S01.E10: eps1.9_zer0-day.avi

[formerlyfreedom]

Season Finale;
 

Mr. Robot and Tyrell are MIA; and a past hack haunts Elliot.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

So, where is Tyrell?

I liked seeing Krista again.

[benteen]

Very good episode, very interesting and very trippy.  Not sure how I feel about how abrupt the episode ended but I certainly wasn't disappointed.

 

They seemed to make a serious case that Elliot is Tyrell.

 

The fallout from Zero Day was impressively portrayed. 

 

It was interesting seeing Krista again too with an unexpected callback to the first episode.  They must have added that bit about the Ashley Madison hack late in post-production as it's a very recent thing.

 

Philip from E-Corp is a fascinating character, I hope we see more of him.  Though looks like White Rose is his true master.

 

I had a feeling where that E-Corp suicide was headed.  I can see why they were leery about that last week although it was much more of an R. Bud Dwyer type incident.

 

The image of Elliot choking himself was funny.

Edited September 3, 2015 by benteen

[MrsRafaelBarba]

I chuckled when Elliott got knocked TF out.

[SimoneS]

I think that Tyrell is dead. I think that he forced Elliot to go through with the plan and tried to kill Elliot, but Elliot killed him instead.

 

I don't think that guy knows Elliot is behind it all. I think he thinks that it is Angela.

Edited September 3, 2015 by SimoneS

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, as soon as I saw that the executive was going to be interviewed, I figured it was going to be the scene that made them decided to hold off on airing the finale last week.  I can see why, even if there was some differences (a suicide instead of a murder): it would have been disturbing for a lot of people, I suspect.

 

Either way, really curious to see where they are going with Angela in all of this.  She was clearly disturbed by everything, but after the way she acted with the shoe salesman and ended up accepting Phillip/the CEO's offer at the end, she might be slowly but surely, falling into Evil Corp's spell.  At least she see seemed totally disgusted by Phillip "confessing" that he was glad the guy killed himself.  There is hope for her yet!

 

Good to finally see a scene of Elliot interacting with Mr. Robot, and how it looks to everyone else.  A decent fun moment for a dark episode.  He pushed him back for now, but I have to think Mr. Robot will be rearing his head again soon.

 

Enjoyed them bring back Krista and the guy Elliot hacked and took the dog from, way back.

 

I got no idea what the hell is going on Tyrell.  Dead?  Another part of Elliot's mind?  Either way, I hope we get more Elliot/Joanna in the future.  That scene was creepy as hell and I loved it.  Both of the actors really sold it.

 

Seems to be friction building between Darlene and the rest of Fsociety: mainly because the rest aren't happy with Elliot being Elliot.

 

The scene after the credits was a decent sign of things to come, even if they spoiled the White Rose reveal, by listing BD Wong in the guest cast.

 

Poor Gideon.

 

Have no idea what to expect next season.  The world seems to be falling apart, and everyone seems to either be at each others' throats, or playing some kind of game.  And then there is Elliot who seems this close to really falling apart.

[sluggish neko]

I'm dying to know where Tyrell is. I missed that funny crazy American psycho wannabe. He was the one behind the mask in the Fsociety video, right? Whoa, Elliot was freaked out by Tyrell's wife right off the bat. He has good instincts. She's one scary lady. It doesn't seem like she knows where Tyrell is either.

 

Is Angela getting sucked into the Evil Corp Cult? It's hard to tell. The answer she gave the shoe salesman about the reason she works at E Corp was similar to what the puppy killing guy said when he let the Fsociety gang access to the incinerator. Gotta pay the bills. But... do you really have to burn puppies to do it? I was so happy they let the doggies out of the cages before they left.

 

So, what's Whiterose's game? Also, yay for more B.D. Wong! Hope he shows up more next season-- in drag or out.

[xaxat]

I was really hoping the show wouldn't go through with the hack because the fsociety's plan made no sense. If you eliminate a mass amount of debt, you don't free people, you burn the whole economic system to the ground. The only people that benefit are preppers.

 

That final scene was something straight out of Rubicon. The E Corp president really is Truxton Spangler.

