(The episode begins with a “previously on” segment)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
What I'm about to tell you is top secret.
(Tyrell and Elliot's first meeting at Elliot's cubicle at Allsafe)
TYRELL
Oh, hi. Tyrell Wellick.
(Shayla and Elliot's drug deal at Elliot's apartment)
SHAYLA
You wanna do these together then? - Pure molly.
ELLIOT
No, Shayla.
(The Allsafe hack)
LLOYD
I need you to come to Allsafe.
sh**, they're in the network.
(Elliot looking at the code from the hack and the society message)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
This is it. fsociety. They're telling me to leave it here.
(Mr Robot and Elliot's meeting on the subway)
ELLIOT
Who are you?
MR ROBOT
I think you should come with me.
(Mr Robot taking Elliot to the Fun Society Arcade, where fsociety meets. Darlene is outside, smoking)
MR ROBOT
Yeah, that's Darlene.
(Elliot is at a meeting at Allsafe with Angela, Gideon, Colby, and Tyrell, along with other Evil Corp execs. Elliot switches the files at the last second, and Tyrell sees this)
MR ROBOT
You are gonna modify the DAT file. Put Colby's IP in there. You do that, you'll have set in motion the largest revolution the world will ever see.
NEWS ANCHOR
Sources have confirmed the hacks were in part tied to Colby's terminal.
(Elliot is walking when a black SUV stops beside him. Many large men in dark suits approach him lead him to the car)
MR SUTHERLAND
Sir, step inside the car.
(Elliot is lead to a conference room, but the screen is blurry. It focuses on Tyrell's face)
TYRELL
Bonsoir, Elliot.
(The “previously on” segment ends as the episode continues where the first one let off. Elliot sits at a table opposite a series of lawyers. At the center of the lawyers is Tyrell Wellick)
TYRELL
"Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank, but give a man a bank, and he can rob the world." It's a bit of a silly expression, actually. A little reductive, but still I like it, for the same reason most people hate it, because to me it means that power belongs to the people that take it. Nothing to do with their hard work, strong ambitions, or rightful qualifications, no. The actual will to take is often the only thing that's necessary. I'm sorry to bring you in like this. Technically what we're doing might be considered illegal, which is why I'm surrounded by eleven of our most annoying lawyers. Elliot Alderson I want to offer you a position here at Evil Corp. I want you to head our cybersecurity division, except I can't officially offer you anything since we have this non-compete with your employer, Allsafe, but if you do this of your own accord when you do this you'll be a multi-millionaire within the next five years. What do you say?
ELLIOT
Can I… Can I think about it?
TYRELL
Gentlemen, I need the room.
ASSORTED EVIL CORP LAWYERS
Yes, thank you…. Yes, yes.
(The lawyers all leave the room, and Tyrell and Elliot are left alone. Tyrol begins the monologue seated, but as he speaks, he stands, and walks towards Elliot. They are standing very close )
TYRELL
You know, Evil Corp has just named me interim CTO. It won't be long until it's official. I will be the youngest executive this company has ever seen. I should track down these hackers out there just to thank them. In a way, it's kind of, um What's the word in English? Serendipitous? Right? You know, by the end of the quarter, we're going to revamp our entire network and consolidate our security protocols. We're going to handle everything internally, which means all of our vendors, including Allsafe, will be cut loose. And it's no secret that once Allsafe loses us as a client, they'll be fini. And when that happens, I want you to be where you belong: here with me. This is an important choice you're making, Elliot. I just wanted you to know all the facts before you made your final decision.
ELLIOT
I think I'm happy where I am.
(Tyrell walks towards the window, dejected. He looks more like someone who was dumped)
TYRELL
Well, I thought I'd ask.
(The scene changes to the black SUV from earlier. Mr. Sutherland drives Elliot back to his apartment. He hands Elliot a business card)
MR SUTHERLAND
Call this number if you need to get in touch with Mr. Wellick. You can call me Mr. X. Come on, you've never seen JFK? Oliver Stone movie? Sir, I gotta be honest. That's embarra**ing. Do yourself a favor and watch it. And pay, for Christ's sake. Anyway, you can call me Mr. Sutherland for now. Don't hesitate to reach me when you're ready. We're always close by.
