Hmm…this is the only episode that didn’t wow me this season.  Let’s talk about it.

Aftermath

Christmas is finally over.  I know some folks (Elliot and Darlene) couldn’t be happier.  The Deus Group is exposed, as is Whiterose.  Thankfully, Dom is alive and well, laying in a hospital bed watching the news.  She apparently told the FBI everything about how the Dark Army forced her into being a mole, but the FBI agent she’s talking to is saying that she can possibly be brought up on charges for her involvement, and she’s not allowed to have any contact with her family until her name is cleared.  WTF?

What really kills me is when the news report mentions that Whiterose is indeed Minister Zhang, Dom says to herself, “He showed me those dresses to tell me who he really was.”  The dumbass FBI agent is all like, “Who are you referring to?”  Why does the black man have to look stupid?

Before the idiotic FBI agent leaves, he advises Dom to get some rest.  Dom, on the other hand, wants to go home.  The nurse tells her she’s no where near ready to leave, but Dom insists and reminds the nurse that the hospital can’t legally make her stay.  Later, Dom’s being discharged and the not-so-friendly orderly asks who’s picking her up.  Dom doesn’t have anyone available to see about her.  Per hospital policy, the orderly has to arrange someone from social services to take her home, but Dom’s adamant about taking a taxi.  The moment Dom tries to stand up from the wheelchair, the orderly threatens to call security!

Resigned, Dom sits back down and the orderly goes in the building to call DSS.  Dang, the woman just had surgery!  What were y’all gonna do?  Tackle her for trying to flag a cab?  SMDH.

RIP Alexa

Dom arrives at her apartment, and after barricading the door with her chest of drawers and popping some pain meds, she proceeds to make a grilled cheese sandwich.  She’s nearly finished making her lunch when she hears a knock at the door.  It’s Darlene.

Darlene is perplexed as to why Dom is opting to stick around and wait for the Dark Army to slaughter her.  The only thing Dom is interested in at the moment is her grilled cheese sandwich.   She’s been wanting to make a good grilled cheese sandwich for years, but she’s always been too tired.

Darlene tries to convince Dom to leave with her.  She and Elliot have an escape plan, and besides, there’s nothing here for Dom.  She’s being investigated and her family’s being held in a safe house in an undisclosed location.  Darlene adds that Dom needs a good night’s sleep in a safe place.  Dom bitterly laughs that off, saying that she hasn’t slept in five years.  Darlene sees that talking to Dom is getting her nowhere, and she proceeds to pack Dom’s things.

Dom stops her, still insistent on staying.  It’s the only way she can see her family again.  Besides, what plan could Elliot and Darlene possibly have?  How long will they run?  How far?  Darlene tells Dom she can’t just stay there alone and Dom retorts that she’s not alone.  She still has Alexa.  *Sigh*

On a side note, Alexa really does answer all those questions Dom asked her in season two (i.e. Alexa, are you my friend?  Alexa, when will the world end?  Alexa, do you love me?).  I tried it on my Fire Stick.  Freaky.

Darlene’s had enough (and frankly, so have I), and she goes over to Dom’s cherished Amazon Echo and throws it on the ground, smashing it to pieces.  Bye, Alexa!  Dom’s upset, but Darlene reminds her that Alexa isn’t a real person.  She’s a robot that helps her buy paper towels.  Dom finally listens to reason and Darlene asks where the rest of Dom’s stuff is so it can get packed.

It’s Time For Saying Goodbye

Elliot’s at a motel, looking at the contents of Price’s flash drive on his laptop.  We get some small glimpses of the document and learn that Whiterose’s project is actually a VLHC—which stands for Very Large Hadron Collider—and it was moved to the Congo as a “step up.”  Don’t ask.  I’ll leave this for the physics majors to figure out.  We later see Elliot chillin’, smoking a cigarette and holding a small device in his hand.

