Who Is Mr. Robot’s Landlord? Recap of Season Four “407 Proxy Authentication Required”

Hello friend...

I have been writing about Mr. Robot for a very long time. You can read all my earlier writing about the show using this guide.

We have finally come down to this one final season, hopefully, we will get answers to many pressing questions (I put together this list of questions in advance of the final season)

You can also follow me on Reddit (I am ypsifactj48, I usually hang around r/Mr.Robot and the Black Mirror and Orange Is the New Black rooms.

If you have not watched every episode of Mr. Robot or read Red Wheelbarrow this could contain spoilers *Spoiler Alert*

Ex Machina

So, as I suspected, we learned some really important information in the most disturbing way possible.

Elliot Alderson jumped out the window because Edward Alderson had been sexually molesting him and he tried to escape by jumping out of the window.

There were two tells most everyone missed, one was a little moment I have commented about several times but misread, during the Word Up Wednesday episode way back in Season 2, During the fantasy sequence (happening while Elliot was getting beaten up) Edward made some nasty comments about Magda that seemed out of character for Mr. Robot but this was one of the only times we were seeing Edward and not Mr. Robot.

Mr. Robot was always the idealized Edward, the Edward Elliot wished existed and not the real Eliot.

The second tell was when Elliot was in the store with Edward when Edward didn’t punish Elliot for stealing $20 from one of his customers (in what was ultimately a failing business and a business Edward could not afford to lose money from). Edward was grooming Elliot throughout that scene and you could already see Elliot’s anger.

Later, when we see them at the movies, and Edward collapses from his cancer, Elliot leaves him on the ground and chooses to go watch the movie by himself which at the time seemed cruel and maybe even to suggest that Elliot was cruel, but he was actually so traumatized and angry that he was glad his father collapsed.

So, to recap…

Elliot was abused by Edward which explains the titanic anger and need for revenge.

Mr. Robot is the father he wished he had and who protects him from the realities of the world (including his real father). 

The abuse created the break that created the dissociative identity disorder. 

This also explains all of the Lolita references, I think I even suggested at an earlier point that Edward might have been an abuser (just not of Elliot).

I was right that there had to be a reason for the dissociative break, I was wrong about what the instigating trauma was about.

This also explains why almost all of the targets of Elliot’s attacks abused children and why he protects people he thinks have been abused. It is also why what he did to Olivia was a sign that something very bad is going on with him.

No Fan Boy Shit

Vera actually beat Elliot and he had Elliot where he wanted him, Elliot was about to break and join him but then Kirsta killed Vera. 

Vera was so obsessed with Elliot he totally forgot about Krista.

More important, what this show is really about is one simple truth...that has been born out in real and terrible way in my own life:

Hurt People Hurt People

Elliot and Vera were brothers, they were both abused as kids and both of them - in their rage - hurt a large number of other innocent people (not their abusers or the abusers of others). 

Elliot hurt millions of people by collapsing the global economy.

Vera hurt almost every person he met after he was old enough to take care of himself.

But in the end, they really were brothers. Vera saw it almost from the beginning. This wasn’t about the bitch and the bat, it was about connecting with the only person who could possibly understand him in the entire world. And they did connect, for about five minutes they had a moment where they really saw each other for the first time, and Vera persuaded Elliot (look at his face right before Krista stabs him).

The entire night was a tour de force by two incredible actors. I have rarely seen two actors better across a full hour of screen time. This was powerful, painful, world-altering stuff. If one word of it had read false the entire thing would fall apart.

And this was brutal too...In the end, you feel sorry for Vera after watching him be horrible over several seasons and even during this episode. Vera had one of the most beloved characters on the show killed and still, this actor (Elliot Villar) was so good that by the end you understood why he was who he was and cared about him as a human being.

Nickolodeon Bullshit

Let’s face it, Elliot was falling apart.

He got snookered at the hotel honey pot.

He got snookered again by the Dark Army surveillance and then got lost in the woods (and got Tyrell killed).

He got captured by Vera without even much effort being put forward, he walked directly into Vera’s trap.

He had the lame attempt at shooting Vera with blanks.

Something drastic had to happen or else Elliot was going to be no match for ‘whiterose’ and the endgame.

Let us hope to know the truth allows him to put back together what must be put back together because otherwise only blind luck is going to propel him to victory.

And we are entering the endgame now. After over three and a half seasons we finally know why Elliot is who he is and more important Elliot knows why Elliot is who he is.

Very few pieces are left on the board, the Deus group is meeting (although they seem to be patiently waiting for Elliot to finish up all of his drama), and ‘whiterose’ wants Elliot to see her vision of the future.

I have finally reached beyond the “trying to figure it out” game and am ready to just make some popcorn, sit back, and see where this is all going to lead us.

Fun Society

Every week, I will write another recap until we finish this journey together.

If you have any interest in criminal justice reform I am also the host of the Decarceration Nation Podcast

If you like Orange Is the New Black, you can read my recaps of that series using this guide.

If you like  Black Mirror, you can read my recaps of that series using this guide.