Who Is Mr. Robot’s Landlord? Recap of Season Four “411 Exit”

Hello friend...

I have been writing about Mr. Robot for a very long time. You can read all my earlier writing about the show using this guide.

We have finally come down to this one final season, hopefully, we will get answers to many pressing questions (I put together this list of questions in advance of the final season)

You can also follow me on Reddit (I am ypsifactj48, I usually hang around r/Mr.Robot and the Black Mirror and Orange Is the New Black rooms.

If you have not watched every episode of Mr. Robot or read Red Wheelbarrow this could contain spoilers *Spoiler Alert*

Endless War

So, I used to suggest that Mr. Robot was first and foremost Sam Esmail’s response to the last scene in Fight Club. Tonight, As the Washington Township Facility goes into meltdown, Mr. Robot turns to Elliot and says, “It's an exciting time in the world.”

Which seems more or less to be a call and response to the last line on Fight Club (as the world's banks literally collapse):

“You met me at a very strange time in my life.”

Who knows if I was right, but so it is.

The Washington Township Facility melts down, a lot of people (maybe everybody) dies and Elliot wakes up in a parallel universe in the room of Elliot Alderson, if I am understanding the sequencing correctly, Elliot from our story arrived in a different timeline of a different Elliot Alderson and showed up just in time to meet his parallel universe counterpoint.

Of course, prior to Elliot 1 meeting up with Elliot 2, we got to see how things were going in the alternative timeline. Elliot is the CEO of Allsafe, he is marrying Angela 2, and he has just landed the biggest possible client in F-Corp. 

Anyway, way back at the beginning of Season 3, I suggested this was all possible:

One possible solution is parallel universes, and (oddly enough) guess what was mentioned in the first few minutes of Eps 3.0 by a group walking through the WTF? Yup, you guessed it, parallel universes. Anyway, the WTF modified to become a fusion reactor could allow us to visit parallel universes and to time travel backward (in other words, to visit any moment in time, in a parallel and interacting universe). Also, a particle accelerator is also one of the methods that could create fusion power."

I also said Sam probably would not go this direction because to do so would go against Occam’s Razor and turn what has to this point been a human story into an entirely different kind of story.

But, in a sense, Sam told most of the human story first and then unleashed the science fiction.

Also, while ‘whiterose’ is dead, another ‘whiterose’ likely lives in this new universe. One hopes - given her leap of faith to end her life during this episode - that she is the person she should have always been in this new universe. There is also a parallel universe Turell Wellick who is head of F-Corp. Just like our old friend Tyrell, he is asking if Elliot is “with him.”

Another odd twist, in this timeline Edward, is the “Dad of the Year,” literally everything Elliot would have wanted in his father.

It is also possible that his friend has always been Elliot in this other timeline and that now, he is sitting down with his friend and asking him what he wants.

At the very least, Elliot 2 seems to be able to sense disturbances from Elliot 1.

But, oddly enough, and somewhat disturbing, in this parallel universe, Elliot is an only child. Which means it is not precisely a parallel universe. And this matters because Elliot (Elliot 1) said something beautiful about Darlene to ‘whiterose’ before her suicide. Elliot said:

“...but then, there are some people out there, and it doesn't happen a lot, they refuse to let you hate them, they refuse to let you, the really special ones they are relentless, they take your hate and care about you anyway, they don't abandon you no matter how many reasons you give them. You want to know why? Because they feel something that I can't. They love me. and for all the pain I've been through that heals me, Not instantly, but it heals”

The person who was always relentlessly there for him was Darlene and I suspect her absence in this new universe will matter a great deal to Elliot. He will not be able to enjoy his new freedom in a world where Darlene doesn’t exist.

And then there is also the two Elliot problem. Not only did Elliot meet his alternate self, and inserted himself in this new reality, but he does not have an alternative universe to return to (he is dead in the other timeline). I also (try to) explain how this was possible in that same article a few years ago (some people have theorized that it is possible): You could use the particle collider to create the time-travel itself, so, Elliot and ‘whiterose’ were inside the atom smasher. Maybe the meltdown didn’t happen on Elliot’s earth but he was inside the heart of the particle collider (explaining the glow when the door was opened). 

The Past We Have Been Shackled To

Whatever the method, Elliot 1 was inserted in a parallel timeline.

But, unlike in Infinity War, which had a very novel solution to this problem (putting everything back to the way it was prior to the disruption in the timeline), Elliot has no way back, no infinity stones to replace to heal the rift, and no Delorean (that we know of). 

There is also the problem of perfection being the enemy of the good. 

Apparently, in this parallel universe, both Elliot and Tyrell are trapped in good lives. Both have everything they want, but, for some reason, what they have seems empty. They both feel guilty for feeling trapped in perfection in a way that seems hollow ...I mean for goodness sake they are both CEO’s of successful companies and Elliot is about to be married to the girl of his dreams. 

But it is very clear that he is not happy, he is almost haunted by empty perfection. 

They are all Stepford Robots. Pod-Society. They are living in the first season of “The Good Place”

What ‘whiterose’ never seems to have contemplated was that despite all the drama, our fucked up timeline might be worth all the pain and suffering. While the grass may seem greener on the other side of a parallel universe, it is quite possible that our lives are better because they are not perfect.

Be careful what you wish for...

Oh, I should probably also mention Ollie did a nice take on “Toady Biff” from the end of Back to the Future in Elliot’s parallel universe.

This is going to be one hell of an interesting last two hours of television.

Fun Society

Every week, I will write another recap until we finish this journey together.

If you have any interest in criminal justice reform I am also the host of the Decarceration Nation Podcast

If you like Orange Is the New Black, you can read my recaps of that series using this guide.

If you like  Black Mirror, you can read my recaps of that series using this guide.