[dgpolo]

 

Good to finally see a scene of Elliot interacting with Mr. Robot, and how it looks to everyone else.  A decent fun moment for a dark episode.  He pushed him back for now, but I have to think Mr. Robot will be rearing his head again soon.

thuganomics85 Can't agree with this, he hasn't 'pushed him back' it was Mr. Robot that told him to get on the train and go home and get on the computer. And he did it, Mr Robot is still controlling Elliots actions.

[thuganomics85]

 

Can't agree with this, he hasn't 'pushed him back' it was Mr. Robot that told him to get on the train and go home and get on the computer. And he did it, Mr Robot is still controlling Elliots actions.

Right, I knew he still has some control in him, but it sounded like Elliot at least pushed him back in the sense that he won't see him all the time, like he did earlier this episode.  It still is bad for Elliot, but, I don't know: at least he's kind of trying to fight Mr. Robot?  It is still pretty bad though..

[tennisgurl]

Good episode, good finale, lots of unanswered questions.

 

Where is Tyrell? Did Elliot kill him? How much control does he have over his own mind? Why is Whiterose doing any of this? What will happen to society now? Is Angela turning to the dark side? These are questions I need answered? 

 

Oh, and will Gideon catch a break at any point? Poor guy.

[benteen]

At least Gideon wasn't the one shooting himself in this.

 

The Elliot/Joanna scene was great.  Even Elliot was freaked out by her.

[Cardie]

I'm trying to balance out the hints that Tyrell is another Elliot alter -- the encounter with the wife the strongest indicator -- with factors that make it seem impossible. Tyrell's secretary didn't seem to have any idea who Elliot was, even with all Elliot's missing time, he doesn't seem to have enough hours in the day to maintain Tyrell's life and his own.  Most compelling to me is TV logic: Elliot is not written as someone who would strangle a woman or get off on violence and holding sympathy for such a protagonist is hard. If Tyrell isn't an alter, then I assume E Corp blamed him for the hack and "took care" of him. 

 

The message of this episode seems to be that the truly rich, the top 100 or so in each of the large economies, always rig the game. While some of the 1% may be wiped out by the hack, "White Rose" let it go through to clear the decks for his own capitalist success. The Dark Army is a tool of global corporatism, not an enemy.

 

Where is poor Flipper as Elliot sits in a car for three days. For all the dog talk, I would like to have seen that she was getting proper care.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

When Elliot Was home at his computer, Flipper was shown sitting nearby on the Floor.

[alias1]

I didn't get why they had the scene with Krista and the original dog owner in the beginning, and then nothing came of it.

 

The last time we saw the dog, Darlene took her for a walk, so I'm hoping Darlene took care of her while Elliot was missing.

Edited September 3, 2015 by SierraMist

[atir]

Was that a Banksy piece of art/graffiti painted on the brick wall of the parking lot?

Im really wondering where Tyrell is. I don't think E=T.

I don't recall having too much trouble understanding Rubicon but I seem to not track this one as well.

[kat165]

Sierra, perhaps the Krista & former dog owner scene will lead to something next season & this was just the set up. Cops looking for Elliot for the past several weeks. We should be hearing more about that next season.

 

I'm not getting what the hints were about Elliot also possibly being Tyrell. As someone mentioned about Tyrell's life is really too involved for Elliot to have been channeling him.

[editorgrrl]

I'm not getting what the hints were about Elliot also possibly being Tyrell. As someone mentioned about Tyrell's life is really too involved for Elliot to have been channeling him.

Joanna treated Elliot like a disassociative personality of the father of her child. Whoever the true personality is, he only leads one life—the others are fantasy.

Is Elliot's mother abusive or loving? Is he an only child, or is Darlene his sister? Did the hack happen or not?

[kat165]

Thanks, editorgirl. It seems like a matter of interpretation. I find Joanna utterly creepy. I think she was trying to "read" Elliot (who are you and what do you want?) and also fuck around with him. She's muffed up.

 

I too wondered why we weren't seeing Darlene in that little family group. And is this the first time we've seen Eiliot's mom not being a total bitch?

[DEM]

I yelled at the teevee so many times during this ep.  First at Krista: Don't break confidentiality! Don't do it!!  Then at Elliot when he visited demon!Joanna: Run away! Run away!  Next at Angela: Grab the bag! For the love of Zod, get the bag! (that was horrific).  Finally at the end: Please don't be BD Wong! Please don't be BD Wong!

