OT - Mr. Robot

Submitted by ijohnb on

- Public Service Annoucment - To All TV (self-proclaimed) Afficianados

This one snuck by me for almost a year.  I heard about the Golden Globe win, but I chalked it up to a hot take win like Shakepeare in Love at the Oscars.  After all, this is the USA Network, the people behind such modern classics as "In Plain Sight" and "Burn Notice."  No way this is legit. 

Wrong.  Very Wrong.  This show is top notch from the jump.  For those not fully aware, Mr. Robot is a computer hacker based drama that combines very current subject matter with a throw back retro feel with the title sequence graphics and the uninhibited use of Christian Slater(subtly brilliant).  In wine lingo, this is a vintage Fincher with notes of Kubrick and Spike Jones. 

I highly recommend this show if you have not watced it yet.  I am only through epsiode 7 and I am very hooked.  For those that still subscribe to nasty, filthy, money grubbing, bastard-child bundled cable services, all of season 1 is On-Demand right now and season 2 starts in July.  Give it a binge if you have the chance.

julesh

May 13th, 2016 at 9:20 AM ^

I tried to watch the first episode but it couldn't hold my attention enough to follow what was going on. I've been meaning to try again, but right now I'm busy forcing my friends to watch Crazy Ex Girlfriend, which is a surprisingly amazing show.

Mr. Robot

May 13th, 2016 at 9:23 AM ^

I've been using Mr. Robot as my internet handle for over a decade, and now whenever I am playing games on Steam everyone thinks it's because of this show.

BeatOSU52

May 13th, 2016 at 9:36 AM ^

Been a fan since the pilot. Excellent main actor.



I kind of feel like we should have a thread for these last few episodes of the season of The Americans coming up. Anyone down ?

wahooverine

May 13th, 2016 at 10:25 AM ^

I just started the Americans about a week ago when someone in another thread said it was the best show on TV and highly underrated   I agree.  It's all around phenomenal.  I'm just 5 or 6 episodes into Season 2, so if you started a thread... give a spoiler alert please!

Farnn

May 13th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^

I actually prefer Fargo, mainly because I really like what having a limited number of episodes does for a show.  So they need to tell the story and wrap it up all in one season before they start a new story with a new cast next season.  No dragged out plotlines or filler episodes.  Too many shows just drag it out until everyone stops watching out of boredom.

VectorVictor05

May 13th, 2016 at 9:38 AM ^

I concur. Such a surprise when I randomly watched an episode last summer about 5 episodes in. It's extremely well done with great acting. Total surprise for USA. Can't recommend it to people enough.

ABOUBENADHEM

May 13th, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^

seemed to wander as it got closer to the end of season 1, and eventually became hard to watch.  The early episodes in season 1 were much better and very good IMO.  Maybe season 2 will bring new life.

In reply to by ijohnb

Erik_in_Dayton

May 13th, 2016 at 9:52 AM ^

I didn't think the show fell off in quality at all.  It and The Americans are the best shows on television IMO.  I've recommended Mr. Robot to a bunch of people. 

In reply to by ijohnb

VectorVictor05

May 13th, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^

The show isn't perfect, none are, but most plot lines picked up a lot of steam and there were some solid cliff hangers ending season one. Would love to expand but don't want to spoil anything.

VectorVictor05

May 13th, 2016 at 9:51 AM ^

Agree to disagree I guess. I'd argue the plot just broadened in scope and started to show glimpses of the real end game. That was after some truly great episodes introducing characters and of course the "who is mr robot reveal". This show is planned to be a set number of episodes/seasons to achieve the director/writer's goals - like breaking bad. So they won't mess with the show just to extend the hype and $.

nerv

May 13th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^

From what I understand Mr Robot was a movie script that was broken down into 2 seasons worth of content for a TV show. Now that it has turned out to be as popular as it is I really hope they don't abandon that in order to extend the show and sacrifice on the quality they established in s1.

skurnie

May 13th, 2016 at 10:02 AM ^

I don't agree with you...I think the show changed based on circumstances but hard to watch isn't equal to worse. As far as first seasons go, I thought it was superb. 

I do agree a bit with the wandering plotlines but thoguht the end of the season tied things up fairly well and set it up for a potentially excellent season 2. 

VectorVictor05

May 13th, 2016 at 10:15 AM ^

Gotta be the former. The nods to fight club (and the plain plot similarities) are too obvious to be on accident. That's why I never minded them. The main one was obvious long before it was revealed, and the other similarities are themes basically. A lot of nuance in mr robot that has nothing to do with fight club other than disdain for corporate America and capitalism.

Nobody Likes a…

May 13th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^

Archetypes are archetypes for a reason, so it never bothered me too much. However, I am still on the fence about how much is too much in the line between paying homage and outright copying.

 

I’ll give Mr Robot this this though, it has a much more convincing protagonist than Fight Club. It’s hard to suspend disbelief in Fight Club and go along with the anti-social, anti-corporate ethos as it is being spouted by arguable one of the worlds most recognized faces.

ijohnb

May 13th, 2016 at 12:05 PM ^

the most obvious nod is to Fight Club (I have not gotten there yet but the show is not exactly playing hard to get on that element), I really don't think that Fight Club is really the strongest influence on the show, thematically or cinematically. Thematically, I think it shares ideas closer to The Matrix. Stylistically, once again Fight Club is the easiest parallel but I really see more of Seven, A Clockwork Orange and even Gone Girl.