‘Mr. Robot’ Season 3 Finale: Reveals, Reversals and Reconciliations

Just finished binge-watching the whole three seasons. Although I have loved the show, I have found a few things annoying: 1) The economic aftermath of 5/9 is not detailed enough nor dramatic enough. It feels too light. Too unreal. 2) Some relationships are too intermittent, i.e. I would have enjoyed more regular sessions between Elliot and his shrink, and would have welcomed more screen time for Elliot`s romantic relationship with Angela. 3) The way things have gone, it is not plausible for me how the Dark Army has not killed Darlene nor Elliot yet. Maybe, Elliot should have been blackmailing them earlier in the story, shown to have more leverage over them. But this season three barn finale was a bit unbelievable for me, not very credible. I do not want Elliot / Mr Robot's characters to die, but the story almost made their deaths inevitable, and their being still alive incredible.

I'm grateful for Jeremy's commentary, and also other readers who post here. You often fill in the gaps for me. I'm sometimes taken aback at how picky some commenters can be. In grade school we had five channels, and felt lucky to watch Gilligan's Island after school! In syndication! The options of content today are almost an embarrassment of riches.

The Robot is indeed the most enjoyable show on US TV these seasons. It demands thinking! Season 3 finale resolves many threads and feel somewhat satisfying. But it shares one problem with the US House of Card. There ARE many 1% of the 1% and they do NOT all agree. In other words, we are always being manipulated by others. However, they often work at cross purpose and opposite purposes. The idea that the world is run by one Dark Army is no different from the Trilateral Commission or Illuminati theories. While it is great to see the Muslim characters shown to be patsies for a terrorist act, it is hardly creative to set up the new mastermind to be Chinese. Though I have to admit it is great fun to see BD Wong chewing on his role. I hope season 4 brings back the complexity and ambiguity which distinguished this series from season 1. On the casting side, I must congratulate the casting director for bringing in such a wide range of talents. It showcased how effective race blind casting can be - there is more diverse talented actors here than any other shows that I've watched.

I was excited by the energy and promise of the first season till I was not. I stopped watching.

I cried my eyes out when Elliot and Mr. Robot "make peace" great great episode.

Having some patience really payed off this season. I loved Ntimes description of the show as the most urgent. What a trip!

Angela. Red herring? Plot device? Central character? Whatever, she is a disturbed young lady. Love interest? Can't imaging cuddling with her under any circumstances. I think of a favorite description frequently used by my mother, usually when referring to certain other family members: "Crazy and mean with it!" I've got a strong sense it fits Angela. A passing thought: she's got a mommy she hates (Whiterose) and a daddy she hates (Price). If all three ever end up in the same room, I'd put my money on Angela taking out the other two, and possibly herself along with them.

Thank you Jeremy for writing these recaps. And yes, the Irving/Whiterose backstory is a must! I did read that Bobby Cannavale is going to work with Sam Esmail on another series he is starting. Hope you are around to write these for season 4. Till then, I'll be re-watching from the beginning. Hindsight is 20-20 and its so fun to see what was right in front of us the whole time.

This season has been uniquely its own and while not perfect it was far more innovative, engaging and thrilling in ways that put it miles above the competition. It's gonna be a LONG wait till season 4. Much of the mystery of Whiterose was diminished this season and I'm not sure if it was in a good way. If she is no more than a Don Quixote chasing windmills (albiet an extremely competent one) I can't see how that portion of the story will end satisfactorily without something else changing things. I suspect it might be Elliot having planted a back door contingency of some form. I'm happy to see that we're gonna spend more time with Elliot AND Mr. Robot together, I too missed them talking with each other. While it worked to great effect in the run up to the bombings, it's become such an inherent part of the series I don't want to see lost. MVP award by far this season to Irving, he's unsettling in the best/worst ways and I'd be happy to see him return from his sabbatical early. Similarly glad that Leon could return at some point next season. Though he didn't have a whole lot to do this season (aside from remind me about Knight Rider and work as a delivery driver), I think he might be the only character aside from Darlene and Angela who is rooting for Elliot without strings attached. Also yay for Flipper being safe and cared for all throughout this season! I definitely sighed in relief when Elliot was hiding with her next door when the Dark Army showed up.

