A month after 5/9, Elliot has settled in his new routine in exile at his mother's house, while the powers that be attempt to calm the chaos, now officially attributed to Tyrell and fsociety. However, the feds are investigating Gideon as an accomplice, and he pleads for Elliot to come clean about his likely role in setting him up as the fall guy.
Despite his efforts, Elliot is still terrorized by Mr. Robot, including vivid hallucinations of being shot in the head, and haunted by Tyrell's fate — he remembers Tyrell was with him at fsociety on the night of the attack, but Mr. Robot won't provide any more information. Meanwhile, Elliot's still talking to Krista, but he will not let You, his imaginary friend, know what they discussed. Why, when you're still keeping secrets from him?
In the outside world, Darlene and an expanded fsociety plan their next move. They hack the smart home of Susan Jacobs, the general counsel for E Corp, in order to drive her out and set up a new base of operations. Their next scheme: Hack and encrypt E Corp's complete financial records for a $5.9 million ransom, to be delivered in cash by an actual E Corp executive. Scott Knowles volunteers, planning to face down the bastards himself.
Daydream, I fell asleep amid the flowers, for a couple of hours...
- Achilles in His Tent: Elliot has gone into a self-imposed exile to nullify Mr. Robot's influence.
- Agitated Item Stomping: Darlene does this to a fsociety member's phone after he takes a selfie with it, delivering a Cathartic Scream on the final stomp.
- Apocalypse How: 5/9 has caused a class 5 societal disruption, with many countries (including the United States) entering the deepest economical depression ever observed. In this particular episode, we see that Bank of E has restricted the withdrawal amount for their clients to a measly fifty dollars, forcing guerrilla markets to open in the streets. That is not even counting the civil unrest and widespread bankruptcies.
- Arc Words: "Control is an illusion."
- Because I'm Good At It: Angela justifies her continued presence at E Corp to Antara by saying that she belongs there and is actually respected for her work. Antara throws this back in Angela's face, insinuating she is just picking a different flavor of the proverbial Kool-Aid to drink.
- Destination Defenestration: We are shown the immediate aftermath of Elliot's window accident in a flashback.
- Empty Shell: Angela's demeanor can only be described as catatonic, now that she has fully entrenched herself within E Corp.
- Fighting from the Inside: Elliot and Mr. Robot are battling each other for control, and have been doing so for quite a while.
- Gaslighting: Mr. Robot repeatedly tries to weaken Elliot's resolve by implicating him as the responsible party for everything that is going on in the setting (including Gideon being set up), thereby playing on his paranoia about being in control.
- Haunted House: The hack of Susan Jacobs' smart house plays out like an attack by some digital poltergeist, with each "haunting" escalating in severity.
- Intermission: An "Intermission" card appears at the end of Part 1.
- Meaningful Background Event: As Susan Jacobs goes for her morning jog, you can spot Darlene sitting at the fountain where Susan passes.
- Mind Rape: As we later find out in his journal, Elliot is periodically subjected to this by Mr. Robot through vivid hallucinations of being attacked.
- Unreliable Narrator: Elliot, unsurprisingly. However, Elliot actually invokes this and accuses us of being complicit in hiding crucial information from him. This ultimately leads to us being deliberately kept in the dark about what he and Krista discussed in their session.
- You Are in Command Now: After Elliot goes into exile, Darlene assumes the responsibility of leading fsociety.