 

This ep was intense.  I need to take some time.

[possibilities]

Who's at the door?

Shall we guess, or just wait patiently? Does anyone know if they're already filming, or if the show is going to be a long time on hiatus?

[Bama]

How can Elliot be Tyrell when we saw them talking with other people in a meeting at Allsafe in the pilot?

 

We've seen Tyrell interacting with Gideon.

 

And the police were specifically looking for Tyrell Wellick after Sharon Knowles was killed.

 

Finally, Elliot spoke to Tyrell's assistant tonight and asked to see him.

 

If Tyrell is in Elliot's head and one of his personalities, then people would see Elliot physically even if he was acting as Tyrell.  If that were the case then to Tyrell's assistant she would have seen "Tyrell" asking to see himself.

 

Tyrell is definitely a real person, not a manifestation of Elliot.

[shapeshifter]

That final scene was something straight out of Rubicon. The E Corp president really is Truxton Spangler.

Yeah, but I still think Rubicon was better.

My guess is that Tyrell, Darlene, and Whiterose are really aspects of Elliot. I do think Elliot could strangle someone when he was being Tyrell. They gave us the image of Elliot with his hands around Mr.Robot's/his Dad's/his own throat.

Maybe Angela is his real sister. Or half sister.

I don't think that guy knows Elliot is behind it all. I think he thinks that it is Angela.

Or he plans to kidnap her to get Elliot. IDK. Wrong show? Edited September 3, 2015 by shapeshifter

[rue721]

I wonder if Joanna was thinking that "Ollie"/Elliot was likely responsible for Tyrell's disappearance, and was trying to suss out why he'd come and what he wanted. Specifically, what he wanted from her in order to get Tyrell back. That doesn't even seem like it would be a big leap for her to make, imo, because I think that Elliot himself was afraid that he'd killed Tyrell -- or rather, that Mr Robot had killed Tyrell. That's why Elliot was looking so hard for Mr Robot as well as Tyrell, I think? Anyway, Joanna and Elliot's conversation definitely was bizarre, but I guess that's to be expected, since Joanna and Elliot are both bizarre even on their best day. It's hard to know what that conversation's weirdness really meant.

 

It would be interesting to know what she said to Elliot in Danish!

 

I don't think that Elliot and Tyrell are the same person, though. Nobody from either of their jobs (like Tyrell's secretary or Gideon or Angela or Ollie) seems to think they have any connection with one another, let alone that they're the same man. I have a hard time believing that Elliot would take a job at E Corp, or that he and Angela would have had the kind of relationship that they did throughout the season if he had been working there this whole time (as Tyrell). There are lots of things that Tyrell said and did that I have a really hard time believing that Elliot would say or do, to be honest. Not just the major, horrifying stuff, like paying a homeless man to let him kick the shit out of him, or strangling a woman to death. Even the smaller stuff, like how Tyrell went off on that rant about the Steel Mountain cafe's waiter -- not only did that not really seem like something Elliot would think, but that also took place on the same day that Shayla started her first job as a waitress.

 

The thing that makes me most worried that they are going to turn out to be the same person, though, is the way that Mr. Robot told Elliot that he was supposed to worship Elliot as a god -- it made me think about how Tyrell sort of referred to Elliot as a god in a past episode (when he was telling Joanna that they had to think of what was above them, meaning God).

 

I hope they're not the same person, because Tyrell is disgusting. Hate that dude.

 

Is Elliot's mother abusive or loving? Is he an only child, or is Darlene his sister? Did the hack happen or not?

 

I was surprised at how nice Elliot's mom was, too! IIrc, though, Mr Robot said that "the family" was with Elliot because Elliot couldn't take the loneliness of being on his own anymore. My heart actually did kind of break for Elliot back when he was going through withdrawal and woke up to an empty room. The way he freaked out about it was awful, especially how he was starting to cry but was able to get himself together when Mr Robot came in and said he wouldn't leave him. I mean, apparently, Elliot was so lonely that he literally made up an imaginary parent to comfort him. That is some messed up stuff. So anyway, maybe this "nice mom" is the version of his mom that Elliot needs, so this is the version of his mom that he created to help save him from loneliness. The way that she and kid!Elliot were posed also reminded me of that Polaroid that he couldn't throw away when he trashed his computer stuff earlier in the season.

