S04.E06: 406 Not Acceptable

[mxc90]

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First Aired: November 10, 2019

vera tells a tale. darlene gets an xmas surprise. elliot goes rogue.

Source: tvguide.com/tvshows/mr-robot/episode-6-season-4/406-not-acceptable/678250/

Very insightful!?

[Guest]

Meh on this episode. 

Maybe I missed the implication in the past but I don't remember Elliott being an intentionally cruel person. And I don't like being left with that impression in the last season with seven episodes to go.

I was rooting for Darlene to shoot Janice in the face. 

Still baffled why Vera wants Elliott to work with him. What's he going to create? A cocaine database?

[patty1h]

Very tense.   Usually I'd zone out when Vera is onscreen, but he kept my attention this hour.  Curious how he'll use Mr. Robot against Elliott.  Prayers for Krista.

What happened - why did Elliott cancel the Cyprus bank transfer when drug girl (name?) was on the phone with slit wrists?  I think I blinked and missed something.  Did he get remorseful or did she not get the right person on the phone?

Dom and Darlene -- who's gonna die?

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Still baffled why Vera wants Elliott to work with him. What's he going to create? A cocaine database?

I presume he thinks Elliott will be able to hack for him with impunity - banks, prisons, DEA shipments, cop info, etc.

Edited November 11, 2019 by patty1h

[mxc90]

I hope the cosmos delivers a painful death to great story teller Vera! Did he forget Elliot knows he killed Shayla? He expects Elliot to just let that pass and join his team?

The Dark Army just let Leon go full freelance?  

Low blow Elliot spiking the peppermint mocha. At least when this is all over and Elliot survives, he knows he has drug connect in Leon.

Part of me was hoping Olivia came out the bathroom with a gun to use on Elliot instead of trying to kill herself.

Why is Mr. Robot upset with Elliot? I thought this tactic used on Olivia was something he would approve of doing.

I wonder if Elliot lied Olivia about the Dark Army being involved El Salado massacre?

Vera's people can easily  find Elliot but the Dark Army couldn't and needs Darlene's phone to find him (seemed like a weak excuse for Janice to not shoot her)? 

Was Dom's plan for having Darlene shoot her going to fly with less the 5 minutes to go before Janice arrived? Darlene may have been caught in the hallway and the Dark Army would still kill Dom's family for fun. Dom may have been better off ambushing/killing Janice when she arrived at 3:30 and hurry getting out of town before Whiterose finds out.

I wouldn't be surprised if Whiterose's assistant attempts to kill him for not following her suggestions.

Edited November 11, 2019 by mxc90

[Ottis]

This episode just pissed me off. We had to wait for-ever for Big Bird and his long story about the bat to get to... Mr Robot, with which we are already familiar. Meanwhile, we had to wait for Elliott to get his new girlfriend to make a call. That was exciting. And then finally, we had to wait for Dom and Darlene to come up with a plan for the taxidermist, which was underwhelming. I suppose the drama and tension were supposed to mean something. What it meant for me was I simultaneously watched a football game on my phone. I don’t think I missed anything. 

The only thing of interest was White Rose saying he and Elliott are on the same side. 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Ottis

[Cardie]

WR believes that Elliot would want to change the past and save his dad, so he, like Angela, should be on WR’s side. 

[justmehere]

Wishing right now I could binge this season. Hard to wait a week between episodes. 

[hnygrl]

Totally agree with justmehere. I think this episode would probably make. More sense in reference to the next few episodes. This was one dull, boring, frustratingly out of character  for all characters episode. Almost passed on it to be honest. 

But how good was it to see Joey badass???

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Cardie said:

WR believes that Elliot would want to change the past and save his dad, so he, like Angela, should be on WR’s side. 

Or it may be more prosaic than that^ i.e., WR wants to take down the Illuminati who killed so many people because of greed and who she blames for her lover’s suicide. 
 

Dom didn’t kill herself to protect her family because why? Because she was afraid to die? Or maybe she’s Catholic? Or …?

