The USA Network was once home to a number of great TV series, includingMr. Robot. The cyber-thriller fromSam Esmailchronicled the life of cybersecurity expert Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), who moonlights as a hacker in part to bring down the massive conglomerate Ecorp (or as Elliot perceives it, Evil Corp). To accomplish his goals, Elliot joins the hacktivist group known as society, seemingly led by a mysterious anarchist named Mr. Robot (Christian Slater).Mr. Robotis constantly playing with the nature of Elliot’s realityto reveal some dark truths, such as the fact that his fellow hacker Darlene (Carly Chaikin) is actually his sister and his dissociative identity disorder was born of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents — but even that was set up for a finale that pulled out the rug from the viewers' feet.
The final two episodes ofMr. Robot, “whoami” and “Hello, Elliot,” take place in the aftermath of Elliot’s struggle with the leader of the Dark Army hacker group, Whiterose (B.D. Wong); he discovers that the world he thought he inhabited is entirely different from the one he (and by extension, the audience) have come to know. It’s here thatElliot also learns that he has another personality, and the revelations surrounding this twist upendMr. Robot’s entire story.
What Happens in the ‘Mr. Robot’ Series Finale?
“whoami” follows a version of Elliot Anderson who has everything he wants in life. His parents are alive, he has a healthy relationship with them, and he’s set to marry his childhood friend, Angela (Portia Doubleday). This version of Elliot is ultimately killed by the versionMr. Robothas been following, as he believes he can finally have the life he’s always wanted. However, he soon wakes up in the office of his therapist, Krista Gordon (Gloria Reuben). Kirsta then reveals thatthis version of Elliot is an alternate personality, dubbed “The Mastermind.“The Mastermind was born out of Elliot’s trauma over the abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents, and his goal was to create a world for the “real Elliot” to feel safe in. “I know why you did it. Your heart was in the right place. You wanted to shelter him, which is why you changed his past… but it was his future you really wanted to protect,” Kirsta tells the Mastermind.
This fully changes our perception of the entire series, asthe Elliot audiences know isn’t a real personbut a projection of his subconscious. Yet at the same time, it makes sense: the Mastermind Elliot’s drive to take down Ecorp was born out of an instinct to protect Elliot by creating a world where he wouldn’t have to toil for a living. As trippy as this revelation is, it gets even weirder. The Mastermind Elliot starts to address the audience in one of his famous monologues… but then Kirsta turns and addresses the audience as well!It’s a moment that might have the viewers questioning their own reality, and it doesn’t stop there.
Even with the Mastermind Elliot learning that he’s merely a fragment of the real Elliot’s subconscious, he refuses to let go and eventually wakes up in the hospital. Darlene is there; she hadn’t been in the “Utopia” setting because she was the strongest tether the real Elliot had to reality. After learning that his final hack was successful, the Mastermind Elliot goes to a movie theaterwhere Elliot’s other personalities — including Mr. Robot —are watching the real Elliot’s memories. Eventually, it ends with an image of the real Elliot awakening, as Darlene leans over him and utters the final words of the series: “Hello, Elliot.”
‘Mr. Robot’ Was Originally Supposed To Be a Feature Film
It’s rare for a television series to tell a complete story from beginning to end, butMr. Robotwas one of the rare exceptions. Part of this was due to the fact that Sam Esmailhad originally conceivedMr. Robotas a feature film; he had been open about this since the Season 1 finale,telling Entertainment Weeklythat the reveal of Mr. Robot as one of Elliot’s many personalities would have been the logline for the feature film:
“The thing was that I really wanted to tell a story about this guy who discovers that he has dissociative identity disorder, while at the same time enacting this crazy plan. How does he live with that? How does he negotiate that? How does he reconcile all of that? That was literally the end of the first act.”
Knowing thatMr. Robotwas intended to be a film also makes the revelation of the Mastermind Elliot less surprising; this more than likely would have been the third act had it gone into the film version.
Mr. Robotremains a crown jewel in the lineup of USA’s original series and a creative benchmark for Esmail, as he’s admitted it influenced his recent Netflix filmLeave The World Behind. With USA series likeMonkandSuitsre-entering the pop culture lexicon thanks to revival movies and dominating the streaming charts,Mr. Robotdeserves a second look — especially since its finale is a prime example of how to end a series in a satisfying way.
Mr. Robotis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