 

From all the snippets of creepy Elliot-and-his-mom memories that have apparently sprung to his mind when he hasn't been meaning to think of her, this is apparently not the only version of her he remembers. But I think this is the version of her that he wants to remember. Maybe it's the "her" from that Polaroid picture or other family snapshots. When she and kid!Elliot first appeared and she told him that he was hurting the whole family, her mouth wasn't moving, which also made me think that the way she appeared in this episode was basically meant to be an image from a picture or a "memory" extrapolated from a picture, rather than the "real" version of her or even a real memory.

 

I do think something is up with Elliot's family that hasn't really been revealed yet, though. Elliot's perspective on them is definitely screwy. It's messed up that Elliot blames himself for not being able to see his dad after his dad pushed him out a window and broke his arm. There are so many reasons that have nothing to do with Elliot's behavior why his mom would be pissed off and why he wouldn't be allowed to see his dad after that. If my ex threw my kid out a window and broke his arm, I would also be talking pretty hatefully about him and keeping my son away from him, lol. But it seems like Elliot keeps thinking of his dad as the good guy and worrying about how Elliot hurt him (rather than about how his dad hurt him!) and that his dad just gave up on him. It seems like even as an adult, Elliot has basically no perspective on that whole thing.

 

Also, I guess what's weird to me is that he seems to have massive issues with his mom, yet he doesn't seem to have a problem with women, doesn't even seem wary or suspicious of women in general...and that's in contrast to how he reacts to men. He tends to be pretty wary and cold/indifferent toward them imo. Is there a single male character on the entire show that he's actually liked (aside from QWERTY)? Even when he met with White Rose, she was presenting as a woman, which she apparently doesn't do always. And even though he's said straight up that he thinks Gideon is a good man, he still hasn't responded to really any of the ways that Gideon has reached out to him (and it seemed like Gideon was really trying to take him under his wing for a while there), and seems basically indifferent to Gideon in general. Idk, something about that just seems funky for a guy who ostensibly was "best friends" with his father and terrified of his mother.

 

I know other people have mentioned how Elliot always seems like he's trying to be a white knight and protect women. I actually don't have a problem with it (aside from having a problem with the general creepiness of how invasive his hacking is), because it doesn't seem to me like he's doing it out of arrogance or for personal gain. YMMV. I think he's protective toward people he identifies with, and for some unknown reason, the people identifies with have all been women.

 

What is up with the way that Darlene appears and disappears from Elliot's mind, though, I cannot say. I think she really does exist, because Angela and her dad have talked about her. And I think she really is Elliot's sister because she acts like his sister. But I don't know why they're so weirdly distant while simultaneously all up in each others' lives. I mean, Angela got all irritated and said that Darlene and Elliot had never even been close, so why was Darlene so worried about him now? And that does make me wonder whether Darlene has her own scheme running and has cozy-ed up to her brother because she's trying to use Elliot as part of a bigger/different plot. I'm also still kind of lost as to why Darlene's boyfriend was giving Ollie a Trojan Horse of a CD. Why couldn't she have had Elliot plant the virus in the building, why did she (and the Dark Army) have to go through some weird side channel and force Angela/Ollie to do it?

 

Thinking about it now, though, I wonder if Elliot was lonely as a kid, so he made up an imaginary sister (Darlene)? Just like, now that he's lonely as an adult, he's made up an imaginary father and family?

Edited September 3, 2015 by rue721

[Cardie]

It's messed up that Elliot blames himself for not being able to see his dad after his dad pushed him out a window and broke his arm.

 

I thought the Mr. Robot reveal episode made it clear that kid Elliot threw himself out the window, just as he threw himself off the railing on Coney

Island.

 

In post-finale interviews, Sam Esmail has stated that he intends Elliot to have Dissociative Identity Disorder; also that people who are presented as real beyond Elliot's perception of them are real.

[rue721]

Hey, I just had a thought - maybe Tyrell and Elliot were working together to take down the old CTO. In Tyrell's head, that would leave the slot open for him to fill. And the point for Elliot would be just to make the old CTO pay and expose him for the decisions he made that led to Elliot's dad getting leukemia.