Just then, Darlene arrives at the motel with Dom in tow.  She asks Dom to wait inside for her as she goes to speak with her brother.  Elliot makes it known that he has to go back to Washington Township, and Darlene can’t go with him.  Darlene’s fine with that.  She’s done.  She hands Elliot her phone to distribute all the money they took from the Deus Group, but Elliot tells her that she should be the one to do it.  Darlene asks again if Elliot can come with them, but she tells her he’s not finished.  He slowly approaches Darlene and pulls her in for a hug.  Awww…

Still holding onto each other, Darlene asks Elliot if he has any advice for going on a road trip, seeing as she’s never been on one before.  Elliot answers that he never has, either.  Elliot, are you forgetting the road trip you had with Romero and Mobley?  You were sick most of the way, but it was a road trip, nonetheless.  Anyway, Elliot tells her to stock up on Sour Patch Kids.  Another Angela reference…

Sadly, this is the last time we see Elliot the entire episode.  😢

Dom watches Elliot and Darlene from a distance, seeming slightly moved by their show of love, and goes inside the motel room.

Once she gets in, who does she see sitting on the bed watching The Land Before Time?

NONE OTHER THAN LEON, BABY!

Naturally, the moment Dom lays eyes on Leon, she freaks out.  Last time she saw him, he was a Dark Army foot soldier that assassinated four people.  Leon’s response is, “Have we met?”

Dom reminds him of the encounter they had in the barn, and Leon remembers.  After he finishes dropping movie references and contemplating whether or not to incorporate his brand, Darlene enters the room and is like, “Oh, shit.  I forgot to tell you he’s working with us now.”  LOL!

Hitting the Road and Stealing Mirrors

Our heroes are on the way to the airport.  Darlene’s asleep in the backseat and Dom’s staring out the window, admiring the scenery as Hall and Oates play in the background.  Leon advises that she gets some sleep, but that ain’t happenin’.  Dom muses that she’s never taken this particular way to Boston, and Leon informs he’s taking the scenic route to avoid the RWA’s…rich white assholes (his words, not mine).  It turns out RWA’s are the Dark Army’s biggest clients, and as a result, Connecticut is crawling with operatives.

Dom looks at her fake passport and asks Leon what he thinks about her new identity, “Jackie Doublehorn.”  Leon simply responds that Jackie is anyone Dom wants her to be.  Dom remarks that it’s easy for Leon to say that, considering that he doesn’t have to pretend to be someone that he’s not.  Leon asks her, “Do you think Leon is my real name?”  I shouldn’t have been surprised by his answer, but I was.  Oh yeah, Leon also lets Dom know that they have to stop at a rest stop soon to “steal a mirror.”  Dom gives him a quizzical look, and he tells her it’s an expression for having to go to the bathroom.  He then remarks that no one reads anymore (it’s a Kurt Vonnegut reference.  I’m not gonna lie…I read, but I’ve never read Vonnegut.  Sorry to all my literary enthusiasts).

The New Robin Hood

At the rest area, Dom’s in the bathroom, looking in the mirror and going over Jackie Doublehorn’s bio.  She goes outside and meets Darlene, who tells her she has something to show her.  They sit on a nearby park bench and watch the people enjoy the post Christmas day.  Dom’s a bit nervous about being out in the open like that, but Darlene says that she wants to check her paranoia at the door for this moment.  Dom can’t help but ask what this moment is, exactly.  Darlene runs a script on her phone and instructs Dom to wait.

Dom starts getting nervous and pesters Darlene to find out what’s going on, but Darlene continues to play coy, telling her to just watch and see.  Dom won’t let it go, and finally Darlene kisses her and says, “Shut the fuck up and just wait!”  Thank you, Darlene!

Soon, everyone’s phone starts going off, and they start getting extremely happy.  Darlene explains that her script basically took the Deus Group’s money and deposited an undisclosed amount in to everyone’s E-Coin wallet.  As a bonus, since E-Coin is not connected to the American dollar, the transaction cannot be reversed.  Dom checks her phone and sees that she’s hit a payday, too.

Now here’s where Dom did something to irk my nerve.  How ’bout this child starts chastising Darlene about how she committed theft and this isn’t what justice should look like, and blah, blah, blah.