I’m hoping that whatever is in Elliot’s case file about Mr Robot is totally going to backfire on Vera and that is Krista’s plan. 

I wonder if her boyfriend will go to the cops. 
 

3 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Maybe I missed the implication in the past but I don't remember Elliott being an intentionally cruel person. And I don't like being left with that impression in the last season with seven episodes to go

Elliot was only “intentionally cruel” as a last resort, and now he is mentally suffering for it. Although, you may be right, since Mr Robot questions if Elliot can go back once he’s “crossed the line.”

I think it’s very cool the way the error code titles sync up with the actual episode numbers, e.g. “406 Not Acceptable” actually is season 4, episode 6, and “crossing the line” of drugging a clean addict to manipulate her is “not acceptable” (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/406 ).

 

[qtpye]

8 hours ago, Cardie said:

WR believes that Elliot would want to change the past and save his dad, so he, like Angela, should be on WR’s side. 

Imma gonna need the show to clear up the time travel aspect of things. I know it must be torture when a loved one dies and you really want to go back and save them anyway you can. Is the time travel why the show is still set in 2015? 

Spoiler

If time travel is a real thing I wonder if the finale will have the show end in the present (2019) or the future? We will see a happy Elliot surrounded by all the loved ones he lost too soon. Probably kind of like the coming together for a feast scene we saw a couple of seasons ago that also had Tyrell and his family.

6 hours ago, hnygrl said:

Totally agree with justmehere. I think this episode would probably make. More sense in reference to the next few episodes. This was one dull, boring, frustratingly out of character  for all characters episode. Almost passed on it to be honest. 

But how good was it to see Joey badass???

Vera is just not interesting enough to devote so much of the valuable final moments of this show to. The character seemed to have come out of the bad acting school of thuggery. So does he intend to erase Mr. Robot (how is that possible without killing Elliot) and then become Elliot's new Mr. Robot/crutch to get through life?

[benteen]

Definitely an improvement over the past few episodes.  Some good stuff here.  The guy who plays Vera does a great job but I have to be honest...the Vera storyline feels so disconnected from the main storyline this season.  This is probably something that should have been done in Season 2 instead of the Elliot in prison nonsense.  Bring back a storyline that has nothing to do with the main storyline feels like more filler from Esmail to justify the 13 episodes.

I knew it was coming but I'm sorry with how things ended between Elliot and Olivia.  I really did like their hook-up earlier this season.

Dom, you probably should have woken Darlene up sooner if you wanted her to kill you before Janice showed up.  Have no idea why Darlene didn't empty the guy on both Janice and her goon squad.

WR wanting to keep Elliot alive feels like it's just Elliot's plot armor at work. 

[patty1h]

I see a way for Dom and Darlene to come out of this alive.  Now that Elliott has Leon as a "friend" and Leon has ties to the Dark Army, I can see Elliott going to him to help save Darlene and maybe saving Dom's ass at the same time.  That's the only reason I can see that they crammed Leon into this episode, so we know that he's in Elliott's pocket.

[hnygrl]

13 episodes was just an ego boost for esmail. This would have been a kick ass season if it were say 6 or 7 episodes. Thirteen of them are making me want  to just record the show and binge it later. This is  frustratingly boring right now. 

[qtpye]

2 hours ago, benteen said:

Definitely an improvement over the past few episodes.  Some good stuff here.  The guy who plays Vera does a great job but I have to be honest...the Vera storyline feels so disconnected from the main storyline this season.  This is probably something that should have been done in Season 2 instead of the Elliot in prison nonsense.  Bring back a storyline that has nothing to do with the main storyline feels like more filler from Esmail to justify the 13 episodes.

I knew it was coming but I'm sorry with how things ended between Elliot and Olivia.  I really did like their hook-up earlier this season.

Dom, you probably should have woken Darlene up sooner if you wanted her to kill you before Janice showed up.  Have no idea why Darlene didn't empty the guy on both Janice and her goon squad.