Wait, what made it clear that Elliot had pushed himself out the window? I mean as a kid. He clearly pushed himself out the window a couple episodes ago, as well as off the boardwalk railing. Not saying I disagree that he threw himself out the window twenty years ago, too, just honestly asking - I didn't notice/remember anything about that coming up this episode specifically.

[Miles]

The Ashley Madison hack in the beginning was a nice topical touch, but I'm wondering if they delayed this episode by a week to get that in. If so I think they did it a disservice as this was mostly a wrap-up episode and nothing too exciting happened. Something like this doesn't compare well after a two week wait.

Only really interesting thing that happened was the after credit sequence where it was revealed that white rose probably also is the CEO of a multi national buisiness conglomorate. Now the question is, does he fight on two fronts, on the inside and on the outside, to change the system, or did he just use fsociety to weaken a competitor.

In the scene with the Tyrells wife they seemed to be hinting at that Elliot might also be him but that has to be a red hering. In this case there is just no way to make it work.

Another interesting tidbit is that we now have clear confirmation that the CEO of evil corp is a sociopath and not in the sense it's often used in pop culture, but in the clinical sense. But I think we more or less knew that already.

 

The answer she gave the shoe salesman about the reason she works at E Corp was similar to what the puppy killing guy said when he let the Fsociety gang access to the incinerator. Gotta pay the bills. But... do you really have to burn puppies to do it? I was so happy they let the doggies out of the cages before they left.

What are you supposed to do with dogs nobody wants? Just let them roam free? Because that's how you get ferral dogs and then nobody is going to have a good time: https://i.imgur.com/Q0kdZfY.gifv

In post-finale interviews, Sam Esmail has stated that he intends Elliot to have Dissociative Identity Disorder; also that people who are presented as real beyond Elliot's perception of them are real.

Well we know that's not true, since we saw Mr. Robot talking with Tyrell, with no Elliot around. So Mr. Esmail is playing a little fast and loose with his own rules here. Edited September 3, 2015 by Miles

[editorgrrl]

I thought the Mr. Robot reveal episode made it clear that kid Elliot threw himself out the window, just as he threw himself off the railing on Coney Island.

Episode 9, at Elliot's childhood home in Jersey:

Mr. Robot: Elliot, you thought you deserved it. You felt guilty about this your whole life, about telling people my secret. This anger was never at me—it was at you. Please, Elliot, you don't have to be angry at yourself any more. Just let it go. Please, let it go.

Elliot: You're right, I was angry. I was angry at myself. I hated myself for doing what I did to you. I'm ready to let go. Aah! [Jumps out the window.]

We finally saw what it really looks like when Elliot talks to Mr. Robot. Does the cold open mean Flipper is real?

Edited September 3, 2015 by editorgrrl

[benteen]

Considering Elliot remembers his father pushing him out a window and it wasn't him would suggest that his memories of his mother maybe wrong too.  I kept wondering why Darlene wasn't there...maybe because she's not dead.  But young Elliot was there.

 

There are probably two different people named Elliot and Tyrell but I wonder if Elliot doesn't pose as Tyrell sometimes.

[dgpolo]

I kept wondering why Darlene wasn't there...maybe because she's not dead.  But young Elliot was there.

 

I thought his mom looked pregnant and that's where Darlene was, not born yet.

[Cardie]

Well we know that's not true, since we saw Mr. Robot talking with Tyrell, with no Elliot around.

 

But Elliot is Mr. Robot. Sometimes, in his head, he's just Elliot; other times he's in dialogue with the anarchic, angry Mr. Robot in his head. But when he loses time and has no memory of what he's done, then he's only Mr. Robot. That was the case when we saw Tyrell speaking to Mr. Robot with no Elliot in sight.

 

Flipper is real. So is everyone else, except for Mr. Robot, who is real as Elliot but never seen as Christian Slater except by Elliot and us.

[Gwen-Stacys]

It would be interesting to know what she said to Elliot in Danish!

According to Reddit, she said something like "If you've done something to him, I will kill you."

[Chaos Theory]

Elliot is the ultimate unreliable narrator. We can't take anything he says or sees at face value. Which means we can't take anything this show says or sees at face value.

[Primetimer]

'That's a good question.' Looking back at Mr. Robot's first season.

Read the story

[cardigirl]

I found it interesting that the harpist was playing "Nearer My God to Thee" during the party, which is what they played on the Titanic I believe.  Don't know what it means, but probably something.