(Mr Sutherland drops Elliot off in front of his building and drives away. Vera. Shayla's supplier, is standing outside his car, groping Shayla. She is not into it, and trying to walk away. Vera is tall, wiry, and bald, wearing an ill fitting wife beater. He is not a good guy. His coworkers are waiting in the car)
VERA
I'm gonna set a date right now
SHAYLA
No, we're not.
VERA
For later.
SHAYLA
I gotta go, thank you very much.
VERA
You gonna have me up?
SHAYLA
No.
VERA
Gonna have me up?
SHAYLA
No, stop.
VERA
I'm coming up.
SHAYLA
No, you're not coming up. Another time. Okay, I gotta go.
VERA
Come on.
(Vera gets into the car as Elliot walks by. Shayla goes towards Elliot as Vera drives away. Elliot and Shayla enter the building and approach their apartments as they talk)
ELLIOT
Everything all right?
SHAYLA
Yeah, he's just a creeper. I hate it when your suppliers can't take a hint. Hey, is your radiator messed up? Because it's like 3,000 degrees in my apartment. Hey, are you okay? You seem off.
ELLIOT
While we're here, you mind if I reup?
SHAYLA
A little early to reup, don't you think?
ELLIOT
I'm deviating from the schedule a little.
SHAYLA
Whoa, never thought I'd see the day, Mr. Stricty Pants, but okie dokie.
ELLIOT
Oh, yeah.
SHAYLA
sh**, I'm out of the other ones.
ELLIOT
No, just the morphine. It's good.
SHAYLA
Uh, no, you made me promise never to give you these unless I had your Subs.
ELLIOT
Shayla.
SHAYLA
No, Elliot. Promises matter, okay? I take this sh** to heart.
ELLIOT
Oh, my God.
SHAYLA
Fine, but you have to promise me you won't do a lot until I get your withdrawal meds, okay? I'll go see Fernando later or something. No, you have to say it.
ELLIOT
I promise.
(The scene changes to Elliot on his computer. He is hacking Tyrell Wellick)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
Hey, man. What, you think I forgot about you? Trust me, I need you now more than ever. We gotta get to work. Hacking Tyrell Wellick, you'd think it'd be tricky, but it wasn't Evil Corp's corporate mail servers, they haven't patched anything since Shellshock. He doesn't even use two-step verification. His pa**word was just his wife's maiden name and Sweden's independence date, 6-6. One six away from the obvious, but still, this is bad noob practice. These emails His life it's nice, happy, perfect. This doesn't make sense. Did he know I was going to hack him? Did he let me? I'm gonna need to wipe everything.
(Elliot, in a moment of paranoia, takes apart parts of his computer. He puts a few memory chips in his microwave and turns it up. After melting a bit, some of these parts start on fire. The scene shifts to Elliot out shopping to replace the pieces he just destroyed. He snorts some morphine while out)
I know, I know, taking more than I should. I'm breaking my rule, but come on, it's an off week. Come on.
(The scene shifts to Elliot walking Flipper, his dog, who refuses to go to the bathroom)
ELLIOT
Yo. My man, you gotta You gotta deuce it out over here, all right? Yo, you gotta do your business up in here, all right? Hey You got this. You got this.
(The scene shifts once again, to Elliot walking into work. He is a mess and very high. He takes morphine in the lobby before walking into work, and then Gideon's office)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
Terry Colby, the chief technology officer of Terry Colby's arrest is on everyone's mind. Screen. Might as well be the same thing nowadays. How do I go back to work after this? How can I focus on anything? And when's Mr. Robot going to contact me again? What's he waiting for? Did I just destroy a man's life for no reason?
GIDEON
I'm gonna talk to HR about a salary bump for you.
ELLIOT
Oh, please.
