The Brentano "405 Method Not Allowed"

Who Is Mr. Robot’s Landlord? Recap of Season Four “405 Method Not Allowed”

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*

“It’s Christmas Theo, it’s the time of miracles”

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This was one of the best episodes of Mr. Robot, terse, tense, and really well-designed.

But….

So, why is Elliot alive again?

Ostensibly, ‘whiterose’ was trying to wait until her “project” was shipped to the Congo (I suspect ‘whiterose’ was afraid Elliot might have a fail-safe set for if he meets with an untimely or unfortunate end), but then a week later we find out that the Dark Army have Elliot under surveillance, that gets shot all to hell by Tyrell, but the Dark Army is a step behind (despite literally knowing Elliot is the ONLY thing standing between themselves and total victory).

Okay, I’ll play along, but why is Elliot alive?

Tamir Rice, a 13-year-old kid, was in a playground with a toy gun and he is now dead because two police officers thought he had a gun.

Elliot Alderson endangered citizens all over New York City, literally running through traffic and knocking people and even, at one point, a baby carriage over.  Eric Garner gets choked out for selling loose cigarettes in the same city but Elliot Alderson somehow got a pass? I know he didn’t have a weapon, but he was putting people at risk and police have done worse with “fleeing felons” even in New York City.

Thank goodness, it was a MONSTER chase scene but hard not to think about the last ten years of police stories across the United States (and especially in NYC).

But why is Elliot alive?

I mean he managed to get hit by a car, jump off a fence down a cliff, and beyond that got the holy hell beaten out of him sacrificing himself to ensure that Darlene escapes with the data on the Dark Army bank.

Oh well, Elliot is alive, which I suspect is a good thing in terms of us being able to get to the bottom of the large list of mysteries I suggested remained to be solved at the beginning of this season.

I get that Elliot has to stay alive to move the story along, I am just saying that - at points - it strains credulity.

Maurneau’s Dry cleaners

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The Dark Army doesn’t just invite people to the meetings of the Deus Group. Apparently, you will have to pay a saxaphone player, get a ticket to pick up a suit at a particular dry cleaners, and use that ticket to find out where you are meeting at 

Of course now that Tyrell is deceased (or at least Sam Esmail has suggested in writing that he will not be returning any time soon) this is going to cause some serious problems with the plan to hack the meeting of the Deus group. 

Also, now that Elliot is persona non grata, he can’t really show up, and given Darlene is only alive because Elliot convinced ‘whiiterose’ that he could move the superconducting super collider (or whatever the hell was in the Washington Township Facility) to the Congo for ‘whiterose.’ she can’t really show up either (even with a great wig).

The meeting will be at somewhere called “The Brentano”

Mayhem in Central Park

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I won’t lie, it is kinda hard to write a recap of an episode dominated by a long-hack followed by a massive chase sequence. To put it in terms Black Mirror fans might understand “405 Method Not Allowed” was the “Metalhead” episode in this season of Mr. Robot.

Don’t get me wrong, turning a fingerprint lift into a digitally printed fingerprint was cool and the sequence with the security guard walking through the servers was intense, and the ensuing chase was riveting. But none of it leaves me much to talk about. This was not a “thought piece” episode, it was one of the few pure action episodes and, as such, leaves me with only literal details to share.

Also, it is interesting to consider that the entire caper was 100% dependant on making sure a particular security guard touched a camera enough to provide a clear fingerprint.

Dom is coming apart at the seams as she tries to follow Janice’s orders. She pulls off a nifty hack of a local police station so that Janice can identify her missing van driver and she manages to get some information about Deegan McGuire being released (the mobster she interviewed a few episodes ago with a specialty in disappearing people).

Right at the end of the episode, during Christmas time with the family who has made her a hostage of the Dark Army, she gets the message that she is supposed to find and kill Darlene and Elliot. We already knew ‘whiterose’s’ patience had run out, but I guess she is no longer worried about Elliot sabotaging the Congo plan.

Which brings me back to the original question. Why in the world is Elliot still alive?

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Oh, before I forget entirely, Vera has kidnapped Krista in order to interrogate her about Elliot. I mean the problem here is that Elliot has much bigger problems than Vera. Don’t get me wrong, Vera could still stumble into Elliot’s problem and cause one of his many plans to go awry. My point is only that, as dastardly as Vera is, and he is very dastardly, the Dark Army has now put a full on hit on Elliot. I guess it is theoretically possible that Vera actually stumbles in and saves Elliot accidentally...who knows? 

We are still stuck in a lot of sound and fury as we hate for the tumblers to actually fall into place. I guess the biggest thing we have learned so far is that ‘whiterose’ is motivated by love. I am still not entirely sure I ever saw her plan as being part of a love story prior to this season.

Of course, with all of the Die Hard references throughout this episode, Sam is either letting us know that Die Hard is a Christmas Movie or that the real Dark Army plan is a heist. Just let’s hope the show isn’t going to end in Nakamura Towers. 

This was actually an amazing episode, but it was mostly taken up with a series of hacks and with a chase.

Thanks for reading, see you again next week at an earlier special time.

Fun Society

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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.