UpOnTheMic'S Grand Theory on Mr Robot: I was watching S04EP9 Conflict tonight, which might be my favourite episode to date, and it made me think about the pilot. So I went back and re-watched. We will start with the most outrageous statement I will make this post: Elliot's journey is parallel to Quaid/Hauser in the movie Total Recall. And, to be clear, I don't support the theory that the show is sci-fi in any way. To this end, here is my theory with some observations I made while re-watching the pilot with all of this new information: Prime Elliot or (Elliot) to make it easier, the one who has been "sleeping" but "woke up" for Darlene, set this whole thing in motion. He may or may not already know about the abuse he suffered, my theory works either way on that point. Either he knows and this is the exact reason that he is "sleeping", not being able to deal with the knowledge, or he still doesn't know and Mr Robot is still keeping it from him. Either way, (Elliot) is the architect, as Vera so eloquently put, but he is the architect of 5/9, stage 2, and now "Deus DoxXmas".
(Elliot) already knows Mr Robot, his mother and his younger self exist, and knows them well, considering he created them in the first place. He is the one who goes on the "Fuck Society" speech in E1, he hates society as we see it now, corrupt, bloated, all about the rich's self interest before the rest of us, who are in the majority. He wants to take down the whole damn system and, to quote Chuck Palahniuk, "to see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." At some point, (Elliot) found out about Whiterose, her project, all of it. He comes up with a plan, knowing that he isn't that good of an actor, and knowing that WR would smell him out a mile away, he decides that the best way to get around the problem is to wipe his memory entirely, replacing certain memories with fabrications to fill in what would otherwise be gaps, sometimes giving new Elliot his own memories, but keeping back the things he deems dangerous knowledge, such as Deus group, Washington Township etc.
(Elliot) prepares for sleep, he tells Mr Robot the parts of the plan that he deems pertinent, and instructs him to shepherd this new Elliot, who knows nothing about the alters or his real past, through 5/9 and what they had planned as stage 2. And so we come to the start of the series, Elliot wakes up on the train after (Elliot) prepares for "sleep", Elliot recalls not going to Angela's party, that was (Elliot). His meeting at Ron's coffee? That might have been (Elliot) as Elliot was only born the day he started talking to us, hello friend. He acts very differently with Ron, looks him in the eye, is confident, speaks clearly and quickly. I firmly believe this was (Elliot) having one last hurrah before going away for a while. I will skip to Elliot and Mr Robot having their first real conversation, Mr Robot tells Elliot about his "father" who stole and went to prison etc. I think this will have some relevance. Whatever it is, it will make that speech play completely differently. Anyway, pay attention to Mr Robot in that scene, Elliot is asking who he is, why he has been following him, Mr Robot gets this look, like he is at the same time disgusted and impressed. To me, it's almost unmistakable, he knows exactly what (Elliot) has planned for Elliot, who by definition has no idea what is coming.
Mr Robot is impressed that (Elliot) actually pulled it off, as he had been probing up to that point and wasn't sure if it worked or not, this confirmed to him that everything was going to plan, and he doesn't like the plan, he likes the hack etc, but the plan involves hurting another Elliot, an innocent Elliot, and he is only on board with that because, as he said (Elliot) is his "god" (as in he created him) and his word is gospel. To continue, the plan more or less is trundling along nicely, despite jail, forced overdose and a whole host of setbacks, Elliot came through and figured out a way to win. The whole reason he was created, fulfilled. The one thing that (Elliot) had not counted on, was Vera forcing his creation to face the torture of his childhood memories, which he was never supposed to see, Mr Robot was there to make sure of that, but Vera forced the situation of reckoning his past.
"Now that his task against the Deus Group is completed, we can guess about the ending of the show: (Elliot) has been seduced by WR's project, and he did all of this so that he could gain control of his machine. The problem is, whether (Elliot) hasn't dealt with his past, we will see the final face off between these two vying for ultimate control, with Elliot coming off the victor, by simply not buying WR's bullshit and being strong enough to actually destroy the machine, which (Elliot) most certainly wants to control. And so, as Quaid ended up defeating Hauser and freeing Mars, so too will Elliot defeat (Elliot) and make the right choice when the time comes. I have a feeling that Mr Robot will become one of the all time great shows as people will hear the ending didn't suck like most shows, and I genuinely believe that this show is one for the ages, before its time and also long overdue."
"The one thing every person has is regret," Price tells Whiterose. "You weaponize that, and then you use that weapon against them, to destroy them. But here's the thing I realized as of late. With Angela, it didn't work. Angela lives on in the lives of the people who loved her, and that love — that love — fuels their unwavering resolve to turn the tables to destroy you." "Phillip Price lived his life with a kind of self-confidence that was epic, and then suddenly, after Angela, he's thrown into doubt," says Michael Cristofer. "That was the key to me: 'Is this right? Is this wrong? What have I done?' There were plenty of moments that reflected those questions. What's being proven to him is that he may have been wrong. The success of his life, thanks to his bargain with the devil in Whiterose, it all begins to crumble, and then he finds his way. It's funny: in his doubt, after four seasons without a scene with Rami, Price in his doubt goes and saves Elliot, and he goes in circles for a little while, but he ultimately joins forces with him to take down Whiterose. Number one, he was stalling, so the hack could happen. Number two, he knew he was dead.
Number three, because in the previous scene Whiterose conjures Angela to pretend she's alive, it just triggered that recognition in him about all of those other people who surrounded her and loved her. That's pretty good writing, you know?" Cristofer paints the following picture of the final arc: "I said to Sam after we read through all of [the scripts], and then I finally heard [the finale], I think he's managed to do the journey of the hero, and not the Joseph Campbell one, but literally Homer. It's Ulysses in The Odyssey. It's the man separated from himself who has to journey to find his way back to himself.
I think you'll know when you see these last few episodes, whether I'm right or not. There are so many parallels to The Odyssey…but it's all inadvertent; Sam had no idea what I was talking about! But you imitate it inadvertently, because it's so accurate in so many ways. A classic is something you keep going back to. Although the ending is satisfying, you never quite know how you got there. So you go back and you read it again. You go back to the movie and watch it again. You ask: 'How did I get there? How did I get to that place?' And of course, that's the journey. I hope it all goes well for the next three episodes — because on paper, I think it worked. It's a very, very complex and interesting ending to this story." Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com