And I knew Flipper was micro-chipped.  Wonder what role that will play next season, the guy looking for revenge against Elliot?

[Penman61]

I found it interesting that the harpist was playing "Nearer My God to Thee" during the party, which is what they played on the Titanic I believe.  Don't know what it means, but probably something.

 

I took it to mean that, as on the Titanic, the very rich will have a much better chance of surviving this catastrophe (though some won't make it) than the rest of us of poor sods in steerage.

[33kaitykaity]

Stephanie Corneliussen (Joanna) was doing a fantastic young Angelina Jolie, the pouffy lips, the sliding eyes.  It was really striking.  

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Also a nod to Gideon's "arranging deck chairs on the Titanic" reference from earlier.

[calliope1975]

The Ashley Madison hack in the beginning was a nice topical touch, but I'm wondering if they delayed this episode by a week to get that in. If so I think they did it a disservice as this was mostly a wrap-up episode and nothing too exciting happened. Something like this doesn't compare well after a two week wait.

 

I believe the only reason the finale was delayed was due to the suicide of the Evil Corp guy on live TV mirroring the murder of the two newscasters last week. Not the same, but it might have been a bit insensitive to air.

 

There were hinting strongly, but I don't think Elliot is Tyrell. I'm more inclined to believe some kinky threesome happening during Elliot's missing three weeks. I do think Joanna has met Elliot before, though, and she seems to know he has some mental lapses.

[Cardie]

Elliot's missing three weeks

 

Only three days.

[editorgrrl]

My guess is that Tyrell, Darlene, and Whiterose are really aspects of Elliot.

When Whiterose was shown from behind, the haircut made me think it was Elliot. Then I noticed the height—but was confused by the male presentation.

Edited to add that the music was even more retro than the Cure or Pixies: 1980's "People Who Died" by Jim Carroll (the guy Leonardo Dicaprio played in Basketball Diaries).

Edited September 3, 2015 by editorgrrl

[xaxat]

According to Reddit, she said something like "If you've done something to him, I will kill you."

 

And I totally believe her. She's scary.

[sluggish neko]

Where is Tyrell? Did Elliot kill him?

 

I don't think Elliot (or his Mr. Robot) persona killed Tyrell, though I have to admit, I was dreading the reveal of his body in the SUV when Elliot searched it (like Shayla's death). Elliot has always been portrayed as trying to do the right thing with his hacks like jailing Vera or breaking up Krista and the cheating husband. His goal is to avoid hurting people. Mr. Robot may be crazier, but he hasn't been shown to cross that line either. If Elliot became a murderer, that would put him on par with Tyrell and I think that would change the core of his character. Then again, this may be all wishful thinking because I like Martin Wallstrom's performance and I hope to see him back in season 2. 

 

What are you supposed to do with dogs nobody wants? Just let them roam free? Because that's how you get ferral dogs and then nobody is going to have a good time: https://i.imgur.com/Q0kdZfY.gifv

 

OMG! Dogs ruling the world. That's awesome! That shovel guy needs to chill though. They were just looking for a new recruit for their pack. I'd volunteer but I'm a cat person.

 

Without getting into the messy problem of what to do with unwanted pets, I saw fsociety freeing the dogs as part of the theme. The dogs don't choose to be caged and put down, but that's the fate society has dictated for them much like the people who have less power and money don't choose to be tied down by crippling debt. Their fates are dictated by the rich and powerful... those people in the swanky club that Phillip Price and Whiterose belong to. And it also shows fsociety's naivete. They think all that's needed is to let the dogs out, erase all debt and problem solved! But yeah, what do the dogs do now that they're free? What happens to the economic system when the debts are erased? Complex problems aren't that easy to fix. (It's like Bush thinking that taking down Saddam Hussein would solve all of Iraq's problems. It's never that simple.) Then again, I may be overthinking all of this.

 

Also, because it can't be said often enough. Rami Malek should get an Emmy nom. He really makes the show.

[33kaitykaity]

And it also shows fsociety's naivete. They think all that's needed is to let the dogs out, erase all debt and problem solved! But yeah, what do the dogs do now that they're free? What happens to the economic system when the debts are erased? Complex problems aren't that easy to fix. 

