- Season 3 opens to the grand opening of the Red Wheelbarrow BBQ chain in NYC. Irving is in line, getting his frequent customer card punched. Although this entitles him to a free milk shake (chocolate please), it is only redeemable upon his next visit. He calmly discusses the flawed logic of the policy, and the lack of principals leading to chaos, but is interrupted by a phone call from Tyrell that Elliot has been shot. He leaves the restaurant
- Irving arrives at the Confectura Insustries abandon warehouse, the HQ for Stage 2. Hamburger Man brings him to the floor where Tyrell is doing compressions on the belly wound of Elliot. Irving advises against pressing on his stomach like that, snaps a few pictures, and advises that their medics are on their way. He takes the gun back into his jacket pocket.
- Walking to the convertible for sale he drives, he updates Whiterose, writes Angela Moss's name on his palm, and drives off.
- We move to a tour inside E Corp's Washington Township Power Plant, led by a group studying the possibility of different universes, each playing out different realities of ourselves, which may have minds "conjoined." Whiterose (as Minister Zhang) and her assistant Grant walk past them to an observation room.
- The two discuss Stage 2, enacted by Tyrell Wellick and Mr Robot (Elliot). Grant observes that they are very unstable people, and that he should be capable to enact Stage 2 in their place. Zhang begins by insisting he speak in English for practice. He goes on to review how Elliot is 'a gift from Time' to contribute to the project, Elliot's father, Edward Alderson, was an amazing computer engineer who contributed to "many of the project's early successes." He 'gave his life' for the project, and Elliot, by contributing his focused, unadulterated rage, can likewise give his, upon the completion of his contribution.
- In this scene, Sam Esmail has likely spelled out the narrative of Whiterose's project in great detail. The script given by the plant's tour guide is phrased as hypothetical questions, but could serve as statements if one were to remove the "what if": We do not see reality as it is. Everything we experience, everything we see think and do, is unfolding in a parallel universe. (Note the singular!) Many copies of ourselves exist. Our mental states are conjoined for better or worse.
- There are more parallels than obvious between high energy physics and alchemy. Both deal with the transmutation of elements. And both seem to speak to Whiterose's journey as a transsexual woman. Zhang has a complete history(narrative) as a male, to the extent we know he does not have a sister. But Whiterose was likely born, without any governmental record, from that need to express the female. Not only does this somehow find affirmation in the project's experimental successes (enough to drive aspirations through confirmation biases), but there is also a similar goal in alchemy to complete what is called "The Great Work." In it, the alchemist is to embody both the male and female. In this scene, Zhang says "And after Mr. Alderson completes The Great Work we need from him, then he can die for us."
- The camera pans back into a view of the massive scale and likeness that the Project bears in semblance to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Cern, Switzerland. The title card appears as Julie Andrews is singing "Whistling Away The Dark." A couple lines are sung until the camera pans back through multiple massive rings until is muffles away panning back through the pupil of Elliot, resting in a bed.
- Elliot wrestles with his blackout. He briefly thinks that he is in control, being still alive. He suspects he was write about Tyrell being an illusion, but Angela enters her bedroom and sets him straight. He's been shot, the Dark Army and Tyrell stopped her from her lawyer confession, and he grabs his phone from a charger* to call the police.
- *It's a Jackery Giant+ Power Bank. It has been charging his phone during this week-long power outage (or at least since they dropped him off yesterday). How on Earth do many cell phone users ever live without these?
- Angela stops him from phoning, indicating that involving the police would get them killed by the Dark Army. He asks for something to wear, so she gives him a Josh Groban sweatshirt.
- Elliot makes his way to the Confectura Industries warehouse, site of the Stage 2 HQ... but the place has been emptied and cleaned.
- He returns to his apartment, where his landlord says to offer a good deal to his visitor upstairs: utilities included.
- There is an eviction notice on the door of Brent Haywood (?) apartment 4D. However, 4D is adjacent to Elliot's (was Shayla's place), so the notice is on the wrong door (mistakenly on 4C).
- Darlene is waiting inside, wanting to now where he's been. He turns on a voice scrambler, and fears that men waiting outside are listening. She points out that Cisco is dead, but he is too distracted to empathize. They argue about Stage 2 planning to blow up the E Corp recovery building. Elliot disowns the idea. He needs Darlene's help to get Internet access, but the power remains out. She knows a Hackerspace with dedicated fiber connection... but he's not getting in wearing that shirt.
