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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUSA’s Mr. Robot Is the Anti-Capitalist TV Show We’ve Been Waiting For
USAs Mr. Robot Is the Anti-Capitalist TV Show Weve Been Waiting For(In These Times) The USA Network is not exactly synonymous with prestige drama. This is a channel currently airing the third season of Graceland, a show about undercover FBI, ICE and DEA agents who all live together in a fricking house. (Imagine that pitch meeting: Guys, what if we remade Melrose Place, only populated it with characters from J. Edgar Hoovers id?) How delightfully incongruous, then, that USA is now the home of Mr. Robot, the best new TV show of the summer, and the most explicitly anti-capitalist work of mainstream pop culture since Snowpiercer.
Mr. Robot is narrated by Elliot (Rami Malek), who addresses the viewer as friend, one he believes he has made up to cope with his loneliness. As that suggests, Elliot may be suffering from mental illness, although the extent of it is unclearone of the ongoing mysteries teased along throughout the season.
What is clear is that Elliot is a paranoid, rabidly asocial computer savant who is self-medicating on morphine. A network technician by day, Elliot is a hacker vigilante by night, anonymously tipping off police to online child pornography rings and gangbangers bragging about murders in code on Twitter. His daytime employer is a cybersecurity subcontractor helping the massive conglomerate E Corp.which Elliot always calls Evil Corp.fend off an increasingly intense series of cyber attacks. (In a nice touch, series creator Sam Esmail straight-up jacks the old Enron logo for E Corp., reasoning in one interview, its not like theyre going to sue us for it.) Because of his connection to E Corp., Elliot finds himself recruited by the mysterious Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) to join the hacker collective society, which wants to take down the company.
Mr. Robot has become a critical darling, and its easy to see why. For starters, its built around the performance of Malek, which is phenomenal, an unusual combination of intelligence, deadpan affect and charisma. Its also one of the better-looking shows on television, with a visual aesthetic that alternates shots of perfect symmetry with ones framed from slightly off or tilted angles, creating an unnerving beauty. (This was especially the case for the first and fourth episodes, directed by Niels Arden Oplev and Nisha Gantara, respectively.) And the writing is generally excellent: witty dialogue thats rarely cloying, genuinely surprising plot twists, and realistic characterization. Theres also a pretty great musical score by Mac Quayle, borrowing heavily from the playbook of rattling snare taps and spooky synths that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have employed in David Finchers most recent films. .................(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18264/usas-mr.-robot-is-the-anti-capitalist-tv-show-weve-been-waiting-for
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)But it lacks any coherent narrative. It wanders around in so many different directions, such as seemingly trying to lend some deep meaning to a man watching another man's wife taking a pee. That might be woven in it were part of Elliott's mental illness, but none of the people involved seem to have anything to do with Elliott.
The computer technology portrayed is, of course, entirely bogus and not even particularly imaginative.
And a corporation named "Evil Corp" and using the Enron logo? About as subtle as a train wreck.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)I think the lack of a coherent story arc is deliberate. The story is about Elliot, and like most people he spends most of his time just trying to survive. His hatred for Evil Corp competes for time with the fact that he's a junkie AND that he has to try to make a living protecting computer networks from people like himself. The dichotomy of being both a digital robin hood AND a malicious hacker is part of his character. He's not good. He's not evil. He's somewhere in between.
As for Tyrell...it honestly looks like they're still building his character up to show just how evil he can be. Paying bums to be assaulted and watching women pee against their will are aspects of that. We know that the guy knows his tech, so my guess is that the show will end up being some kind of fight between the two of them. Since Elliot is such a murky character, the writers have to make Tyrell as evil as possible to offer contrast.
And the computer technology isn't imaginative precisely because it IS accurate. Real hacking is quite mundane and boring to watch. The accuracy and realism of the technology they're using is actually one of the high points in the show, and is exceptionally rare for Hollywood. The fact that it isn't flashy is just a reflection of that reality.
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)In Blade Runner the big corporation responsible for the replicants, etc. was the Tyrell Corporation as noted here...
http://bladerunner.wikia.com/wiki/Tyrell_Corporation
Then again, Elliot was the main character as an alien in ET as well, but that probably wasn't where that character's name was derived from.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)The "Mr. Robot" title name actually doesn't refer to Elliot, but is the handle of the character played by Christian Slater who runs a small hacker group called fsociety (which is closely modeled on the very-real Anonymous). So far, there has been no interaction between Mr. Robot and Tyrell in the show, so I doubt that both names were intended to be a combined Blade Runner reference. I could be wrong though
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)and another...
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/07/09/mr-robot-d3bugmkv-review
Of course robots in Blade Runner were named "replicants", but given it being a similar theme, it seems to fit.
Interesting commentary on both this show and AMC's "Humans" (which I have been watching) and comparing it to Phillip K Dick's Blade Runner universe and those of Isaac Asimov's...
https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/3bury2/the_two_best_new_shows_mr_robot_and_humans/
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)While there are a some issues that can be nitpicked, overall they do pretty well at keeping it somewhat grounded in reality. To say it's entirely bogus is a bit extreme, because a lot of it based on real concepts that seem very plausible. What parts in particular did you find to be completely bogus?
MADem
(135,425 posts)Who knew that SWEDES were so evil???? SWEDES?
