The second season of Mr. Robot has raised a lot of questions in its first three episodes. We’ve got an FBI agent tracking down fscociety’s headquarters and we don’t know what she plans to do with that information. We’ve got multiple fsociety/AllSafe-types getting gunned down and, while the murders don’t appear to be connected right now, the surviving crew is getting mighty nervous. Angela is doing these weird affirmation exercises. Tyrell Wellick could be anywhere. People are eating semifreddo. Three hours in and already a lot of balls in the air.
But the biggest question so far, by a pretty sizable margin, is whaaaaaat is going on with Elliot right now? What’s that guy’s deal? He’s discussing Seinfeld and popping Adderall and droning on about religion like everyone you went to college with, but that’s really it, on the non-hallucination front. There’s probably something more going on there, yes?
Well, maybe! There’s been a theory floating around since the premiere. I’ve mentioned it in brief once or twice, but I think it probably warrants a larger discussion. So let’s do that.
Ready when you are.
Okay, so what’s this theory?
The theory, basically, is that Elliot is currently in some sort of psychiatric facility or halfway house, and not “staying with his mom” as he claims. Vulture has been all over it pretty much from the beginning, but here’s the short version of the case: Elliot’s routine is actually not a routine at all, but a mandated schedule put together by the facility. His trips to the basketball court are part of his recreation time. The church group he meets with is a program offered by the facility. The daily lunches with his new friend Leon, the Seinfeld aficionado — who is probably watching reruns on basic cable in a shared TV in the lounge — that we met in the season premiere, are in the cafeteria.
It also would offer up another suggestion for why his room is just a bed and desk in an otherwise empty room, with no TV or computer. And it means his strict mom is probably the facility’s head nurse or some other part of the staff.
Hmm. Dang. What about those times he was outside?
Well, he’s only been “outside,” in this theory, a few times. One of them was at the start of the season when he was meeting with his psychiatrist, Krista, which could have been an approved trip. And another was when he was totally out of his mind on his Adderall binge and got picked up by government-types and forced to funnel cement in a warehouse until he puked and whoooooooops that whole thing appeared to be a hallucination driven by either Mr. Robot or the pills/insomnia, or both, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt, all the way back to him walking on the sidewalk.
So… wait. Does this mean Hot Carla the Local Pyro is in the facility, too?
I mean, it probably does.
Free Hot Carla!
#FreeHotCarla
What about Craig Robinson’s character, Ray, the shady guy with the dog and the dead wife he talks to every morning and the hacking-related scheme that he keeps trying to recruit Elliot into?
The prevailing wisdom so far is that he’s some sort of counselor/mentor or administrator.
So then that mysterious knock on the door at the end of last season’s finale… That could have been people coming to take him away, or like an intervention to get him to seek help?
Sure.
Ahhh. Okay.
So that’s the theory.
Right… but lemme ask you this.
Shoot.
He could just be at his mom’s, right?
Yup.
And he could be doing all this stuff on his own, right?
Yup.
Because Elliot is a super weird dude and you can’t put anything past him at this point.
Again, yup.
And isn’t Mr. Robot the kind of show that might drop little clues to get you leaning in one direction only to hit you with a haymaker from the blindside? Like couldn’t these “mental hospital” crumbs be setting us up for an even bigger okie-doke?
Hmm, yeah. I suppose that’s possible, but I think we might want to be careful about giving the show too much credit here, or setting up unreasonable expectations. One as-yet-unconfirmed theory making sense doesn’t necessarily mean it was too easy too figure out and must be part of some larg-…
WHAT IF THE WHOLE THING IS IN ELLIOT’S HEAD?
Wait, what?
What if Tyrell Wellick bonked him on the head at the end of season one and initiated the hack himself and everything we’ve been seeing since is Elliot’s subconscious going crazy while he’s in a coma?
I really don’t think th-…
What if this was Tyrell and Joanna’s plan all along?
Look, I think we might be getting a little off-top-…
WHAT IF JOANNA IS MR. ROBOT?
Okay, I think I’m gonna leave.
MAYBE SHE AND DARLENE HAVE BEEN IN CAHOOTS THIS WHOLE TIME.
[exits room, closes door]
LISTEN TO ME, YOU CAPITALIST SWINE.
