…talking.  Finally, Elliot literally has to spell it out for him by writing on a sheet of paper:

Sure enough, the white van is parked outside of Elliot’s apartment building doing just that.  And that’s where our story ends.

I really enjoyed this episode.  As a matter of fact, the more I watched it, the more I liked it.  I noticed that it’s been getting some mixed reviews, due to some folks believing this latest installment was pure filler.  Yeah, the episode was a bit slower than the previous two, but it was still very entertaining.  One of the things I loved about “403 Forbidden” is Whiterose’s backstory.  It gave us a bit of insight on what made her into the person she is today.  Don’t get me wrong, she was always a bit ratchet (after all, her ultimate goal was to steal IBM’s intellectual property), but her early shady behavior didn’t include mass genocide.  Losing the man she loved pushed her over the edge, I think.  Despite all the evil Whiterose has committed throughout the series, you can’t help but feel sympathy for her when her lover takes his own life.

Speaking of which, suicide was a pretty big theme of this week’s episode.  So much so, the network decided to provide the number for a suicide hotline for those in need of counseling.  Trust me, there’s so many people that need help with this issue.  I’m glad they did that.

I’m a bit perturbed with Krista.  Yeah, I get why she’s wary of Elliot, but damn.  She acted like he was stalking her, when all the poor man was doing was walking down the street minding his business.  Then, that whole, “I don’t feel safe around you” bit.  Girl, bye.  You ought to know that Elliot wouldn’t hurt you physically.  That’s okay, though.  She’s about to be in the presence of real evil, and she’ll wish her biggest threat was bumping into Elliot on the sidewalk.

Speaking of which, that damn Vera is still a hot mess, but I didn’t expect anything less.  This fool really thinks that Krista is Elliot’s heart.  Wrong.  I mean, Elliot cares about Krista, but ol’ boy missed out on his grand opportunity when he first came waltzing into town.  It’s a good thing Darlene didn’t mention to him who she was.

Plus, coming back to the same city and operating in the same quarters really isn’t the smartest move when you’re a wanted man that broke out of prison.  Then again, this is the same dude that went along with the idea of posting all his nefarious shit on social media.  SMDH.  By the way, there’s some people that don’t believe Vera’s return adds any value to the show, but it does.  Now Elliot has the Dark Army and Vera gunning for him.  I’m assuming Elliot’s not too worried about Vera at the moment because the Whiterose threat is a lot more dangerous, but Vera’s interference will soon become a serious issue.  Not only that, it’s gonna cut into the time Elliot needs to take down Whiterose, which’ll give us even more white knuckle situations.  On a side note, I’m still freaked out about that kid.  That’s another Vera in the making.

On to Tyrell…  Tyrell, yo’ ass is too smart to be sloppy like that.  First of all, learn to hush when people tell you to shut up.  Second of all, why the hell did you bust in Elliot’s apartment like that?  What, you couldn’t just pick the lock?

Elliot still isn’t talking to us.  I really hope that changes soon.  I miss him.  Mr. Robot doesn’t spill half as much tea.  The 180º shift in Elliot and Mr. Robot’s characters continues to be interesting.  Elliot’s off the chain right now, and Mr. Robot always has to be the one to talk him off the ledge.  Not only that, Mr. Robot is always the one that has to be the supportive big brother to Darlene, while Elliot is being more rough and dismissive of her.  I honestly think that Elliot was still upset over the whole Krista encounter and between that and Darlene being hardheaded about staying put when he asked her to, he decided to use her as a punching bag.  Not cool.  Speaking of not cool, I can’t believe Elliot actually considered blackmailing a single mom!  I get a sleazy pedophile, but a single mom doing all she can to take care of her son?  That’s cold-hearted, boo.  Ironically enough, if Elliot had gone along with his initial blackmail scheme, it would’ve thwarted his plans, seeing as Olivia no longer had prescription narcotics in her possession.  Mr. Robot’s interjection saved the plan, and it allowed Elliot’s newfound hard demeanor to soften, thankfully.

