Season Two Speculation: Mr. Robot

[Avaleigh]

On 8/24/2016 at 8:21 AM, editorgrrl said:

My speculation: the color red + Elliot = hallucination. In The Sixth Sense, red meant Cole was seeing dead people. In Elliot's Adderall-induced hallucination, the cement was mixed in a red wagon. Elliot talked to Tyrell Wellick on a red phone. The composition book in Elliot's bedroom at his mom's house says "The Red Wheelbarrow" on the cover. At the diner, there's a red drinking glass on the table.

Oh man, Editorgrrl, now I'm going to have to watch again with that in mind. Very good catch.

My thoughts on the last few episodes, my apologies for the length---

I have completely fallen down the rabbit hole in terms of speculation and it took me awhile to accept this, but I can see now how it's potentially problematic to question everything. At the same time, I like the risks that this show takes because it's unlike any show or movie I've ever seen before. Yes, I see similarities to other movies like Fight Club and others but I still feel like Mr. Robot ultimately has something that's totally its own and original. I'm open to the idea that Elliot has more than one personality and I'm open to the idea that he might not be the only character who might be dealing with serious mental issues. 

Regarding episode 4 of season 2, the opening scene was completely surprising to me but I think it supports the idea that Darlene might not always be there when Elliot thinks she is.

When Darlene comes in, Elliot is totally clear about who she is and his behavior towards her is completely different than his behavior with her in the pilot and earlier episodes where it seems like they're just getting to know each other. Darlene and Elliot finally talk about their mother, but I got the impression that Elliot was simply projecting his thoughts into 'Darlene'. Darlene talks about how she can barely remember their father but her mom only spends her time bitching to her on the phone the father she can't remember? That sounds like what the mom would do to Elliot. 

We find out that Darlene has panic attacks and that this is another bond between her and Elliot. I won't be surprised if we end up finding out that Angela also suffers from panic attacks. I feel like the affirmations are a part of the way that she tries to keep herself under control in addition to taking whatever medication. Repeating lines about how she has the power to create her 'own reality'--all of that stuff suggests to me that this is exactly what Angela is doing. She's in her own world and Darlene is her Mr. Robot.  

I mentioned in an earlier post that Darlene always conveniently pops up. She's the only main character whose apartment we haven't been to. We've even seen where Trent, Mobley, and Romero live but not Darlene. Why? She always seems to show up when Angela or Elliot needs support of some kind. We also get confirmation, in bizarre fashion, that Cisco and Angela know each other and IMO have likely slept together. Isn't that a curious coincidence? 

I find it odd that Darlene has such a crystal clear memory of the E Corp lawyer especially when she tells Elliot earlier in the season that she can't remember their father well. To me it makes more sense that this is Angela's memory.

Why was Angela getting so drunk when she was on her date with the undercover guy Dom set her up with? I get the impression that she's worried about more than the FBI. 

I thought the scene with her father's friend at the bar was something that played out in her mind. I felt like he was speaking the fears and thoughts she has about herself. It just didn't make any sense to me that this guy would be so insensitive to the daughter of one of his friends. Angela has seemed unstable to me for awhile and I think this might have been one more example of her hallucinating the way Elliot does. 

[greenbean]

I've just started watching this show. I've binged my way to S2E05 and of course I'm confused about some stuff. Namely Mr Robot/Christian Slater and Elliot. In S1 we see Slater talking directly to other people, he's in the car with Tyrell for example. So he's not just in Elliot's mind, he also represents Elliot? All the times Slater has interacted with other people, that was really Elliot? 

Which leads me to Tyrell. When they're in the car, he says to Slater that they're supposed to be allies, it's like they've met before. I originally thought Slater and Tyrell were acting in collusion. That maybe Slater had also recruited Tyrell to fsociety, unbeknown to Elliot and the rest. But if Elliot is Slater, what does this conversation mean?

Tyrell also said he knew Slater/Elliot's dirty little secret. He threatened to tell the others if Elliot didn't let him in on the big plan. So they must know each other, no? It seems they've met prior to when the viewer first saw them at AllSafe. Tyrell knows stuff about Elliot, but didn't know about fsociety.

