Days after Rami Malek won his first Emmy for his performance in Mr. Robot, the USA Network wrapped up its second season with another enjoyably inscrutable finale (full rundown here). The finale left open far more questions than it answered, and maddeningly, it also created new questions that showrunner Sam Esmail will have to address next season and beyond.
The episode also kept one fan theory alive, and ruled out another: That Tyrell Wellick was dead, and Elliot had created another alter in Tyrell’s likeness. The episode did not, however, pick up on any of the Back to the Future Part II threads that began in part one of the finale. Mostly, however, it left us shaking our heads, wondering just exactly what Angela’s role in Phase 2 is, how long she has been involved, and what is the real nature of the relationship between Elliot and Tyrell.
While the finale may not have left viewers satisfied, it did pay off a few callbacks and drop a couple of Easter eggs to keep us satiated until next season. Taken together, the two-part finale probably contains several clues and other Easter eggs that won’t avail themselves until next season, once we have gained more information.
Season One Post-Credits Scene
For instance, it’s hard to make much sense of the season two post-credits scene with Trenton and Mobley, other than that they seem to believe they can “generate a key” to reverse the 5/9 hack. That’ll make more sense next season, just as season one’s post-credits scene with Whiterose and Price now makes more sense. Last year, Esmail was laying the groundwork for the Congo deal, Whiterose’s obsession with time, and Price’s plan for Angela.
Audio Easter Egg
Back in August, some may recall an audio Easter egg was discovered when an audio engineer translated sound from an episode into an image.
In last week’s first part of the episode, Sam Esmail paid off the Easter egg by featuring it in the room where Angela and Whiterose had their conversation.
Side By Side
Maybe the coolest thing in the episode is how closely the conversation between Tyrell and Elliot in this episode mirrors the same conversation between Mr. Robot and Tyrell in last season’s eighth episode.
The Red Wheelbarrow
For those who haven’t been keeping up, there’s been a lot of red wheelbarrows popping up throughout the season.
It was, as predicted, a reference to “some silly poem” by William Carlos Williams, the only English Tyrell’s father knew:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
The Red Wheelbarrow even returned again in this episode in the name of this restaurant’s take-out bag.
Post-Credits Scenes
This is just a cool cinematography Easter egg. Redditor MohamedEV unearthed that the first shots of the post-credit scenes in both season one and season two mirror each other.
FBI Evidence Board
I suspect there are more than a few Easter eggs in the FBI evidence board, some of which won’t avail themselves until next season. It is, however, worth noting that Darlene’s birthday is November 5th — Guy Fawkes Day — and that Elliot’s dad died on 5/9/95, 20 years exactly before the 5/9 attacks.
Basket Case
Finally, going back to the dream sequence in the season’s fourth episode, set to Green Day’s “Basket Case,” it appears as though Elliot has been having dreams about the Phase 2 completion at least since he was in prison. This is presumably E-corp crumbling after Elliot and Tyrell destroy it from the inside (it’s also basically the end of Fight Club from a different vantage point).
