Eps1.3 da3m0ns.mp4/Summary

Elliot is at home, musing on one last line of morphine in front of him: "The last line. The consequences of busting Vera and meeting Mr. Robot, creating you--everything till now, this moment. I chose this. I chose all this."

Elliot is with the fsociety hackers in their hideout, explaining the plan against Steel Mountain: Insert a Raspberry Pi into their network, programmed to make a back door that they can access from outside, and use that entry to raise the temperature above 95 degrees: that much heat will destroy the tapes. Romero objects that they need to get physically into the facility, but Elliot says the existing guards are the security flaw they can exploit. Elliot starts to have withdrawal symptoms, though, and goes home, leaving the others to work out details.

Back at his apartment, looking at the line of morphine, Elliot reflects for a while on how he broke his own rule on taking morphine, though he has no suboxone to counteract it. But he has things to do, and needs this one last line. He snorts the line.

Outside, Elliot is walking on the sidewalk. He notices a man in a suit walking towards him, looks back, and sees another behind him. As one of the men passes him, Elliot asks what the man wants, but he ignores Elliot, and the two men meet and talk. Elliot walks away. But once at home, he is unnerved by a pounding at his door, every pound makes him worry about E Corp security men, but it's Darlene, the rest of fsociety want to discuss the plan.

Back at the fsociety lair, Romero says the plan is toast, E Corp is packaging up copies of their tapes and preparing to ship them to four other facilities. If one goes down, the others will get even more secure. Elliot looks at the research Romero has done, and says that the copying and moving won't take place until April 1, so they have a few days to get the attack done. Although Romero is skeptical, everyone else chimes in with a piece of the job that needs to be done in advance: Mobley can plan the thermostat attack on the drive there, Trenton can put together the network attack software, and Darlene will get the Dark Army to do their part. But it's Elliot who will go into Steel Mountain to plant the hardware, and Romero says Elliot's already showing bad withdrawal symptoms, he won't be good for anything in a day or so. Elliot says he has to do it, so he will.

Romero and Mobley steal a car from off the street. While they are gone, Elliot asks Mr. Robot if he has any input, but Mr. Robot says it's Elliot's plan, he's the key to everything they're doing here.

Romero, Mobley, Elliot, and Mr. Robot are driving in the car, out in the country. Elliot is sweating, looking sick, as he muses to us about daemons, they work in the background while our attention is elsewhere. They're always there, always active, and we can try to do something else, but our conscious desires don't drive us, our daemons do, and Elliot says he has more than most. Then he doubles over and vomits.

They get to a motel and get Elliot into bed; he says he only needs to rest a minute, but Romero says he's going downhill fast, expect fever, convulsions, leaking everywhere. Elliot, just to us, adds paranoia, depression, hypersensitivity, and he should expect two weeks of that; he thinks Romero may have a point. But he keeps telling himself, he's about to change the world.

At her apartment, Angela sneaks the trojan CD out of Ollie's bag, and his ID badge, and tells Ollie she's going to meet her dad for brunch. But instead she goes to Elliot's apartment, and finds only Shayla next door; she doesn't know where Elliot is, but invites Angela to come and walk the dog with her.

Elliot is sweating and rolling around in bed. Romero and Mobley are nearby, watching TV, as Romero complains about Elliot being incapable of doing his part, and needing plenty of nursing back to health, but Mobley says they have till tomorrow.

At the fsociety lair, Trenton uploads the Raspberry Pi network attack software to an FTP server, while Darlene complains that her Dark Army contact hasn't responded. Then she realizes, it's Sunday, she knows where her contact will be. They go out together.

Shayla and Angela are walking the dog, and Shayla offers some pills, she calls them "clarity", it'll help Angela "see past whatever's bringing you down." After a tiny bit of resistance, Angela takes one, and Shayla another.

Darlene and Trenton are at a noisy club, music and ping-pong tables, it looks like it's mostly Asians there. Darlene talks to a few people here and there, and gets nothing but shaking heads. Darlene is sure her contact will show, but Trenton isn't convinced. Several of the locals are looking across the room towards Darlene and talking.