WR wanting to keep Elliot alive feels like it's just Elliot's plot armor at work. 

1 hour ago, patty1h said:

I see a way for Dom and Darlene to come out of this alive.  Now that Elliott has Leon as a "friend" and Leon has ties to the Dark Army, I can see Elliott going to him to help save Darlene and maybe saving Dom's ass at the same time.  That's the only reason I can see that they crammed Leon into this episode, so we know that he's in Elliott's pocket.

 I don't understand why the Dark Army did not want Darlene. Holding Darlene hostage would give them incredible leverage on Elliot...to kill her is incredibly short sighted.

[justmehere]

11 hours ago, hnygrl said:

Totally agree with justmehere. I think this episode would probably make. More sense in reference to the next few episodes. This was one dull, boring, frustratingly out of character  for all characters episode. Almost passed on it to be honest. 

But how good was it to see Joey badass???

My reason for wanting to binge is in feeling the tension and seeing how off the rails characters have gone in their desperation. Elliot crosses lines. Dom can't bring herself to cross them. Krista may or may not have crossed one. Whiterose crosses lines without a thought, but I want to know what she meant about Elliot and whether her assistant is about to do something out of line. Darlene, the most cynical, has revealed herself as quite caring. I'm not at all bored; I want to know what's next. At the same time - I want it to last because I love this show. It can be frustrating during the course of a season, but then re-watching altogether - including season 2 - I have much greater appreciation. MMV.

[truthaboutluv]

Vera and his crazy ass is so going to inadvertently foil Whiterose's plan to capture Elliot, which will only piss Whiterose off. Hey maybe Vera and his gang and the Dark Army can go at it. 

That was an amazing episode. Though no offense to Christian Slater but his narration just doesn't work for me like Rami Malek's. They're really hammering the "time" theme as we're nearing the end, which I know will only further convince most that Whiterose's big congo project is some time machine. 

Dom harped on running out of time, Elliot used not having time to excuse his horrible actions towards Olivia. Speaking of Olivia, can't believe she survived. That moment was awful though. I actually just assumed she'd gone into the bathroom to call the police. Yes, obviously I know Elliot had her phone outside but I figured maybe she had another or something. I completely forgot about the razor blade and her promise to herself. 

It was nice seeing Leon, even though it was way too brief. I was loving the digs though. 

Edited November 11, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[truthaboutluv]

19 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Maybe I missed the implication in the past but I don't remember Elliott being an intentionally cruel person. And I don't like being left with that impression in the last season with seven episodes to go.

Go re-watch the Season 1 episode when they went to hack Steel Mountain and Elliot had to distract the security guard. He went right for the jugular, hitting on every insecurity and embarrassing fact he knew about the guy. Of course we now know there are two personalities in Elliot so one can always make an argument about whether he's really the one doing this or not. I do think it is.

Because it's the classic tale of the hero starting off wanting to do good and becoming the villain when justifying the means of their end cause. I think there are also a few things factoring in here. I truly don't believe Elliot expects to survive this. I think he's made his peace with the reality that the Dark Army likely will kill him.

But as he said in the first episode of the season, Whiterose's plan will die with him. That I think is his ultimate goal at this point. That even if he dies, at least he'll do so destroying Whiterose's big congo project and screwing all these men of their precious money. So he probably figures it doesn't matter if he's become the villain because in the end, it's not like he'll still be around after it's all said and done. 

19 hours ago, patty1h said:

What happened - why did Elliott cancel the Cyprus bank transfer when drug girl (name?) was on the phone with slit wrists?  I think I blinked and missed something.  Did he get remorseful or did she not get the right person on the phone?

He didn't cancel it. He just needed the person she was talking to, to log in so he could access the password. The plan was to have Olivia say the boss needed a large transfer made tonight, the person logs into the email to confirm that request was made, which it obviously wasn't but it would allow Elliot to get the password. 

[Anela]

I'm not feeling into it, either, because I was glued to the TV when it was on, two years ago. I also wish that I could just binge it. 

