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The Red Wheelbarrow and 7 Other Questions We Can't Answer After This Week's 'Mr. Robot'

By Dustin Rowles | Mr. Robot | July 21, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | Mr. Robot | July 21, 2016 |


We can tell you what Leon said when Elliot heard him speak backwards — “Yo, the dopest has got to be ‘The Betrayal’. They play the whole episode backwards with the logo and everything. George be wearing timberlands” — and there was definitely a sly allusion to Christian Slater’s character in Pump Up the Volume (Happy Harry Hard-on) …

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… and it’s possible that Elliot is in some kind of institutional facility (prison, mental asylum, rehab), but there are a lot of questions we have so far in season two for which we have no answers. In fact, we barely even have a clue. We can’t see the forest through the Easter Eggs and theories.

We do know this: Wherever Elliot is — in an institution or actually in his mother’s house — he’s trying desperately to rid himself of Mr. Robot, and though he managed to do so briefly through the use of an Adderall-and-vomit fueled mania (so gross), his operating system (i.e., his mind) eventually had a kernel panic and crashed, and now there’s some possibility that Mr. Robot may completely take over for a spell.

Still, there are questions, and we need answers (or at least some tantalizing theories):

1. What happened on 5/9? Was the gun in the popcorn used?

2. Who knocked on Elliot’s door at the end of last season?

3. Where is Tyrell Wellick? And was that really him Elliot was speaking to on the phone?

4. Who killed Romero? And Gideon? Were they part of the same conspiracy? Was it Elliot and Darlene trying to cover their tracks? Was it the Dark Army? Are Elliot and the Dark Army working together?

5. What’s up with the red wheelbarrow? Is it a reference to William Carlos Williams’ poem? and if so, what does it mean?

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Williams’ poem has inspired an insane amount of theories regarding its meaning, more insane when you consider that this is the entire poem:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

The only interpretation of that poem (and seriously, thousands of words have been written about those 16 words) that might be applicable is from Peter Baker: “Williams is saying that perception is necessary to life and that the poem itself can lead to a fuller understanding of one’s experience.”

Inscrutable.

6. Who is Ray? Is he also insane because he talks to his dead wife? What is this hack job he wants Elliot to do, and what does it have to do with the larger story arc? (In my prison theory, Ray is a prison-van driving guard or even a corrupt prison warden, which is how he managed to get Elliot’s journals from the church group).

7. What is the old Evil Corp dude trying to pull with Angela? Is he testing her? Is he trying to gain her confidence? How does this tie into Elliot?

8. What’s going on with Grace Gummer’s FBI agent? She seems very good at her job, but also not the kind that wants to dismantle F Society as much as the type who wants to simply figure out F Society.

Three episodes into the new season, and I’m as confused and intrigued as ever. There’s either going to be an amazing reveal at the end of this, or an incredible letdown.

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