GIDEON
No, no. Take the raise. It's not gonna be much, but it's the best I can do right now. Elliot You saved the company. Now Why didn't you tell me about the DAT file? You could've come in here at any time before the meeting to say you found something, but you didn't. I gotta be honest. I found that kind of curious.
ELLIOT
Yeah, I didn't know what I had. Could've easily been a junk file.
GIDEON
C'mon You're never sure about anything unless there's something to be sure about.
ELLIOT
Maybe you don't know me that well.
GIDEON
Regardless, I still need you to stay on it, now more than ever. I mean, who knows what these fsociety hackers are going to do next.
ELLIOT (V.O.)
What did he just say?
ELLIOT
What did you just say?
GIDEON
The ones working with Colby.Who knows how deep these data dumps are going to get, and Evil Corp is --
ELLIOT
What're you talking about?
GIDEON
There's a twist. You're usually the one a step ahead of me. They hit the mother lode during the breach. Potentially terabytes worth of emails and files. They're threatening to dump everything unless the FBI frees Colby. They released the video this morning.
(Gideon pulls up the fsociety video on his computer, in which a person wearing a suit, a mask, and a top hat, and carrying a cane, speaks into the camera. The voice is obviously distorted, and gender is impossible to identify
DISTORTED VOICE
Hello, Evil Corp. We are fsociety. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your financial abuse of the poor; your corruption of governments; your cover-ups of the murder of innocent, ordinary citizens, all for the sake of a profit. This is why we at fsociety have decided you must die. We are malicious and hostile. We do not compromise. We are relentless. We will not stop until every tentacle of your evil monstrosity is sliced off at the nerve. but we are also not without mercy. Our latest hack was our last warning. Meet our demands, and we will consider not destroying you. First, release our leader Terry Colby from your illegitimate prison immediately. Second, release all the people of the world from your even more illegitimate prisons of debt. Third, dissolve your corporation and donate all your a**ets to charities around the world. This proposal is non-negotiable. The people are realizing they don't have freedom of choice so long as you exist. The people are waking up, no longer accepting your economic slavery. Meet these demands, or we will k** you. Consider yourself warned.
(The video ends.)
ELLIOT
Play it again.
(The scene changes to crowded street. A man, Cisco, is trying to give out CDs. Cisco is mid-20s, white, and wearing an oversized white hoodie.)
CISCO
Yo, yo, yo, yo, my album just dropped. Yo, please buy my CD. Only cost you 20 likes. Yo, it'll give you the feels, y'all, I swear. The CD's free. All's I ask is you Tweet. Help my social media outreach. You know, be like, "I want to set up this meeting. It's like a very, like a...”
(The scene shifts to Elliot's apartment. Ollie and Angela arrive)
OLLIE
Oh, Elliot! Hey, congrats, man. Allsafe is all over the internet today because of you. Dude, we should celebrate. We have this Groupon for four at Morton's on Thursday. This other couple we were going with totally bailed. Why don't you come with? Their steaks are bada**.
ANGELA
It's $29.95 I'm not sure that Elliot would like that.
ELLIOT
Yeah, okay.
OLLIE
Yeah? Okay. Awesome, man. And, hey, why don't we make it a double date? I heard that you had a girlfriend.
ANGELA
Ollie, you weren't supposed to say anything.
OLLIE
Babe, it's cool. Elliot's okay with it.
ELLIOT
Yeah, okay, sure. I have to go. Um, my neighbor's complaining about the dog barking again.
OLLIE
Since when does he have a dog?
(Ollie and Angela leave Elliot's apartment building, and walk towards the crowded street where Cisco is handing out CDs. Ollie eventually takes a CD)
CISCO
Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. You look like a beautiful couple. Yo, my album just dropped, You like rap, hip-hop? Yo, this sh** is deep, lyrical, poetic. Yo, your girl will like this, my man, I swear.
OLLIE
Come on, bro, you've been outside our building for two weeks now. All right, you know, I'll take it, if you leave us alone.
CISCO
Thank you, thank you, man, thank you.
OLLIE
And I'll tweet, but only if I like it, all right? I only have 48 followers, but it's growing.
