USA’s Mr. Robot
Season 4, Episode 10: “410 Gone”
Directed & Written
by Sam Esmail

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “409 Conflict” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “eXit” – click here
After the most “damning doxxing case in history,” things are changing. In the hospital, Dom is okay, but she may be facing criminal charges. On the news she sees that Zhang has been officially named as Whiterose in the media after the “Deus Papers” dump initiated by Elliot and Darlene. A surprise even to Dom, who actually met Zhang and saw those elegant dresses. She has recuperating to do at the moment, not to mention she’s being investigated, and it leaves her feeling no less stressed given she’s not even allowed to know where they’ve put her family in a safe house. None of this stops Dom from getting herself checked out.

Back home, she takes some pain meds, makes a grilled cheese. That’s when Darlene comes knocking. She’s urgently trying to rush them out. But Dom is nonchalant, not willing to leave. Darlene and Elliot have a plan to getaway, whereas the troubled FBI agent wants to be able to say sorry to her family for what she’s done to them. She keeps telling Dom they have to get out of there, before the Dark Army show up. She doesn’t want to see someone else she cares about get hurt or, more likely, killed. She freaks out, eventually convincing Dom to go.
At a motel, the two of them meet Elliot. He tells his sister he has to go back to Washington Township and doesn’t want her to be part of that. She’s already insistent on not going anyway. She’s done with all the trouble. All they have left to do together is send out all that Dark Army money, now untraceable. (Where exactly is it being funnelled?) Otherwise, right now, it’s goodbye for the brother-sister duo. Elliot has more work to do. The two share a sweet hug first. Upstairs, Dom meets Leon again. He can’t even remember when he “shot four people” to save her in that barn, at least not right away. He does a bit of vague rambling on finance, too. Dude’s far out.

Soundtrack: Leon puts on “Wait For Me” by Hall & Oates in the car

The gang hit the road together, a delightfully odd mix.
Leon and Dom do a bit of chatting along the way. She’s trying to get into her new identity as Jackie Doublehorn. She’s doing pretty well for someone who just recently got stabbed in the chest and punctured a lung. She and Darlene are so sweet together. Maybe in another life they could’ve had a normal relationship. They sit together and Darlene lets Dom watch as the final step of the Deus hack is complete. All that money’s transferred to normal people everywhere, dispersed across the regular population instead of the top 1%. People everywhere start to get messages about their eCoin wallets filling up. Dom thinks “this isn’t what justice is supposed to look like,” but Darlene continues to try breaking through to her— this is what it takes to fight those in power, “the greatest redistribution of wealth in history.”

“Do you not know your Vonnegut?”

At the airport, Dom runs into an old face— the greasy lawyer and Dark Army operative, Irving. Yikes. He’s got a novel out, Beach Towel, and it sounds like a page-turner. He’s on a book tour. He signs a copy for her. But she’s reluctant to talk. She’s afraid he’ll do something to her and Darlene. Irving says “word around camp” is the Dark Army doesn’t care about them, they’re doing something else more important. Is that trustworthy, coming from Irving? The two women are pretty confused. Dom thinks they don’t need to run, however, that isn’t exactly Darlene’s sentiment. Dom doesn’t want to walk away from the life she knows. She gives Darlene a number for when she’s “ready to grow up,” hoping she’ll use those hacking skills for more good. That’s not this hacker lady’s style, though. Again, in another life, maybe these two could be together. In this life, that’s not in the cards for them.
Or, maybe it could be. Almost. Dom and Darlene each turn back— the former ends up in the line to board and the latter has a panic attack in the bathroom. Because you knew Mr. Robot wasn’t going to do the whole cliche airport scene in a typical way.
And off goes the plane without Darlene, so it seems.
What an episode! The emotion in this series is intense.
Can’t wait to see what Elliot and Leon get up to together.

“eXit” is next time.