Elliot is still just twitching in bed, and now Mobley is upset, Elliot isn't any better. Romero says they should leave him at a hospital and start a new plan. Mr. Robot tries to talk them into staying, but Romero and Mobley leave. Elliot settles down enough to talk to Mr. Robot, saying that he just needs one more hit to get through this, it'll let him be able to get the job done. Mr. Robot looks at him, considering.

And Elliot and Mr. Robot are getting out of a car at a house, Elliot really needs Mr. Robot's help to walk. There's a guy outside the house, and he knows what they're there for, but says only Elliot can go in. Mr. Robot pays him $30 and he helps Elliot go in.

And Elliot is inside the house, a few people seem to be wandering about, rather scrungy, some coughing. One guy, looks like the dealer, is sitting in a chair, and offers to help Elliot. Elliot says he needs morphine pills, but the dealer offers something better, a syringe. Throughout this, Elliot is thinking, he promised not to take any more, but he really needs this. The dealer's girlfriend helps Elliot get set up and injects the syringe. Elliot immediately looks relieved.

And then, in another room, there are two guys fighting and yelling, and one pulls out a gun and shoots. But the bullets hit the girlfriend, who falls to the floor, and Elliot, who also collapses. The dozen people in the room rush out, but we can still see the dealer sitting calmly in his chair.

And Elliot is lying in front of the TV, which suddenly flashes and then shows another fsociety video. The filtered voice says it's time to "wake up to the reality of profiteering and enslavement we've been warning you about." The figure says fsociety is here to expose the villains in society, and helping all of society recover its "lost, damaged, or stolen memory."

And now Elliot is in the fsociety hideout, next to the masked figure in front of the TV camera. The figure takes off a key and hands it to Elliot, who asks what it opens. Then the figure takes off his mask, under which is another of the same masks; he hands a mask to Elliot, saying "It belongs to you now." Elliot puts on the mask, and now there are two masked men. One says, "Now, find your monster, then turn the key. But first... a word from our corporate overlords!" The screen blanks, and then shows what looks like an ad from E Corp, showing the products and services they provide. An announcer says "If you see our logo, that means you can rest assured that you're buying the best food, clothing, shelter, transportation, hygiene, electronics, and life's necessities that money can buy."

And now Elliot is walking along a row of identical houses, when he gets to a house with a mailbox labeled "The Aldersons". Then the house has vanished, and in its place a utility pole with the sign "Error 404 Not Found." A young girl is skating along the sidewalk, she and Elliot say hello. Elliot asks what happened to the house, and the girl says, "First can you tell me? What's your monster?" She giggles, looks down, and sees a key on the ground; she picks it up and hands it to Elliot. She skates away, and Elliot walks away.

And now Elliot is walking into his apartment; Tyrell Wellick is there, looking at a key, but says nothing to Elliot. On a table is the fishbowl with Elliot's beta fish, Qwerty, and they have a little conversation. Elliot asks if Qwerty needs anything, and Qwerty says, in a fishbowl, nothing ever changes, sitting on this table, he's exhausted with everything being the same. Elliot says he wants to help, and Qwerty asks to be moved to the window.

And now Elliot is in a fancy restaurant, with Angela across the table from him; she's slicing into a fish. Elliot complains to her, "Angela, he's my friend," and Angela replies, "Yes, and he's delicious." We see at another table what look to be Elliot's mother, and eight-year-old Elliot; she's trying to get him to eat. Now a waiter arrives at Elliot's side, and delivers his plate: a fresh raspberry pie. Elliot takes a bite, chews, and finds something wrong: a key. Now Angela says out loud, "Yes. Yes!" and she stands up. "Yes, Elliot, I do!" Everyone else in the restaurant stands up and applauds. She gets up, hugs Elliot, and they both walk out of the restaurant, to the applause of the diners.

And Elliot is now in a tux, walking into the fsociety lair, and Angela is there too. She says, she just told those people what they wanted to hear. "You're not gonna do it, are you? Change the world. Figures. You were only born a month ago. You're afraid. Afraid of your monster. Do you even know what it is?" Elliot looks blank. She holds out the key: "It doesn't fit." He takes it, says, "Why not?" Angela says, "Isn't it obvious? You're not Elliot. You're the--" and the screen goes black.