Seriously, Dom?  Darlene didn’t rob an innocent old lady in an alley or a disabled person sitting in his/her apartment or a kid walking home from school.  Darlene took money from an organization that was responsible for the first Gulf War, the cyberbomings, Tiananmen Square and the El Solado massacre.  Darlene took money from an organization that threatened to kill your family and would’ve murdered them all—including the children—just to keep you in line.  Darlene took money from an organization that stabbed you in your lung and was fine with having you possibly drown in your own blood.  The only reason they hoped you’d pull through is because you were so valuable to them as an FBI mole.  You’re actually sitting on a high horse and judging someone for stealing money from a boys club that profited from keeping their feet on people’s necks?  Girl, bye.

Darlene gives Dom the real deal by letting her know that the men in the Deus Group wrote laws to benefit themselves and banked on regular people to trust the system—the same system they used to get over on people and make themselves filthy rich.  The best way to hurt them is to take all their money and give it back to the people.  This is the greatest redistribution of wealth in history (which is what Elliot and Mr. Robot were trying to achieve from get go).  What Elliot and Darlene did is exactly what justice is supposed to look like.  Then Darlene says, “We just Robin Hooded those evil motherfuckers!” and starts cheering.

By the way, it’s worth noting that Darlene’s victory pose is very similar to Elliot’s.

Dom—who’s still uptight—tells Darlene that people are looking that them, but Darlene doesn’t care and keeps on cheering.  It’s also notable to mention that as Darlene and the people at the rest area celebrate, they’ve formed a near perfect heart.

Back in the car, Darlene’s happily eating her Sour Patch Kids and checking the tweets under the #EcoinPayDay hashtag (by the way, some of those tweets were hilarious!).

When Leon gets them to the airport, he asks Darlene if she kept any of the money.  She pretends not to know what he’s talking about.  Leon digs it, and makes a proposition for her to work with him when she gets back in the country.  After all, she’s a boss!  Darlene considers it.  Now that’s a spinoff I’d check out!

Off the Hook

While at the airport, Dom walks into a bookstore and sees copies of Beach Towel:  A Novel for sale.  Keep in mind, that was Irving’s book.  On a side note, we were having this discussion on Reddit not too long ago about how there’s no way Irving would’ve been able to get his book completed and published in the span of two months, and that’s so true.  I won’t even get into everything that really goes into finishing a novel, no less publishing one, but trust me, he’d still be working on it.

Anyway, while Dom’s eying the Beach Towel cover, she hears a voice say, “Dom?”  She looks up and it’s none other than…

IRVING!  😮😮

Dom is inwardly freaking out, and I can’t say I blame her.  Irving on the other hand, is acting like they’re old friends.  “How the hell are you?  I’m here on my book tour!  Did you wanna buy a copy?  Here!  I’ll autograph it for you!”

Dom doesn’t answer and makes the rookie mistake of looking over at Darlene, who’s at a bar across the way.  Irving looks in the same direction and recognizes Darlene off the bat.  “Is that Elliot’s sister?  Are you two a couple now?  I thought there was a thing between you too!”  My mom and I must be the only people alive that never bought these two as an item (in case I haven’t mentioned it before, my mom’s a Mr. Robot fan, too.  She’s the one that turned me on to the show).

Dom pleads with Irving not to hurt her or Darlene, but it turns out that’s the last thing Irving wants to do.  As a matter of fact, the Dark Army isn’t even interested in the two of them anymore.  They’ve moved on to other things.  Say what!?

Dom makes another rookie mistake and admits to killing Janice.  Thankfully, Irving isn’t interested in that, either.  He says that Janice was a pain in the ass and she did the Dark Army a favor!  Dom asks where the Dark Army has gone, but that’s the one question Irving can’t answer.  She then reminds Irving of what he did to Santiago when he got out of line, and Irving says, “Yeah…that was fun.”  With that, Irving says his goodbyes, but not before making sure Dom pays for the autographed copy of his book that she never asked for.

Run Away With Me…Or Not

Over at the bar, Dom gives Darlene the good news.  Dom’s relieved; they don’t have to run anymore.  Darlene figures they might as well go to Budapest, considering they’re already at the airport.  Dom asks Darlene what’s so special about Budapest, and Darlene says that it was always Cisco’s wish to go there.  After he was killed, Darlene couldn’t go alone.  They hear their flight being announced over the intercom and head for the gate, but Dom stops mid-stride.  She can’t do it.

