Intro

It’s hard to visualise any “other one” theories because we expect them to be a distinguished person. The way Mr Robot was revealed leaves us subconsicously, or consciously, expecting the revelation to be like that. We want to be able to go back and see them in each episode without being specifically told of each time they’ve been present. I hope with this theory we’ll be able to go back after the show ends and see an instance of the “other one” coming to the front. The episode Init_5 always stood out to me (not just as a favourite) but I couldn’t figure out why, until we were told by Magda there is “the other one” in 402. This episode also has a lot of links to season 4, the season we find out about “the other one”.

What is “the other one”?

I’m going to refer to “the other one” as the Monster from here on out. Partly because it’s the side to Elliot he’s hiding from but also for convenience. I don’t necessarily think the Monster is the right word but the show uses it so I will too for ease. Feel free to reprogram your brain so you see “the other one” instead of “Monster”.

Points to clarify before we go further: I believe Mr Robot knows (possibly always has) that a 3rd personality, the Monster, can take control. Mr Robot hasn’t communicated with the Monster, and may not be aware of the personality traits, but he is aware of its existence. In 402 he seems like he’s always known, but had no way of telling Elliot safely. The other one comes to the front in situations Elliot can’t handle himself, likely developed in childhood as a way of dealing with trauma and uncomfortable situations.

Who is Mr Robot?

Mr Robot is a protector. There are plenty of examples of this such as:

He’s said it directly Elliot a few times. He takes physical blows for Elliot and creates hallucinations to protect him. He can’t beat Elliot in chess because he doesn’t want control, and he can’t let Elliot win because he needs Mr Robot to protect him. A lot instances of him protecting don’t seem like he’s got good intentions, but they are tests to allow Elliot to gain better control. There’s multiple more direct and indirect examples, this post in long enough as it is. The problem with Elliot is that it takes until about season 4 to realise Mr Robots purpose.

Mr Robot appeared because Elliot needed him, but being overwhelmed by the hack led to him confusing him as an adversary. Why did Elliot do that? My theory is that he blamed Mr Robot for so much because Elliot projects his problems on to other people, and is not ready to discover another personality. He’s been projecting his shortcomings on Mr Robot and assigning blame on him for all the consequences of what theyve done. Just like Elliot did with Edward, believing all his life that he was pushed out his bedroom window. Why? Because Elliot hasn’t fully integrated and realised the entirety of his condition. Not through lack of trying, but because he’s going through such a crazy journey. Mr Robot can’t straight up tell Elliot because it’s not the right time, and he’s there to protect Elliot, not make things harder. Elliot thinks there’s a fight for control, but Mr Robot sometimes HAS to take control. If he doesn’t take control then the Monster will take front, and that led to the 5/9 hack.

To briefly summarise so far: Mr Robot is a protector, but Elliot confused him as the enemy because he only thinks the two of them exist. Elliot has to come to terms with the Monster at his own pace, so until that point Elliot has had no option but to blame Mr Robot for unexplained events. Mr Robot can’t just break it to Elliot about the Monster. So this confusion between them is what I want to focus on in episode Init_5. If it’s not Elliot doing something then it has to be Mr Robot doing it, and that’s the flaw in Elliot’s experience.

Times the Monster has taken over, all of these are events we haven’t witnessed:

• When Elliot threw himself out the window.
• When he was shouting at the Queens museum staff (future episode will show us what happened, check IMDB).
• When Elliot was locked in the server room and trashed it at his old InfoSec job.
• The missing time after Shayla died.
• The missing time after Elliot undid the hack/Angel’s death.
• When Elliot started fsociety the night Darlene came back to the city and the time following that until S01E01
• With all of the above I believe the Monster’s presence is much more firm than what we see in Init_5.

So why Init_5?

The main point to focus on in this episode is a really weird experience both Mr Robot and Elliot seem to be going through. I think this is the best demonstration of another personality existing in Elliot. Esmail is able to give us this at that point in this show, without directly telling us. It feels to me like how the dream sequence supposedly describes the whole story, albeit in a very surreal way.

