Mr. Robot

They may not be attractive, but I think they fit his character perfectly.

 

I agree.

 

Show gets more and more unpleasant as it goes on. Interesting, for sure. But incredibly dark.

First time I've seen male anal sex on a show on basic cable.

 

I thought the latest episode was a little 'meh'. It didn't really go anywhere and was kind of boring. The only thing I found interesting was the use of the term 'bug' as used in the software milieu to be applied to human character flaws, but that wasn't enough to lift the episode as a whole.

 

AND, I noticed that the report on the TV also called the E Corp. 'Evil Corp.'
.... it better go somewhere....

 

Well...We learned that the guy with the bad French accent at E(vil) Corp is, in fact, evil--even if we don't know whether the company is.

We saw how they dragged the main character back into the plot.

We learned how the woman at the security firm is connected to the main character, and that her morals are slippery as well--willing to introduce the virus into the company's system to avoid the possibility of someone using her (or her father's) SSN.

I'm still waiting for someone to like in this show, though. About the only half likable character is the drug dealer woman. And that's probably mostly because we don't know much about her yet.

 

Watch the bar scene with the appletinis. I'm convince Mr. Robot does not exist.

 

What about the scene suggests that? (I watched it, but I wasn't watching super carefully at that point).

 

What's the last thing Elliot mutters at the end after he sits down? The opera music covers it up and I can't make it out.

 

I think it's something like "Here's the plan..."

 

Ah... thanks.

 

Bartender never looks at him (he had his drink already so we don't see him served). He makes a comment to the bartender that is ignored and then makes some quip about I'd ignore that compliment also.

Also in the office scene he is saying loud obnoxious things and no one even looks.

 

Good points. I did think that his presence in the office was strange. How would this scruffy character even gain admittance?

 

Yep, was going to chime in with this, but you beat me to it. As for the bartender, however, I could swear that he glances over at Mr. Robot and makes eye contact with him, which would blow the whole theory out of the water. It's possible, however, that he looks past Mr. Robot at someone else behind him. Will have to watch again.

I was starting to think it wasn't just Mr. Robot that no one else sees, and that maybe the entire hacking crew are figments, but Elliott's g/f acknowledges the hacker girl by asking what she wanted. If his g/f hadn't said that line, the entire scene could be interpreted as Elliott talking to himself while his g/f looks on. But she DID mention the hacker girl, so that blows up that theory.

"Mr. Robot as Tyler Durden" is still in play.

 

Sure, but those things were minor details that didn't really resonate with me so much to be seen as major developments, certainly compared with the previous episodes. Mind you, I still think it's an excellent show.

But the other thing I particularly picked up on was exactly what Steve Martin posted above in the bar scene. Previously I never really wondered whether Mr Robot was real or channeling The Sixth Sense, but that scene really did seem to be shot in a deliberate way (much like the office scene where no one was paying attention). So either the director is playing tricks with the audience or Mr Robot really is imaginary. Well, I guess there was something interesting in this episode after all!

 

So what do people think the deal with the guy who wants to be the head of IT? Is the fact he speaks a foreign language at home significant, or just color? Who is the guy he had sex with to hijack his phone?

I though the scene where he was hijacking the phone was interesting. The time it took was ridiculously fast--no way you could reboot a phone that quickly. But the stuff where, for example, the real program SuperSU came up asking if he wanted to grant root privileges were cool nods to reality.

 

Wasn't he the guy he talked to in the office where he went to be interviewed and was turned away?

 

Ah, yes, the male receptionist at the desk. You're correct.

 

AND, is all that stuff with the blonde guy a 'flashback'?

 

My little mind is blown. I just watched the first episode tonight and thought it was absolutely stunning and amazing, one of the most original, memorable, one-of-a-kind shows I've seen in years. How they can take an Asberger's character and make him understandable, empathizable, even pitiable is absolutely amazing. And the computer stuff they showed is extremely accurate (from my limited use of Linux and servers). This is a rare show that illustrates how the best computer hacking is often done by social engineering, tricking people into revealing their passwords and all that stuff. Much of the time, there is no magic -- just hard work and lots of time.

The show has a really weird look; generally, I don't like shows that look this strange and ugly, but I concede it works with the story. One of the most unusual series I've seen in a long, long time, one that really has a lot of depth and nuance.

 

I watched the first episode tonight, though I would hardly call it original. The most obvious influence (IMHO) is Dexter : the "I can't relate to society" anti-hero; the style of internal monologues; the breaking the law to take down bad guys; keeping mementos of "victims"; etc. I like the look into the world of l33t h4x0rz but I'm hoping that later episodes drop the Dexterisms. If he starts talking to the ghost of his dead father then I'm bailing.

--Geoff

 

He was really good in "The Pacific". I thought that series equaled or bettered 'Band of Brothers', yet never really got the same amount of attention. It inspired me to read several books written by the guys who were there.

 

I did notice this, but were there previous scenes (in the first 2 episodes) with Mr. Robot talking to has hacker team outside the presence of Elliot?

 

Naaa, Dexter wasn't 1/10th as strange as this guy. The star of Mr. Robot is so detached, so removed, he can't even begin to fake emotions the way Dexter did in that show. Dexter talked extensively about how his father trained him for years and years to learn to watch other people and mimic the real emotions they had, even though Dexter himself was essentially dead to those feelings. I actually leaned forward and said, "whoa" when the Mr. Robot lead overcame his apprehension and gave his childhood friend a small hug at work -- which also inspired everybody in their office to stop and watch them, open-mouthed, because they all knew this was a stunning moment.

Dexter also had a sense of being smug and arrogant with his ability to blend in and get away with some pretty heavy crime. The hero of Mr. Robot is only confident of his computer skills -- everything else is a cypher to him and makes him very uncomfortable. It's not the same show, and there are big differences between a sociopath and someone afflicted by Asberger's Syndrome.

 

I'm thinking more of the tropes of Dexter (the show) appearing in Mr Robot, rather than the similarity (and differences) between lead characters.

I was thinking the same thing ... and maybe that's the way the lead character (as unreliable narrator) is remembering events ... but in that scene the background staff were reacting to the news of the arrest of Dr Evil as shown on the telly behind Mr Roboto and Ms Urst.

--Geoff