- They walk to the "1984" Hackerspace. They enter to hear dubstep music ("DubVirus" by RazorGirl, featured on the OST of DEFCON 24). The place is packed for a CTF (Capture The Flag) qualifier, in which every PC is fully booked. There are Dark Army thugs present. Elliot decides his best chance at accessing a machine is to win the competition for them.
- Darlene undergoes a severe panic attack. She retreats into the bathroom, and phones Agent Dom for help. Leaving a desperate message that the Dark Army is there with guns, she is interrupted by pounding on the door.
- Elliot wins the round in two minutes, then asks to be left alone. He closes the backdoor into E Corp (a hard coded C2 Domain by Tyrell), but his PC is unplugged by two thugs. They instruct him to take Cortlandt Alley.
- The "1984" Hackerspace was fimed with entrances and exits that do not connect in the real Manhattan streetscape. They enter at 20 Cortlandt Alley, but exit at 70 White St. They are on the same block, but the topology suggest they are twisted amidst buildings that are probably not open into each other.
- A few steps into the Alley, a taxi cab stops. The driver Irving instructs them to get in; the FBI car they've noticed has been following them since they left the apartment. Using OnStar to impersonate a Detective Abernathy, he orders an engine shutdown of the pursuing vehicle by providing the VIN.* The slowdown engages, their lights flash and they stop. Irving thanks OnStar and asks his passengers "Who wants BBQ?"
- *This is likely a plot hole. If Elliot could not access Internet, not even on his cellular, anywhere but a hackerspace with dedicated fiber, then the laptop in the taxi should not have had access to a VIN lookup web page.
- At The Red Wheelbarrow (in the rain, powered by a gas generator), Irving questions why Elliot shut the back door on Stage 2. He believes their boss will be displeased, but peacefully parts ways.
- Convinced he handled matters, Elliot trots out into the rain, delivering a narration about the uprising getting marketted. Trading revolution for repression. And just as he's leading to the blame placed on government and capitalism, he turns the blame upon himself. (‽) He walks before a memorial wall of the fallen.
- Among the pinned up papers, there is a QR code leading to https://jobs.runpula.net . It's an easter egg owned by Universal. It provides some insights into a former E Corp employee seeking work.
- Returning to Angela through the rain, he asks her for a job at Evil Corp. And he needs her to watch him for signs of Mr Robot emerging. "If anyone can tell, it's you." He leans in and kisses her, but she shrugs him away. She called their kiss from before (on the subway) "it was a mistake." She don't love those that love her, she loves the ones that don't: her power-saver mode. (Thus the episode title, eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h)
- She tries to tell him about a way "we can take it all back from the beginning." But he points out that's not possible, an drops it when he asks how. She asks him to stay the night in order for her to feel safe. He takes the couch next to Qwerty.
- She awakes in a gasp for breath. Elliot is standing in the living room, but it is Mr Robot. "I need to get dressed, then we'll go."
- He's alarmed to hear that Darlene helped him close the back door. Angela is prepared to redirect Elliot's energy. And she's armed with a hypodermic needle if he comes back. She can identify Mr Robot because he never tries to look away.*
- *This is fitting: Elliot is Ego and SuperEgo, considering the public face that makes him uncomfortable. Mr Robot is instead his Id: unfiltered.
- They arrive at The Red Wheelbarrow basement, meeting Irving and Tyrell. Irving is puzzled and suspicious, since Elliot earlier killed the project. Tyrell is frightened and apologetic, but Mr Robot throws it off in jest and resumes work on Stage 2.
- Daft Punk's "Touch" plays, as Mr Robot hacks a new back door, exploiting Apache Tomcat web servers in the company.*
- *The IP address 192.251.68.233 is another property of Universal Studios. Another easter egg.
- On the bus, Mr Robot is asking Angela how he can be "besties" and exploit his "unique condition" at the same time. She seeks to extend trust to help him complete what he started. He still distrusts her, , but she voices her desire to bring justice over Evil Corp killing her mom. 'Whiterose opened her eyes, that all the damage they've done can be undone. A whole new world will be born. The episode ends as the power around them is coming back on.
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