CISCO
No doubt, no doubt.
OLLIE
Some tastemakers in there so I feel you, I feel you.
CISCO
Yeah.
OLLIE
All right.
CISCO
Yo, I appreciate it, man, really. You guys have a good day.
OLLIE
Yeah, you too.
CISCO
Thank you so much. Check track two out.
OLLIE
Track two. All right, man.
(The scene shifts to Elliot in his apartment. He is terrified)
ELLIOT
This was never part of the plan. Data dumps? Releasing Terry Colby? None of this makes sense. Need to cut off all ties with fsociety. Need to disconnect. We need to call in sick and lie low for a--
(Elliot hears his shower running, so goes into his bathroom and pulls the curtain. Inside is Darlene, showering. She slams the curtain shut, turns off the water, and wraps into a towel)
DARLENE
Dude! Jesus Christ! I am naked, a**hole! Don't stare at me!
ELLIOT
Why the hell are you in my shower?
DARLENE
Well, I was waiting for you. You were supposed to come last night. Did you forget?
ELLIOT
Come? Where?
(Darlene rifles through his things, and grabs a shirt of his, putting on clothes and then abandoning the towel)
DARLENE
It's fine, everyone's coming later. I'm stealing your clothes. My dress has cum stains on it. Jesus, I am just messing with you. My stuff is just in the wash. I'm gonna borrow this for the time being. Oh, by the way, your dog shat on your bed. You gotta walk that thing.
(Elliot takes Flipper out of his apartment. He knocks on Shayla's door. She answers, sticking her head out of the crack of the door. Darlene follows Elliot to the lobby area.)
ELLIOT
Hey, please take Flipper for a while. She probably needs a walk or something. She keeps sh**ting everywhere.
SHAYLA
Of course she needs a walk, Elliot. She's a friggin' dog.
DARLENE
Yo, I want to stop and get some froyo before we go.
ELLIOT
Uh, I'll be back later. I owe you
SHAYLA
Yeah, big time.
(Elliot hands Flipper's leash to Shayla. The scene shifts. Elliot and Darlene are now on the subway. She is chattering at a mile a minute, and Elliot is not really paying attention)
ELLIOT
How do you know where I live?
DARLENE
Why wouldn't I know where you live?
ELLIOT
I don't know. I don't know where you live.
DARLENE
Well, I don't live anywhere at the present. The douche I was dating proposed to me, can you believe? I mean, what an a**hole. Anyways, we got into this huge fight, and—
ELLIOT (V.O.)
What the hell am I doing? This chick is out of her mind batsh** crazy. I gotta go back, tell Gideon everything. He'll understand, right? He'll know what to do.
DARLENE
--It's whatevs. He'll take me back. He's just gotta get over this whole "love is forever" bullsh**. I'll do my disappearing act for a minute, and then he'll come to his senses.
SUBWAY V.O.
Stand clear of the closing door.
DARLENE
You know, it's our thing. Quick!
(Elliot sees suspicious-looking men in dark suits, who appear to be watching him and Darlene)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
Can she see them, too?
DARLENE
What? I like to stay on my toes. Speaking of, that's, like, one of the most annoying things--
ELLIOT (V.O.)
But what if Tyrell finds out? What will he do? sh**, there's basically no scenario in which I'm not getting k**ed or going to jail.
DARLENE
--Because I wanted a turtle, and he was like, "No" I might need to crash with you for a couple of nights. That's cool, right? Seriously? Fine! I'll crash at Mobley's. Don't love dogs anyway. Especially ones that sh** in your bed. I mean, how do you live like that, honestly? How do you go to sleep when you know that there's--
ELLIOT (V.O.)
For all we know, I could be walking into a trap right now. We could be dead the second I walk through that door.
(Elliot and Darlene arrive at the Fun Society Arcade. Trenton, Mobley, and Darlene are all working behind computers, while Mr. Robot is playing a shooting arcade game. They all get up from their work to applaud the entrance of Darlene and Elliot)
TRENTON, MOBLEY, AND ROMERO ASSORTEDLY
Come on, kid.
