Review: Mr. Robot ‘404 Not Found

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Warning: Post contains spoilers

“Mr. Robot” season 4 episode 4 “404 Not Found” picks up where the previous episode “Forbidden” left off. Ethical hacker Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) arrives at his apartment to find that the door has been forced open. Inside, E Corp CTO Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström) reveals that they’re finally on the inside of E Corp aka Evil Corp. Chinese Dark Army leader Whiterose (BD Wong) nominated Wellick as current CEO Philip Price’s (Michael Cristofer) replacement after Price announced his retirement. Unfortunately, the Dark Army is listening. Elliot hastily scribbles “They’re listening” on a memo pad.
Moments later, Wellick hits the Dark Army surveillance goon on the head with a hammer. Elliot walks up, and Tyrell instructs, “Get in, check the logs. If the recording wasn’t sent back to Dark Army, wipe everything and make sure they can’t track the van.” Thus begins a road trip for Elliot and Tyrell as the pair takes off in the van.

Alderson and Wellick locate a remote gas station, the Stop & Shop, where they plan to fill up a tank of gas slated to be used to torch the van and presumably dead Dark Army operative. Unfortunately, the gas station attendant appears to recognize Wellick. “Do I know you?” she wonders ominously. “I don’t think so,” Tyrell denies. “You look awfully familiar,” she insists. Initially, the encounter seems comical, but later when she identifies Wellick as the CTO of E Corp, it takes a dark turn since it’s insinuated that she’s Dark Army. Moreover, after paying for gas, Elliot and Tyrell find the van missing, prompting a harrowing walk through a snowy forest.

Elliot’s sister Darlene (Carly Chaikin), upon finding her brother missing, leaves an angry voicemail. “Fuck off and die!” she bellows into the receiver at the end of her tirade. When prompted to save the voicemail or re-record, Darlene touchingly saves another. This time, it’s heartfelt and shows her concern for her brother. Breaking into a car, Darlene is caught by a drunken man dressed up as Santa, Tobias. Rather than call the cops, Tobias accepts Darlene’s proposal that she drive him to his upstate New York home.

FBI Agent Dom(Grace Gummer) masturbates while watching interrogation video of Darlene. Then, Dom pulls up a sex-related IRC, chatting with an old acquaintance happyhardonhenry806.

Obvervations:

While “Mr. Robot” S04E04 “Not Found” initially resumes with a continuation of earlier story arc, like Elliot and Wellick’s road trip, there’s a spontaneous detour. Sure, surveillance is related to Alderson and Tyrell attempting to thwart Whiterose’s plans. But the overall episode instead probes its characters and relationships, while setting the stage for what promises to be a grim second act for the final “Mr. Robot” season.

Elliot and Tyrell, since the beginning of the series, shared a delightfully odd pairing. When Wellick first arrived at the now-defunct All Safe headquarters, representing one of All Safe’s top clients, E Corp, he struck up a conversation with Elliot who, well, didn’t seem to care. While on the run from the Dark Army, Tyrell speculates that Elliot wears the same unassuming clothes, a black hoodie and black jeans, since he doesn’t care. While Alderson sort of confirms this, he contradicts himself a bit when he tells the shot and bleeding Tyrell, “I can’t let you die.” Despite Elliot’s protestations, Wellick wanders off into the woods to meet his demise, making just one request: “Make sure you take care of Whiterose.” In his final moments, Wellick wanders into the snowy wilderness, following a haunting animal sound, and walks towards an eerie blue glow where he kneels down in the snow. Although “Mr. Robot” is chock-full of dynamic characters, possibly none other has been as shocking as Wellick. Underneath his original psychopathic veneer, Tyrell revealed a caring, needy personality. Martin Wallström dominates in this episode, as in so many “Mr. Robot” entries, with a tour de force performance as the intriguing Wellick.

Dom chats on a sex-related IRC. What begins as reality morphs into a dream sequence. Despite the pretty obvious trope, it’s a neat glimpse into Dom’s psyche. The once-strong FBI agent now cowers, afraid of the Dark Army, and armed with the knowledge that she’s lost complete control of her life.

Darlene’s road trip likewise offers insight into her frame of mind. During the car ride with drunken Santa Tobias, he makes a few statements that lead Darlene to suspect Tobias may be contemplating suicide. However, Tobias corrects her that he’s simply quoting Jimmy Stweart from Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” as well as renowned author John Steinbeck. Darlene, and the audience, realize that it’s not Tobias struggling; instead, it’s Darlene. As “Mr. Robot” so often manages, once again it beautifully places the audience in the perspective of its characters, in this case Darlene. In this way, it crafts an unreliable narrator guise which ultimately drops a major reveal during the prestige.

Admittedly, many “Mr. Robot” fans may balk as the seemingly insignificant detour that is “Not Found.” However, it’s a fantastic glimpse into the psyche of Darlene, Dom, Elliot, and the now-deceased Wellick. Sure, we’re no closer to deciphering Whiterose’s enigmatic plan. Nor have Darlene and Elliot progressed in their plan to stop Whiterose. However, the stage is set for an epic, grim showdown with the Dark Army.