What’s up, y’all? I know y’all aren’t used to me doing Mr. Robot recaps/reviews, but considering that it’s one of my favorite shows now, I felt it was only fitting to give my two cents on this phenomenal series each week. As usual, this review is late as all hell, but y’all know me. Anyway, let’s do the damn thing!
Let Me Blow Your Mind
The premiere picks up where we left off in season three. Angela’s asking Price about retribution against Whiterose, and he tells her to just accept that she was duped. Angela ain’t havin’ it. She continues to mention that she plans to expose Whiterose’s project, and although Price warns her to shut up, Angela refuses. When she announces that she’s going to take down Whiterose with or without him, she stops dead in her tracks and stares ahead.
Price tells her that he’s been trying to protect her all this time, and begs her to take back what she said. Angela repeats his famed line from season two, “You’re panicking right now. Remove all emotion and you’ll do just fine.” She takes a deep breath and lets it be known that she’s not running, and Price should just leave. Price walks off, and as he does, he removes a wire from under his shirt. Some Dark Army operatives approach Angela and shoot her in the back of the head, execution style!
THEY KILLED ANGELA!!!! 😱😱😱
Price goes back inside his house, visibly upset. After smashing a vase in anger, he gets a call from Whiterose. Miss Thang has the audacity to mention that Angela brought it on herself, but she praises Price for trying to talk some sense into her. Price blames Whiterose (understandably), but Ms. Whiterose lets it be known that Price let Angela’s murder happen (facts). Price cries and tells Whiterose that Angela was his daughter, and Miss Thang gives her condolences (fake) before hanging up.
The female version of Grant tells Whiterose that Elliot’s shipping hack went through, and it should allow everything to be delivered to the Congo in two months. Miss Thang Jr. also makes it known that Elliot is a “good for nothing wretch” that can’t be trusted. Miss Thang Sr. assures her that after the goods are delivered to the Congo, Elliot’ll be dead. Miss Thang Jr. still insists that Elliot should be kept on a short lease. Whiterose agrees and orders her to “send Elliot a message.” Do you two think that’ll make Elliot less dangerous…or more dangerous?
Silent Night, Holy S**t!!
Two months have passed and it’s Christmas time in the city. The hack has been undone, and the economy is booming. Nobody’s even thinking about 5/9 anymore. A local sleazy lawyer named Freddy Lomax is definitely enjoying his Christmas until he gets a package he didn’t expect. The package contains a web video of him pleasuring himself to a girl that looks like she’s all of 13 yrs. old, and a burner phone.
The phone rings, and it’s none other than Mr. Robot, instructing Freddy to meet him at Grand Central Terminal with a flash drive, or else that video will be made public. Mr. Robot makes sure to instruct Freddy to leave all his electronics there, and he manages to help him lose the Dark Army operatives that are right on his tail. Mr. Robot leads him to a subway train where Elliot is sitting, watching all the surveillance cameras in the terminal. Once Freddy makes it to him, Elliot completely takes over and orders Freddy to give him the flash drive. Freddy threatens Elliot with a gun, but Elliot ain’t scurred, and tells him to sit his ass down and give him the drive.
The drive contains information on the shell companies Whiterose and her people use to funnel money. Elliot learns that the Dark Army houses their money with Cypress National Bank, and demands that Freddy gives him any info he has on the institution. Freddy swears up and down he doesn’t know anything, but says a dude named John Garcin may have the information Elliot needs.
Before Elliot can squeeze anymore information out of Freddy, he sees the Dark Army guys closing in on them. It turns out Freddy unintentionally brought something electronic with him: his Bluetooth enabled ID card. Elliot tells Freddy they have to split up and meet at another location. They do, and when Elliot calls Freddy again to have him meet him at a nearby corner, Freddy wants Elliot to guarantee him that he can protect him from the Dark Army. Elliot can’t do that. Hell, Elliot can’t guarantee that he can protect himself from the Dark Army. Freddy realizes he’s pretty much screwed, asks Elliot not to show the video to his wife and kids, and blows his brains out.