The Dark Army is no longer a threat, and Dom figures there’s no need to go to Budapest.  Besides, it was Cisco’s dream to go there, not Darlene’s.  Darlene’s cool with that.  She and Dom can just go somewhere else.  Dom says Darlene doesn’t need her or Elliot, but Darlene disagrees, saying she doesn’t do well on her own.  Dom maintains that she can’t go with Darlene; she has too many responsibilities.  Darlene ain’t tryin’ to hear that.  What responsibilities does Dom possibly have at this point?  Her family is safe and she’s on administrative leave from her job.  It’s no wonder she can’t sleep.  She holds on to too much, and running away might help her let go.  Dom responds by giving Darlene a tearful embrace.

Before leaving, Dom gives Darlene the number of a friend of hers in US Cyber Command.  When Darlene’s ready to “grow up,” she can give him a call.  Darlene puts on her Lolita shades and says, “They can’t handle me,” and leaves.  Dom watches as she heads to the gate.

Darlene nervously waits to board the plane.  Dom heads to the exit, but turns around and runs back to the gate!  She changed her mind about leaving!

Darlene’s about to board the plane, but before the ticket handler can take the boarding pass, Darlene takes it from her reach and rushes out of line, having a panic attack.

However, right when Darlene runs out of the line, Dom arrives to board the plane, just missing her.

Darlene rushes in the bathroom, hyperventilating.  A lady enters and asks if she’s okay, but Darlene’s unable to respond.

On the plane, Dom notices that Darlene’s not there.  She rises to leave and the airline attendant asks if there’s anything he can do to help her or if she’s missing anything.  Dom sits back down, looks over at the empty seat beside her and says she’s okay.

Darlene’s still in the bathroom, struggling to breathe, and she takes a long look at herself in the mirror as she tightly grips the sink.  The lady asks if she needs any help.  Darlene’s breathing calms, and she says she’s okay.  The announcer makes a last call to board the Budapest flight and the lady asks if that’s where Darlene was heading.  Darlene says it was, but she’s not going there anymore.  The lady offers to get someone for her, but Darlene refuses.  Her breathing is restored to normal and she releases the death grip she had on the sink.  She looks in the mirror and with a little smile she says, “I can take care of myself.”

Before the plane takes off, we see Dom with Irving’s book in her lap, still on the first page…but she’s fast asleep.

The end.

Like I said in the beginning, this is the only episode of this season that didn’t wow me.  The first time I watched it, I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 45 minute run, but after everything was said and done, I was left feeling a bit…meh.  I know what you’re thinking, “How could this episode keep on you on the edge of your seat the entire time, but leave you unfulfilled?”  I’ll tell you.  I kept expecting something horrible to happen to Dom and Darlene!

After ruining Whiterose, I was sure retaliation would be swift and true, jack!  Every time there was a moment of calm, I expected someone to show up with a gun and blow Dom and Darlene’s heads off.  First at the rest area, then when Irving popped up.  I even figured the sweet lady at the airport was a Dark Army operative.  Then, with the whole “Darlene’s gonna die in a plane crash” theory, I was dreading her even mentioning an airport, no less getting on the plane!  Then Darlene missed the flight and Dom decided at the last minute to board the plane.  I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Oh, shit!”  However, everything ended up being okay, and this episode was merely to wrap up Dom—and to an extent—Darlene’s character arcs.  Needless to say, some of the Domlene fans weren’t happy with the outcome.  More on that later.

Much like “404 Not Found,” “410 Gone” was written off by many people as boring filler, but once again, I have to say that it’s filler only in the sense that it slowed the story down.  It wasn’t boring, but it didn’t blow me away.  It was nice to see Dom and Darlene actually survive everything.  Like someone on Twitter mentioned, it may not have been the ending for Dom and Darlene most folks wanted, but it was the one they needed.  Darlene realized she can stand on her own two feet, and Dom finally decided to lighten up and relax for a change.  Speaking of Twitter, Mr. Robot was trending after “410 Gone” aired, but I figure that’s because the Domlene fans were psyched to see the conclusion of their favorite characters.