Wow what a season finale. So much packed into 72 minuets. I've recorded and saved all of this season's episodes so I can watch them again to catch more details. It looked like Dom, Darlene, Santiago et.al. were on the same property where Wellick was stashed earlier this season. Complete with a chopped wood pile. Except they were in the barn instead of the house. I feel really sorry for Dom as she now has become a Dark Army mole. Not many got out of thee alive - somehow Elliot/Mr. Robot still survive. As for Irving - he is just plain creepy. No a Sandals resort is not where I would prefer to go on any vacation. Does Barbados have an extradition agreement with the US? Perhaps Irving will now have the time to finish his novel. The fact that Philip Price is Angela's father makes his actions toward her make sense. When he encountered her for the first time at the security firm did he know she was working there? Somehow i think he did. His decision to hire them is understandable. It was also a revelation that her mother used to work for ECorp. I don't think we knew this before. So Elliot threw himself out of the window how does that explain his Mr. Robot alter ego? I loved the Shepard Fairey's Putin graffiti as well as the scene of Superman spinning the world backward in order to reverse time just like White Rose believes she can do. While Elliot can reverse the 5/9 hack, it is doubtful that the world can go back to the way it used to be.

the past two episodes have been amazing, especially the music. M83's "Intro" from their album "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" totally made the closure with Elliot and Mr Robot and the 5/9 hack more than just an ending to a season, but a defining moment of Elliot moving forward from all of his hate and self loathing. It was quite moving.

Great show. I don't understand a lot of the "jargon" but what a ride. The tension is palpable and well acted. As usual, Bobby Cannavale is worth the price of admission.

Nobody's mentioned the reveal that Elliot wasn't pushed out the window by his father, something I always believed was at the core of his chaotic relationship with Mr. Robot. In an episode full of momentous declarations, that one hit me the hardest, even though it was filmed in a very low key manner. Am I missing something?

"Or maybe I just need to get off Twitter." Too late. Better to have never been lured in in the 1st place.

I like the Chinese (?) cover of "bang bang" by Nancy Sinatra during the Grant arrival to the cabin

Two new conjectures: In a season 2 episode, Phillip Price is speaking to a D.C. Fed lackey, post-5/9. The lackey says in passing something to the effect of "We've got power outages up and down the Northeast". I asked myself, what about 5/9 would cause power outages restricted to the Northeast? Then it hit me: nothing. Maybe the Northeast power outages are actually a function of White Rose intermittently testing her machine in New Jersey. Then, it REALLY hit me. This is the reason why White Rose has chosen to move her machine to the Congo -- turns out it's one of the world's largest potential sources of Hydroelectric Power: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/may/21/dr-congo-funding-wor...

Santiago literally had to beat his betrayal into Dom. Disappointed a little in that. The twist where Irving turns the tables did not disappoint, at least! I expected more from him this season, more gusto, less subtle fatherly role-playing. I was similarly unimpressed with Craig Robinson's character from last season, thought there was too much potential unused. Irving going to town with that axe left me satisfied: he's a man of action at the end of the day, thick accent and all. Elliot's blank CD on this apartment floor led me to believe he or Darlene would bite the dust this finale. I totally forgot Elliot's past already has, in a way, that his history was on that disc, back from late in Season 1. I don't have high hopes for Whiterose's Hadron collider project. If Whiterose truly believes this alternate reality stuff is within human capability to control, the theme "Control is an Illusion" is gonna come up on her fast. Eerily happy Fernando Vera has returned. I always held out for him, was sure Esmail wasn't done with him yet. Overall, great season! Despite the drag during the first half, this second half more than made up for it.

That season finale was great, the entire show was great, one of the best shows on TV in the last few decades.

