The series follows Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, who is recruited by an insurrectionary anarchist known as "Mr.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.454 million household viewers and gained a 0.2 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Elliot (Rami Malek) is revealed to have hidden in Shayla's apartment next door, and goes to meet Darlene (Carly Chaikin) at the arcade.
Fearing his cover is blown, Santiago takes Darlene out of the FBI office, but when confronted by Dominique (Grace Gummer), he is forced to knock her unconscious and kidnap her as well.
He takes them to a barn where Elliot is also held captive by Irving, Leon (Joey Badass), and other Dark Army operatives.
As he continues hitting his corpse with the axe, he forces Dominique to become their informant, revealing that he knows her family members' locations and will kill them if she refuses.
Dominique leaves the barn, refusing to accept Darlene's apology but forced to give the FBI access to Elliot.
[2] This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by an estimated 0.437 million household viewers with a 0.2 in the 18-49 demographics.
"shutdown -r" certainly followed many of the rules of an endgame given all the "back to the start" twists it brought into play - secret family members, false memories, etc.
Robot apart for so long, but I was deeply engaged by a lot of it, thanks to the more confident and open storytelling, and thanks to that guy in the hoodie.
"[7] Kyle Fowle of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It makes sense to frame that photo at the beginning of 'Eps3.9_shutdown-r' because, more than any previous episode, the season finale explores the various pitfalls and triumphs that comes with being part of a family unit, whether you define that as being linked by blood or not.
Robot was thick with reveals, reversals and reconciliations, and left no tone unturned as it cycled through suspense and tragedy, high melodrama and horror spectacle.
"[9] Vikram Murthi of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Despite some bumps along the way, Mr.
Robot's third season marks a creative resurgence for the series following a muddled, middling sophomore outing that sacrificed quite a lot of its goodwill.
Creator Sam Esmail clearly took the show's criticism to heart and sought to craft a season that simplified a lot of the action while also expanding its emotional center, tying its disparate characters together through their shared despair over what they've done and what's coming down the pipeline.
"[10] Alec Bojalad of Den of Geek gave the episode a 3.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "'Shutdown,' for all it's [sic] flaws pulls off a pretty incredible trick.
"[11] Caralynn Lippo of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "'Shutdown' was such an exciting, satisfying, and well-executed finale that I hardly know how I'll wait the many months until Mr.