Tyrell Wellick, Chief Technology Officer
Tyrell, who is now the newly appointed CTO of E-Corp, walks to his office in a sort of daze as his assistant goes over his extremely busy schedule for the day. By the time he’s in his office, she’s still going over his itinerary and Tyrell still has a look of complete boredom on his face. She finally finishes, and she congratulates him on his promotion before she leaves. She even adds that most folks consider him a hero for what he did. Uh-huh. Blowing up 71 buildings and killing thousands of people is real heroic. Boooo. Oh yeah, and how ’bout now that the hack has been undone and the economy is back on track, they’re crediting Tyrell with that shit! Please. Thank the skinny guy in the hoodie.
Dom is Disturbed
Over in Teaneck, NJ, Dom is staying at her mother’s house, and she ain’t looking too good (once again, understandably). It appears she’s been drinking, getting very little sleep, and listening to CD’s. I guess she was scared the Dark Army would track her if she used an IPod. Anyway, she’s dozing off when she hears a car door close. She wakes up and sees a van parked outside the house and spots a man heading upstairs. She quickly marks down the license plate number and grabs a gun. She follows the dude to her mother’s bedroom and gets the drop on him, only to find out he’s just a handyman.
Dom’s mother pops up, bubbly and blissfully clueless, telling Dom that the poor man just came over to renovate her master bath. She goes on to tell Dom that she invited a nice girl named Janice for macaroni and gravy. Macaroni and gravy!? What the hell is the main dish? What y’all gonna eat with the gravy? Mashed potatoes or stuffing?
Back at Allsafe
Elliot and Mr. Robot have now moved their operation to the abandoned Allsafe office, which looks like it’s been closed for 10 years as opposed to shutting down 6 months ago. Mr. Robot is hard down checking out John Garcin’s social media accounts, while Elliot is putting together a board comprised of anything and everything associated with Whiterose and the Dark Army.
Mr. Robot tells Elliot that it’s going to take forever to get something on Garcin, considering that his social media is chock full of nonsense, but Elliot insists on going straight to Garcin’s house, now that they have his address. They don’t have time to break Garcin like they did Freddy. By the following week, Whiterose’s project will be shipped to the Congo, and Elliot’s as good as dead. Mr. Robot remarks that Freddy could’ve saved them some time if he didn’t off himself, and Elliot tells him Freddy had it coming, same as the rest of them. This gives Mr. Robot pause, seeing as Elliot usually doesn’t talk like that.
Mr. Robot tells Elliot that he believes that he’s going after Whiterose for all the wrong reasons. He’s not really interested in saving the world anymore; he wants revenge for what she did to Angela (what’s wrong with that?). Elliot reminds Mr. Robot that if he doesn’t take Whiterose down now, things’ll just get worse for everyone. While all this is going on, Darlene is blowing up Elliot’s phone. Mr. Robot takes a look at it and sees that Darlene wants to talk to him about Angela.
Darlene’s Off the Deep End
Darlene meets Elliot at his apartment and she’s looking a little worse for wear herself. I’ll say this…in this episode, nobody’s doing good…except doggone Whiterose. Anyway, Darlene’s clearly high and she starts going on and on about how she saw Angela near a homeless shelter. Elliot’s basically like, “I can’t,” and lets Mr. Robot take over. Mr. Robot tries to talk some sense into Darlene, but she’s not trying to hear it. She saw Angela, and she can prove it. Elliot can’t take it anymore and it takes back over, telling Darlene that Angela’s dead, and she’s obviously in the doggone stratosphere. Darlene still refuses to listen, and that’s when Elliot gets a bit more forceful and backs her into the wall to bring his point home. He tells Darlene to stop blaming herself, but she tells him she’s not the one that feels guilty for Angela’s death and leaves.
Mr. Robot asks Elliot why he didn’t just show Darlene the picture Whiterose sent him with Angela’s brains blown out (that was her and her assistant’s way of “reigning him in”…y’all got Elliot fucked up), but Elliot says that would’ve broken Darlene’s heart. Of course, Darlene isn’t the only one that’s heartbroken. Elliot drops the subject and starts getting ready to head to John Garcin’s apartment. That’s when Mr. Robot decides to talk to us. You read that correctly.