Now onto Ms. Olivia.  I like her, just like I liked Shayla.  She and Elliot make a cute couple and their love scene together was super hot.  I have to be honest though, I hate that we were cheated out of a potential love scene with Elliot and Angela.  I really wanted those two to get together ever since the first episode.  However, I do like Olivia, and I’m glad Elliot found someone he could bond with, that was able to break through this tough exterior that he’s developed.  Also another cool thing about Olivia is that in real life, she’s Andy Garcia’s daughter!  I love him!

There’s some theories going around that Olivia’s not really here for Elliot; she’s another physical honeypot trying to trap him.  After all, the white van started following him after he left her place.  In the description for “403 Forbidden,” it mentions that “Elliot gets owned by his own hack.”  Plus, if you listen to the lyrics of “Flesh Without Blood” (the song that plays while Elliot and Olivia are getting their freak on; I’ve fallen in love with that song since I heard it), you realize it’s actually a breakup song.  As they say, Sam Esmail very seldomly incorporates things into the show on accident.  Then there’s the fact that 1) Elliot doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to romantic relationships; 2) poor Elliot stays losing and 3) this is Mr. Robot.  If Elliot can wake up in a damn ’90s sitcom, it’s not too far fetched for Olivia to be a card carrying member of the Dark Army.  Despite all those points, I have to disagree with his theory (for now).  It seems like Olivia has genuine feelings for Elliot, and she’s just a single mother who has no idea about the evil SOB’s she’s working for.  “Elliot [getting] owned by his own hack” could just mean that in opening up to Olivia to socially engineer her, she ended up gaining access to his heart.

However…now that we’ve been introduced to Olivia, we now know that things will eventually sour between her and Elliot.  This past episode confirmed that she’s the mystery woman berating Elliot in her apartment in the teaser trailer.  It’s clear that he’s sitting in her apartment as she gives him the business.  If you don’t remember that scene, here’s the video (courtesy of USA Networks/Universal):

I’m assuming that Elliot either told her about his involvement in the 5/9 hack, he admitted he slept with her mainly to gain access to her security fob, the Dark Army found out about Olivia being with Elliot and now she has a target on her back (or worse yet, her and her son), or all of the above.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Next week, Tyrell, Elliot and Mr. Robot wander around the woods and Darlene gives Santa Claus a ride.  God, I love this crazy ass show.

—Written by Nadiya

So what did y’all think about “403 Forbidden”?  Did you sympathize—or at least empathize—with Whiterose?  Did you agree with how Krista treated Elliot, or do you think she was too harsh with him?  Did you agree with how Elliot treated Darlene, or is he lashing out at the one person that loves him?  What do you think about Elliot and Olivia?  Do you like them as a couple?  Do you think she really likes him or is she working for the Dark Army as an operative?  Do you miss Angela and wish she and Elliot could’ve had a chance?  Do you think Vera and Tyrell are damn fools?  Let me know in the comments section! 

What’s poppin’, y’all?  Let’s just jump right into this bad boy, because this latest episode of Mr. Robot had a lot to doggone unload.

Deus Ex Machina (Literally)

The show opens up with Price giving some very insightful exposition regarding Whiterose.  After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR in the late ’80’s, Whiterose (disguised as Minister Zhang) decides to take advantage and begin an investment group called Deus, which consolidates foreign powers and uses global events (and by events, I mean mostly catastrophes) for profit.  Whiterose was able to get numerous world leaders behind her investment group, and eventually started the first Gulf War, aka Operation Desert Storm.  You read that correctly.

Turns out causing Operation Desert Storm was lucrative for Whiterose and her friends, as it gained them money in oil and influence within the military.  Then, Whiterose has a sensational idea:  instead of using industrial spies to gain information, she’d rather have electronic access to any and every person living to obtain whatever data she needs.  That’s right…Whiterose invented the internet.  THE WHOLE.  DAMN.  INTERNET.