We got big things in store.
Big things.
Man of the hour.
Take a curtsy.
MR ROBOT
Goddamn ducks.
TRENTON, MOBLEY, AND ROMERO ASSORTEDLY
Hey, hey, man! What's oh.
sh**, sorry, sorry, dude.
Um, okay.
Anyway, just, awesome work, man.
Really awesome.
Right on, man.
Right on.
- Real cool.
- Great.
So now that we're all done going down on each other, can we please hear the plan? Where are we at with Steel Mountain? If I'm not mistaken, these lines aren't 100% safe yet, and we still haven't made the Colby project disappear.
Seriously? It's been weeks.
Any links or traces would have been owned by now.
The lines are clean, Boss, I swear.
Thank you.
I mean, um if it makes you feel better, Romero and I can check
Great! Make me feel great.
MR ROBOT
I'm gonna hang back over here, collect my thoughts.
(Mr Robot and Elliot go to the office in the arcade to talk privately)
ELIOT
What's her deal?
MR ROBOT
Ah, she's a complicated woman. Most malware coders are. Am I right?
ELLIOT
She showed up at my apartment. Why does she know where I live?
MR ROBOT
Let's not focus on her. That'll be like entering a bad K-hole you'll never wake up from. Instead, I need you to focus on the next phase of our project. Comet, the natural gas plant up around Albany? We're gonna blow it up.
ELLIOT
Why would you blow—
MR ROBOT
Comet plant's right next to Steel Mountain. Which, as you know, is the off-site and data storage facility for every corporation in the S&P, including everyone's favorite -
ELLIOT
Evil Corp.
MR ROBOT
Bingo! You're gonna destroy their tape backups.
They're gonna be looking out for something like that.
They've been on high alert ever since the hack.
From what I heard, they've caught their hacker.
- Haven't they? - No, they haven't.
ELLIOT
Tyrell Wellick knows.
MR ROBOT
What they want him to know! He's a corporate robot just like the rest of them. Besides, the entire company is gonna be reeling from all the data dumps we've got in store for them and man, do we have some goodies. Some good old-fashioned executive racism, s**ism, fascism. Trust me, we are gonna "ism" so much all over them they won't be able to see straight. And asking for Colby's release as ransom was genius. That'll only make his spotlight bigger, keeping it off us. That neat little ditty was Trenton's idea. She may look innocent, but I'd be careful. She's got some Allah Akbar in her. And while all that's going on, you will use your Allsafe security clearance to hack the Comet PLC, increase the pressure, causing a gas pipeline explosion making Steel Mountain go kablooey along with Evil Corp's soul.
ELLIOT
They know about all this?
MR ROBOT
You're the first.
ELLIOT
Workers? Anyone living around the plant They all die?
MR ROBOT
We'll give them a head start. Sound some alarms. They'll be fine.
ELLIOT
You're blowing up a gas pipeline.
MR ROBOT
The world is a dangerous place, Elliot, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. This is war.
ELLIOT
People will die.
MR ROBOT
C'est la mort. And once we blow up the pipeline, Darlene's worm will kick into high gear at the U.S. data center which you helped to us install, thank you very much. The redundant backups at their eastern data center in China the Dark Army is covering us on that.
ELLIOT
Dark Army? Why, man? They got no code.They hack for anyone: terrorists, North Korea, Iran, Russia…
MR ROBOT
Which means they hate U.S. capitalism just as much as anyone. Last but not least. Steel Mountain. The hacker's dilemma. What to do when a bunch of data you want to destroy is completely off the grid?
ELLIOT
I'm not k**ing anyone.
MR ROBOT
Tell me one thing, Elliot. Are you a one or a zero? That's the question you have to ask yourself. Are you a yes or a no? Are you going to act or not? Yo you've been staring at a computer screen way too long, homie.
ELLIOT
Life's not that binary.