After leaving prison he goes to Cisco’s apartment. Elliot says “Init_5 is supposed to be simple, a fresh start, restored connections. This may be my first moment of normalcy, taking a piss in private.” Guess again Elliot!Elliot stares in to the mirror, probably for the first time after a long time. But then we suddenly hear Mr Robot talking to Darlene and Cisco, in another room! So did he take a piss? Is he really staring in to the mirror? Elliot opens door and catches what I think is the Monster, he doesn’t know what he’s seeing so it appears as Mr Robot. Elliot walks out the bathroom, watches them, then the actual Mr Robot comes to the front and is really confused, asking if Elliot’s alright. Elliot asks Mr Robot what happened shortly afterwards. Mr Robot seems genuinely confused, saying everything was normal, Elliot was talking to them, then he just shut down. I think Mr Robot confused the Monster with Elliot, and Elliot saw the monster but could only see him as Mr Robot. Both seem confused as heck! Elliot thought it was Mr Robot, Mr Robot though it was Elliot!Elliot has literally just left prison, it was traumatic for him. Seeing his mum and getting support from Darlene are probably emotional triggers too. This is a borderline traumatic experience for Elliot, coming to terms where he is now. This is why I think the Monster has some room to take the front, and why everything gets so confusing. As Cisco and Elliot are on the subway Elliot hallucinates the weird old guy with the synthesiser playing disjointed music. Elliot can see Cisco & what he thinks is Mr Robot (the Monster) in the other car. ‘Mr Robot’ doesn’t seem confused, he seems determined and very aware. This is unlike how Mr Robot was acting the apartment. So I think again that this is the Monster, but filtered by Elliot’s mind to see Mr Robot. Toward the end of the episode Darlene sits with Elliot/Mr Robot and they seem to keep switching between each other. Switching places, out of body experiences, being in two places at once. We saw all this happen in this episode but not really in many others. I think it’s the first time this stuff happens until late season 3/early season 4. Mr Robot says it's "like we're overheating." Is this because having all three of them trying to be in the front is overheating Elliot's consciousness, like a computer overheating perhaps?

So to repeat, the other one comes out after/during traumatic expeirnces, not always, but it’s fair to says it often happens. Init_5 is one of the times we get the see Elliot’s direct history of what happened after a traumatic experience. Being in prison was definitely traumatic, yes he lied to us, but the point of the prison delusion was also to help himself too, “better the devil you know”. It’s all been an emotional overload for him so the Monster has started surfacing, because it’s a situation Elliot is having trouble coping in.

Other standout moments from the episode:

1. Episode opens as he’s arrested, right after seeing Mr Robot, Magda and Young Elliot in Time Square. It’s similar to how they’re shown in 401, when Mr Robot says he’s there to protect Elliot. As Elliot is processed to enter prison he’s being watched by, depending on your definition, Sam Esmail or Sam
2. Esmail’s character. If it’s a cameo why choose this episode? Random maybe, or is it a clue? If it’s a character and not just a cameo that’s a pretty big coincidence, something Whiterose doesn’t believe in haha!
3. Exit signs: hallway outside Magdas room, hallway outside Ray's office, might be more but I wasn't looking for them
4. Darlene meets Elliot outside the prison gate, she whispers something in to his ear. To this day I think it’s still a mystery what she said.
5. Elliot and Darlene run an SDR that includes Magda’s carehome. Elliot says he wants to stop and see her:Her clock is set to 11:16She doesn’t say anything or seem to react at all to Elliot. A year earlier Darlene had asked if Elliot still speaks to her, perhaps since then she’s been overcome with a physical or mental illness. It’s the last time Elliot sees her before her death in season 4, as far as we know.
6. It’s one of the last times Elliot sees Mr Robot until stage 2.
7. When Elliot tells Cisco the plan he says Shun is meeting Mr Robot, then corrects himself saying it’s him he’s meeting.
8. The way Elliot speaks to the DA foot soldiers in the library.
9. Angela wants to report the WTP data she stole from eCorp, she thinks she’s talking to one person but then the woman working for Whiterose shows up. Just as Elliot thought he was talking to Mr Robot but in fact was being watched by the Monster (kinda teaching with this one but there are parallels)

Aside from Init_5 there’s one other time I’d be confident in saying the we saw the Monster had surfaced:

We’ve been shown the “seeing what’s above you” scene twice. Once as Mr Robot, once as Elliot. I think we were shown it twice in this way because it’s neither Elliot or Mr Robot. When Elliot confronts Mr Robot for supposedly talking to Darlene about Vera in 402 he realises there could be another personality. It cuts to a shot of the sky. This mirrors how it cut to the sky when the “seeing what’s above you” scene happened with Tyrell. I think Elliot had a flashback to that memory when he realised there could be another personality. Then of course it pans down from the sky to eventually reveal Magda and young Elliot in the skyscraper, waiting for “the other one”.

Edit: I think the Monster also appeared a year ago when Darlene came back to the city on Halloween, Elliot had recently had the breakdown at his InfoSec job. When he puts the mask on I think that was the Monster coming to the front. We don't see the events happening after that which lead up to "Hello, friend." I think in this time the Monster is very much present.

The end

So that pretty much sums it up, thanks for being patient and thank you for getting this far!

I think I could have easily doubled the length of this post with more evidence and examples, BUT, I’m exhausted. I’m hoping this will be a good starting point and discussion.

Notes:

I edited this countless times, so sorry if I repeat myself, I had to give up eventually. (also pls ignore any bad grammar)

My description of the episode doesn’t do it justice, it’s worth watching again.

I’ve watched a lot of Mr Robot so sorry if I’m expecting everyone to remember all the details and scenes I’ve listed. I had to rewatch the episode a few times while writing this. Feel free to ask questions for clarity etc.