Instead of complying with this order, Darlene ran away with the cat and hid for several days.

Eventually, a neighbor found Darlene hiding out in his shed and he turned her over to Mrs. Alderson.

Elliot said that when he finally saw her, she was covered with bruises from the beating their Mom gave her for the cat and for running away.

Elliot dissociates from these memories normally because they are too upsetting to him.

Anyway, it occurs to me that Elliot is concerned with Hot Carla's abuse in Jail because she reminds him of Darlene.

Elliot tries to stick up for Hot Carla (Eve Lindley) how he wishes he had been able to stand up for Darlene.

Where Darlene had a cat, Elliot follows Carla and finds out that she sneaks food to a jailhouse rat that she has named Reynaldo.

Parallelism.

Anyway, Elliot is working in the laundry in jail when Carla runs in terrified and trying to hide from Santos and his goons. Elliot locks her in a closet and then acts dumb when Santos and crew show up asking questions (have I mentioned before that you are not really allowed to just wander around jail on your own recognizance?).

Later, when Elliot is walking down the halls and passes Santos' crew he takes a swing at Santos and, as a result, gets beaten down by Santos and his squad.

Probably as a result of going full on conspiracy theory in front of his entire Church group the day before, Kevin (the not so loveable neo-Nazi) jumps in and saves Elliot.

Elliot gets blamed for the fight (he did start it) and gets his Laundry job taken away and replaced by bathroom duty (bathroom duty just sounds wrong).

But Santos and goons apparently don't find this to be punishment enough so they go and find Carla and rape and beat her so badly that they put her in the infirmary (they broke her wrist and who knows what other damage they did).

Unfortunately, Elliot's Robin Hood complex has gotten someone hurt again.

Elliot claims that Mr. Robot instigated the attack on Santos, but I am starting to doubt this explanation. I suspect that if Mr. Robot did take control, it is because he was being told to attack Santos (he takes over when physical violence is necessary).

When Elliot Prime is angry crazy things happen. Given that Mr. Robot came into existence to help Elliot Prime accomplish goals that Elliot 2 was incapable of facing, it seems unlikely this is part of the ongoing power struggle IMHO.

Elliot wants Santos hurt and he is so angry that he is not doing a very good job of protecting himself or of creating a strategy, yet.

One other small theory here, part of why Elliot puts a "Mr. Robot face" on anything that he doesn't like is because he blames his father (represented by Mr. Robot) for not protecting Darlene from their Mom either.

Yes, part of Elliot deeply loved Edward but part of him is angry towards him too. Angry because he didn't protect Darlene and angry because he pushed Elliot out the window. His way of negotiating that anger is by associating his Father's face with anything violent or shameful that he sees himself doing.

At the end of the day, whatever the theory, I am putting my bet in now, Santos won't make it through Red Wheelbarrow in one piece.

Elliot says:

"I obviously can't allow Santos to exist anymore, but how do I delete someone in the analog world?"

Glad my name is not Santos.

What's In A Name?