I chose to binge-watch Mr. Robot on Amazon Prime on Wednesday night from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. I watched it at home on my laptop. I would classify the show as a hybrid of psychological thriller and drama. In the first few episodes, nothing becomes particularly hectic but there's an intentional element of confusion as the main character Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), suffers from delusions, leaving the audience to wonder what is and is not actually happening. There is certainly quite a bit of drama, with everything from drug addiction to romance.
The first episode opens with Elliot sitting in a coffee shop when a man walks in and sits down. Elliot sits at his table and begins to tell him personal things about the man. The man's reaction, Ron, shows that he doesn't know Elliot. Elliot eventually explains that he hacked Ron's internet traffic and caught him circulating child pornography. Ron tries to bribe Elliot, Elliot refuses. Then the cops show up and Elliot walks off into the night. After Elliot is identified as a "vigilante hacker," it is revealed that he is a cyber-security engineer at his day job.
The first episode opens with Elliot sitting in a coffee shop when a man walks in and sits down. Elliot sits at his table and begins to tell him personal things about the man. The man's reaction, Ron, shows that he doesn't know Elliot. Elliot eventually explains that he hacked Ron's internet traffic and caught him circulating child pornography. Ron tries to bribe Elliot, Elliot refuses. Then the cops show up and Elliot walks off into the night. After Elliot is identified as a "vigilante hacker," it is revealed that he is a cyber-security engineer at his day job.
Elliot begins to express, through internal dialogue, a deep disdain for society, particularly capitalism, corporations, and government corruption. Elliot is summoned to defend what he calls "Evil Corp" from a hack. Elliot discovers an enigmatic message from the hacking file that is clearly directed to him. He leaves the virus in the server as requested by the message and then is contacted by a man that has been following him, it turns out he's the leader from the group that hacked Evil Corp, the F Society. The man, identified as Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) takes Elliot to the F Society headquarters on Coney Island where he first meets Darlene (Carly Chaikin), a hacker in the F Society, who promptly calls him a “dickhead.”
Elliot begins to collude with the F Society, which the writers were certainly inspired by Anonymous when creating, and he frames the CTO from Evil Corp for the hack. In the midst of the meeting where he gives false information to implicate the executive from Evil Corp, he also offends his longtime friend Angela Moss (Portia Doubleday) whom we works with (and appears to be in love with) when trying to stick up for her.
In the second episode, a young executive has Elliot escorted to the Evil Corp office to offer him a job because Evil Corp is going to cancel their account with Allsafe, where Elliot works, causing them to go out of business. There is a strong theme of 'sell your soul to the devil' in that scene. Elliot rejects the offer. Elliot later finds out that the F Society has released a video demanding debt be forgiven for all, not the plan Elliot had believed to be happening but that evening, Darlene from the F Society is waiting for him in his apartment.
Mr. Robot asks Elliot to blow up a gas pipeline to destroy Evil Corp's data and wipe away all records of debt for millions of people. Elliot is conflicted because he is concerned he will hurt people who live or work around the gas pipeline but wants to help remove that debt and contribute to the decline of capitalism, which he calls "the invisible hand." Elliot is told by the Mr. Robot that if he doesn't immediately agree to blowing up the pipeline, that he's out of the group, also insulting Elliot's father who used to work at Evil Corp and got leukemia from radiation at his job. Elliot tells him "fuck you," and leaves.
Elliot's drug problem gets worse and his dealer/friend/partner Shayla Nico (Frankie Shaw) is being abused by her supplier. Elliot has a tense sit-down with the supplier, Fernando Vera (Elliot Villar). Elliot has all the information to get Fernando arrested for various crimes but he'd have to sacrifice his drug supply to do so. Elliot eventually decides to get him arrested.
After getting him arrested, Elliot tries to contact the F Society to pitch a plan that would achieve the same goals without risking anyone's health. In the meeting with Mr. Robot, he pushes him off a railing at the pier and that is how episode two ends.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2016/05/09/mr-robot-review-brilliant-conspiracy-drama/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/arts/television/review-in-mr-robot-even-the-paranoid-may-have-enemies.html
The show was created by writer/director Sam Esmail. Esmail was relatively unknown before Mr. Robot, his only prominent credit before it was for Comet. Rami Malek, the star, had a lot of smaller roles before landing his role as Elliot Alderson in Mr. Robot but was less than a household name. Malek is slated to play Freddie Mercury in an upcoming movie about Queen.