And Elliot, in the darkness, hears children laughing. A bit of light comes on, Elliot is again in the fsociety hideout, in front of the TV camera, with the mask hanging from it. He picks up the mask and thinks, "Am I still alone? Is this the face of my only friend? Are you my monster?" He puts on the mask, and now, with a filtered voice, says "I am here. You are alone." He takes off the mask, and the lights all come on, game machines making noise...

Elliot jerks up in the motel bed, sweating, and sees nobody is there. He says, "They all left. I'm alone." He cries. "I'm alone." Mr. Robot walks in from another room: "No, you're not. I'm not going anywhere, kiddo. We're in this to the end."

It's night, Darlene and Trenton are walking on the sidewalk, Darlene is joking about but occasionally grim, complaining her contact didn't show. They look further down the street, and there's a black limousine parked there, a back door open, and a man in a devil mask standing at the door like a guard; he's looking straight at them. Darlene sees it and leads Trenton there: "It's him." They walk to the limo, and the guard moves aside to let them in. They enter the back seat, and the guard follows them in and closes the door.

Inside, Darlene and Trenton are seated facing the masked guard and another man in a devil mask. The guard demands their phones, and throws them out the window. One of the men calls out to the driver, and the limo starts up and drives off.

Angela and Shayla are in the ladies room of some night club, they both look a lot spacey, and there are few other women there doing drugs. Angela's phone rings, it's Ollie, she rejects the call and sees that he's called her a lot. Angela laughs, she has to be at work in four hours. Shayla is lamenting a little bit, she liked this job, but she'll do something else. Angela's surprised, changing jobs is a stress, and Shayla doesn't seem bothered. Angela says she worries a lot about jobs. Shayla comes over and kisses her; they kiss for a while, and Shayla tells Angela she should only worry about herself.

The limo comes to a stop and Darlene and Trenton get out on the sidewalk; Darlene stomps away, Trenton following, they turn the corner and there is Cisco along with a few other guys. Darlene comes up to Cisco and complains how hard it's been to find him; she takes him aside. He wants her to cool down a bit, "A ray of sunshine in the dark void of my existence," but she's on fire, he hasn't apologized. He says, hey, he wanted to spend a life with her, and she dumped him. She says it's time to get going on the mission, the time to strike is tomorrow, it's their only shot. Cisco says they never had a shot, the Dark Army guys are a big deal, they don't care about all that "freeing the world" stuff that fsociety is all up about. Darlene pulls him close and kisses him: "You know how much this means to me. Please, just talk to them." He sort-of nods.

Back at the motel room, Romero is mixing up a drink for Elliot, his aunt's remedy for her ailments: anti-diarrheal, electrolytes, decongestant; he hands Elliot a glassful of gunk, and says seven more and Elliot will be as good as new. Elliot is looking a lot more alive. Romero asks Mr. Robot to make sure Elliot keeps drinking, and Romero goes out to get the car ready. Elliot talks to us: "Hello again. Long time no... whatever it is we do. I missed you. Where did you go? Did you leave, or did I?" (We see Darlene waking up at the fsociety hideout, and she sees Trenton across the room, kneeling for morning prayer.) "Maybe it was both. Or neither. Doesn't matter. Did those hopeful moments scare me? Of course. Daemons, remember?"

At Allsafe, Angela is getting off the elevator, using Ollie's badge to get in, she looks a bit anxious. The office space is empty, it must be early. She walks to Ollie's desk, logs in to the computer, and puts the CD into the drive. Just then the elevator dings, it's the receptionist; Angela pushes the CD eject button, when that doesn't work she pries the door open and gets the CD out. The receptionist gets to her desk and starts arranging paperwork. We see Ollie's system briefly display a command window, then go dark. Angela goes down the elevator.

Elliot's voice tells us, "At some point an 'action without user interaction' will come along and sweep my legs. This spinning wheel of false highs and true lows will continue. That much I know. Daemons-- they don't stop working. They're always active. They seduce. They manipulate. They own us. And even though you're with me, even though I created you, it makes no difference. We all must deal with them alone. The best we can hope for-- the only silver lining in all of this-- is that when we break through, we find a few familiar faces waiting on the other side."

We see a country road, with a mountain in the middle distance, and a car racing towards it.