MR ROBOT
Isn't it? Sure, there are grays but when you come right down to it, at its core, beneath every choice, there's either a one or a zero. You either do something or you don't. You walk out that door, you've decided to do nothing, to say no, which means you do not come back. You leave, you are no longer a part of this. You become a zero. If you stay, if you want to change the world, you become a yes. You become a one. So, I'll ask you again: are you a one or a zero?
ELLIOT
An innocent man is in prison because of what I did.
MR ROBOT
Come on, let's not kid ourselves! This has nothing to do with Colby. This isn't even about my revolution. This is more than that for you. This is about how those ba*tards slowly k**ed your father and how you wished he'd done something about it. But he didn't. Because he was a zero, just like you're being right now.
ELLIOT
f** you.
MR ROBOT
Disappearing again?
ELLIOT
I'm not k**ing anyone. Leave me out of this.
MR ROBOT
You don't get to disappear from this. We can do it with or without you, but you're a part of it either way! Yeah, even your stupid hoodie can't protect you, b**h!
(Elliot leaves the arcade)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
This was a mistake. I've gotta turn them in. Should I turn them in? Will I get into trouble? sh**, she's right. I'm culpable now. No, we're culpable. You're in this with me, so start thinking of solutions now.
(Elliot enters his apartment building and sees Shayla's door ajar. He enters her apartment to see Vera sitting in just his underwear, smoking a pipe)
ELLIOT
Shayla? Yo, Shayla.
VERA
Yo, bro. Can I help you with something?
ELLIOT
I, uh just need to talk to Shayla.
VERA
Oh, your girl. She in the tub.
ELLIOT
Shayla.
VERA
Yo, she'll be out in a minute. Can sit and wait if you want.
ELLIOT
I think we should check on her, make sure she's all right.
VERA
You a funny dude. I like you. Don't be rude. Sit down and chill. No, that's right. You only do this. Only n***a I know that take withdrawal meds while he using. That's smart. Probably even convinced yourself you ain't an addict. Oh, sh**. Forgot to introduce myself. I'm Fernan…
ELLIOT
Fernando Vera, Shayla's supplier. One of the worst human beings I've ever hacked. His pa**word? “eatadick6969.” Aside from the ma**ive amounts of money he spends on p**n and webcams, he does all his drug transactions through emails, IMs, Twitter… The fact that the cops haven't caught him yet is beyond me. If they had half a brain cell, they'd be able to crack his gang's simplistic code, if it can even be called that. After only a couple of hours of timing his tweets with related news articles, I figured out that "biscuit" and "clickety" clearly referenced guns. "Food," "sea shells" or "gas" for bullets. And the ultimate: “ ock to sleep early.” I haven't made the direct connection to a hit yet, but the math of guns plus bullets usually adds up to one thing. I've thought about turning him in, but he's Shayla's only supplier. I take him down, I lose my d**, and with everything going on right now, I can't have that.
VERA
You get that, though? Anyway, bro, I ain't nothing to worry about. Just making a drop for you. What's your name, anyway?
ELLIOT
Elliot.
VERA
What it mean? What, you ain't never Googled it? Man, you gotta do that. The meaning of a person's name is important, bro. Yo, she good! She good. Trust me. Took care of that sh** myself. You remind me of me when I was younger, depressed and sullen. Matter of fact, tried to k** myself, a couple of times. Never could get that sh** right. Biology wasn't my strong suit. I hated myself, man. Still do. Thought that sh** was a weakness for a long time. Then I realized that sh** was my power. People walk around, act like they know what hate means. Nah, no one does, until you hate yourself. I mean truly hate yourself. That's power. You ain't scared of me, are you? That's good. Means I didn't waste my time making friends with you. You don't really need these, do you? Man of your courage can last through a little withdrawal. Ya know, you the only reason why I met Shayla. I'm the only n***a in town carrying everything, including your precious Suboxone. So, in a weird way, I should be thanking you. You brought her to me. Your star orbiting with mine, gravitationally, brought me the love of my life, Elliot. I mean, this, us? Being here? This has beautiful meaning. But make no mistake, that girl in there is mine. I don't know what I'd do without her. Now, I don't know what kind of arrangement you had with her before, but now that we friends I trust you respect this boundary. Feel me? A dude earlier today gave me that same look. Only thing I gotta say is, there's a smart time to be scared, bro, and a stupid time.
