Mr. Robot S03E01 "eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h" Recap

After Tyrell shoots Elliot in the abdomen due to the contingency plan Mr. Robot installed, ordering Tyrell to stop him if he tried to go against their plans, Tyrell is frantic in trying to save him. He calls Irving, a used car salesman that also is an agent for the Dark Army. Irving helps to clean up the situation and gets Angela's name given to him by a higher-up. Zhang is shown to be giving orders and expresses his intent that Elliot will die once he has completed his work for the Dark Army.

Elliot wakes a week after his shooting and finds he is in Angela's apartment. She tells him the electricity is out and has been so for the last week. She says the people Elliot is working with brought him to her apartment and didn't recognise any of them except for Tyrell. She was on her way to turn herself in to the FBI but was stopped by the Dark Army. Elliot wants to tell the police about what has happened but she pleads with him not to, saying if he does so she'll be killed. Elliot sets off to trace what has happened and to stop their plans.

Elliot returns to the firmware hack building but finds that it's empty. He is then reunited with Darlene and she demands answers from him about his disappearance and tells him that Cisco is dead. Elliot lies to her, claiming Tyrell wasn't involved in the plan, but shares other information with her about the back door into E Corp. The internet has been down for the last week so they will need to go to an underground hacker tournament to be able to get online so Elliot can close the backdoor. Though he is able to shut the backdoor, he and Darlene are spotted at the tournament by some Dark Army agents who force them out of the building before he can complete the rest of his work. They are helped by Irving, who arrives in a cab and offers them access to his laptop while he drives them to shake off the FBI tail that's been following them since they left the apartment. Irving calls in a false report on the car and the trio are able to stop for some food and have a discussion. Elliot calls off Stage 2, and Irving seemingly agrees to his demands. Elliot expresses guilt to Darlene about what his attempted revolution has caused, only worsening the problems he had hoped to fix.

Continuing to be consumed by his guilt, Elliot asks Angela to get him a job at E Corp so he can make things right. He also asks her to keep an eye on him and let him know if he slips back into being Mr. Robot, adding that she is the one that can tell since she knows him better than anyone else does. Elliot feels that Angela is the only person he can trust so she agrees to do so. But late that night, Mr. Robot emerges once again and Angela speaks to him and agrees to work with him to move forward with Stage 2. She brings him to Irving and Tyrell and reveals her intent to manipulate Elliot just as Mr. Robot does so that a new path can be laid to complete Stage 2. She is a firm believer in Whiterose's plan to destroy all that E Corp has ever done so that a new world can emerge.

Mr. Robot airs on Wednesdays on USA at 10/9c.