Mr. Robot

[Luke M]

Anyone catch Mr. Robot? I started watching it after seeing Christian Slater take home a Golden Globe.

It centers around a young hacker, Rami Malek, in a sublime performance. The show employs cynical narration ala Fight Club along with an Atticus Ross/Trent Reznor inspired soundtrack. The references to Fincher are undeniable - not cheap nor poorly executed either.

I highly recommend it. It's easily the most refreshing show of 2015.

[YnEoS]

I don't watch too much TV, but this show had enough buzz around it to catch my attention and I really enjoyed it. There's definitely some well written characters and a lot of momentum behind the plot. I was slightly disappointed that it seems to be playing a long game with its story, but that's may just be my preference for more compact self contained seasons of TV shows. Its definitely got me hooked enough to follow along, but I hope later seasons elaborate on some of the rapid plot machinations and give more payoff than just pure forward movement.

[hearthesilence]

The references to Fincher are undeniable - not cheap nor poorly executed either.

Amusing to hear - isn't the show runner the director of the prior film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

[Luke M]

Interesting, I wasn't aware of the connection. Niels Arden Oplev isn't the show runner but did direct the pilot.

[cdnchris]

I got hooked to this one during its run though did grow a little disappointed once I figured how Slater was fitting into it. Still, the central character is an interesting one and it was nice to see a show actually get computers and networks right (mostly), right down to code and commands. Of course, after CSI: Cyber (which I hate-watch), just seeing someone properly turn off a PC would have been refreshing.

[fdm]

Thought I saw a typo in one of the computer commands. That and having to resort to subtitles sometimes to understand what's been said/mumbled are about the only quibbles that come to mind. Otherwise I like it well enough.

[Black Hat]

Went thru this the last few days and it's pretty awesome. I definitely appreciated how they connected the show's story to current events in ways I hadn't seen to date. The lead character is fascinating, I love the opposing planes of his observations about people being honest, at times painfully so, while the telling of his own story isn't. The supporting players

SpoilerShow

I understand their feeling there had to be a cost and that episode was season's best, but I feel killing Shayla was a mistake.

and subplots can be stronger. That said I can't think of an actress who uses her stunning beauty in as disturbing and creepy way than Wellick's wife. It appears her storyline will expand in season 2 which is good.

Slater's role was interesting in the sense that they didn't hide from it.

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It worked for me because it felt like a part of the story instead of a reveal. The misdirection of the sister was smart, one I didn't see coming, but in retrospect made complete sense

What would worry me going forward is how long can the show go before it loses its freshness and comes off as formulaic or worse, ridiculous.

SpoilerShow

Or people changing sides too much. Wellick teaming with Elliot wouldn't be good.

[therewillbeblus]

I liked the show, particularly the opening scene which set a great tone. However I had one pretty big issue with it:

SpoilerShow

It was pretty obvious to me early on that Christian Slater's character was not real. I made the connection early on just on the basis of linking the plot to Project Mayhem in Fight Club and thought, "There are so many similarities...What if they steal the twist..." Once this became a possibility I noticed how they set up scenes with Slater not engaging with the other characters in the secret organization, just meandering around the background. The filmmakers executed this pretty well, and if I wasn't looking for it I probably wouldn't have noticed. I really hoped I was wrong because I thought it would be a pretty cheap trick, not to mention borderline plagiarism, but then when they played an instrumental score of The Pixies "Where Is My Mind" during one of the later episodes I thought you can't be given a bigger hint than that.

Nonetheless, the show featured strong performances and was overall really well-done, if not entirely as original as I would've hoped. Now that

SpoilerShow

the twist

is out of the way, I'm hoping season 2 is even better.

[Luke M]

I liked the show, particularly the opening scene which set a great tone. However I had one pretty big issue with it:

SpoilerShow

It was pretty obvious to me early on that Christian Slater's character was not real. I made the connection early on just on the basis of linking the plot to Project Mayhem in Fight Club and thought, "There are so many similarities...What if they steal the twist..." Once this became a possibility I noticed how they set up scenes with Slater not engaging with the other characters in the secret organization, just meandering around the background. The filmmakers executed this pretty well, and if I wasn't looking for it I probably wouldn't have noticed. I really hoped I was wrong because I thought it would be a pretty cheap trick, not to mention borderline plagiarism, but then when they played an instrumental score of The Pixies "Where Is My Mind" during one of the later episodes I thought you can't be given a bigger hint than that.

Nonetheless, the show featured strong performances and was overall really well-done, if not entirely as original as I would've hoped. Now that

SpoilerShow

the twist

is out of the way, I'm hoping season 2 is even better.

SpoilerShow

I picked up on the Fight Club influence right away but it still never crossed my mind that Slater's character wasn't real. I thought they did a great job obscuring it.

[Black Hat]

SpoilerShow

I picked up on the Fight Club influence right away but it still never crossed my mind that Slater's character wasn't real. I thought they did a great job obscuring it.

SpoilerShow

That's wild. From the start I thought he was imagined to where I thought they did a great job making it a part of the show.

[Swift]

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The scene early on where he just appears at Elliot's workplace seemed so blindingly obvious that it actually made my wife and I question whether the writers weren't trying to walk us down that path only to reveal that the character was real. It had become noticeable that Slater's character never interacted with anybody outside of the core group, and that when in that group only one of the two ever spoke at one time. And yet then in a later episode, Slater goes and orders coffee or something at a cafe. We kept going back and forth on it each week and that was part of the fun of the show.

The reveal of the sister was well done though.

[YnEoS]

Anyone else start watching Season 2 yet? I didn't think it was a particular strong start, especially for a 2 part episode, but I guess I'll wait around for a while and hope it picks up.

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Maybe its just the time elapsed, but I didn't think killing off Gideon was all that effective. I feels like he's been sort of the innocent character being indirectly hurt for a while now, but he's not really be particularly close with Elliot lately, and his death just sort of seemed random rather than the culmination of anything or having any weight behind it.

[Andre Jurieu]

So I'm hoping I'm wrong and it's being made so obvious that it's clearly a misdirection, but is it safe to assume that

SpoilerShow

Elliot's in prison right now?

[phantomforce]

That's a theory that is spreading like wildfire and while it may be true, I feel like that would be too big of a release. for example, the mr robot reveal was so subtle that when it was revealed, you kind of already had the idea that it was him. there was no massive reveal, that wouldn't fit the show because Elliot knows he's got a screw loose. If suddenly we are to see an episode in which his entire surroundings change, that would just be a huge 'f you' to the audience and insult our intelligence. However, I do think he has constructed certain visual clues that will be revealed. One thing Rami Malek said on talking robot is that he's 'Committed'. He might mean he's committed to his pattern or workflow or maybe he's punishing himself and creating some sort of prison like system not because he's living through it but because he is ashamed of hurting those around him. Lastly, when Tyrell calls him, is it possible that maybe Tyrell is the one in prison rather than what we can only assume is his being on the run. Or maybe he is dead which is why the wife has a bodyguard.

Ahhh too many things going on.