 

Exactly.  I was like why is the power still on?  If there's no more electronic money (debt), there's no way anyone is paying for all of that power.  No one's salaries can be paid either because those are mostly paid by lines of credit.  And on and on and on.  Nobody carries cash anymore.  No way people are showing up for work.  You can't strip out the core of how things function -- money/debt -- and expect nothing else to be affected when literally everything would be affected.  

 

This bothers me.  I love the surreal, trippy feel of the show, but the way it blurs what's real and what's an Elliot-fueled delusion is kind of making me cranky.  

Edited September 3, 2015 by 33kaitykaity

[that one guy]

I don't think Elliot (or his Mr. Robot) persona killed Tyrell, though I have to admit, I was dreading the reveal of his body in the SUV when Elliot searched it (like Shayla's death).

 

Yes. I was afraid Tyrell's body would be there when he opened the back. I doubt they'd go back to that well, though - my guess is he's alive, and it was him in the Mr. Robot mask.

 

As an episode it was fine, but as the season finale I'm kind of annoyed that we don't know what happened after Tyrell visited fsociety HQ. Did like the White Rose reveal. Who is that guy in his day job? What's his agenda?

[rue721]

And it also shows fsociety's naivete. They think all that's needed is to let the dogs out, erase all debt and problem solved! But yeah, what do the dogs do now that they're free? What happens to the economic system when the debts are erased?

 

That's a good insight. I was confused why they went to the animal shelter, but that makes sense.

 

Exactly.  I was like why is the power still on?  If there's no more electronic money (debt), there's no way anyone is paying for all of that power.  No one's salaries can be paid either because those are mostly paid by lines of credit.  And on and on and on.  Nobody carries cash anymore.  No way people are showing up for work.  You can't strip out the core of how things function -- money/debt -- and expect nothing else to be affected. 

 

When the episode started, the economy hadn't even failed yet, and even after the bell had rung at Wall Street and the stock market started crashing, all the "bosses" were still telling people "Keep Calm and Carry On" and denying that anything much had changed. I think the crash was happening in slow motion. All the data was apparently already gone by the beginning of the episode, but it seemed like knowledge of that was only slowly spreading to everyone, and a lot of people were still stunned or debating about what it even meant. I actually thought that was pretty realistic. 

 

I think a lot of people would still show up at work, at least on that first day. That's what they're used to doing, and a lot of people might not even realize that something had changed overnight until they'd left the house for work anyway. A lot of people's jobs are also not abstract and would have to keep being done regardless of what kind of screwed up thing is going on with the economy. Nurses and doctors can't just let sick people fend for themselves, and teachers can't just skip out on children, and people working with animals can't just not show up for work and let their animals starve. I work in a restaurant, and I would probably show up to see what was going on with the food -- worst case, we could just cook and eat it all. And TBH, I'd probably go there to get news of what was going on and what everyone was doing about it anyway. Work can be a pretty good place to get information, since people kind of (have to) gather there.

 

OTOH, when there were riots in Baltimore, a lot of workplaces (including the govt) closed down and posted signs on their doors telling the employees who did show up that they had to go home. So maybe a lot of people wouldn't even be able to go to work?

 

Anyway, if all bank records vanished and there were no more savings or debt, what would happen to all the people who need professional caregivers to take care of them -- elderly people, disabled people, small children? Would their daughters or sisters or mothers have to spend all their waking hours taking care of them, without even the respite from professional caregivers and nurses and day care teachers give them now? A whole lot of people would be even more trapped and less free in that case. I don't really care about my savings or debt vanishing, because I don't have that much of either and it's just money. But I would really care if my grandma's savings and her SS payments disappeared, because then my mom would have to spend *all* her waking hours taking care of her, instead of getting the 20 or 30 hours a week off that she gets when my grandma's caregiver comes to work. I think that anarchy is only a good thing if you're in the prime of your life and don't have anyone else that you need help taking care of. For anyone with dependents, it kind of sucks. For anyone who *is* dependent on other people taking care of them, it kind of sucks, too.

[33kaitykaity]

When the episode started, the economy hadn't even failed yet, and even after the bell had rung at Wall Street and the stock market started crashing, all the "bosses" were still telling people "Keep Calm and Carry On" and denying that anything much had changed. I think the crash was happening in slow motion. All the data was apparently already gone by the beginning of the episode, but it seemed like knowledge of that was only slowly spreading to everyone, and a lot of people were still stunned or debating about what it even meant. I actually thought that was pretty realistic. 

