[polak]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

A theory from reddit that makes total sense now after reflection

Spoiler!

Elliot is in an institution, everything he sees right now is an illusion. His barebones room, warden-esque mother, basketball court, church group, all done in an exact schedule. The Gideon visit was even done as a visitation, complete with "warden" asking if everything was alright

I hope not cause that's really taking the show off the deep end with the "what's real and what's not real" angle and it would be overkill if not done right. I mean as a viewer you'd lose all ability to trust that anything you see in the show is actually happening.

My thoughts:

Spoiler!

- Im positive his friend is an illusion. In the scene where he throws the basketball away and then leaves, people start to move away from Elliot even though it appeared like he was just quietly sitting there. So it was probably him that actually picked up the ball and caused the scene.

- His mom isn't there and he's living alone. I'm not as sure about this one but the fact that we don't see her interacting with Elliot makes me think she's not there.

- I think everything else was real. Still haven't been able to put my finger on what happened with Tyler Welleck. Did Elliot shoot him with the gun that was hidden in the popcorn machine?