Received very well by critics, Michael Hogan of Telegraph described it as a "brilliant conspiracy drama." Allesandra Stanley of The New York Times picked up on the more political messages of the show, describing it as, "a cyber-age thriller infused with a dark, almost nihilistic pessimism about the Internet, capitalism and income inequality."
The show has an overall dark tone and use of imagery but the threads of subversive political ideals are too strong to ignore. Many of the scenes are in poorly lit places, certainly a combination of shooting on location and on sets. The lighting and often dilapidated scenery creates almost a neo-noir dystopian feel but at times is balanced with harsh artificial lighting, tying in the bright techno-capitalist world we live in.
The hacker group, F Society, is very clearly based on Anonymous, including masks, philosophy, and anonymous communique with altered voices making demands of powerful people/groups. Elliot and his cohorts often reference immense personal debt and income inequality, clearly marketing to a younger generation who feels powerless in the face of an extremely corrupt political and economic system. Elliot is a relateable character who struggles with a drug addiction and feels despondent with the world around him. While very few of us would go as far as committing federal crimes in an effort to further our beliefs, the idea that the way things operate are entirely inexcusable is a common feeling among the more informed citizenry.
While there are certainly other shows that touch on similar topics, Mr. Robot is distinguished by a sharp tone, contrary to of capitalism and current power structures. There's no Fantastic Mr. Fox-style toying with themes of class war and oppression, it's direct and poignant. In another layer that achieves further depth, there is a depiction of the classic rift between radicals and extremists. Elliot is a radical and believes in radical change, but he distances himself from the extremism of Mr. Robot by refusing to kill anyone to achieve his goals. Elliot does, however, frame Terry Colby with trepidation, after Colby removes Moss from the meeting.
I think this show is very appealing to those who research a lot about politics, or even just sci-fi/thriller fans. Politics aside, the story and the evolution of the plot-line, along with the occasional cliffhanger are captivating enough to draw in those with little or no political beliefs. A sleeper group that would be interested in this show are the techno-skeptical, even though Elliot is using technology to challenge the power structure he opposes, he also routinely violates the privacy of those around him and exposes how others violate people's privacy.
I did not notice any overt stereotyping in the first two episodes of Mr. Robot. One could make an argument that the depiction of Shayla's drug supplier as a violent gang member is stereotypical, but obviously some drug dealers are violent people. I would say that the character Shayla defies some stereotypes of drug dealers, being a young female who is obviously not violent. Angela Moss is another character that challenges stereotypes, being a strong female character and also a female with a leadership role in a STEM field. The show also makes relatively overt depictions of sexism in a critical light, including when Terry Colby makes Angela leave the meeting after Elliot answers a question for her, which may have been another nod to sexism. Alderson's character also challenges stereotypes by being a highly-intelligent cybersecurity engineer with a full-time job who uses hard drugs. The show also has several LGBTQ+ characters without making their sexuality or gender identity a large focus of their character development. I did not see any product placement in the show, which makes sense given the message of the show.
Mr. Robot is a well-written show that has ample entertainment value and a lot of relevant social commentary. With the constant references to abuse of power, income inequality, and surveillance, it certainly reflects "real life." I like how politically charged the show is and openly critical of consumerism and capitalism the dialogue is.
I've never watched this show before deciding to do my project on it. I do have friends who watch this show, several had recommended it to me and I had read several reviews on it. I have never reviewed Mr. Robot. Most of the main actors in Mr. Robot use social media, specifically Twitter, and often have images from the show in their posts and profile photos. The actors and production team keep a very consistent web presence.
I can't say I learned very much from watching the show although it does provide some information regarding how hacking groups operate, capitalism, etc. I was thoroughly surprised by the commentary in the show being so explicit. Writers often use metaphors to disguise their political commentary but Mr. Robot integrates the commentary into the plot.
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