401 Unauthorized/Summary

As the opening recap ends with Angela meeting with Price outside his palatial estate, it seemlessly flows into the beginning of the episode. Angela tearfully wants to play a role in retribution against Whiterose for the E Corp bombings. Price tells her to simply learn how to live with it. Angela insists Whiterose's project is real, that she's seen it, and she knows how to take it. She wants to expose the plot, but Price yells at her to shut up. She declares that she'll do it herself, but when she moves to walk toward the house, something catches her eyes as a door opens and closes. Price explains that all he wants is to protect her from Whiterose, imploring with her to beg for forgiveness. Angela tells him to remove emotion from his panicked state. She returns to the bench, resolute that she will not run. Price walks back to the house, removing a hidden microphone from his shirt, as two Dark Army soldiers arrive and shoot Angela in the back of the head.

Inside, Price tosses a vase at the floor. He receives a call from Whiterose, who tells him Angela made her choice. Price blames Whiterose for recruiting her. Whiterose accepts his lashing out.
On her island, Whiterose stares out at the ocean and hands the phone to her assistant. The assistant informs her that Elliot's shipment hack will deliver the project by the end of the year, 2 months time. The assistant says Elliot cannot be trusted. Whiterose says once the project is delivered, Elliot can be terminated. The assistant says he must be kept on a short leash and trained to not bite his master. Whiterose gives the order to send him a reminder of the consequences.

December 21st. It's Christmastime in NYC. At a holiday party at the office of Lomax & Looney Law, Freddie Lomax is a sexist jerk to his assistant who gives him a package. The letter disturbs him enough to send him to his office. On his TV, he plays a CD of his sexual videochat with an underage girl. A phone rings from inside the package as Freddy answers Mr. Robot's call. He directs him to open his email. Freddie tries to barter for silence, but Mr. Robot cares not for money. Freddie is forced to copy his email inbox onto a USB before leaving his electronics behind and going to Grand Central Station. Mr. Robot watches from outside this building.
Freddie gets into a cab. The news on TV covers the economic boom from the 5/9 reversal. The praise falls on E Corp, E Coin, and CTO Tyrell Wellick.
Inside Grand Central, Freddie is guided by the all seeing eye of Mr. Robot to buy a ticket from the furthest kiosk as Dark Army operatives arrive on scene. The drug addled lawyer is anxious, but Mr. Robot coaches him how to lose the tail: by throwing a wad of money into a busker's case so the DA will frantically search it for a moment. Freddie is directed to a train car where Elliot waits on his laptop.
Freddie pulls a gun on Elliot, but Elliot has the video ready to be sent to the FBI and Freddie's family. Elliot looks through the Lomax emails and documents. He tracks the money Lomax funnels for Zhi Zhang (Whiterose) to Cyprus National Bank. Elliot pushes him for more information, though he claims to be a low level paper pusher. Freddie gives the name John Garcin. He says the address is at his office. Elliot notices the Dark Army soldiers are coming from the train, realizing Freddie's ID tag is Bluetooth enabled. Elliot has them split up to rendezvous outside while leaving the tag in the car. Over the phone, Freddie is fearful of the Dark Army. Hearing Elliot's silence that he can't protect him, Freddie kills himself with his gun on the street corner, as Elliot joins the crowd around the body.

December 22nd. The next day, Tyrell walks into E Corp as his assistant Elisabeth informs him of his busy day of meetings and appearances. In his office, he asks to postpone anything until tomorrow. He can't. He asks for a minute. Elisabeth thanks him for his heroism. Alone, Tyrell stares ahead blankly.

At her mom's house, Dom looks like a wreck struggling to stay awake in the middle of the day. She is suspicious of a car parked in the driveway. Peeking out her door, she sees a strange man ascending the stairs. She gets her gun and confronts him. Her mom Trudie finds them and explains he's renovating the bathroom, as she told her last week. Dom insists she vet anyone her mom hired. Trudie laughs it off and goes to go mall walking with Janice, someone she met at church and wants to set up with Dom. Trudie tells her that Janice is coming over for dinner.

