Warning: This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of Mr. Robot.

If one thing's for certain, it's that nothing is ever what it seems with Mr. Robot.

While hordes of Mr. Robot fans are still trying to comprehend the countless theories that have stemmed from last week's two-hour premiere — Vulture's take may still frustratingly ring true — this week's episode might have tipped its hat toward a major plot line having to do with one character: Ray. He's the bright neighborhood local/pet-owner trying to lure Elliot out of his retirement from hacktavism.

Ray, played by the jovial and beaming Craig Robinson, felt like an odd addition to the otherwise gritty cast of Mr. Robot when his role was announced in March. The premiere did little to clarify his role, presenting him as a comical foil to an otherwise embattled Elliot, one who enlists him in an unnamed task that requires his dark coding expertise. Things, however, may be getting a bit clearer.

While he remains a bit of an enigma, episode 3 pulled the curtain back a bit on his character's depth. Through a handful of scenes, we learn Ray is a medication-dependent man whose wife passed away nearly six years ago. He copes by talking to an imaginary version of her every day over breakfast, something he admits is crazy, but something he continues to do every morning.

Just exactly how Elliot is connected to Ray is never mentioned. The closest hint came in one of the most artfully shot scenes from last night's episode, where Ray is conversing with a programmer as the camera slowly rotates around the two to unveil the right side of his face — bloodied, swollen and bruised.

Ray is reaching out to help bring "proportionate retribution" upon the people who hurt the programmer, in exchange for bringing back up a website he needs — though we're still not sure what it's used for. The hacker is unfit for the task, and Ray is left to look for another person with the desired skill set.

Pictured: (l-r) Craig Robinson as Ray, Rami Malek as Eliot Alderson. Image: Michael Parmelee/USA Network

This brings us to Elliot and the aforementioned task for which Ray has enlisted his help. The last scene we see Ray in has him speaking to Elliot in some sort of office setting. Ray presses Elliot about his journal and uses anecdotes about his wife to comfort Elliot's constantly unraveling Mr. Robot visions. He insists control is an illusion, with the perfectly articulated line: "Control is about as real as a one-legged unicorn taking a leak at the end of a double rainbow."

The task Ray needs done is never mentioned. But regardless of whether the two are partners in cyber crime or not, Ray seems like Elliot's escape rope out of his terribly unreliable mind.

But here's the thing: What if Ray is just as sick as Elliot? What if Ray, being that sick, is living in his own unreliable reality?

Introducing another character whose mind is just as faulty as Elliot's could really tilt Mr. Robot's narrative axis, but with Sam Esmail's affinity for the Durden-esque reveal and risk taking, it's certainly not out of the question. Having the narrative told from Elliot's perspective exclusively somewhat negates this theory, but in Elliot's state of mind — and his inability to tell reality from hallucination — anything that Ray perceives to be real may just be enough to convince the otherwise unhealthy Elliot to as well.

But here's the thing: What if Ray is just as sick as Elliot?

There are a few indications of this. We know that from the snapshot of his medication that he's taking Sitagliptin, which commonly treats Type 2 Diabetes. From the sheer amount of medication in his home, we can infer that his condition is fairly progressed. And we know from the use of his dialysis machine that he's undergoing some sort of treatment for kidney failure. Hallucinations could be the result of that.

It's a lukewarm theory at best, but that evidence in combination with Ray's admission of his conversations with his dead wife and his reassurance to Elliot that the two are "a lot more alike than you think" may suggest otherwise. Also, for a show that loves to hide sign posts in plain view (did you happen to catch Darlene spying on that E Corp exec in the first episode?), all these very blatant and obvious signals about Ray suggest he's much more complicated than a simple man on dialysis who spends every morning talking to air over a plate of potatoes.

It's plot-trolling at this point to consider the possibility that Ray isn't real. But acknowledging there is much more to Ray than meets the drug-hazed eye is otherwise simple due diligence.

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