Maybe what I'll say is a bit silly but I thought there was a bit of a Matrix like element in the first episode where Slater's character (Morpheus) tells Elliot : "I'm going to break you out of your prison". Elliot later has to choose between the white folder and the blue fodler (the 2 pills in the Matrix). Planting the false information basically opens up a slightly different world to him. If he hadn't, he could have gone on to lead a "normal" life.
I wonder what Elliot did that lent him to these forced sessions with his psychologist, and what exactly his problem is. They were speaking of delusions and hallucinations, men in black, etc. Elliot himself was wondering if he was schizo at one point.
Although that has been done numerous times before, I also thought it was interesting how they left it up in the air if he might not be hallucinating some things.
Also, Angela had quite the student loan of 200K... jeeze, did she get a PhD at Harvard ?