 

I think a lot of people would still show up at work, at least on that first day. That's what they're used to doing, and a lot of people might not even realize that something had changed overnight until they'd left the house for work anyway. A lot of people's jobs are also not abstract and would have to keep being done regardless of what kind of screwed up thing is going on with the economy. Nurses and doctors can't just let sick people fend for themselves, and teachers can't just skip out on children, and people working with animals can't just not show up for work and let their animals starve. I work in a restaurant, and I would probably show up to see what was going on with the food -- worst case, we could just cook and eat it all. And TBH, I'd probably go there to get news of what was going on and what everyone was doing about it anyway. Work can be a pretty good place to get information, since people kind of (have to) gather there.

 

OTOH, when there were riots in Baltimore, a lot of workplaces (including the govt) closed down and posted signs on their doors telling the employees who did show up that they had to go home. So maybe a lot of people wouldn't even be able to go to work?

 

Anyway, if all bank records vanished and there were no more savings or debt, what would happen to all the people who need professional caregivers to take care of them -- elderly people, disabled people, small children? Would their daughters or sisters or mothers have to spend all their waking hours taking care of them, without even the respite from professional caregivers and nurses and day care teachers give them now? A whole lot of people would be even more trapped and less free in that case. I don't really care about my savings or debt vanishing, because I don't have that much of either and it's just money. But I would really care if my grandma's savings and her SS payments disappeared, because then my mom would have to spend *all* her waking hours taking care of her, instead of getting the 20 or 30 hours a week off that she gets when my grandma's caregiver comes to work. I think that anarchy is only a good thing if you're in the prime of your life and don't have anyone else that you need help taking care of. For anyone with dependents, it kind of sucks. For anyone who *is* dependent on other people taking care of them, it kind of sucks, too.

I think things would fall apart quickly, not in slow motion.  Regular, normal life for most people would be over and I don't think they will take it well.  Things that are paid for as they're consumed are gone because they can't be paid for.  People will panic when they realize they can't buy food because their credit/debit cards don't work.  Then they will steal food.  There won't be enough cops to stop them.  It won't take long before the grocery store shelves will be empty.  Things would cascade out of control from there.  

[meep.meep]

In the Mr. Robot televised speech, it looked like one eye was Elliot's and the other was Tyrell's.

 

And the Ashley Madison comment was clearly pieced in during the week they had off.

[Cardie]

I was confused why they went to the animal shelter, but that makes sense.

 

They went to the animal shelter to use the crematorium furnace to destroy completely all their hardware so that the fsociety hack couldn't be traced to them. Of course, once there, they would free the dogs for the reasons sluggish neko stated. One of Elliot's first acts of liberation was to take Flipper away from her abusive owner, in this case symbolizing how he treated women.

 

In the short term in a crisis like this, the government would declare a state of emergency and require essential services to continue on a basic level, promising reimbursement from the Treasury which can, in a pinch, literally print money. FEMA would be active everywhere. If there weren't some way to restore the financial system fairly quickly, however, martial law and then chaos would ensue.

[Miles]

Exactly.  I was like why is the power still on?  If there's no more electronic money (debt), there's no way anyone is paying for all of that power.  No one's salaries can be paid either because those are mostly paid by lines of credit.  And on and on and on.  Nobody carries cash anymore.  No way people are showing up for work.  You can't strip out the core of how things function -- money/debt -- and expect nothing else to be affected when literally everything would be affected.

It's not all the debt. It's the debt evil corp was holding. Which seems to have been a lot, but not everything.

Also there seems to be quite a bit of fallout. I expect we'll see more of it next season.

I wonder if fsociety will decide to decrypt the files because of this next season. I can see no other reason why they would have encrypted instead of just deleting them in the first place. That's an extra step, as you have to scrub the unencrypted data either way, as that doesn't just magically disappear, just because you make an encrypted copy.

 

But Elliot is Mr. Robot.

That's extreme rules lawyering. If you accept that as within the rules then everybody could be Elliot. Hell, maybe he fell into a coma when he jumped out a window as an 8 year old and is now dreaming all of this.

I'm going with Sam Esmail just breaking his rule here.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Miles