I think Dom didn't kill herself, because they would still kill her family. If it looked like suicide. 

Vera needs to get his hands off Krista, and someone needs to kill him. 

I didn't even see Leon. He must have been on-screen when I walked into another room. 

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, hnygrl said:

13 episodes was just an ego boost for esmail. This would have been a kick ass season if it were say 6 or 7 episodes. Thirteen of them are making me want  to just record the show and binge it later. This is  frustratingly boring right now. 

Not “boring” for me but definitely ponderous. Each new episode feels like a chore I have to do, but watching always turns out to be more compelling than I imagined. There’s an analogy, but I won’t type it. 
 

7 hours ago, qtpye said:

 I don't understand why the Dark Army did not want Darlene. Holding Darlene hostage would give them incredible leverage on Elliot...to kill her is incredibly short sighted.

Killing Darlene makes sense if there’s someone else Elliot cares about (Krista) and they’re making an example of Darlene. 
If Vera is in turn planning to use Krista as an example of what could happen to Darlene, this could be a twist on the “Mexican standoff” —which, if this where the story is going, I wish didn’t involve so many Damsels In Distress —although, to be fair, Elliot himself spends way too much time in trunks. 
He should know by now to kick the tail light out to be able to see where the car is going and to also possibly trigger a traffic stop for a tail light being out. 
 

 

57 minutes ago, Anela said:

I didn't even see Leon. He must have been on-screen when I walked into another room. 

Leon provided the drugs to Elliot with which he spiked Olivia's coffee. In another scene, Leon was wallpaper in the room with Vera and Krista. In other words, Leon was wasted; they could have had a stand-in for him.

Edited November 12, 2019 by shapeshifter

[truthaboutluv]

42 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

In another scene, Leon was wallpaper in the room with Vera and Krista.

That wasn't Leon. It was another actor. Although the two actors did look a bit alike. 

7 hours ago, justmehere said:

I'm not at all bored;

Me either.  I actually was worried about the show losing its luster with the long period between Season 3 and Season 4. And not just the time but all that happened. Esmail developed and released another highly acclaimed show - Homecoming, Rami for a year and a half was immersed in all things Queen and Freddie Mercury. I wondered if they'd be able to get the magic back or if it would just feel different. And YMMV but I think they absolutely have. 

I guess I can understand if some have simply lost interest because of the long wait, which perhaps has created a general disinterest in the show. And that naturally makes it easier to nitpick and be more critical.

But as someone who has watched this show since Season 1, this season is really no different to me than other seasons, save for maybe Season 2, which to me WAS the season that was flawed in many ways. But even Season 2, after a very slow and yes frustrating first half, I felt like when it all came together in the second half, it was brilliant.

And talk about filler episode - um hello, that 90's sitcom homage episode? Although by the end I actually thought it was kind of brilliant. Season 2 spent like four or five episodes showing repetitive scenes of Elliot waking up, hanging out at a basketball court, etc, being super vague about everything, all to set up the big reveal that he was really in jail the whole time and not at his mother's. 

Yes, there have been slow moments in the episodes this season but that has always been true of this show in my opinion. We're talking about a show that's in the mind of a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder and social anxiety and who uses the viewers as his sounding board.

So of course there will always be a lot of quiet and silence because Elliot has never exactly liked talking to people. A lot of the show's tension has always been its dark and moody direction, drawn out silences, etc. Which is why while some found the silent episode last week gimmicky, I thought it worked perfectly and blended seamlessly for what this show has always been. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[Anela]

I think I just have to be in the mood for it. I'm There were several intense scenes, I'm surprised I just felt "meh" over it all. 

[gooberfish]

I’ve been troubled by something for several episodes. Dom is always having to do something bad or her mom and nieces will get hideously dark-armied. But, Dom blames Darlene for this. The dark army could pick any FBI agent to threaten. Perhaps, in fact, they are threatening 90 percent of them at this point. The fact that Darlene was fake with Dom doesn’t enable the Dark Army to make and carry out threats to Dom’s family. 

