Tropes
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Even though he is working for the Dark Army, Santiago's insistence on getting information before raiding the Red Wheelbarrow restaurant seems so unnecessary, especially when the evidence Dominique shares with him very clearly points to the restaurant being involved in a potential terrorist plot.
- Broken Pedestal: Elliot finds out that Angela, whom he was always in love with and has always looked up to was working with the Dark Army and exploiting his mental illness. To make matters worse, Angela shrugs it off and emotionally abuses Elliot without hesitation by blaming him for his "revolution" in the first place and ridiculing his mental illness. Pedestal smashed!
- Crying Wolf: Angela accuses both Elliot and Darlene of being this, believing they are just being crazy by saying that Stage 2 will kill people, and she sees herself as the one doing the right thing.
- Dissonant Serenity: Angela is rather blithe about having a gun pointed at her by some masked lunatic. Justified in that she is beginning her descent into a full-blown psychotic breakdown.
- Downer Ending: Not only does Elliot fail to stop stage two, but he soon discovers that because he diverted the paper records from New York, the other seventy-one recovery buildings were destroyed and claimed even ''more'' lives. Doubles as a Cruel Twist Ending.
- Feud Episode: Angela has a big feud with both Elliot and Darlene when they call her out on her betrayal.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Both Angela and Darlene look at their phones and react with shock and horror before we find out what happened.
- Flashback Cut: The episode begins with one, showing a young Angela's exchange with her mother, and how she came to believe that helping the Dark Army would bring her mother back from the dead.
- Grand Theft Me: Mr. Robot uses this in an attempt to prevent Elliot from halting stage two for good, going so far as to deliberately hurl himself into walls and down flights of stairs.
- Gut Punch: The last minute of the episode reveals that everything Elliot did to stop stage two was for nothing, and instead resulted in more lives being lost.
- Hope Spot: After stopping Mr. Robot from executing Stage 2, Elliot roams contentedly with hopeful music, as he notices the people panicking around him, then Elliot witnesses the other 71 buildings completely destroyed by the Dark Army.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Angela's harsh behavior towards Elliot when he finds out that she manipulated him.Elliot: You sound just like him.
Angela: You, you mean. - Never My Fault: Despite being responsible for facilitating the success of stage two, Angela insists that it all falls on Elliot, as he was the one who set these events in motion in the first place. She then mocks his identity crisis with Mr. Robot after he correctly states that the attack was, in fact, not his idea.
- Rescue Arc: The entire episode, with Elliot, Darlene, and Dominique all scrambling to stop stage two from claiming innocent lives.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Dominique and Norm refuse to wait for the FBI to mobilize on Red Wheelbarrow, opting to go there themselves and without authorization once it becomes clear that stage two is being engineered from there.
- That Man Is Dead: When Elliot and Darlene call out Angela for screwing them over and going forward with Stage 2, she remains remorseless about it and makes it clear that the "old" Angela is gone.
- Trauma Conga Line: Poor, poor Elliot. He starts off the episode by finding out that Angela had betrayed and abused him, then she cuts off ties with him before he leaves for the recovery building to stop Stage 2. And while trying to prevent it from happening, Mr. Robot ends up making Elliot beat himself up repeatedly and when Elliot thinks he finally stopped Stage 2 from happening, he finds out that it was successful in 71 buildings. Seriously, this guy can't catch a break.
- Wham Episode: Stage two is completed, killing thousands of innocent people.
- Wham Line: "There are no paper records in this building. It's empty."
- Wham Shot: The televisions reporting the aftermath of stage two.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Both Elliot and Darlene are not happy with Angela's betrayal and they chew her out for it.
