Mr. Robot Season 2 episode 12, the finale, is rapidly approaching yet we still have basically zero answers to any of the looming questions presented across its two seasons. When a fan reached out to director Sam Esmail on Twitter to ask whether finale would bring any answers, Esmail tweeted back “yes.”
But answers to what? Who Whiterose really is? The Dark Army’s true agenda? Stage 2? The nature of the Washington Township project? Tyrell Wellick’s supposed death? There’s just too many questions on the table for a satisfying season finale. Unless… Sam Esmail has a plan even crazier than we thought.
There’s always the chance one of our (and reddit’s) many insane conspiracy theories could be true. But whichever theory you are behind, even if it isn’t some crazy conspiracy, boils back down to one place: Washingtown Township.
Every major character is somehow connected to Washington Township -- Elliott, Angela, Darlene, Price, Tyrell and Whiterose. The supporting characters are separated into three sides: The Dark Army, E Corp and fsociety. My personal theory is that each have their own version of Stage 2.
Elliot, Mr. Robot and Tyrell are all on one side. Whiterose and the Dark Army have been playing both sides, while Phillip Price and E Corp are busy making ECoins the new currency. Whiterose may not like E Corp, but she has to play along to protect her vested interest in Washington Township and her job as Chinese Minister of State Security. But at the same time, it’s also in her best interest to work with fsociety, as she did in Season 1, to take down E Corp and further her own agenda. Even though the Dark Army helped Elliot initiate Stage 2, Whiterose probably has something else up her sleeve. We still don’t know who killed Cisco, but it’d be silly not to consider it’s not the Dark Army’s doing.
Philip Price and Whiterose seem to know more about Angela, Elliott and Darlene then we are lead to believe. One of the many taglines for Season 1 was “control is an illusion.” What if it really is in the world of Mr. Robot ?
In Season 2 episode 11, Whiterose and Angela have a very compelling conversation, though Whiterose does most of the talking. Here are seven extremely suspicious excerpts from Whiterose’s conversation with Angela.
- “You've waited so long. Surely you want to know why, that is, if you indeed believe that your time holds any value.”
- “I've always found doors fascinating inventions. They hold the entry to unlimited imagination. Before you open any door, the world filled with possibilities sits right behind it and it isn't until you open it they are realized. Such potential they bring to our minds.”
- “By my calculation, you should have been dead 90 days ago. But somehow you stuck around long past your expiration.”
- “I’m a woman of time and I don't believe in accidents.”
- “It’s no coincidence you and Mr. Alderson became who you are after what happened with the Washington Township plant so many years ago.”
- “If I told you that your mother and Elliot’s father died for a reason would it make a difference...that they were a trade, a sacrifice for the greater good, that they gave their lives to take humanity to the next level. You are both who you are today because of that event. You are at the intersection of all of it.”
- “Do you ever think if you imagine or believed in something it would come true? Simply by will?” “That’s just not the real world. Even if I want it to be,” Angela responds. “Well, I guess it all depends on what your definition of real is.”
Some phrases and words stick out in particular. Whiterose speaks of Angela as if she’s a robot who’s lived past her ‘expiration.’ She tells Angela the conversation with the little girl was “all a test” almost as if the little girl was an AI program (she did seem a bit robotic). Whiterose keeps referring to Washington Township as a project, not a facility. She says she “calculated” when Angela would die, almost as if she was in control of her life. She speaks of “taking humanity to the next level.” Could that mean a world where AI blends into society so well, nobody can tell the difference between what's real and what’s not? (Blade Runner, anyone?)
Could Washington Township be some sort of AI testing facility with brainwashing microchips covered up as a rare natural resource mining site? If so, Elliot is the main subject and the whole 5/9 hack is just a way for Whiterose to test out her new tech. In the three days following the hack, what if Whiterose planted a new chip containing Tyrell’s consciousness in Elliot’s brian, which would also explain why he doesn’t remember anything about 5/9 or Stage 2. I mean, the show is called Mr. Robot ….
Elliot, Darlene and Angela’s parents died from radiation at the Washington Township site. What if the kids were all affected too? The doctor Elliott saw after he fell out of the window could have been working at Washington Township and implanted some sort of chip in his brain. What if Whiterose is controlling that chip? And Angela’s chip. And Darlene’s. What if Whiterose has a genetic testing facility hidden at Washington Township?
Tyrell could be a subject too. That could explain how Elliot ‘killed’ him, but he still appears to be alive and in contact with the Dark Army. Back in Season 1, Tyrell talks to himself in front of the mirror and reminds himself not to be “a cold robot.” It could also explain why Angela was able to learn a super complicated hack in less than a day and climb the ladder at E Corp so quickly. What if the Dark Army really exists to program people? All the Dark Army affiliates could be AI clones controlled by Whiterose. It might explain why they all kill themselves instead of being captured. It may also explain why Leon appeared out of nowhere, ninja style, to protect Elliot in prison.
If the finale episode reveals why Washington Township is so important to Whiterose that she’s willing to work with E Corp and kill people to protect it, that would make for the most satisfying ending.
What do you think of our crazy theories? Let us know in the comments below!
Mr. Robot Season 2 finale airs Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. EST on USA.
