"shutdown -r" is the tenth episode and season finale of the third season of the American drama thriller television series Mr. Robot. It is the 32nd overall episode of the series and was written and directed by series creator Sam Esmail. It originally aired on USA Network on December 13, 2017.
The series follows Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, who is recruited by an insurrectionary anarchist known as "Mr. Robot" to join a group of hacktivists called "fsociety". In the episode, Elliot and Darlene are taken by the Dark Army, while Angela meets with Price.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.454 million household viewers and gained a 0.2 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received critical acclaim, with critics praising the performances, writing, directing, editing and score.
Plot
Dark Army agents led by Grant (Grant Chang) raid Elliot's apartment, finding it empty. Elliot (Rami Malek) is revealed to have hidden in Shayla's apartment and goes to meet Darlene (Carly Chaikin) at the arcade. Finding about her arrest, Elliot laments that he caused everything to happen. He then talks with Mr. Robot, finally admitting that he missed him after the latter said he wouldn't have bombed the 71 facilities. Mr. Robot reveals that there is a mole in the FBI, Santiago (Omar Metwally). They check his apartment, only to be captured by Irving (Bobby Cannavale).
Fearing his cover was blown, Santiago takes Darlene out of the station. When confronted by Dominique (Grace Gummer), he is forced to knock her unconscious and kidnap her as well. He takes them to a barn, where Elliot is also kept by Irving, Leon (Joey Badass) and other Dark Army operatives. Irving takes Dominique and Santiago to a field, where he threatens her with an axe while Santiago suggests using her as an informant. As she refuses, Irving surprises by actually hitting Santiago. As he continues hitting his corpse, he forces Dominique to become their informant, revealing that he knows her family members' locations and will kill them if she refuses. Grant arrives, and Irving informs him he will officially leave as part of a sabbatical, annoying him.
As Grant prepares to kill Elliot and Darlene, Elliot threatens with leaking the Dark Army's information if they are killed. Grant communicates with Whiterose (BD Wong), watching the events, who declares he is of no use anymore. Grant then decides to kill himself. Leon then has Elliot move Whiterose's plant to the Congo sooner. During this, Angela (Portia Doubleday) meets with Price (Michael Cristofer) at his mansion. He reveals his past, in which he dated Angela's mother and conceived a child, Angela herself. Due to his nature, Angela's mother refused to get him involved in Angela's life, so she hid this from her. He convinces her in accepting that Whiterose's actions were destructive, telling her she needs to live with her own actions.
Dominique leaves the barn, refusing to accept Darlene's apology but forced to give FBI access to Elliot. As Elliot decrypts the file, he learns that Romero wasn't responsible for the encryption keys. Later, Elliot converses with Mr. Robot, having deduced he was actually the person responsible. Having accepted his part of what they need, they vow in taking down all elites. He then sends the file to E Corp, effectively undoing the Five/Nine attack.
In a post-credits scene, Darlene and a woman go to Elliot's apartment. As they talk about the economy, a car pulls up in front of the apartment. The woman leaves, and four people walk towards Darlene, with one of them asking for help. When she asks who he is, the man is revealed to be Fernando Vera (Elliot Villar).
Production
Development
The episode was written and directed by series creator Sam Esmail. This was Esmail's 17th writing credit, and 25th directing credit.
Reception
Viewers
In its original American broadcast, "shutdown -r" was seen by an estimated 0.454 million household viewers with a 0.2 in the 18-49 demographics. This means that 0.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode. This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by an estimated 0.437 million household viewers with a 0.2 in the 18-49 demographics.
Critical reviews
"shutdown -r" received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating for the episode, based on 12 reviews. The site's consensus states: "The season finale of Mr. Robot is loaded with reveals, revelations and, in some sense, a return to the status quo."