I also wonder what is Elliot's secret. It has to be something that no one, not even Darlene knows.

[green]

4 hours ago, greenbean said:

I've just started watching this show. I've binged my way to S2E05 and of course I'm confused about some stuff. Namely Mr Robot/Christian Slater and Elliot. In S1 we see Slater talking directly to other people, he's in the car with Tyrell for example. So he's not just in Elliot's mind, he also represents Elliot? All the times Slater has interacted with other people, that was really Elliot? 

Which leads me to Tyrell. When they're in the car, he says to Slater that they're supposed to be allies, it's like they've met before. I originally thought Slater and Tyrell were acting in collusion. That maybe Slater had also recruited Tyrell to fsociety, unbeknown to Elliot and the rest. But if Elliot is Slater, what does this conversation mean?

Tyrell also said he knew Slater/Elliot's dirty little secret. He threatened to tell the others if Elliot didn't let him in on the big plan. So they must know each other, no? It seems they've met prior to when the viewer first saw them at AllSafe. Tyrell knows stuff about Elliot, but didn't know about fsociety.

I also wonder what is Elliot's secret. It has to be something that no one, not even Darlene knows.

Mr Robot is an aspect of Elliot.  The show's creator and writer mentioned the actual diagnosis for this but I forget.  Others have posted it in some of the episode threads.  It isn't classic multiple personality disorder but seems to work like it as in when we see Mr Robot on screen that is the version of Elliot that manifests the Mr Robot persona and is in charge. 

Elliot often can't remember what he did as Mr Robot and is in the process of either trying to rid himself of that part of himself or perhaps integrate the two together into one.  But he isn't there yet.  Nor has he uncovered everything Mr Robot had been doing when Elliot was MIA from himself as it were and Mr Robot was in charge.  It is all a work in progress we, his imaginary friend he talks to, are living through with Elliot.

It is confusing about Tyrell telling the Mr Robot persona that they were allies.  The timeline is ambiguous so we don't know if they were long time allies or just recent ones or, like some posters have speculated, Tyrell is another aspect of Elliot.  I can't buy the latter because Tyrell was alive and living a separate life from Elliot during the run-up to the big hack.  Mr Robot, by contrast, is Elliot's late father and obviously dead so he can live entirely in Elliot's head since he doesn't have a separate life on earth anymore.

Elliot's dirty little secret was the upcoming hack.  Tyrell was E Corp's "president of technical operations" right under the CTO and a super tech genius remember.  So he asked the Allsafe head for the server that was infected back in Episode 1 of the show so he could look it over as well.  He quickly found the f.society calling card on it and realized Elliot would have as well.  The fact that Elliot didn't wipe it or shut down the infected software but only re-coded it into his control told Tyrell all he needed to know thus he knew Elliot's secret and what he was about to do.  It was only after that scene that we see the scene of Tyrell and Mr Robot meeting in Tyrell's black SUV. 

But again the "thought we were allies" thing is indeed a mystery not yet explained.  But given the information we found out about Elliot in the last episode maybe there was a longer history between them.  I assume Season 2 is leading up to some resolution or semi-resolution of the Tyrell storyline because we never actually saw Elliot kill Tyrell since he does have a memory of reaching for the popcorn gun but nothing after that as in actually firing the gun.  Elliot believes he did kill Tyrell because Mr Robot told him he did.  But how reliable is Mr Robot in the end?

Edited September 2, 2016 by green

[green]

I should have added that sharper viewers than me knew Mr Robot was in Elliot's head earlier than I did.  That in the Season 1 scenes when they were together the people in f.society never interacted with both as separate humans but either interacted with Mr Robot while Elliot looked on or interacted with Elliot as Mr Robot looked on sometimes switching in mid scene but never seen as two people by the others.  So even though they could appear in the same scene with others around them only one was "active" or in charge at any one time.

Remember we are Elliot's imaginary friend so we are generally (but maybe not always) seeing these scenes from his pov so sometimes he knew he had become two personas so we see two on the screen.  Other times he has memory lapses which was when Mr Robot took over so strongly he has lost those time periods with no memory of what went on unless he can reclaim the memory of that period somehow.

