A select few Mr. Robot [1] fans got a sneak peek at the first half of the series' season two [2] premiere Sunday when the episode was "leaked" by USA on social media, and the full double-episode finally premiered on Wednesday night. It plunged us right into the aftermath (well, one month later, anyway) of fsociety's hack [3] and raised some major questions about what's to come. Read on to find out more about the quandaries the premiere has us mulling over, but you've been warned: spoilers are most definitely ahead.
Who Are Ray and Leon — Really?
Sure, the new characters played by Craig Robinson and Joey BadaSS could be exactly who the show is presenting them to be, locals from Elliott's neighborhood — or not. There are theories that season two actually takes place within a hospital [4] or a prison [5], in which case they might be patients or inmates.
Who Is the "You" Elliot Is Speaking To?
One fascinating aspect of the premiere is how often Elliot addresses the audience, talking directly to a "you" who seems to be the viewer. Fans have theorized that the audience is actually a key character in the show, and one even went so far as to claim that the viewer IS Mr. Robot [6]. Even if that's off-base, the premiere episode made one thing is clear: the writers clearly want us to be thinking about the identity of the person Elliot is speaking to as time goes on.
What Is fsociety's Next Move?
In this episode, with fsociety's initial mission completed and global economies destroyed, the hackers hatched a new plan to extort $5.9 million from Evil Corp. It is overwhelmingly clear that there is more to the strategy than a simple exchange of money, though, they make the CTO burn all the cash in a park. What's next?
Has Elliot Killed Tyrell?
Aside from the very opening scene — which is a flashback — Tyrell is notably absent from the season so far. This is especially foreboding for a few reasons. First of all, the season one finale begins with Elliot waking up in Tyrell's SUV. Later in that episode, Tyrell's wife tearfully confronts Elliot and asks if he's seen her husband, because last time she did, he was acting strangely. And the premiere opens on Tyrell and Elliot watching the initial Evil Corp. hack unfold. As Tyrell stares into the computer screen, we see Elliot reach into the popcorn machine . . . the very popcorn machine where a gun was previously hidden. Take all of this into consideration with this popular, and well-considered, Reddit theory [7] that Tyrell might be one of Elliot's schizophrenic personalities, and the fact that Tyrell goes unseen is especially tantalizing.