I guess it's because so many of us do NOT speak Swedish!!
It's a far-fetched romp, but it's not awful. I do think "Mr. Robot" overacts at times, though.
olddots
(10,237 posts)if I don't need cable to veiw it .
snooper2
(30,151 posts)but besides that...
Looks pretty good....
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Not sure why you thought it hadn't aired yet, but we're already six episodes in.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)LOL
Stardust
(3,894 posts)FSogol
(45,485 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)It took some time getting used to the whole thing because its so complex and intense, but it sure makes me pay attention to both the subtle, and glaring, shifts in the storyline.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)It does tend to drag at certain times. I wasn't particularly a fan of the episode dealing with Elliot's drug withdrawal. But Elliot is an interesting character.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)The article glosses over a few salient points though. Elliot isn't targeting Evil Corp because he's some sort of anti-Capitalist crusader who wants to save the world. Evil Corp killed his father. Many of the things portrayed in the show are based off of real-world corporate crimes, and there was some type of chemical pollution (think "Love Canal meets Bhopal" that caused his father...and a lot of others...to get leukemia and die. Evil Corp, with the best lawyers money could buy, essentially walked away scot free. Not only did that give Elliot a very personal reason to hate large corporations and capitalism, but it gave him an unyielding desire to see Evil Corp itself burn.
Beyond that, the show is brilliant. Beautifully scripted, gritty, and well written. I thought that last weeks episode pushed the boundary of believability a bit, but the show does a great job of keeping itself grounded in reality most of the time. The gritty believability includes the fact that Elliot, the main character, is also a junkie on a slow downward spiral with his addiction. The show will not end well for him.
And, as a bonus for us computer security guys, the tech is ACCURATE. The writers have actual computer security people on staff, so all of the hacking and coding scenes, and really all of the tech discussions in their entirety, are 100% based on real technology and tools used by real computer security people, white hats, and black hats. When F Society hacked the network of a data storage facility, they did so by physically jacking a Raspberry Pi into the ethernet cable behind one of the facilities IP based thermostats. It was a nod to the Target hack two years ago where hackers breached the system via the monitoring system for the chains air conditioners, and it was a brilliant and factual way to pull off that kind of intrusion.
It's a great show.
Xyzse
(8,217 posts)PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Halt and Catch Fire just ended, Better Call Saul won't be back until Feb, and True Detective sucks this season
MADem
(135,425 posts)It is based on a Swedish program that was way darker but in some ways better.
I like both, to be honest, but the Swedish one will have you jumping out of your seat. It's online on vimeo (2 seasons w/English subtitles) --it's called Real Humans AKA Äkta människor -- well worth a couple of days of binge watching. The Swedish show ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but it's still worth a look--I understand they aren't going to bring it back, though some people wanted it.
The HUMANS version is a UK-US production, and William Hurt has a role in it. Mr. Grove from Mr. Selfridge plays the husband in that version. It just ended in UK, but it has a few more episodes to run in USA. It has been picked up for another season.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Forgot to add that. Great show! I love seeing William Hurt in it
Thanks for the info on the Swedish version. I was wondering where to see it. I will check it out for sure!
progressoid
(49,990 posts)Maybe it's my aging ears but I sometimes can't tell what the hell Elliot is saying. Thankfully there are subtitles.
Other than that, I like it so far. Although too dark for my wife.
FSogol
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Spoilers
1. One thing I enjoy is that Eliot sees things which causes him to doubt reality. As a viewer of the show, I am being narrated the show by Eliot who knows that I, the viewer, are a figment of his imagination. I've only seen this done in novels, most recently in "Then We Came to the End: A Novel" by Joshua Ferris
2. Antagonist/co-conspirator, Christian Slater is also a figment of Eliot's imagination. Don't think so? Does any other character interact with him?
3. Evil Corp is using Eliot and he's not seeing it. While it has anti-corporate themes, it may not turn out like fans of anti-corporate stuff expect.
4. Cons: The corporate villain and his wife too over the top. The writers need to tone it down a little. Also, when Eliot chewed out the Steele Mt worker, he was definitely channeling Slater and not himself. His only evil act? If he is to be no different than E-corp, why care?
DavidDvorkin
(19,477 posts)The anti-corporate message is not the strongest aspect of the show, though, and too often the scenes of intrigue at high corporate levels are very unconvincing and give me the impression that the writer knows nothing about that world.
The protagonist's personal story is what keeps me and my wife watching.
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)view of reality. For example, whenever E-Corp is mentioned in ads or other people talk about it, we hear it a Evil Corp. The company isn't actually called Evil Corp, so I'm pretty sure we're seeing the world how the protagonist interprets it.
DavidDvorkin
(19,477 posts)I think you're right.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Elliot says he hears and sees it as Evil corp, even though it is E-corp. We are seeing everything from his prospective.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)at my house. One of the "Oh good! That's on tonight!" shows.
edhopper
(33,579 posts)which had a lot of problems, IMO. (Eliot getting pawned and being responsible for a massive crime that will hurt a lot of people)
And Spoilers...
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Christian Slaters 'Mr. Robot' is Eliot's Tyler Durdin.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)racist right wingers gaining power in an overthrow of our current system. Admittedly, life sux for many now, but it would be a lot worse.