In the abandoned Allsafe office, Mr. Robot searches through John Garcin's boring social media while Elliot adds the name to a conspiracy web. Elliot wants to go to his address, believing him to be a liason to Cyprus National Bank, while Mr. Robot wants more research to break him as they always do. Elliot won't wait another two weeks, as Whiterose will kill them once her project is delivered. Elliot ignores a call from Darlene. Mr. Robot takes note of Elliot's cold demeanor. He tells Elliot to put aside his anger. Elliot explains that if they rob the bank, they stop Whiterose. Mr. Robot claims what they once started to save the world is now clouded about his feelings for Angela. Elliot points out that society has forgotten about 5/9 and the bombings for Christmas commercialism and that if they don't do something, Whiterose will get away with it. Elliot is done with his feelings, his only focus is Whiterose. Mr. Robot reads a text from Darlene, about Angela.

At his apartment, Elliot lets in Darlene, in a frantic mood. She asks about Flipper. Elliot gave him to his landlord for the week. Darlene wonders what her brother is busy with. She goes on to say she thinks she saw Angela. Elliot is dismissive. Mr. Robot tells her Angela is gone and asks if Darlene is on drugs. Darlene dodges the question. She recounts seeing Angela at a shelter but losing her in the crowd. Her body was never found after all. Darlene insists she was wearing her same crazy outfit from before she was taken. Elliot blames the coke. Darlene fights with him for shutting down. Elliot gets in her face, declaring Angela is dead and it's not their fault. Darlene leaves. Mr. Robot asks why he didn't just show Darlene the photo Whiterose sent of Angela's body. We see a quick flash of the image. Elliot didn't want to break her heart. He wants to get back to work.
Mr. Robot begins narrating to the audience as he watches Elliot gather documents. He explains that Elliot hasn't been talking much since Angela died. Distracting himself from the pain, like everyone does during the holidays. Mr. Robot rants about Christmas fakeness while they commute. He admits to bringing in the audience not because he likes them, but because Elliot does.

They arrive at an apartment owned by E Corp. Mr. Robot is cautious, but Elliot heads in anyway. Inside, the man behind the counter pours a bowl of cereal while a nearby man talks loudly on FaceTime in Samoan. Elliot tells the doorman he has a deliver for John Garcin. The doorman lets them through. Upstairs, they find the apartment door open. Inside, they close the door and search the place, though Mr. Robot just wants to takeover the Wi-Fi. The room is empty, covered in dust, and populated by store display items. They realize the door is locked and the phone signal is jammed. Elliot finds a book on the shelf, No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. He concludes John Garcin is a name taken from the book and they were set up by Freddie. It's a honeypot.
The doorman plays "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin on an old generation iPod while two men drag Elliot away.

At the DiPierro house, Trudie, Dom, and Janice sit around the dinner table. Dom's mom tells a story about an attractive nun at their church, trying to get Janice to comment on the nun. Trudie calls it a night and asks Dom to help Janice bring the leftovers home.
Outside, Janice explains that the stuffed animal head in her car is because she's a taxidermist. Dom tries to make small talk. She apologizes about her mom setting them up. They talk about Dom's recent stress, as told by Trudie to Janice. Dom says goodnight. Janice tells her to get some sleep for her Santiago interview in the morning. Dom is alarmed. Janice says that Dom has put it off for weeks and it looks suspicious. She says unless Dom cleans up Santiago's mess, she will kill her mother. Dom threatens Janice from touching her mom. Janice laughs it off, as killing her won't stop the others. Dom notices vans down the street.

Darlene does a line of coke at a party at Angela's apartment. The other people comment on the state of the disheveled decor: the etched out photos. Darlene takes a pill from her friend before she notices people in the bedroom. Some girls are digging through Angela's closet, tossing aside ballet shoes. Darlene yells at them, and everyone else to leave. She then lays on the bed and cries.

In his apartment, Elliot is being held in a chair by two men while a third prepares a heroin needle. Elliot threatens that if Whiterose is listening, he can expose her shipment. He pleads with his captors. Invoking Cyprus National Bank gets the third man to pause a moment. Still, the third man (played by Sam Esmail) approaches Elliot. "Goodbye friend," he says, injecting the drug into Elliot's arm.
Elliot collapses and tries to reach the phone. He sees his parents and his younger self talking about his impending death, that they all will go away. The events of the past year flash before his eyes before he closes them. The closing credits briefly begin before the episode resumes. Someone injects something up Elliot's nose and he awakens. It's the three men who kidnapped him. Phillip Price walks in: "Welcome back, Mr. Alderson."