On to the Domlene saga itself, as I said, a lot of the fans weren’t happy with the outcome.  For the briefest of moments, I expected Dom and Darlene to get on the plane together and live happily ever after myself, but in the end they didn’t, and that was cool with me.  I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…Dom and Darlene don’t work as a couple.  I never felt any real chemistry between them.  I felt it between Angela and Elliot right off.  I kind of (emphasis on kind of) understood where the Tyrelliot fans were coming from because you could immediately sense that Tyrell had a thing for Elliot.  The only thing about Tyrell and Elliot is that the attraction was unrequited (Elliot wasn’t feelin’ Tyrell, y’all!).  But Dom and Darlene?  No.  There was zero attraction between them—platonic or romantic—until that night Darlene hooked up with Dom at the bar, and that was to get access to Dom’s badge to log into Sentinel.

After watching this episode, I racked my brain trying to figure why Dom and Darlene being a couple never clicked for me.  I mean, they’re both beautiful, intelligent and determined; they’re badasses in their respective fields.  They’re both from New Jersey and they’re fiercely protective of the ones they love.  Why don’t they work?   And then it hit me…they just don’t mesh well.

Yeah, they have certain things in common, but aside from that, they’re completely dissimilar.  You know how usually opposites attract?  Not this time.  Dom and Darlene are so opposite they clash as opposed to complimenting each other.  Darlene is wild, free-spirited and doesn’t answer to authority.  Dom is the authority and rigid to the point of losing sleep for years on end and preaching about how it’s wrong to steal from the Deus Group—the same folks that hurt her, her loved ones and millions of other innocent people for decades.  The only time I’ve seen Dom relax is the few times she’s been a bit tipsy.  Someone please get some liquor in this woman.  Not only that, but they don’t really seem that into each other.  When they’re together, do they genuinely laugh, talk and play around?  No, no and no.

Darlene and Cisco made a better couple, in my opinion.  He was far from perfect, and I hated what he did to Angela, but he really loved Darlene.  Not only that, but whenever he saw that she was being reckless or taking on too much, he always knew what to say to keep her from going completely off the ledge and he always looked out for her.

If anything, I would’ve rather seen more scenes between Darlene and Elliot this episode.  They still need to sit down and discuss everything that happened to them during this hellish holiday, but I have a feeling that discussion will never happen.  Hopefully, we’ll get at one last one scene with the Alderson siblings before the show ends forever.

It was great seeing Leon and Irving again, especially Leon.  When Irving popped up, I was nervous as hell, but it appears he was actually telling the truth about the Dark Army being disinterested in Dom and Darlene.  Unfortunately, that means all their interest is in Elliot and Whiterose’s machine.  Let’s start a prayer circle for Elliot, y’all. 🙏🏽

Back on subject, I’d love to see Leon and Darlene team up.  That seems to fit Darlene way more than working for US Cyber Command from 9 to 5, donning business attire and coming home to her apartment full of IKEA furniture.  I can hardly see that.  A Leon and Darlene spinoff chock full of wild adventures would be right up my alley, though!  I could kind of (once again, emphasis on kind of) see them hookin’ up, but they’d probably work better as business partners.  I have to be honest…I may be a bit biased on a Leon/Darlene hookup.  Leon’s just such a cutie!

On the next episode, Elliot and Whiterose meet face to face.  Dun-dun-DUNNNNNNNNN!  I can’t wait!  Let’s get those prayers going!

—Written by Nadiya

So what did you think about “410 Gone?”  Should Dom and Darlene have gone to Budapest together, or is it better that they stayed apart?  Did you like the ending or hate it?  Are you a Domlene fan or do you agree that they don’t make a good couple?  Did you want Elliot to have more screen time in this episode?  Were you glad to see Leon and Irving again?  Do you think Darlene should go on to work for the US Cyber Command or should she take Leon up on his job offer?  Were you glad to see Dom finally relax?  Let me know in the comments section!