I owe all this to the posters here.  That's why this is such a good show to go to a site like this and share info with others about it.

Edited September 2, 2016 by green

[Cardie]

It appears that Mr. Robot took control of Elliot to found fsociety some time before Elliot was recruited by him into fsociety and aware, as Elliot, of what it was planning. At this stage he didn't realize Mr. Robot was a figment of his own mind and thought he was a separate person. This season Elliot is recovering from gaining that knowledge and knowing that Mr. Robot is not real to anyone else. So if he sees Mr. Robot talking to someone, he realizes that no one else is talking but himself, no matter how his mind is processing the conversation.

At some time when Mr. Robot was fully in control and Elliot blacked out, MR made Tyrell's acquaintance and let him in on the big fsociety hack that was being planned. We just don't know where those events stand in the overall timeline or where the conversation in the SUV stands in relation to the first contact between Tyrell and Mr. Robot.

[Milaxx]

On 9/2/2016 at 8:39 PM, Cardie said:

It appears that Mr. Robot took control of Elliot to found fsociety some time before Elliot was recruited by him into fsociety and aware, as Elliot, of what it was planning. At this stage he didn't realize Mr. Robot was a figment of his own mind and thought he was a separate person. This season Elliot is recovering from gaining that knowledge and knowing that Mr. Robot is not real to anyone else. So if he sees Mr. Robot talking to someone, he realizes that no one else is talking but himself, no matter how his mind is processing the conversation.

At some time when Mr. Robot was fully in control and Elliot blacked out, MR made Tyrell's acquaintance and let him in on the big fsociety hack that was being planned. We just don't know where those events stand in the overall timeline or where the conversation in the SUV stands in relation to the first contact between Tyrell and Mr. Robot.

Completely agree. My guess is the first break was the event that got him mandated to see Krista. I think it was around this time that Mr. Robot came up with this entire plan, both stage 1  & 2. I also think at the very least Whiterose is in collusion with Mr. Robot.  Who else would better understand a dual personality? So she understands when she is dealing with Elliot versus Mr. Robot and acts accordingly. Elliot does not know all the parts to this plan, but Mr. Robot does. He shields Elliot when necessary. I think that's why he disappeared after Tyrell called Elliot in the computer store. [btw - I do not think Elliot and Tyrell are the same person. If they were when Elliot was in prison, the police were actively seeking Tyrell for the murder of Knowles wife, even plastering his picture all over tv and the media. if Elliot was already captured they wouldn't need to look for him. In fact other then Mr. Robot I believe everyone we see is a real person. What is questionable is who they really are since Elliot will "recolor" the to make it easier for him like his mother/jailer. ]

My only question is who/what are the Wellicks? Why do they have a bodyguard? Especially one who is willing to kill for her?  Joanna is clearly the leader in the relationship, manipulating Tyrell to her whim, but I get the feeling that they had a bigger plan  than simply Tyrell becoming CFO on Ecorp. Perhaps another group that wants to take over/ bring down the US economy? I don't know. 

So if I'm right, stage 2 may be a Fire Sale, like in the plot of Die Hard. we have 3 groups;  Mr. Robot/Elliot/Whiterose, Price, and whoever is behind the Wellecks. I also wonder if Mr. Robot left the plans for Stage 2 in his apartment and that's what they want us to find. My guess is it's behind the radiator, but I'm not 100% on that.

[Milaxx]

On 9/8/2015 at 9:03 PM, Avaleigh said:

I'll post my Elliot = Tyrell thoughts in the new season 1 thread. 

 

Regarding the name thing with Elliot. Elliot meaning "God is with us" or "Jehovah is God" puts me in mind of the name meanings of Joanna "God is gracious" and Angela "Angel" or "Messenger from God". 

 

Gideon = "Mighty Warrior" or "Destroyer"

Darlene = "Tenderly Loved"

That's not what Vera tells him. In 1.6 he says, Elliot's name means "brave and true and that the origin of brave evolved from the savage." Vera then says,  "my name means something similar, brave traveler, adventurer. Savage traveler becomes brave traveler. Are we savages or are we brave?"