[tennisgurl]

I miss when I was binge watching this show and I didnt have to wait a week between episodes. Every episode goes from super intensity to weirdly quiet as you wait for the other shoe to drop. 

I keep feeling like Dom is going to end up killing herself, even though I really hope that doesent happen. I wish she could just shoot those asshole as soon as they barged into the apartment, but that certainly wouldn't end well. 

Drugging Olivia was ice cold, so much that I wondered if it was another one of his personalities. While Elliot has gotten increasingly ruthless, doesent always think about the consequences of his actions, and can be pretty judgmental in his voice overs, he has never been deliberately cruel, even for the greater good. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by tennisgurl

[truthaboutluv]

13 hours ago, gooberfish said:

I’ve been troubled by something for several episodes. Dom is always having to do something bad or her mom and nieces will get hideously dark-armied. But, Dom blames Darlene for this. The dark army could pick any FBI agent to threaten. Perhaps, in fact, they are threatening 90 percent of them at this point. The fact that Darlene was fake with Dom doesn’t enable the Dark Army to make and carry out threats to Dom’s family. 

This is why Dom's insistence of Darlene ruining her life and it's all Darlene's fault, does not ring true to me. Dom is in this situation because she is a damn good FBI agent who unfortunately for her, got too close to the truth.

My recollection of how all this went down is that when we first meet Dom in Season 2, it's clear she knows about Dark Army and Whiterose, as well as F-Society. She just couldn't prove it about Whiterose in particular but they had all the evidence they needed on Elliot and company, regarding the 5/9 hack.

Santiago kept trying to steer her away from the Whiterose theory (obviously because The Dark Army had him under their thumb), even calling Whiterose an urban legend and not real. Dom was insistent that she was right. She also suspected strongly, I felt, after meeting the Chinese Minister when the FBI agents were in China, that he is Whiterose. 

Then Darlene and Tyrell were in FBI custody and Dom was essentially out of the situation. But then she caught Santiago about to escape with Darlene, because the Dark Army wanted her and Elliot.

Dom confronted him, he knocked her out and took her and that's how Dom ended up in the whole showdown last season where Irvin murdered Santiago and basically told her they now owned her. So I don't understand why she's so determined that it's all Darlene's fault she's in her current predicament. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[Blindfox]

Ugh. I remember when I used to like Elliot.

I was kind of hoping Dom would kill Darlene. Or Darlene would kill Dom. I would have taken either.

I have never really figured out where Vera fits into this show. He just seems like a miscellaneous douchebag with delusions of grandeur.

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

So I don't understand why she's so determined that it's all Darlene's fault she's in her current predicament. 

In "eps3.8_stage3.torrent" Darlene seduced Dominique to get Dom's FBI access badge.
I don't recall exactly how that lead to Dominique being found out by fellow-fibbie Santiago that she was onto Santiago being a double agent for WR/Dark Army, but it did lead to Irving axing Santiago to death in front of Dominique, which traumatized her to the point of agreeing to work for Irving/WR to prevent her mother and family from also being heinously murdered.

[truthaboutluv]

18 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I don't recall exactly how that lead to Dominique being found out by fellow-fibbie Santiago that she was onto Santiago being a double agent for WR/Dark Army, but it did lead to Irving axing Santiago to death in front of Dominique, which traumatized her to the point of agreeing to work for Irving/WR to prevent her mother and family from also being heinously murdered.

Dom was not onto Santiago being a double agent then. Dom caught Darlene trying to steal her FBI Access badge and brought her in and admitted to having sex with Darlene to Santiago. At that point, based on the thumb drive the murdered F-Society members had sent to Elliot, Darlene and Elliot knew someone in the FBI was a Dark Army mole but they didn't know who. 

So much so that Darlene TOLD Santiago about their suspicion that someone in the FBI was a Dark Army mole. That's when Santiago called Irving in a panic, who then told him to bring Darlene and of course they had Elliot as well. Dom didn't know anything about this. As I noted, Dom only got caught in the cross fire when she caught Santiago trying to sneak Darlene out of the FBI headquarters. 