Though I've read all around that this is the best season so far, I can't help but feel the show lost its impact as it turned from the story of a battle against corrupt power to a melodrama. It seemed way more interesting when it hinted that Elliot and Angela were somehow connected to this Whiterose sci-fi project than when tying loose ends (like in the finale) in Mexican soap-style. Whiterose also used to be a very provocative character in the previous seasons, mysterious, enchanting and dubious. We didn't quite understand which side she was on. That all vanished in this season's premiere, when she (as Minister Zhang) delivered those cliché villain lines while looking at her sci-fi project. In retrospect, this season had great episodes, but as it approached its ending, it turned to simplistic solutions and obvious reveals. Even the intercut scenes in the last two episodes felt too cliché. I hoped this would be the last season and that Mr. Robot would have a nice ending, but it feels like it's going the same way as House of Cards.

I thought the reveal the Phillip Price was Angela's father was one of the only ways their relationship made sense - not just from the previous episode, but from the previous season where he recruited and promoted her. It never had the feel of a seduction, but it was never clear why he was so interested in her.

1. I return back to my theory of revolutions in the real world - the young/individual lead a revolt, but they realize they were simply pawns. While the return of Vera might seem random, it is in fact, another outcome of power-brokered anarchy for the 1% of the 1% - street gangs are allowed to flourish in providing street-structure. The rich get to live in their gated communities, while corrupt tribalism keeps the "others" ruled. See Iraq and Soviet Union -> Russia, with the latter's oligarchs and gangsters in power until they are not. 2. There is simply no other show than Mr. Robot today. It challenges the viewer to view complexities that don't provide simple answers at its conclusions. Like the ground-breaking Sopranos - which wasn't as much about the Mafia as it was about shining a light on baby boomer families, their materialism and their millennial children - Mr Robot shines a similar mirror on the times we live in. Namely the income gap, false messianic solutions, and the risks of what has happened abroad repeating itself in the US. To be followed with living with anarchy and perhaps the "hope" of a more egalitarian future at its end. 3. The perfect storm of the popularity of alternate reality, but with a unique plausibility and topical backstory!

First of all I want to thank Jeremy Engner for doing a great job writing up these recaps on one of the more complicated shows on the air. He helped to illuminate certain themes or character motivations that I may of missed or not thought about. I have enjoyed Season 3 - if enjoyed is a word that can be used better than Season 2. I especially liked some of the flashbacks that filled in past history of the characters that was not initially shown during the first two seasons. I haven't watched the episode yet but will comment later when I have. Thanks to all of the fans who have posted here.

Not unexpectedly, I believe the show sort-of closed out some threads, while opening new ones! Season 3 better than season 2 for establishing deeper character arcs (for those that survived) with sacrificing pace. I'm not sure about re-introducing Vera at the end? Eliot and company are in mortal combat with Whiterose, now we're supposed to take some dangerous street pimp as a big threat? Finally, who noticed that the fleeting scenes of Whiterose in that tub with the towel wrapped on his head looked an awful lot like Jacques Louis David's "Death of Marat"? Another revolutionary who met a dire fate. I be Esmail did that deliberately.

Various observations, questions: How does that unbelievably massive machine we got a peek at during the beginning of Season 3 get shipped to the Congo? The clip from the Superman movie was yet another veiled reference to time travel. In the scene, Superman goes back in time by changing the Earth's rotation. Oh -- and the picture encoded with the decrypting key was of dad dressed as the professor from Back to the Future. Did Elliot's dad, Angela's father, and the other employees actually die of leukemia, etc. because of the toxic waste from E-Corp's plant, or was that just a cover story? Were they actually beta testers of White Rose's machine? And are they actually dead, or just somewhere else in time?

"...the bewildering experience of living in an age of information..." ? Maybe just "bewildering". I find many individual scenes - or even episodes- in the show compelling, but cannot keep track of the details in the overall arc of the narrative. Many times have thought: this is a waste of time and energy.