Tropes:
- The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Our first look at Fernando Vera is him rather assertively propositioning Shayla for a "date" outside of her apartment. Vera reluctantly backs off once Elliot returns home.
- Alone with the Psycho: The opening scene, in which Tyrell's lawyers are asked to leave him and Elliot alone in the room. For the whole encounter, Elliot cannot muster a single word as he comes face to face (quite literally) with the clearly unhinged businessman that was once affable and engaging to him previously. This is even before we realize just how crazy Tyrell is.
- Happens again later in Shayla's apartment where Elliot is alone with Vera and is forced to hear his story that he didn't even want to in the first place.
- Bond Oneliner: "You didn't commit to the sacred pact you'd formed..."
- Cliffhanger: Elliot is pushed off of a pier by Mr. Robot as punishment for refusing his offer.
- Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Once Elliot has already hacked Tyrell's e-mail account and seen his Facebook profile, it dawns on him that that may have been what Tyrell wanted him to do. Elliot then proceeds to disassemble his rig and destroy all of the trackable devices in a panic.
- Descent into Addiction: While it can be argued that Elliot was addicted to morphine before, we see him truly submit to the impulses after his stressful encounter with Tyrell. Elliot excuses his extra bumps as necessary because it is an "off day" but it slowly becomes a bigger habit as the episode goes on, with him even railing morphine before work. This has consequences.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Elliot is surprised when he sees that Tyrell has a wife and actually seems like a normal human being on his Facebook profile. So much so that it sends Elliot into a paranoid spiral, believing that Tyrell wanted Eliot to hack him.
- Foreshadowing:
- Elliot finds Darlene in his apartment. When asked how she knew where he lived, Darlene responds almost quizzically:
Darlene: "Why wouldn't I know where you live?"- Mr. Robot touching Elliot. Elliot does not flinch or show any discomfort.
- It's Personal: Elliot was already aware of how repugnant Vera was and could not bring himself to destroy his only supply of Suboxone. He refuses to turn the other cheek however once Shayla is violently assaulted by Vera in her own apartment.
- LOL, 69: Fernando Vera's password is eatadick6969. His username is also bigpapi6969 too.
- Precision F-Strike: After Mr. Robot accuses Elliot's father of being what he calls a "zero":Elliot: "...fuck you."
- Rape as Drama: Shayla is beaten and raped by Vera after she meets up with him to get Elliot's Suboxone.
- Red Pill, Blue Pill: Mr. Robot's "one or zero" lecture to Elliot. In his mind, a "one" stands up to the hidden evil that quietly oppresses, while a "zero" sits idly by and does nothing.
- Tearjerker: Shayla refuses to go to the police after Vera's attack merely because of a special deal he offers her during their drug transactions. In her words:Shayla (defeated): "It's not like I have a choice."'
- Train Escape: Darlene pushes Elliot into a car of a departing subway train in order to lose The Men in Black following them.
