Mr. Robot (2015-2019)
"Elliot, a brilliant but highly unstable young cyber-security engineer and vigilante hacker, becomes a key figure in a complex game of global dominance when he and his shadowy allies try to take down the corrupt corporation he works for."
- IMDB
This show has been on my list for a while now. I loved Rami Malek in Until Dawn, so I already loved him before he gave the Oscar winning portrayal of Freddie mercury. He’s why this show was on my radar. So I was pretty hyped to see what the show was all about.
Season 1
Elliot is a genius hacker who shares the same outlook on society as I do basically. There’s too many specifics to state but every time his inner monologue comes on, I’m always agreeing with what he’s saying when he reflects on society as a whole. One major flaw that seems to be the heart of the plot is the concept of economic imprisonment, basically referring to how we are all bound to some financial contract, absolutely swallowed in debt, be that some individual, company, or the government as a whole, and that we’ll never be free. We’ll always be owned this way. Christian Slater as Mr. Robot takes action, and Elliot is the key to making his vision a new reality.
Mr. Robot himself is a fun and eccentric character. He was also really convincing, I would totally support his cause. I think Angela has the potential to be an interesting character. I was frankly bored with her plot with her boyfriend, but she’s definitely the type of character that can get thrown in the thick of some deep plot and I hope that’s what happens. Darlene is pretty cool as well as the rest of the fsociety squad. Tyrell makes for a very interesting antagonist. He’s definitely mental. But I’m wondering what kind of dynamic he’ll bring as it seems that he teamed up with Elliot n the end.
I love the character Elliot. I remember, in the first 15 minutes, we witnessed his first therapy session and the therapist made a comment about his delusions and then Elliot precedes to doze off and imagine a conversation that never happened. I really loved that because it kept me on my toes literally every episode from that moment on. I just have a lot of PTSD from Fight Club, which I won’t talk about, but..... I always wondered if this would ever come into play, and it did. The final 3 episodes revealed that I wasn’t just having PTSD. It was actually happening. Mr. Robot was one of Elliot’s delusions and there was never a Mr. Robot, just Elliot imagining him in his dad’s image and that was a pretty deep reveal. This continued to be a pinnacle aspect of Elliot's character through the series.
Over all Season 1 was a solid start. The first few episodes were great. The middle, a bit forgettable. But the final part of the season really ramps up. I have a feeling that season 1 did what it could to build up to hyped season 2, and I’m very excited moving forward.
Season 2
The whole concept of Elliot's Multiple Personality Disorder completely overshadowed every other arc on the show. However there were some characters that still had their moments. Angela began her quest to set E-corps wrongs to rights. She tried doing it the right way at first, but she falls further and further from that by the end of the season, especially after her bizarre first encounter with White Rose. Speaking of which, I’m so glad to see more of BD Wong. Between Elliot’s own first encounter and the final scene of season 1, White rose made to be the most intriguing character aside form our main protagonist. With White rose having their own dual personality in a different way, being self aware of it in a Hannah Montana kind of way, it excites me to see their involvement in the future. FBI lady was a great character. Well written to the point that we do kinda root for her and empathize with her even though we’re more drawn to see Elliott / Mr. Robot succeed as the main character..... ssssss....
Now that Mr. Robot has made the show all psychological, I find myself bored at everything else. If it’s not Rami Malek, I probably don’t care. Elliot & his struggle with Mr. Robot is just... so freaking interesting to put it bluntly. There also seems to be more of an emphasis to us as the audience. Elliot’s narration has been directed to us from the beginning. But it hit different this season as he addresses us like we’re a separate character watching IN the show. It makes you wonder who we really are in Elliot’s mind. I also am constantly wondering what other people see when Elliot interacts with Mr. Robot. Now that we know what he is, there are plenty of scenes that cut out of the delusion to just show Elliot, but not always.
I loved the WandaVision episode as Elliot is thrown into this sitcom dream state as he’s dying irl. Those shots when he looks directly at the camera with looks of confusion was a mood. Later, when Elliot was getting jumped by these a-holes in the alleyway, there would be abrupt cuts between punches, switching between Elliot and Mr. Robot. That was a great play on how Mr. Robot slips in and takes control when Elliot is in danger or needs his subconscious father the most. Now that Elliot is self aware, a mutual relationship is slowly being developed as Elliot continues his story.
And I just want to say that the Prison reveal was epic. If there was ever another moment to play “where is my mind” it would’ve been here. After Elliot is like "lol yeah I’ve been here the whole time." We then see his daily routine cleanly transitioning form what we thought was happening to what was really happening day to day. It was genius in writing and execution.
Also, Wellick was completely AWOL the whole season. But when he finally showed up at the end, Elliot had a hard time deciding if he was real or not. And honestly, the show made it hard for me too. Even after Tyrell shot Elliot, I was still like “did that really happen tho???” Half way through the show, I have trust issues trusting Elliot’s pov given his special.... condition...
Season 3
Season 3 is when things are all starting to come together.