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

Dom only got caught in the cross fire when she caught Santiago trying to sneak Darlene out of the FBI headquarters. 

Did Dom only go after Santiago because she cared about Darlene? 

[truthaboutluv]

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

Did Dom only go after Santiago because she cared about Darlene? 

Honestly, she literally just happened to stumble on him heading out with Darlene and wanted to know where he was going, since one, Darlene was a high priority witness and two, Dom hadn't gotten any word Darlene was being moved somewhere else. Santiago tried to bullshit some reason but Dom saw through it and got suspicious.

And that's when he knocked her out and kidnapped her too. He probably assumed Dark Army would just kill her too and so the FBI would still be none the wiser about his being a Dark Army mole. But of course Irving killed him instead and made Dom their new mole, obviously without her having a choice. 

[hnygrl]

I really don’t see any of them, on either side, living through this.  I think it’s gonna be an "a d then they all died" ending

[Tachi Rocinante]

On 11/12/2019 at 11:00 PM, hnygrl said:

I really don’t see any of them, on either side, living through this.  I think it’s gonna be an "a d then they all died" ending

I can live with that.  It's better than an "it's all in Eliot's head" ending.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm surprised they can say 'mother fucker' on cable now.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 11/11/2019 at 4:54 PM, Anela said:

I'm not feeling into it, either, because I was glued to the TV when it was on, two years ago. I also wish that I could just binge it. 

Me either. I think in the long time between seasons I just found other interesting things to watch. When it came back, the plot has been so byzantine and the dialogue so obtuse, I didn't know what was going on and I realized I just don't care. I'm playing out the string at this point. If it wasn't the last season and like 4 of 5, I'd probably just drop the show.

It's just so ponderous at this point. At least with Tyrell, he was all over the place so the show had some pace. Even whiterose is getting to be overly much now.

It seems kind of silly to me that the taxidermist would openly say 'kill her' on the phone. As opposed to 'get rid of her' or 'you know what to do.'

I feel bad for the actor, but Dom just drags everything down for me. I don't care about her 'struggle to keep her family safe.' I wish I liked her or even didn't like her because I'd have some feeling to her scenes. But I just don't care. I mark time waiting for the scenes to end.

Edited November 24, 2019 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

On 11/11/2019 at 10:47 AM, qtpye said:

I don't understand why the Dark Army did not want Darlene. Holding Darlene hostage would give them incredible leverage on Elliot...to kill her is incredibly short sighted.

Besides the whole hammering of the 'I'll kill your family' over and over and over and over, I'm not seeing much in the way of critical thinking or strategy. You have to figure continually berating Dom and using her as an attack dog is going to be finite proposition. Not to mention failing to forsee Darlene wiping the phone.

[AudienceofOne]

I find it weird the sheer volume of people who worship Elliot. He has this weird effect on people for someone who barely interacts with anybody. Tyrell, Vera, Whiterose. Nobody ever wants to kill him, they all want him to be their own personal saviour. It's not even recruitment, it's like they want his approval. They want to believe God is smiling on whatever bit of whatfuckery they have going on. Which is extremely human (we have God on our side!) but unusual that it's Elliot they universally see this way.

[truthaboutluv]

11 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

I find it weird the sheer volume of people who worship Elliot. He has this weird effect on people for someone who barely interacts with anybody. Tyrell, Vera, Whiterose. Nobody ever wants to kill him, they all want him to be their own personal saviour. It's not even recruitment, it's like they want his approval.

I feel like it has to do with that whole belief that the more aloof and disinterested a person seems in others, the more they want this person's approval. Because it's almost like some type of validation that this normally "don't give a fuck about anyone" person thinks you are worthy of their attention, their time, etc. Elliot's seeming disinterest towards others and zero fucks demeanor gives him an added bit of mystery and intrigue.