Apparently, America was supposed to be the test case for the World Wide Web, and we flocked to that thang like flies to poo.  I can’t front; I still remember the first time I surfed the web.  I was 17, and my high school finally gained internet access, just in time for my senior year.  The second I went on a couple of websites (including IMDB.com) and saw how much information was right there at my fingertips, I was hooked.

Back to the subject at hand, with the rise of the net came the rise of E-Corp, which was actually a front for the Deus Group.  With every endeavor E-Corp had—be it E Coin, their health insurance, real estate or banks—the Deus Group became even more powerful, as they now had further influence over the public.   The members of the Deus Group learned soon enough that Whiterose wasn’t their partner, she was their boss, and the purpose of even starting the group was to fund whatever her project is in the Congo.  Yeah, they all talked their shit about it when it was underneath the power plant in Washington Township, but now that’s it’s going abroad, it’s becoming clear that Whiterose has something big planned and whatever it is, it’s no laughing matter.

An Unlikely Ally (TBD)

After Price’s rousing monologue, we see him speaking with Elliot and Mr. Robot back at Allsafe, with the Deus Group added to Elliot’s Dark Army board.  Price reveals that he was tasked to eliminate anyone that ever appeared at “John Garcin’s” apartment and to report the incident.  Elliot asks why Price saved him, but he never answers.  Price simply tells Elliot his bank heist won’t work, considering Whiterose designed the Deus Group to be impenetrable.  Mr. Robot takes over and suggests that Price act as a mole and provide his bank contact’s information.  Price informs that the bank contact is Susan Jacobs.  I admit; I laughed out loud at that.   Susan Jacobs is a dead end (pun intended).

Elliot asks for Susan’s info, and of course, Price tells him that she’s been missing for months.  That’s an understatement.  That chick is a pile of ashes at some animal shelter!  Anyway, Price tells Elliot that he can’t help him, but Elliot reminds him that Whiterose killed his daughter.  Damn.  He knew about Price and Angela.   Price reiterates that Elliot’s bank heist won’t work, and Elliot suggests to him to have all the Deus members meet up in the next eight days.  Price believes it’s impossible to have them all together in such a short amount of time, but Mr. Robot mentions that because of Price’s loyalty, initiating the meet won’t be too far fetched.  Elliot tells Price he may as well be dead if he sits around and does nothing.  Price says he became a dead man walking when he got involved with Whiterose…just like Elliot is.  Ouch.

Price leaves, and Darlene—who’s been blowing up Elliot’s phone for the past few minutes—calls again.  When Elliot answers, Darlene tells him that their mother died.

Ciao.

At Mrs. Alderson’s nursing home, Elliot and Darlene meet with a staff worker who won’t shut up about what a great person their mother was and how blessed they must’ve been to have her.  Darlene and Elliot ain’t here for the foolishness.  They know how the real deal, and simply ask the lady what they’re supposed to do with her stuff.  After she leaves–silently judging them, I might add—Elliot quickly gets to work, packing everything up to go to charity, while Darlene’s chillin’.  She admits that she’s relieved their mother is gone.  Elliot, on the other hand, has other stuff on his mind.  Darlene asks him if they’re still cool after she wigged out on him about Angela the day before, and Elliot says they are as he continues packing everything up, never even breaking stride.  When he starts to unload the drawers, he notices his old walkman.  He opens it and finds a tape inside, but once Darlene spots him with the tape player, he quickly closes it and puts it in a box.  Darlene decides to keep it, saying that “cassettes are full on back.”  Since when?  When Darlene finally decides to help Elliot out, she notices a receipt for a safe deposit box with the Bank of E.  Hmmm…

Where in the World Is Agent Santiago?

Dom finally takes her interview concerning Santiago, and as it turns out, it’s part of an investigation about his disappearance.  As Agent Horton interviews her, she’s clearly ill at ease, and he asks if she’s okay.  Dom admits that Santiago was a double agent.  OH SHIT!!

Agent Horton asks Dom who Santiago was working for, and she takes a deep breath and reveals the name:  The Trujillo drug cartel.  Got scared there for a minute!

