403 Forbidden/Summary

In 1982, IBM executives are in a meeting with a Chinese executive, Zhi Zhang and his translator, Chen. The Americans want to finalize a deal to open a facility in Asia. The Chinese men are largely ignoring them, sharing romantic notions in their own language. The deal is reached, and the executive jokes (in Mandarin) how he'll enjoy stealing IBM's intellectual property. Later, Zhang and his lover are having a romantic moment in a hotel room. They look forward to Zhang becoming ambassador to the US so they can move to a country where they can be themselves. The lover's watch beeps, annoying Zhang. Their next meeting is in 15 minutes, so the lover leaves to take a shower. When he returns, Zhang tells him to go alone. They kiss.

When the lover returns later that night, Zhang tells him to not turn on the light. Zhang appears in a wig and dress, "It was my mother's." Admiring its simplicity and elegance. The lover calls Zhang beautiful and they kiss. In the present, Minister Zhang hangs up the dress and tells his assistant that he wants it ready to wear on the day the project ships. The assistant warns of celebrating too early. Freddy Lomax's suicide coincided with a hacker taking over Grand Central, not an easy feat. At the same time Price wants to resign. It's not a coincidence, it's Elliot's next move. Zhang says to refuse Price's demands and surveil Elliot. The assistance tells Zhang to have patience. The word bothers Zhang.

Sometime later in the past, Chinese people are having an extravagant party. Zhang asks the bride-to-be about the groom, and finds him in the back room. The groom-to-be is distressed as he is only marrying the woman to keep up appearances. He wants to leave China. Zhang tries to convince him to put on a good show for his father and later they can be together. They discuss that Zhang was not made ambassador and that he could not refuse Minister of State Security, to amass power in Beijing. He tells his lover to be patient, but the lover thinks to be patient is to surrender. Zhang assures him that since Zhang trusted him with his secret, they will make a better world. They kiss, but the groom needs a moment. He grabs a knife. He declares the world will never be good enough and cuts his own throat, blood spraying on the white roses, a joke Zhang sent to him as funeral flowers. Zhang screams in terror over the body.

In the present, Zhang says to arrange a Deus meeting tomorrow to give Price his resignation. The assistant says it cannot be done on Christmas. Zhang wants to destabilize Price's timeline and force him into a mistake. They will call Tyrell Wellick and make him CEO, on orders of Whiterose. Zhang stares longingly at the dress.

Elliot and Mr. Robot are walking on the sidewalk. Mr. Robot narrates that playing Russian Roulette, hearing the sound of cheating death changes you. He wonders what Vera's up to. Elliot won't listen to anything, putting up his Forbidden Error walls. They run into Krista and her male friend. Elliot tries to talk with her, to thank her and say he's doing better, but Krista insists that she will take legal action if he makes contact with her. As Elliot walks away, a man on a cell phone follows.

At the Allsafe office, Darlene explains that Susan Jacobs' contact at Cyprus National Bank was Olivia Cortez. Elliot can't find a digital way in, they need her laptop. Darlene notes that Elliot chose Allsafe for emotional reasons, while he dismisses it as technical. He explains that Olivia's ex-husband has their kid tonight and she has a date. Darlene doesn't want to be sidelined and wants to do the breaking and entering. Elliot lets Mr. Robot talk some sense into her. She lights a cigarette at the thought of danger. Elliot grabs her hard. She is alarmed, asking if it's really him. She concludes their relationship will never change and won't get better. He says he never should've opened the door when she came back to town.

Elliot breaks into Olivia Cortez's house. Mr. Robot narrates about the word for someone who's lost everyone: survivor or time-bomb. He checks the personal laptop. Elliot searches the bathroom and finds a bottle of Oxycontin. In the bedroom, he unlocks a drawer and hacks her work laptop. Mr. Robot looks through the lame social media of her date, Evan. Elliot finds that her laptop has high security. Mr. Robot wonders if she left her USB key around the place. Elliot notes that she's a single mom who's worked hard to get where she is, she isn't that careless. Elliot looks at the picture of Evan Floyd.

At a bar, Elliot and Mr. Robot watch as Olivia appears to have been stood up. Elliot notes that she has addiction problems and if she's caught with Oxycontin, she would lose custody of her child. Mr. Robot doesn't want to take that brutish a route. Elliot approaches Olivia, but finds himself at a loss introducing himself. Mr. Robot intervenes, sweet talking her into some drinks. Olivia agrees, for Christmas. The USB key is on her bag.

At a small restaurant, a boy enters the kitchen. Vera is running a small smuggling operation, putting drug packets in uncooked chickens and handing them out to a line of kids for their mothers. The man with the cell phone, DJ, enters. He brings no news of following Elliot, much to Vera's dismay. Vera reminds him that he came back to NY, despite the danger, to work with Elliot and take over the city. DJ just wants to put a gun to Elliot's head, but Vera adamantly refuses to take him prisoner. DJ says Elliot is just alone most of the time. He recounts the argument with a woman, Krista, and shows Vera pictures he took. Vera has a boy describe the pictures, and the boy deduces (based on experience with his own mother) that the woman is making the man sad. Vera realizes that she hurt Elliot, so she must know something about him. Vera then kills DJ for his incompetence.

At the bar, Olivia asks Elliot about his Christmas Eve sob story. Elliot gives her the bare minimum: He has nowhere to be after fighting with his sister, and his mom died yesterday. Olivia talks about how she and her dad weren't close as well, especially after her own mother died in Colombia. Elliot says he is addicted to morphine. They have an ironically comical conversation about his drug habits of late. Evan appears at the table, but Olivia claims not to know him. She leaves. As she's waiting to get a cab outside, Elliot kisses her. They make out and disrobe at her place.

Later, as Olivia lays under the covers, Elliot is getting dressed. He goes into the bathroom and texts Olivia's key code to Darlene. Olivia walks in on him. As they sit on the floor, she explains that drugs ruined her relationship with her dad. She was ruined after her mom was murdered. She reveals the Oxycontin bottle has a razor blade in it: that if she ever hated herself enough to start again, she might as well kill herself. Elliot gets it. Hating yourself. He almost killed himself. What stopped him was promising to take a kid to see The Martian. Olivia says that it has been enough crazy for one night.

As Elliot and Mr. Robot wait for the subway, Mr. Robot narrates that Olivia was able to override Elliot's walls and convince him to let people in. They enter the car. Outside on the street, Elliot notes a van following them must be Whiterose. He says to show her that they have nothing to hide. They go home. The apartment door has been busted in. Mr. Robot narrates that maybe their game of Russian roulette is over. They can't run, as the van is outside. Inside, Tyrell awaits. He wants to tell Elliot that Whiterose has offered him the position of CEO, and this is their chance to take them down from the inside, but Elliot shuts him up. He writes down that they are listening. The van awaits outside.