'Mr Robot' Season 4 Episode 10 sees Darlene and Dom do romantic airport dash after Deus Group wealth is redistributed to 99%
Spoilers ahead for 'Mr. Robot' Season 4 Episode 10 'Gone'
After the harrowing Christmas, this episode was a welcome breather from the cat and mouse games between the Dark Army and Team Elliot. At the beginning of the episode, none of the characters know this though.
It is why Dom (Grace Gummer), despite having just come out of surgery for her punctured lung, chooses to check out of the hospital where she is an easy target. Then she holes up in her flat, putting a dresser against her front door and makes herself a grilled cheese sandwich.
She is at the apex of feeling sorry for herself when Darlene (Carly Chaikin) turns up with the urgency of a hurricane trying to get her to move before the Dark Army agents come. Dom stubbornly refuses, saying that the FBI has her back and she will wait till she is allowed to see her family. Oh, and that "Alexa", her smart home device, is all the friend she needs.
"The FBI is investigating you," Darlene tells her after smashing the Alexa bot to pieces to rouse Dom out of her apathy. As they stand toe to toe, we have Dom's iPod belting out Faith Hill's 'This Kiss', which probably sent Dom-Darlene shippers into a frenzy.
In fact, this whole episode is Sam Esmail's love letter to Dom-Darlene shippers who have been waiting for something significant to happen between the two. Darlene briefly meets Elliot (Rami Malek) who says he has to go back to Washington Township, where it all began and where Whiterose's (B. D. Wong) machine is housed. "I'm not done," he tells Darlene, holding the pen drive that late Mr. Price gave him to destroy Whiterose's machine.
But Darlene is so done. She wants nothing more than to get out of New York with Dom. It is a less than satisfying closure between the siblings who have weathered so much together and who have worked so well as a team to bring down the top 1%.
There is unfinished business between the two with Elliot still not sharing the horrible revelation about their father. As a final parting gift, Elliot gives Darlene the pleasure of redistributing the wealth they have stolen from the Deus Group to the ordinary 99%.
The most joyous moment of the episode comes when Darlene sits in a public square with Dom and redistributes the Deus Group money into E-coin wallets across the world. Dom panics, thinking Darlene has done something illegal (again), and Darlene kisses her and tells her to shut up and just watch.
When the money starts turning up in people's e-wallets, a wave of joy breaks over the people in the square and a triumphant Darlene punches the air with a "Woo Hoo!" However, the moment also underlines the differences between our two heroines.
Dom has been a rule-follower all her life, enmeshed in duties and grounded as a person. Darlene is the free spirit, always breaking rules, unanchored but unstable.
To Darlene, the system (including the laws written by the rich) is the big lie that allowed Deus Group to amass money and power. But the system is all Dom knows and understands.
When they reach the airport, Dom unexpectedly runs into the Dark Army hitman Irving (Bobby Cannavale) hawking his book at an airport kiosk. He helpfully tells her that Dom, Darlene, and Elliot are no longer persons of interest for the Dark Army.
No one is chasing after them and all of them are free to live their lives. It is an anti-climactic denouement to all that has happened before. Or it just might be that the hack has robbed Whiterose of the power he wielded before.
Dom then tells Darlene that since the Dark Army is no longer a threat, she doesn't have to escape. Darlene begs and pleads but Dom hugs her goodbye. But we see both women agonize over their respective decisions -- to stay or to leave.
And this, results in the last-minute airport dash. Dom runs back to take a seat in the plane, missing Darlene by seconds, who runs to the nearest restroom to have a panic attack.
Once Darlene calms down, she realizes she doesn't need anyone and she isn't going to run away like she always does. Dom, after realizing that Darlene isn't coming, makes a move to leave the plane but then just slumps into her seat.
She too realizes she needs to get out of New York and away from the stifling life she has built for herself there. She falls asleep, finally at peace. In the end, both women are exactly where they need to be, if not together.
Given that Darlene is going solo, we might not see her follow Elliot to Washington Township. This means the final three episodes will be about the "Elliot vs. Whiterose" final deathmatch.
'Mr. Robot' airs on the USA Network Sundays at 10/9c.