La Mort Heureuse

After the interview, we see Janice’s creepy ass at her taxidermy business when she gets a call.  It’s Dom, letting her know that she did the interview and everything was all good.  Janice wants Dom to define “good.”  Dom tells her that Agent Horton bought her story.    Janice goes on to ask if everything’s on the up and up with Dom’s colleagues.  Dom says again that she’s sure Agent Horton believed her story.  Janice jots down Agent Horton’s name and asks her to define “sure.”  You gettin’ on my nerves, ho.

Dom says she’s 99.9% sure Agent Horton believed what she told him.  Janice seems to accept that and she goes on to give Dom a bit of a pep talk about how beginnings are hard, but everything’ll be alright as long as she keeps a level head, or some bullshit.  She goes on to tell Dom that everyone’s glad she’s back at work, and if she needs anything, to let them know.  Dom hangs up the phone, clearly not being able to take anymore horseshit.  Janice has a customer who entered the shop while she was talking to Dom, and when she goes up front to help her, the lady says she wants her dog to be with her forever, and proceeds to slam the dog’s dead (and deboned) body on the counter.  Gross.

By the way, I couldn’t help but notice that Dom has a promotion (come to think of it, they may have briefly mentioned this in the last episode).  Now she’s the Assistant Special Agent in Charge.  Just like Tyrell, she probably got a job she always wanted…but she can’t even enjoy it.  SMH.

Final Arrangements

At the funeral home, Mr. Robot can see that Elliot’s not really dealing with his mother’s death, but instead is racking his brain trying to figure out how to track down Susan Jacobs.  Mr. Robot tells Elliot that he’s become an expert at observing him and he needs to take a second and try to cope with his mother being gone, instead of holding his feelings in.  Elliot lets Mr. Robot know that the only thing he’s holding in is the fact that he needs to take down Whiterose, or else they all die, Darlene included.  Elliot walks off and asks if Mr. Robot’s expert observation noticed that.  Something about that was kind of sexy.  Mr. Robot acknowledges that could’ve gone better before muttering to us, “Fuck you.”  Fuck you too, Mr. Robot!  Bastard.

Meanwhile, Darlene’s trying to decide what funeral arrangements her mother would’ve wanted and has to deal with more silent judgement, this time from the director.  Elliot walks in and indifferently asks for cremation, a cardboard coffin and the cheapest urn they have.  Boss.

Sometime later, Elliot and Darlene are waiting for the subway, Elliot’s still trying to get more information on Susan Jacobs via his cell phone, whereas Darlene’s wondering aloud why their mother had a safe deposit box.  Money?  A deed to a house?  Adoption papers?  Elliot ain’t got time and keeps doing what he’s doing.  Darlene finally gets tired of him ignoring her and snatches his phone.  She thought they were cool, and Elliot tells her that they are.  Darlene wants him to prove it by coming with her to the bank.  Elliot doesn’t want to, but Darlene tells him that she needs him right now.   This convinces Elliot, although he still thinks it’s a waste of time.  A snowman sitting nearby give his condolences.  A kiss and hug to anyone who can tell me what that’s in reference to.  🙂

Keep it 💯

Dom is interrogating an Irish human trafficker and appears to be back in her element again, when she receives a text from Janice that reads, “Sorry about your co-worker.”  As if on cue, an agent bursts through the door and calls Dom out of the room due to an urgent issue.   The agent shows her a news report about a man that jumped to his death a few hours earlier.  Dom asks what that has to do with her, and the agent informs it was Agent Horton that supposedly committed suicide.  He goes on to ask Dom if she noticed anything off with Agent Horton when they had their interview earlier that day.  After all, she was one of the last people to talk to him before he “took his own life.”  Just then, Dom gets another text from Janice that reads:

Wow.

Bank of E:  We Don’t Give a Damn ‘Bout Our Customers!

