Mr. Robot Episode 4.12 Series Finale Part 1: "whoami"

In this two-part series finale, Elliot Alderson's epic story is brought to a close. And what a close it is. Goodbye, Friend.

PART ONE:

Elliot's Alive! But So Is His "Monster"

Elliot addresses his "Friend" for the first time in a long while. When the red veil comes up on the scene, we see that he's not dead. But everything is different. There's no nuclear power plant and Washington Township looks like a shiny, happy place to live. Did whiterose's machine actually work? Even the Mr. Robot Computer Repair Shop is open and thriving on Main Street. Elliot walks in and hears Edward on a call in the back room. He picks up Edward's cell phone and sees that it's May 9th -- a.k.a. what would've been the day of the Five/Nine hack. He drops the phone and bolts out of the store.

Hi Mom, I'm Home

Elliot tails Edward back to his house, the same one Elliot grew up in. While Elliot is trying to figure out who's inside, a girl comes down the street and recognizes Elliot. He asks her where his sister Darlene is but the girl says Elliot doesn’t have a sister. He hides behind a tree while Edward gets in the car. Magda comes out of the house and tells Elliot to come inside. She chatters on about her new curtains and lunch. Elliot wonders that if their past has changed, how can he find out if his has, too? The window in his bedroom! He runs upstairs but what would’ve been the door to his bedroom is a closet and his "actual" room is filled with signs of a happy childhood. He asks Magda if he broke his arm when he was eight or if she and Edward ever hurt him. Nope, never a broken bone in his life and of course they would never have hurt the son they love! She attributes his out-of-the-blue questions to being nervous about marrying Angela tomorrow.. Angela!

It's a New World After All...?

When he arrives at Angela's apartment, Phillip Price and Emily Moss, Angela's mother, are there to greet him. Not only are they married (and um, alive), but also they're about to become Elliot's new in-laws. A collage of photos of Angela and Elliot catches his eye. He's seen them before but he doesn't remember having those experiences. Something is off. When Emily's phone rings with a call from Elliot Alderson even though he's standing right in front of them, he answers the phone and hears his own voice. Then it dawns on him: he's not the only Elliot. The room shudders--another earthquake tremor--and Elliot uses that as his opportunity to escape.

Nobody's Perfect, Not Even Perfect Elliot

His keys still work at his own apartment, but it's decorated a lot differently than when he left it. He has to find out who this guy is. He hacks into his computer and doesn’t find anything other than photos of a happy, well-adjusted, socially comfortable version of himself who’s his bestie's sweetheart. Then he finds a partition containing deliberately hidden files. And there Elliot finds drawings of not only himself in all his hooded glory, but also Darlene, Trenton, Mobley, and Romero. Even Steel Mountain and Fsociety! "Am I... his monster?" Elliot wonders. That's when Sweater Elliot walks in and asks who Hoodie Elliot is, just as it did at the end of #411. Sweater Elliot sees that this stranger in his apartment looks a lot like him. It takes some convincing to get Sweater Elliot to sit down and talk. What are those drawings? Sweater Elliot explains that when he's bored he creates people in his head, someone with a more exciting life like a superhero who's a cybersecurity engineer by day and vigilante hacker by night with a sidekick (Darlene) and a hacker group whose name is a middle finger to society. Then Sweater Elliot realizes that he's been imagining this Elliot in front of him. But no, he doesn't secretly wish to be this angry, sad, lonely guy who isn’t normal. When Elliot starts talking to his "Friend" in his head, Sweater Elliot can hear him. Now they're both freaking out. Just as Elliot gets up to leave, Sweater Elliot grabs his arm asking him to stay, and there's another tremor. Sweater Elliot loses his balance, hits his head on the radiator and falls to the floor. He’s knocked out cold and bleeding from the head.

"Let Yourself Be Happy"

Sweater Elliot's phone rings. It's Angela. Elliot can hardly believe it. Yes, he says, he loves her and always has, but he isn't who she thinks he is. She tells him not to overthink it for once, choose to be happy and show up tomorrow to marry her. After he hangs up, Sweater Elliot asks Elliot to call an ambulance. But Elliot doesn't want to lose her again…so he suffocates Sweater Elliot. When he stands up with a bloody hand, he rationalizes to his "Friend" that he had no choice. Those earthquakes are happening because the two of them can't exist in this world together.