Mr. Robot points out that Elliot’s not doing well at all. He’s not talking to us, and he doesn’t talk to him that much, either. Ever since Angela died, he’s been shutting down, and trying to lose himself in his mission to take down Whiterose. Mr. Robot says he’ll keep us in the loop since Elliot won’t, but make no mistake…he’s not doing it for us, because he doesn’t give a shit about us. Well Mr. Robot, I don’t give a shit about yo’ funky ass, either! I want my Elliot back, doggone it.
No Exit
Elliot and Mr. Robot arrive at John Garcin’s apartment building, and something feels really off. First of all, E-Corp owns the building. Mr. Robot points that out to Elliot, but the latter brushes it off. Second of all, the building seems damn near empty. Mr. Robot points that out too, but once again, Elliot doesn’t listen. When they get to the apartment, the door is open and no one’s home. Something really feels off now. Elliot wants to look around and get something they can use against Garcin, seeing as they got in the apartment while he wasn’t home, but Mr. Robot wants to stick to the initial plan of grabbing the guy’s WiFi. Elliot pays his advice no mind.
Elliot and Mr. Robot split up and look around (uh…how do they manage that, by the way?), and now something’s really feeling off about this place. The picture frames have no real pictures, the closets don’t have any clothes, and the lamps still have the price tags on them. When Mr. Robot tries to get out of the door, it’s locked from the outside. The phone is dead, the window is bolted, and the cell phone signal is jammed. Elliot grabs a copy of the play No Exit from a shelf and sees that one of the characters’ names was Joseph Garcin. That’s when it hits home that they’ve been duped. The apartment was a physical honeypot. For those of y’all that don’t know what a honeypot is, it’s something used to lure hackers and trap them once they’ve tried to infiltrate the data. In no time flat, some men in black arrive and literally drag Elliot out of the apartment, all while the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” plays and the doorman is finishing off a delicious bowl of Fruity Pebbles.
Dinner’s at Mrs. DiPierro’s
Back in Teaneck, Dom is uncomfortably sitting through dinner with her mom and her new friend Janice, all while Mrs. DiPierro relays embarrassing stories about hot nuns and the priests that secretly wanna get with them. Dom’s mother then excuses herself and asks Dom to help Janice carry her plate of macaroni and gravy (I’m still trying to figure out what they ate with that) out to the car.
While they’re outside, Dom notices stuffed animals—actual stuffed damn animals—in the passenger seat of Janice’s car, and the latter tells her that she’s a taxidermist. Okaaayyy… Dom apologizes for the awkward dinner Janice had to endure, as it was an obvious set up. Janice laughs it off, and tells Dom that her mother told her about her drinking and not sleeping at night. She assures Dom that if she ever needs a friend, she’s there. Dom excuses herself, saying she needs to get to bed, and Janice tells her that’s a good idea, considering that she has that interview about Santiago in the morning.
Dom does a double take and asks Janice what she means. Janice reiterates that Dom’s been putting off the meeting long enough, and if she continues to do, she’ll have to do something really bad to Mrs. DiPierro…like slit her from her mouth to her hoo-hah. Dom threatens to strangle Janice to death if she hurts her mother. Janice laughs this off too, and tells Dom that even if she does, it won’t stop the other operatives from coming for her. That’s when Dom sees a bunch of white vans parked down the road. You know what? There’s some white vans parked outside of my apartment complex! Oh, shit! Pysch. My new neighbor is a FedEx guy. 😂😂
Worst Party Ever
It looks like Darlene is squatting at Angela’s apartment. She’s thrown a party full of druggie idiots that are completely disrespecting Angela’s house, and spouting out theories about the world actually being flat. *Eyeroll* Meanwhile, Darlene is getting high off every drug known to man. However, when she catches two nasty chicks going through Angela’s things in her bedroom, Darlene kicks their ratchet asses out and breaks the whole party up. When they leave, she sees Angela’s ballet shoes lying on the floor (one the girls callously threw them to the side while going through Angela’s clothes). She picks up the shoes and climbs on Angela’s bed, sobbing as she clutches them close to her heart. 😭😭😭
“Goodbye, Friend”
The men in black that dragged Elliot away from “John Garcin’s” apartment are now holding him hostage at his place. They’re holding him down, as a rather tall gentleman boils some heroin in a spoon. Elliot asks if Whiterose is listening, and if she is, she has to know that if he dies, her project won’t be shipped to the Congo. The tall gentleman isn’t swayed.