Darlene and Elliot are at the bank waiting to see what the big secret was in their mother’s safe deposit box.  Unfortunately for everyone, the box is gone; it has been for two years now.  The banker tells them that Mrs. Alderson stopped paying her bill, and after a 120 day grace period and zero contact from her, the organization threw all her stuff away, per Bank of E policy.  SMDH.  Darlene promptly cusses the man out and Elliot tries to get her to come back with him to the funeral parlor so they can collect their mother’s ashes.

Darlene’s clearly distraught and Elliot tries to tell her that the safe deposit box isn’t that big of a deal.  Darlene admits that it has nothing to do with the safe deposit box and everything to do with Elliot just not giving a shit.  Elliot says after years of enduring their mother’s abuse, of course he doesn’t give a damn, but Darlene’s not talking about their mom…she’s talking about Angela.  Darlene accepts that Angela’s gone, and wishes she could just brush off her death like Elliot did.  Elliot admits that he hasn’t gotten over Angela; not even close.  He takes out his walkman and hands it to her, and tells her to open it up.  There’s a tape inside labeled, “Happy Mother’s Day.”  It turns out it was a tape Elliot, Darlene and Angela made for Mrs. Moss, not Mrs. Alderson.  Darlene has no idea how their mother got it or why she kept it.  Elliot assumes she was lonely and wished her kids would’ve made her a Mother’s Day tape.  Uh…maybe if you treated them better they would have?  Just a thought.

Darlene plays the tape and asks Elliot to listen to it with her, but he can’t bring himself to do it.  However, once Darlene puts the headphones on her head and starts crying, Elliot cuddles up next to her and listens in.  Awww…

Price’s Gift to Whiterose

Price goes to visit Whiterose—disguised as Zhang—and lets her know that he’s resigning as the CEO of E-Corp by the end of the year.  Not only that, but he’s leaving the Deus Group, too.  Whiterose tells him he can’t leave now; her project hasn’t shipped to the Congo yet.  Price doesn’t care.  Whiterose mentions that in order for Price to resign, all the Deus Group members have to meet in person.  Price suggests they have a meeting on New Year’s. Whiterose ain’t happy at all, and screams at Price that the game isn’t played that way.  Price tells her that if she thinks this is all a game, she should be ecstatic.  She won.  With that, Price leaves and Whiterose is so pissed off, she sends her gorgeous Christmas tree crashing to the floor.

fsociety Reunited

Back at the funeral home, Elliot gets a call from Price, notifying that he made his move.  Elliot thanks him, but Price tells him he didn’t do it for him.  Bitch, Elliot didn’t want you to do it for him!  Anyway, Darlene shows up with their mother’s urn in tow and asks who Elliot was talking to, but he lies and says it wasn’t anybody.   Darlene sees through this and reveals that she saw him looking up info on Susan Jacobs on his phone.  Elliot asks why she cares so much, and since Darlene is in a chapel, she pretty much confesses to killing her.  Elliot immediately blasphemes, but then realizes he’s in the house of the Lord and takes pause.

On a side note, I’m still not sure if Darlene accidentally killed Susan Jacobs or if it was intentional.  On one hand, she seemed shocked when she saw Susan’s lifeless body fall into her pool after shocking her with that stun gun, and she swore up and down she didn’t know the woman had a pacemaker.  However, I don’t know how Darlene didn’t notice she had a heart condition, considering all the e-mails about pacemakers and heart health she came across when she hacked Susan’s e-mail.  Darlene had to have seen at least one of them.  Mobley did.  Not only that, but Darlene stunned the woman directly in the heart.  Most folks tend to go towards the lower torso.  I can’t even say I’m 99.9% sure of what really happened.  Too soon?  😂😂

Anyway, Darlene asks Elliot if they’re still cool, even though she committed murder.  Elliot assures her they are, considering that Susan Jacobs wasn’t exactly a moral compass, and he asks Darlene for everything she has on Susan.  Darlene wants to know why he needs that information, and Elliot lets it be known that he’s going after Whiterose.  Darlene wants in.  Elliot refuses, but Darlene truthfully tells him that every successful big time hack he did was with fsociety, and now, they’re all they have.  Deep down, Elliot knows she’s right and reluctantly lets her join the team, although he wouldn’t have had any say in the matter anyway.  Darlene mentions that she figured Elliot was up to something, but she wasn’t sure what it was.  She assumed it had something to do with Vera.

