‘Mr Robot’ Season 4 Episode 7 finally reveals origin of Elliot’s alter in what might be his swansong before Krista kills Vera
This article contains spoilers for 'Mr. Robot' Season 4 Episode 7 'Proxy Authentication Required'
Blimey Sam Esmail, a trigger warning would be nice next time. In episode 7 of season 4's gravy train of twists, we get the tightly scripted unraveling of Elliot Alderson to which we get the uncomfortably close front row seats along with Krista Gordon (Gloria Reuben) and Fernando Vera (Elliot Villar).
We have always known that Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), Elliot's alter (who looks like his dad, Edward Alderson), is the muscle. He is the guy who gets things done when Elliot can't. He is also the one who selectively erases Elliot's memory of details Elliot can't stomach. In Episode 7, we finally see the origin story of Mr. Robot.
The setting is the hostage meetup Vera has organized with his two associates, Peanuts (rapper Young M. A.) and Javi (Jahneer E. Williams). With Krista as his "aluminum bat" that he will use to "break" Elliot, he rounds up all the players on the pitch in the closed confines of Krista's home office and her kitchen.
It is as close as any TV episode has got to the intimate theater experience, complete with five acts. In Act 1, Elliot is in the kitchen and Krista is alone, gagged and terrified in the office, as Vera, high on meth, waxes eloquent about the spiritual journey thanks to a shaman that led him to the epiphany that he wants to "own New York", his real home.
"That's why I'm back," he tells Elliot, while Mr. Robot paces in the background, throwing shade at Vera, the "meth-head who thinks he's Deepak Chopra" and urges Elliot to escape. Elliot's only response (to them both) is to ask where Krista is.
Act 2 starts with a "simple meet and greet". Elliot is taken to the next room where Krista is gagged and bound to her therapist's chair while Elliot sits on the couch trying to reassure her. Vera asks Mr. Robot to come out and play. And after a few taunts, Mr. Robot takes over and asks Vera what he wants.
Vera's plan is a small-time hooligan's pipe dream - "to sell his crack" from every street corner, every storefront with everyone under his thumb, from the street pimps to the boys in blue, as he rakes in the cash.
Mr. Robot laughs at his petty capitalist aspirations when there are sharks like Whiterose "robbing [the concept of] money itself". Mr. Robot says he can help him do the same. When Vera questions if he can trust him, Elliot chimes in saying he will show him how.
Act 3 begins with Elliot opening up his laptop to show the kind of money he was talking about if he pulled off the Cypress bank hack. When Vera, Peanuts and Javi see the money involved with "all them zeroes", they are distracted enough for Elliot to grab the gun from his backpack and try to shoot them.
Only, Javi has taken out the bullets. A furious Vera drags Krista to the kitchen to kill her. Elliot begs for her life, finally blurting out that he "needs her". Dubbing Krista as his "shaman", Vera says he has been going about this all wrong.
Act 4 is the core of the episode as Vera sits Krista down to conduct a forced therapy session, under the shadow of the gun, to draw Elliot's poison out - the genesis of Mr. Robot. He finally asks the question we've been dying to ask. Why did Elliot create Mr. Robot as "his muscle"?
Krista begs Vera not to do this, saying she needed to be alone with Elliot. Vera acquiesces partially. He sends Peanuts and Javi away. And then begins the most heart-rending minutes of the show as Mr. Robot tries to stop Elliot from remembering and a furious Elliot digs deep into his memories about his father and why he jumped out of his window when he was a child.
It's like watching an exorcism as Mr. Robot walks out of the frame saying, "I can't protect you anymore", leaving a writhing Elliot to gasp "yes" when Krista asks him the final question, "Elliot, did your father sexually molest when you were a child".
Act 5 sees Elliot shattered as he screams at the storm raging outside while Vera steps in, all big brother-like, sharing his own story of abuse, telling Elliot he never has to be alone again. As broken Elliot looks into Vera's eyes like he is his savior, Krista stabs him with the knife in the back. The same knife that was used to kill Shayla, Elliot's girlfriend, that Vera twirled around in Act 1 to taunt Elliot.
With Vera dead, Mr. Robot gone and Elliot's entire raison d'etre for going after Whiterose (as a revenge for his dad's cancer) decimated, the scene cuts to black. Episode 7 means all those fond memories of Elliot spending time in his father's company in the movie theater and his father's plea to "forgive him", takes on a new meaning and recasts the show in an entirely new light.
What's more, this could have been Mr. Robot's swansong. This means goodbye Christian Slater, and hello, scary third alter who we know nothing about.
'Mr. Robot' airs on the USA Network Sundays at 10/9c.