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S03E08 - eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko

- Posted in Mr. Robot by

  • The episode opens into February 28th, 1995: the day of Edward Alderson's death. We are shown the concession stand of Washington Township Mall's Cinema 8. Edward hands his son the M&Ms to add into the popcorn. Elliot begrudgingly mixes the two, but hands it back to his dad. Edward is confused by his son's refusal to participate in movie night. All he wants is his son's forgiveness... but Elliot won't give it. Edward, still coughing, is defeated in spirit, and collapses dead on the floor. Elliot, arm still in a cast, grabs his dead father's jacket and proceeds to the movie, leaving Edward's corpse where it lies.
  • The theater lights dim. Elliot whispers a shush to the seat next to him... likely to a dissociative version of his dad. A cinema animation covers the routine rules & greetings, then drops in a 3D extruded Mr Robot title card. At that point, the screen aspect becomes letterboxed for the Cinemascope widescreen attribute, continued throughout the episode.
  • Back in modern times, Elliot saunters to the bathroom mirror, still shattered by his fist. Below lies a new replacement mirror, still in its case. He then turns to his computer. He reviews the news of the cyber bombings, "What we know about the terrorists who cyber-bombed the E Corp buildings." Profiles of Trenton & Mobley.
  • He burns the folders for Trenton & Mobley onto CD, while narrating about the relationship between people and unwanted data. They are erased because they take up too much space.
  • Darlene pounds on his door. He is needed by Angela who is in full meltdown, but he refuses. He has been in his apartment for three weeks, but is spiraling down his existential crisis. He cannot rid himself of Robot, after having tried everything. Darlene is duly scared. He assures her they can get high and watch "Careful Massacre" together.
  • He visits Hard Andy, a dealer he knows of through Mobley's brother's law firm defense, to buy the entire bag of Morphine. Unsure of their connection, Hard Andy points out three reasons he might buy his entire stash:
    1. He'd work for a cop,
    2. He'd resell in Hard Andy's turf, or
    3. He's got a deathwish.
  • He walks through a suppressed neighborhood. Helicoptors buzz by. PAs announce curfews.
    • He passes an address 812, which was also Hard Andy's briefcase combination. That turns out to be an homage to the movie "8½."
  • He discovers Trenton's family, moving quickly to pack and leave town. He speaks of her innocence. The father bemoans to false blame placed upon Muslims. He thanks Elliot for the kind words.
  • Elliot arrives at the beach of Coney Island. He sits on the sand, staring into the sea.
  • Mohammad appears (Trenton's young brother).* He engages in conversation, insisting he doesn't know his way home, and asking pesky questions. Are you sick? Why do you say my sister is innocent?
    • *It should quickly come to question if Mohammad is real or another of Elliot's dissociative identities. His conversation role suggests the latter. Had he been real, they likely would not be meeting here, since he is the last surviving child, not likely left out of the close watch of his parents. Yet he explains it away in a plausible rational way.
  • Back at the house, they are locked out. Mohammad says his parents don't take him to movies. Elliot says there's probably nothing good playing but he couldn't be more wrong, for today is "Back to the Future Day," October 15th, 2015, which is the date in the third film that Marty arrives in the future.*
    • *Back to the Future Day is meaningful to Show Writer/Producer Sam Esmail: he took the writing staff to the movies on that day of 2015.
  • The cinema is packed with fans wearing imaginative costumes. They even include the clock tower, the holographic Jaws shark, and a Doc Brown costume with fake legs riding a hoverboard down the hall.
  • Mohammad is introduced to M&M infused popcorn. Moviegoers debate the meaning of the film while in line. Early during the movie, Mohammad vanishes from his seat, and Elliot leaves the cinema to find him.
  • Elliot gets a ride in an ice cream truck driven by a Hasidic Jew. The speakers are playing the radio script of War of the Worlds, which the driver points out has the happy ending that humanity perseveres.
  • At the mosque, Elliot finds Mohammad. They get into an argument of who is more annoying, until Mohammad says "I wish you were dead!" and Elliot replies "SO DO I!!" The awkward silence of that revelation is followed by the two discussing feelings of self blame for Trenton's disappearance.
  • It's dark and they return to the family house. Mohammad evidently had a key the whole time, and lets himself in, thanking Elliot for the movies. Before parting, he goes inside for a lollypop. Elliot has a short fit of tears upon realizing his journey from suicide back to life.
  • Elliot pounds the front door of Mobley's disavowing brother again. He blackmails him into giving Mobley a good funeral, by threat of revealing shady email to the IRS. He hands over the bag or Morphine, which can be sold back to Hard Andy to cover the funeral costs.
  • He knocks on the door of Angela's apartment. She listens silently inside, but won't respond. He nearly leaves, but turns back to recall their childhood "wishing game." She recalled the ending of the game, "No matter what happens, we'll be okay."
  • The song "In Time" begins playing over the action.
  • A van pulls up in front of Elliot's apartment. It dumps a pile of trash, including the Mr Robot jacket that Elliot had intended to burn. "That the thing about deletion... it's not always permanent." He unboxes the mirror to replace. He unboxes drives and chips to repopulate his computer.
  • On his computer, he discovers Trenton's posthumous email; she trusted him to tell, above anyone else in the world. "Maybe there are still things for me to do."