Leon is a ninja assassin with connections to the dark army and Elliot has been in prison since the second season started. Episode 7 of the successful US series Mr Robot causes a lot of content to discuss about. This article deals with probably one of the most important questions people are posing right now – what is going on with Tyrell Wellick?

Let’s have a look at Tyrell’s character first. He is a wealthy businessman and works for E-corp, the biggest and probably most corrupt conglomerate of the world. His money is his status symbol. He is ambitious and arrogant. He sees the waiter who serves him as a useless bug and he gives money to a homeless man for beating him up. And even if he tries to stay calm, you can see that he is disappointed when Elliot refuses the position and the big amount of money he offers him for working at e-corp. He is a perfectionist and suffers from aggression issues. He is arrogant and wants to control everything (his job, his sex life, other people) which is apparently impossible, so that this frustration leads to regular outbursts of fury and enormous propensity towards violence.

1. Tyrell is dead

Just as Mr Robot revealed. Watch the scene again. It seems to be real, I mean if you could use this word referring this show. Especially because he told him that right after their emotional reunification. Yes, we know that Mr Robot protected Elliot but just because he lies does not mean that he acts to the disfavour of Elliot. What if he wanted to protect Elliot from something he could not cope with (yet)? In addition to that, lots of other questions would appear: Where is the corpse? The whole world is looking for the main suspect in the case of the murder of Scott Knowle’s wife and for the 9/5 hack. I think that in such a situation it would be nearly impossible to make his corpse disappear unobtrusively.

There are obvious hints that Elliot shot Tyrell (or wounded him by shooting at him) and somehow this obviousness makes it unlikely. Esmail knows his audience and many of us can think analytically. It does not fit in the usually inscrutable plot. But then again maybe this unexpectedness makes it applicable.

2. Tyrell is alive

This is probably what most of the fans wish for: that the mentally instable businessman is somewhere out there. Wouldn’t that be possible? At least Joanna receives small presents via post regularly. But are there any other indicators? For that purpose we need to ask ourselves on whose side Tyrell is. At the end of season one he helps Elliot to start the revolution. Why? What are his intentions? What are his plans? The subversion of the credit institutions would be against everything he stands for.

3. Elliot is Tyrell

Another theory which people discuss about lively. To be honest, at first sight I found this quite devious. That would cause too many gaps and discrepancies: There are certain situations in which Elliot and Tyrell are at different places operating with different people at the same time, e.g in episode 5 of season 1, when Tyrell is having dinner at Scott Knowle’s house and Elliot is at Coney Island, talking about their failure at steel mountain because the dark army refused to take part in this project. Or the fact that Gideon informs Tyrell about the honeypot but not Elliot. That implies that Gideon knows and perceives Elliot and Tyrell as two different persons. Not to mention the general problem with time this theory implicates. Because that would mean that Elliot worked for E-corp and Allsafe fulltime at the same time plus he acted as Mr Robot at fsociety.

What would be the pros?

Tyrell vanished since the beginning of season 2, the same point of time since when Elliot is in prison. When Joanna and Elliot meet, she acts as if Elliot was Tyrell. She asks him questions, e.g when he saw Tyrell the last time and who he is. She tries to find out which identity he adopts. Elliot

feels uncomfortable and thinks that something is wrong with her. In his mind he says that it is like she could “hear us” (him and us as his imaginary friend). He definitely feels penetrated. Then she says something in Danish to see if that evokes something. When it does not, she seems to be helpless and tired. In my view this conversation is the stongest argument pro this theory . Besides Elliot wakes up in Tyrell’s car, and what is also odd, he just lets the 9/5 hack and the start of the revolution happen even though he worked for E-corp the whole time. It would be against so much he appreciates: his wealth and his lifestyle.

All in all I have to admit that the more I think about these theories, the more I see gaps but also surprising coherences. That makes it more difficult to say which theory would be (more) likely. I think that Tyrell is alive. And irrespective of the gaps which come with the “Elliot is Tyrell” theory, I find the conversation between Elliot (alias Tyrell) and Joanna as a key scene very convincing. Whatever may be the case, I hope I could give you some ideas of these possibilities. And I am happy to be enlightened…or not. Bonsoir mes amis!