Elliot (Rami Malek) signed off on May 14th by saying "Major Tom, signing off" which is a really dark joke if you think about it.

Elliot has chosen to put himself in jail to avoid the authorities (ironic) and to exorcise Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) and I can attest to how bleak jail is but Major Tom is abandoned while floating in space as he is running out of oxygen.

Major Tom laid his heart open to the benign indifference of the universe in the song, perhaps that is what Elliot is also trying to do in regards to Mr. Robot (any Camus fans)?

Anyway, not only is Mr. Robot refusing to be excised by jail, he is in, as Elliot puts it "full attack mode" including annoying Elliot by singing R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World" repetitively at him whenever possible.

But as I suggested in the last installment of "Tales," Elliot is really learning that Mr. Robot is actually, in a sense, working with (and not against) his interests. Elliot says in the 9:57 entry:

"It all starts with him. I still can't believe it, though I totally believe it. It all makes perfect sense...What doesn't make sense is if I caused this - all of it - why can't I get rid of him. And how does he have such a strong hold on me."

Everyone wants to be the hero of their own story, everyone wants to disassociate from the evil things that they do, and nobody wants to take responsibility for the things that they have done that they are ashamed of doing. Dissociative Identity Disorder just allows Elliot to distance himself more effectively by fragmenting responsibility.

And yes, Elliot has done bad things, to date (and I am likely leaving things out):

* Collapsed the US economy (causing massive poverty among millions of people)

* Released an entire jail full of prisoners in Season One

* Helped set up Ollie (Ben Rappaport) and Angela (Portia Doubleday) for a hack

* Had a huge part in the untimely demise of RT

* Hid in jail leaving his Sister to hold the bag for fsociety

I got the most backlash last season from people who don't want to see Elliot as a "bad guy" and I understand that, but he is a complicated character. I think it is better not to view him through a binary lens (seeing all things as either good or bad).

So, anyway, Elliot goes to see a basketball game with his new "not a friend" Leon (Joey Bada$$) who is now following him around all the time. While watching what is probably his first basketball game, Elliot decides that if letting himself be sent to jail won't kill Mr. Robot, maybe boring him to death will. He sees people following predictable patterns in basketball and decides to make his entire life into a redundant routine (like a very simple looping program I suspect).

While Elliot is committed to maintaining the loop, he still has his doubts, as he puts it in the 1:27 p.m. entry on the 16th:

"This is the ideal place for a psychopath like him...He could actually want to be here."

Mr. Robot himself chimes in a few times himself including:

* Drawing a snake eating its own head

* Ranting about Elliot deciding to go to church group

* Drawing the logo for Confictura Industries

* Drawing Red Wheelbarrows

And this last thing is likely the most significant given Elliot decides to name the notebook "Red Wheelbarrow." Elliot suggests that he might be thinking about Red Wheelbarrows all the time because of Mr. Robot as he mentions in the 4:03 entry on the 16th:

"Does it have something to do with HIM? Something he's got on the brain that I'm catching on to?"

We know it was Mr. Robot drawing them in the book, even though Elliot admits he draws them too because he continues:

"Oh, I haven't drawn you anything outside of the townhouse that I've created in my mind <see the last issue>."

Then he draws a picture of the basketball court as it really is.