(Vera leaves, and Elliot frantically attempts to get into Shayla's locked bathroom. He picks the lock and sees Shayla bloody and bruised in the full bathtub. She is unconscious)
ELLIOT
Shayla?
ELLIOT (V.O.)
The lock pick. Every hacker's favorite sport. The perfect system to crack, mostly because unlike virtual systems, when you break it, you can feel it. You can see it. You can hear it.
ELLIOT
Shayla!
SHAYLA
Hey.
ELLIOT
Shayla. Wake up.
SHAYLA
Mm. What happened?
ELLIOT
You okay? Why was that a**hole here?
SHAYLA
Why am I in the tub?
ELLIOT
I don't know, um
SHAYLA
I told him I needed your pills. He came over. We smoked a little.
ELLIOT
You remember having s** with him?
SHAYLA
What? No.
ELLIOT (V.O.)
But he definitely does.
ELLIOT
Okay, let's go. Get your purse, make sure
SHAYLA
Stop. I'm not going anywhere, okay?
ELLIOT
What do you mean? Oh, he's just gonna get away with it? You can't go back to him. Hey, I don't need the pills. Just find someone else.
SHAYLA
I can't. He gives me a really good deal on the split. I make good money.
ELLIOT (V.O.)
There it is again, the invisible hand at work, controlling us, even if it pushes us past our threshold of pain. It's not gonna stop.
ELLIOT
What if he does it again?
SHAYLA
Promise me you won't do anything? I'm serious, Elliot. There's nothing to be done here. It's not like I have a choice. Hey, would you mind sleeping here tonight?
(Elliot goes to his computer and begins pulling everything he has on Vera. He then sends it to the police department)
ELLIOT (V.O.)
Choices. Maybe Mr. Robot's right. That's what this is all about, the yesses and nos of life. But do we decide them or do they decide us? Fernando Vera. I get rid of him, I get rid of my drug dealer's supplier. I get rid of the morphine. And the pain I've been holding in comes rushing out. Sure, I can try to find another dealer, but like Vera said, no one on the streets deals Suboxone. I could go back to digitally counterfeiting scripts, but pharmas spend a lot of dough protecting their wares. Most places only take paper scripts. Continuously getting legit refills isn't realistic, and neither is being a junkie. So I quit cold turkey or let Vera exist. I know what you're thinking. The answer's too obvious. Vera may have been groping Shayla before, but he's graduated to rape. Just like Shayla, he's left me no choice. He can't be allowed to exist anymore.
(The scene changes to Elliot at his therapist's office)
KRISTA
Perhaps we should start with how you're feeling.
ELLIOT
Not good.
KRISTA
What's not good right now?
ELLIOT
Everything.
KRISTA
Humor me with some specifics.
ELLIOT
How do we know if we're in control? That we're not just making the best of what comes at us, and that's it. Trying to constantly pick between two options. Like your two paintings in the waiting room. Or Coke and Pepsi. McDonald's or Burger King? Hyundai or Honda? Hmm. It's all part of the same blur, right? Just out of focus enough. It's the illusion of choice. Half of us can't even pick our own our cable, gas, electric. The water we drink, our health insurance. Even if we did, would it matter? You know, if our only option is Blue Cross or Blue Shield, what the f** is the difference? In fact, aren't they aren't they the same? No, man our choices are prepaid for us, long time ago.
KRISTA
I'm sorry you feel you have no control.
ELLIOT
Thought I was doing something good. I was a part of this project.Thought I was going to be a part of something special.
KRISTA
And now?
ELLIOT
Now It turned out to be a mistake, like everything else. What's the point, right?Might as well, you just do nothing. Might as well do nothing.