Yet again we start the season off as Elliot attempts to shut Mr. Robot out. However, it’s useless as he’s still very much in charge. Before, when Mr. Root took over Elliot without him knowing, we were shut out as an audience. But now we’re getting glimpses of Mr. Robot’s interactions when he takes over Elliot’s subconscious. It made me wonder if finally showing the audience these moments signified a turning point in Elliot’s “special condition.” And what else were we still not seeing Mr. Robot do as this phase 2 is clearly still being pushed? As the season went on, Elliot has such difficulty as he completely begins loosing control of Mr. Robot (as if he had a lot of control to begin with.) Ironically, Mr. Robot is loosing control of his “own” revolution. I’ll talk about it more in a second, but the bombings really caused a shift, and based on the season finale, it seems that Elliot & Mr. Robot may have to work together again to undo what they started.
Now this season was not all about Elliot for once. I actually started to get interested in everyone else. First of all, rip Johanna. Second, the "Tyrell Alone" episode that was all about his season 2 story not only pulled everything together in terms of his whereabouts and what not, but also showed how the Dark Army really took over for phase 2, and all the major events this season are a result from this. FBI lady, who I now know to be Dom, has gotten in too deep thanks to her involvement with Darlene. The whole time, I was hoping she’d catch a break. She was kind of the Hank Shrader of the series. I wanted her to win, but also didn’t want her catch Elliot. I like how they made her supervisor more important. They played him out to be a stereotypical FBI d-bag superior, but it turns out he was just working from both sides all along, which made him interesting. I was too bored of him to catch any clues of this last season, so I was surprised.
Now I gotta say, BD Wong’s White rose is increasingly becoming one of the greatest parts of show. BD Wong’s performance is so captivating and alluring. He was definitely robbed of an Emmy here. He steals every scene that he’s in and has become the show’s main villain in the best way possible. They definitely built Tyrell to be the main villain in season 1, but it was always White rose from the beginning, we just didn’t know it yet. It's her world and we're just living in it.
So episode 5 this season was obviously one of the biggest episodes of the series. First of all, it was shot and edited to feel like a 1 shot, which I was nerding about the whole time. That made the whole episode feel like it was happening in real time, and between that and the lack of music, the intensity was off the charts as Angela executed the mission to help set up the bombings. Next episode it’s revealed that the Dark Army didn’t blow up 1 or 2, but 71 buildings, killing thousands of people. Though ultimately, it was because of Elliot & Angela. Elliot sent everything to different facilities rather than just the 1 in NY and didn’t even consider that the Dark Army would make another plan. And Angela did the hack that made it possible. While Angela has been brutally manipulated, Elliot was really trying to help, but made it worse... so much worse. His guilt lead to an emotional episode as he spends time with Trenton’s brother and deals with his guilt and grief. A really good episode on Rami Malek's part.
Season 4
Here we go. The final season. It all ends here.... And they wasted no time. They literally killed Angela in the first 5 minutes.
They also almost killed Elliot in the first episode, but this near death experience lead to some interesting consequences. We were so used to Elliot’s narration after 3 seasons, but this almost death caused a shift. We actually begin to hear Mr. Robot’s own narration for some episodes; and then at some point, we got no narration until about the final episodes when Elliot’s narration comes back. How about that for a psychoanalysis discussion.
I disliked the episode with Vera & Krista; the actual plot of it just was off to me and Vera was kinda crazy and it just didn’t flow with the overall story for me. Worst of all, the episode itself just felt like a whole plot device that forcefully stretched out longer than needed to, just to reveal what was really important - the truth about Mr. Alderson and the sexual abuse he forced upon Elliot as a child. I hated the build up, but this reveal was deep and significant. I remember I once thought Mr. Alderson as a swell chap and that Mr. Robot was just a reflection of Elliot’s frustration with the world but I was way off. I’m sure we all were. Mr. Robot was actually meant to be the image of a father that Elliot actually needed. This adds a whole level of meaning to how Mr. Robot was meant to protect Elliot. Among other revelations of Elliot’s DID, there’s a whole mind palace of personalities consisting of Elliot’s parents, a younger Elliot, and a 4th personality that was hinted only a few times in the season, but it’s not revealed until the series finale, which I’ll discuss later.
This is the season where I cared about the side characters the most. Rip Angela, first of all. Darlene this season was probably at her best. I felt that, as Elliot was getting wrapped up in the Dark Army plot, Darlene was there to accomplish the original vision that fsociety had all those seasons ago. She’s also proven, at this point, how complex she is given the sins she’s committed to get here, yet she has so much humanity and emotion within her. Wellick was underused since the middle of Season 3. I really thought he was going to be the series villain way back in the day, but he was nothing more than a figure head and a victim of White rose’s master manipulation. He died trying to help Elliot, and it was very bitter sweet. He lost everything - His son, his wife, his life. He deserved to rest after all that he’s been through. Also, Dom. I’m so very satisfied with her entire arc. I honestly didn’t think I’d be this attached to her character but I am. I’ll definitely get more into her story in a minute, but … yeah, she’s awesome.
