If you've found this, I hope you're qualified to read the intimate thoughts of one of the most interesting people you will ever encounter. Not everyone will be able to understand him, but everyone should know him. Everyone should know about the person who has changed the world forever.
— Hot Carla
Mr. Robot: Red Wheelbarrow (stylized as eps1.9_redwheelbarr0w.txt) is a book tie-in for the USA Network drama-thriller series Mr. Robot written by Sam Esmail and Courtney Looney. An epistolary novel, Red Wheelbarrow is the journal of Elliot Alderson which he kept during most of season two. Serving as a direct sequel to season one, Red Wheelbarrow details Elliot's misadventures and quest of self-discovery following the 5/9 hack.
This page assumes you have watched the first two seasons of Mr. Robot. As such, spoilers relating to the aforementioned seasons will be left unmarked. Consider this your first and only warning.
"I need answers, but until I get some out of HIM, HE'LL just have to suffer the tropes."
- A Chat with Satan: Mr. Robot regularly attempts this to coax Elliot out of his routine.
- Achilles' Heel: Santos is a germophobe, a fact which Elliot exploits to keep him from assaulting Hot Carla.
- All for Nothing: Elliot reaches this conclusion by the end of the book, and is motivated to burn it as a result.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Hot Carla more or less fills in as our main character once Elliot starts to become more ensnared by Mr. Robot's mind games and later Ray's antics. She's also the reason why we're even able to read this book in the first place.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: The entire book is one long, protracted battle of attrition between Elliot and Mr. Robot for psychological control. This, in turn, is the sole reason for the book's existence.
- Big Bad: Mr. Robot. Santos comes in at a close second, although he severely pales in comparison and is merely a pest in the long run. As for Ray, we all know what happened there.
- Bizarre Puzzle Game: The entire book is one giant puzzle if you are paying attention. The innocuous trinkets that Elliot kept within the journal? They contain hidden messages from the Dark Army concerning the advancement of stage two. The multiplication table scribbled on the book binder? One of the ciphers needed to parse out one of the hidden messages.
- The Cameo: Elliot mentions his curiosity over Leon having a Chinese woman as a visitor one day. Considering the later revelation that Leon works for the Dark Army, the Chinese woman here is clearly supposed to be Whiterose.
- Continuity Lock-Out: The book is meant to be read once you finish season two. Otherwise, the plot detail about Elliot being in prison for the duration of it has no explanation.
- Defictionalization: Easily one of the most notable examples of this trope in recent memory. Not only is the book written in-character, but its physical presentation is remarkable: the book is charred with warped pages and contains several artifacts that Elliot came into possession of during his time in prison. Even further, the only indication that this is a fictional work is a small cover sleeve.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Elliot, in all of his infinite wisdom, intentionally starts a rumor that Hot Carla has a sexually transmitted disease in order for the other inmates (more specifically germaphobe Santos) to stop assaulting her. As Hot Carla points out, this action only made her even more of a pariah in prison. Despite this, she notes that Elliot did do it to try and save her from further abuse, even though that ultimately failed.
- Easter Egg: The artifacts in the book contain hidden messages that, when decoded, reveal that Mr. Robot had been communicating with the Dark Army the whole time while Elliot was fighting his influence. When put together, the messages reveal the progress of stage two. That's not even including the QR code that Elliot drew or the nonsense during his overdose and sleep deprivation.
- Guide Dang It!: Those accustomed to Mr. Robot's shenanigans will automatically put on their detective monocles going into the book, but it is quite easy to be fooled by the peculiar mementos scattered throughout, thinking that they are just that. The book only makes one conscious effort to suggest that there is something else going on that requires a deeper look. Then again, that's the point.
- Imaginary Enemy: Mr. Robot, natch.
- Immediate Sequel and Interquel: Okay, kids. Strap in. The book takes place after season one while also covering the gap between it and season two, which it also takes place during. The book is also theoretically a sequel to itself as the foreword and addendums by Hot Carla suggest that she has leaked the contents of Elliot's journal after having been released from prison and, to make this even juicier (read: confusing), the series itself.
- Lemony Narrator: Hot Carla's annotations are dripping with sarcasm and irony most of the time. Elliot is prone to this as well.
- Nightmare Fuel:
- The conceit of the book is that we are looking at Elliot's most candid thoughts, and boy, is it far from pleasant. Elliot's writing style alone doesn't lend much to the experience of a light read, but the added chaos of the journal entries being hijacked by Mr. Robot on top of the myriad drawings of Elliot's arm bruised and broken, his dead body in a wheelbarrow, and other deranged subjects really send home the idea that you're reading from the perspective of a man who is absolutely fucking bonkers.
- The artifacts that come with the book. They are interspersed throughout, hidden within the pages. The sense of realism this adds to the experience is more than a little unsettling, but taking the time to examine them actually yields a hidden plot twist that is quite horrifying in context: they are all secret communiques from the Dark Army, and based on an entry concerning one of the code ciphers found in the book's binder, Mr. Robot has been responding right under Elliot's nose.
- Said entry is pretty creepy on its own: Elliot wakes up in the middle of the night to find Mr. Robot sitting in the dark, reciting seemingly random strings of numbers. Elliot even goes out of his way to mention that it spooked him more than usual, and in hindsight, he had every right to be.
- Noodle Incident: Elliot mentions one of Mr. Robot's attacks on him, but states that he doesn't want to give him the satisfaction by explaining it.
- No Ending: A given, considering that the book is supposed to be a journal without any narrative structure.
- No Fourth Wall: Elliot, Mr. Robot, and Hot Carla all address the reader at certain points.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Mr. Robot starts off just taunting Elliot with his own thoughts and crude doodles but slowly becomes more malicious and violent, provoking fights with rival inmates, and full-on attacking Elliot.
- Split Personality: While the book emphasizes just how terrifying it would be to suffer from dissociative identity disorder, the idea of being locked up in a prison where you are public enemy number one is even worse and serves as a constant thread of tension throughout.
- Tearjerker:
- Hot Carla's story is just so heartbreaking that you want to hug her.
- The entry on the Providence cigarette pack artifact.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Once the book ends, Hot Carla as a character goes AWOL from the rest of the series. Her foreword as well as the book's mere existence heavily imply that she at least managed to get out of prison, though.
- As mentioned above, Red Wheelbarrow is meant to compliment the story arc of season two. The uninitiated reader will otherwise be left scratching their head as to why plot details such as Ray being corrupt, what really happened to Tyrell, and Mr. Robot's true intentions go absolutely nowhere.