Elliot is confused.  Vera?  What about Vera?  Darlene tells him that she thought his plan involved trying to get revenge against Vera.  After all, he showed up at Elliot’s place a few months back, and when Darlene tried to tell him about it, he brushed it off.  We get a glimpse of Mr. Robot sitting nearby, looking a bit confused himself.  When Darlene leaves, Elliot’s furious.  He goes off on Mr. Robot, accusing him of being untrustworthy yet again.  Mr. Robot swears down Darlene didn’t tell him about Vera.  Elliot knows good and well Darlene didn’t say anything to him.  Mr. Robot promises he didn’t know anything about Vera coming back.  Now, we all know that Mr. Robot lies like a damn rug, but this time, he appears to be telling the truth.  Elliot asks the question we’ve all been asking…if Darlene didn’t tell him, and she didn’t tell Mr. Robot, who did she talk to?

Meanwhile, Inside the Wonderful World of Elliot’s Head…

Little Elliot is in a boardroom, turning in a chair—the same boardroom Tyrell invited grown Elliot to (for real) in the pilot episode.  There’s four chairs at the table where little Elliot is seated.

Elliot’s mom walks in and tells him that’s not his seat and he needs to move.  Little Elliot asks why and his mother answers that they have to wait until “they’re” ready.  When Little Elliot asks who they’re waiting for, his mother responds, “Him.”  Little Elliot wonders if it’s Mr. Robot.  His mother tells him it isn’t.  Little Elliot guesses it’s grown Elliot, then.  Wrong again.  Then who?  She says, “The other one.”

The other one!?

THE OTHER ONE!?

THE OTHER ONE!?  THERE’S ANOTHER PERSONALITY!?!?

And that’s the end of the show (that’s enough!  Damn!).

As usual, this episode was great, and it mooked up my mind.  No lie, I lost serious sleep over the ending.  However, after racking my brain over it for the next day or so, I think I may have an idea as to who the third personality is.  I’ll save that for a separate post; I really have to break down how and why I came up with the person I came up with.

I’ll say this much, I really miss Elliot talking to us.  Mr. Robot doesn’t talk nearly enough for my taste, although I laughed out loud at his “Fuck you” line (I wasn’t really mad 😀).  I loved the scene where Elliot and Darlene cuddled up together at the bank, and I’m so glad the dynamic duo is back together again!  Let’s just hope they both live through this.  On this show, you never know.  On a side note, whenever Elliot gave Mr. Robot the business this episode, it was hot!  Don’t judge me; I love that little guy.  He and Bruno Mars are my favorite little men.

I feel really bad for Dom, and that doggone Janice irks my nerve.  At least Leon and Irving were likable!  I really hope Dom can find a way to get out from under the Dark Army’s thumb, with Elliot and Darlene’s help, of course.  Next week, Elliot and Darlene start putting their plan in motion and Vera finally makes an appearance, whining about how he wants Elliot to be his partner.

So far, I’m enjoying the season, and I know the best (and craziest) is yet to come!  Once again, I just hope Elliot and Darlene live to tell the tale.  It’s bad enough they killed Angela…  😭😭😭

—Written by Nadiya

So what did you think about “402 Payment Required”?  Are you glad Elliot and Darlene teamed up again?  Do you think Elliot dealt with his mother’s death or just pushed it all in like Mr. Robot said?  Also, do you think Elliot and Darlene were cold about their mother dying, or were their attitudes justified?  Did you want to see what was in Mrs. Alderson’s safe deposit box?  Why do you think Price is helping Elliot?  Is it revenge for what Whiterose did to Angela?  Who do you think the third personality is?  Are you excited to see Vera come back?  Let me know in the comments section!