Elliot panics for a brief second when he notices the tall man inject a syringe to the now boiling water and extracts it. He says he can’t go just yet…not after hurting so many people. He has to make things right. The man approaches Elliot, whose panic has now turned back to fury. Elliot screams that his anger won’t die with him. He knows all about Cypress National Bank, and Whiterose will pay for what she’s done. The tall man still doesn’t respond. He kneels down to give Elliot the hot dose, and we see that it’s none other than the master Sam Esmail himself!
Sam only mutters one phrase, “Goodbye, friend.” With that, he injects Elliot. The men leave, and Elliot’s left alone, overdosing. He tries to make it to the phone, but only succeeds in falling over to the floor. Even when Elliot knocks it over with his foot, he still can’t get to it. He looks over and sees Mr. Robot, his mother and his younger self, wondering what’s going to happen. His mother says that they’re all going away, she just didn’t think it would be like this. A tear falls down Elliot’s face as he thinks of better times. Hanging out with his dad. Talking to Darlene. Meeting Tyrell. Leading fsociety. Kissing Angela on the subway. After that last thought, he exhales and passes away.
The credits roll. The end. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Psych!
Elliot’s still lying on the ground seemingly lifeless, when someone sprays something in his nose (Narcan, according to my friends on the Mr. Robot subreddit).
Elliot immediately wakes up and sees the same men in black standing over him, including Mr. Esmail. Just then, who should walk in but Phillip muthafuckin’ Price!
Shit just got real.
This episode was great, but Lord knows, I was so shell shocked after Angela got executed, I had to re-watch it two more times to get the full enjoyment of it. It’s been nearly two years since a new episode of Mr. Robot aired on TV, and those jokers hit the bricks runnin’, did they not?
The entire time I watched this episode, I felt like something was off, though. I finally realized what it was when Mr. Robot mentioned that Elliot wasn’t talking to us. Things feel a lot different now that Elliot isn’t giving us his usual narration. Plus, it’s a trip that Elliot and Mr. Robot seemed to have switched places. Now Mr. Robot is the voice of reason, whereas Elliot is the one that’s reckless and going off emotion. Another thing that felt off was the cinematography. There were a lot of strange camera angles (stranger than usual) and shaky cam, namely during Darlene and Dom’s scenes. I’m assuming it was to further show that nearly all the characters are in a bad place at the moment.
Speaking of Dom, I’m very interested to see how things are going to with Janice, the taxidermist. I’m sure Dom is going to go against the Dark Army, and with Janice on her like white on rice (along with all the backup), she’s got her work cut out for her.
I’m still upset that Angela got killed. She and Elliot belonged together, dammit!
Not only that, she was one of my favorite characters and she was #3 on my Do Not Kill list (Elliot is first and Darlene is second). Doggone it, if Elliot dies, we gon’ have a problem, Sam!
Speaking of Mr. Esmail, how ’bout that cameo? That was pretty cool. I can’t wait to see what Price has in store for Elliot. We’ve had some theories bouncing around on Reddit (as you can see, I’ve become a Reddit fan). Personally, I believe that Price is going to recruit Elliot to get revenge on Whiterose for killing his child. If that’s the case, Elliot’s way ahead of you, boo. Angela was his heart. Whiterose done fucked up.
On the next episode, Darlene and Elliot are going to team up, so you know it’s about to get wild (I just hope she cleans herself up before she collaborates with him). This doggone season is gonna be a roller coaster, and I’m here for it!
I still can’t believe Angela’s dead, though. 😭
—Written by Nadiya
So what did you think of “401 Unauthorized”? Were you upset that Angela got killed? Do you think Elliot’s being too reckless? What do you think about Darlene falling apart? Do you feel bad for Tyrell now that he has the CTO position, but he’s clearly unhappy? What about Dom? Do you think she’ll go long with what the Dark Army wants now that she officially has a handler, or will she go against them? What do you think Price wants with Elliot? Also, do you miss Elliot narrating the show? Let me know in the comments section!
Insights from a Southern Girl 