There were some good episodes this season. The “we don’t have to talk” episode was as creative as the one shot episode from last season. Dialogue isn’t needed to tell an exciting story. Episode 8 was Dominique DiPierro’s episode. Grace Gummer gave her best performance of the series and Dom’s story completely turned around. It really felt like Dom was on the loosing end, like it was the end of the line not just for her life, but her emotional and mental stability. She lost. But then she was like “call an ambulance but not for me” and essentially saved world. It was pretty epic. Then episode 9 really felt like the ENDGAME. The Alderson siblings finally took down the Deus Group – the top 1% of the top 1% - and took all their money... and gave it back to the people. This felt like the original goal of the fsociety from season 1, and while things hae escalated beyond that, it was satisfying to see the og vision finally come to life.
So episode 10 had to happen to give us solid conclusions for Dom & Darlene before we spent the final 3 episodes completely engulfed in the madness that is Elliot’s mind. Now I didn’t really ship these two together, I just never saw them as a romantic fit. But they were definitely an interesting pair as 2 polarized characters. Dom, as an FBI agent, wanted to have faith in the system and always tried her best to do what was morally right. Darlene is aware how corrupt the system has been and was always willing to fight fire with fire and throw morals out the window for the sake of the greater good. So when it came to this escape to Budapest, we expected Darlene to go through with it willingly and for Dom to be uptight about it. Ironically, with a dash of character development and last minute choices, Darlene actually stays, and eventually is already there when her brother needs her the most, and Dom takes a well deserved vacation and finally has a good night’s sleep for the first time in forever, and what was hopefully a fun trip to Budapest. For these characters to survive, which not many characters did, I’m glad they got conclusive, satisfying endings to finish their arcs.
Speaking of concluding story arcs.. Um.... White rose. So the fall of the Deus group meant that the Dark Army failed. White rose failed. And this was the moment when White rose proclaimed the death of their male counterpart. “Zhang is dead, there is only White rose.” It was a powerful moment indeed. Throughout the series, it seemed that every time White rose lost, she won. But her proclaimed death of her male... persona... really begs for some symbolic and psychoanalysis. After a 2nd and final encounter with Elliot, which saw an amazing scene with stellar acting from both actors.... White rose commits suicide believing she was about to ascend to the Matrix where all was peaceful and happy.
Now they had me believing for a hot minute that Elliot also died and ascended to the Matrix, but if we learned anything from Mr. Robot, nothing is ever what it seems. Rather than enter White rose’s matrix, Elliot sinks into his own mind palace. So much goes down... but to sum it up - The Elliot we know is not the “real” Elliot; The Elliot we know is called the Mastermind, which is the part of Elliot that stood up to society and is responsible for all events on the show. And now that the Mastermind has successfully changed the world, he submits control back to Elliot. This reveal is so interesting. Even we as the audience are called out as a part of Elliot’s mind in that moment and are addressed as "friend," which really puts our perspective into account. It does make me wonder what the real Elliot is like. Darlene made it seem like the personalities are so completely different, and even made a comment that suggested that Elliot is still severely emotionally damaged from his childhood. Is the real Elliot more secluded amongst society? And what will he remember, if anything, from this whole experience?
Overall Thoughts
First of all, big shout out to the show's creator, lead writer, and occasional director. Sam Esmail made something very unique. He created dimensional characters and threw them into a riveting plot full of important themes and messages about society, mental health, and humanity as a whole. I always found his use of empty space interesting. Taking several different photography and film classes, I always felt like the Rule of Thirds was ingrained in my brain and I was taught what was visually aesthetically pleasing and what was not. Esmail broke all the rules to that concept, like characters would be shoved in a corner looking off to the edge of frame with no leading line; that sort of thing. Aspiring filmmakers that are more enthusiastic about these technical filming details than I probably had a field day, but it's even enough for me to appreciate and nerd about. I also loved the one shot episode from season 3 and the no-dialogue episode from season 4. Those were also some creative touches that we just don't see a lot.
Story itself gets really good. I would say the first two seasons, Rami Malek was all I needed. But as Elliot's struggle with Mr. Robot got more intense, the more White rose became involved, and the more interesting the supporting characters were getting, the more immersed in the story I became. The show was well written from start to finish, but it wasn't until season 3 when I was like "oh, this show is the bomb." Rami Malek as the star of the show was nothing less than phenomenal. He's really good at digging in deep into his characters' emotion and really excels in mentally complicated characters. However, BD Wong, as the transgender master mind villain, White rose, stole every scene he/she was in. The more White rose I saw, the more in love with her I was. There is a lot that can be dissected about the character, especially getting into the important dual roles with White rose as the leader of the Dark Army and as her Zhang counter part as a Chinese government official. Lots of symbolism there, lots of analysis to be done. Either way, if you want two reasons to watch the show - 1) Rami Malek, 2) BD Wong. And who doesn't love Christian Slater? Mr. Robot is a much watch for sure.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆
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