KRISTA
You've brought up this issue before, this issue of not feeling like you're in control. Do you remember? When we spoke about your father. You talked about how he chose to do nothing when he was battling his cancer. You told him he could have fought the company that caused it. He could have told people about it. He could have sought better care than what he was getting. Instead, he did nothing. Maybe your father felt the same way as you do now. After all, like you said, what's the point?
ELLIOT
It's different.
KRISTA
What's different is you've found options, Elliot. That's the power you have. That's the control you own. You don't have to just take what life gives you. Come on. Tell me what is going on with you. I cannot help you if you keep me in the dark.
ELLIOT
Shut up! Shut up!
KRISTA
You've got bags under your eyes. You're yelling. You're jittery. For the last month, I have seen you slip into old patterns, old behaviors.
(The scene changes to Ollie and Angela's apartment. Ollie is chatting with his mistress online. Angela anxiously enters the room and he closes the tab)
OLLIE
What is going on?
ANGELA
He's still not answering.
OLLIE
Well, we'll just have to ask him tomorrow. Every time I try to play it or rip it, it just freezes up my computer and spits it back out again.
ANGELA
He's not okay. He was acting so out of it at work today.
OLLIE
Um Are you saying something, babe?
ANGELA
Something's wrong. Should I go over there? And Check in on him?
OLLIE
Uh come on. That's ridiculous. You know he's always been a weirdo, right?
ANGELA
I'm really worried about him.
OLLIE
Um My Arizona buddy Fred hit me up. He wants to grab a drink. Shouldn't take too long.
ANGELA
Okay.
(Scene shifts to Mr Robot on a pier, likely at Coney Island. There are skateboarders around, as well as people just sitting and talking. Elliot walks towards Mr Robot, who is sitting on the edge of a pier)
RANDOM SKATER 1
Nice one, bro.
RANDOM SKATER 2
Nice.
MR ROBOT
“Deep pa**ions, longing. The two of them had never felt such a love, such closeness, such a connection.”
ELLIOT
Found a way to do it without
MR ROBOT
Shh! Sit down.
ELLIOT
I know how to take out the backups without blowing up the pipeline.
MR ROBOT
You know, Elliot, I really feel like we resolved this thing between us. Didn't you walk away?
ELLIOT
I did.
MR ROBOT
Didn't I say that if you walked away, you were no longer a part of this?
ELLIOT
I have a real plan
MR ROBOT
If you want me to let you back in, there's an understanding we have to come to, a debt you have to pay, because, remember, you walked away.
ELLIOT
I thought you didn't believe in debts.
MR ROBOT
Not true. I believe in debts. I believe in erasing them.
ELLIOT
What do you want?
MR ROBOT
I want you to tell me about your father.
ELLIOT
You're not gonna get into my head, man. Your David Koresh sh** isn't gonna work on me.
MR ROBOT
Tell me how he died.
ELLIOT
Why, man? Something tells me you already looked that sh** up anyway.
MR ROBOT
I wanna hear it from you.
ELLIOT
So I do this we go back to the arcade, discuss the plan with the rest of them? I don't know what you want me to say. We were close. Very close. He was my best friend. Worked at Evil Corp his whole life. He was one of the best computer engineers they had. And out of the blue, he got fired. No one knew why. Then one day he told me. He had leukemia. Made me swear to never tell anyone, especially my mom. So I didn't. A few months go by he got sicker and sicker. Finally, I got so worried told my mom. When he found out, he got pissed. Started yelling. I remember I tried to hug him, tell him I'm sorry, and kept shoving me away and shoved me so hard I fell backwards out the window. I fell, and I broke my arm. Never spoke to me after that. Couldn't even look at me. Even the night he died.
MR ROBOT
We good? I understand what it's like to lose a parent. It's heartbreaking. Did you ever think he was right?
ELLIOT
About what? Hurting you that day?
MR ROBOT
For what you did to him? You ever think you deserved it?
ELLIOT
I didn't do anything to him. I was trying to help him.
MR ROBOT
By betraying his trust.
ELLIOT
I was eight years old
MR ROBOT
You didn't commit to the sacred pact you'd formed.