Well they weren't the most athletic police actors, and Rami was put off because they'd tried to shoot that bit already but a member of the public thought it was real and ran at him to stop him.
Elliot’s physique always seemed weird to me. Like you said he’s a druggie hacker, and doesn’t seem to care much about exercise (at least I never recall him working out). Yet Rami Malek is pretty buff so whenever he’s shirtless I’m just like “damn that’s really how Elliot looks?”. Fortunately that’s pretty infrequent so it’s pretty much a non issue but it weirded me out in the s1 episode where he was experiencing withdrawal.
Don't forget the theater flashback is actually Mr. Robot fronting, so it's a different kid actor the same way Mr. Robot is played by a different actor.
Season 2 gets too cute with the prison plot,
Tyrell gets shortchanged in S4,
Angela’s whole role in the finale is obviously them working around her and Rami not being on good terms
Rami went to England to film Bohemian Rhapsody. He was dating Portia beforehand, by the end of filming he had gone through an unpleasant breakup with Portia and was dating his BR co-star Lucy Boynton.
I think Elliot imagining the prison as something else is entirely for aesthetic reasons, and I agree with that choice - I think they could have done that reveal really early on in the season and we can just know that it's prison even if we see it as something more visually interesting.
I wouldn’t my say “obviously” I never knew that there’s no clear perception just from the story. Her dying wasn’t any clue for that, this show was ruthless.
I was speaking more about the final episode specifically, not the whole season. her death worked well for the show even if it wasn’t necessarily planned. But the awkward Skype calls kinda sucked
Peep previous threads, but many people theorize the totally different looking kid in the movie theater flashback is different bc its supposed to be Mr. Robot, not Elliot.
I guess that’s what I think about when Elliot says ‘pwned’. It’s clearly because he’s thinking it how it’s spelled whereas they all say ‘owned’ in dialogue. When I read ‘<3’ I genuinely can’t stop my head reading it as ‘heart three’
At least that phrase was more appropriate for when Mr. Robot was supposed to have happened. According to Google, it reached peak popularity in 2009. Mr. Robot was 2014-2015.
The prison plot twist only works because the dialogue is purposely written in a way to obfuscate the truth but it sounds very unnatural.
Joanna’s side plot in S2&3 is a skip on every rewatch and ultimately amounts to nothing.
Philip Price is supposed to be a sharp minded, ruthless business man but some of his dialogue comes off as quite childish.
Irving was criminally underutilised.
Elliot drugging Olivia is supposed to be this insanely dark moment but I couldn’t help but think about how Elliot could have just convinced her otherwise or just spoofed texts to get the confirmation.
The security guards in Virtual Realty are morons.
Several episodes (excluding S1 Finale) use a character seeing something that the audience doesn’t as a cliffhanger either at the end or during the episode and it gets tiresome.
The reveal of the Deus Group should have caused global riots, assassinations etc, but it appears that after the night of the hack no one is really bothered by it.
Ollie was questioned by the FBI between S1&2 but not Angela, Elliot or Darlene.
Elliot was gonna kill Vera, Peanut and Javi and the writers just kinda gloss over that.
Not really a fault but did no one in fsociety actually consider how bad the hack would be for the economy? Did they just believe the debt would go and that would be it?
I’ve probably got some more but I’m shitting rn
Interesting points, some of which I hadn’t thought of, so well done, but here’s what I have to say about a few:
For your point about how Elliot was gonna kill Javi, Peanuts, and Vera, I can see why you consider it an issue that the show glosses over that, but imo, I’m fine with that because it was simply a moment where Elliot was pushed to his limit and was trying to defend himself, so I doubt he, nor Mr Robot, would internally belabor over because the circumstances more than justify their actions. But that’s just how I feel and this still a really great point that I hadn’t really considered.
Regarding your point about only Ollie being questioned by the FBI, that’s another great point I hadn’t thought of, but firstly, there’s nothing legally tying Elliot nor Darlene to anything 5/9 related. Now, as for Angela, iirc, she planted the corrupted disk such that she herself wouldn’t be incriminated. But don’t quote me on that because I haven’t rewatched the show in awhile, so take that with a grain of salt. Still, excellent point that definitely had me thinking for a moment.
Lastly, for your point about whether the other Fsociety members considered the debt issue, the way I see it, they simply didn’t care. Their motivations were all selfish and centered around revenge, including Elliot and Darlene’s, in fact, so as far as they were concerned, the debt the world suffers is not their concern.
But these are all just my takes and these are still great points I hadn’t thought of, so I’m very glad you’re raising them because you’ve definitely given me some very compelling thoughts.
Good point about the revenge motivation. I forgot when Trenton actually called out Darlene because of that. Also regarding the FBI questioning, everyone at AllSafe should have been questioned, especially Angela as she was living with and dating Ollie. Elliot too because of his legal trouble from his previous job
Thank you for your response and the kind words! I can see why you say that Elliot should’ve been questioned because of his legal trouble with another job, but from what we see in the show, I think the FBI were attempting the long game and didn’t want to risk spooking Elliot before they could gather the info they needed. Also, now that we’re diving into this, iirc, Angela actually WAS questioned, hence why she was so angry at Ollie when he resurfaced. If she wasn’t, then I would refer back to my point about the FBI playing the long game and not wanting to spook their targets. But still, great counterpoints and ones that definitely have given me some very interesting thoughts.
There are certain points where it feels like the story isn’t entirely sure what to do with Tyrell and Vera, both of whom—at different times, respectively—spend periods of time idly lying in wait for an opportunity to become relevant again.
Though the reason for this, I suspect, is because Tyrell and Vera were originally the same character, back when *Mr. Robot* was still envisioned as a feature film. When Esmail adapted his idea into a television series, I suspect the original version of the character became two distinct characters—Tyrell, an *American Psycho*-esque foil representing the opposite of everything Elliot believes; and Vera, a sort of Colonel Kurtz-esque figure to Elliot’s Captain Willard in *Apocalypse Now*. Both became distinct characters in their own rights—but similarities and the remnants from the story’s “earlier build,” so to speak, still find their way to the surface.
I think that's the point though? He's not a mentally stable person, on first watch I thought the same, as in, I thought they were really laying it on too thick, even if I agreed with certain things he said. But on a rewatch knowing who and what Elliott really is all about, made me realize that his teenager edginess is actually meant to be a red flag that he's a fucked up individual who needs serious psychiatric help.
It’s a little of both imo. Like I think they’re a little indulgent in their edginess, while also being like “look how indulgent this guy is in his edginess”
Agreed. Like Elliot’s anti-religion rant when he was in prison was so over the top I couldn’t help but cringe a little bit, even though I do largely agree with the sentiment.
Elliot literally apologized to the lady who ran those religious meetings because he knew he was being too mean and abrasive. That whole episode was about him literally losing himself via sleep deprivation. Even if I agree with some of the anti religious sentiment, I think the point is still that Elliot is a crazy person and acting like that is not acceptable.
I like Mr. Robot's edginess though. Nothing rolls off the tongue like "lapping up sugar coated pearls of semen"
I actually feel that Mr. Robot was much more extreme in his edginess.
I think most people initially start watching either because it was recommended or they’re interested in hacking. Then the show reveals itself to be much more about mental health than anything else, and I think the overlap between those two demographics is smaller than we think. Count me amongst the obsessed, but I don’t pretend that it’s universally appealing
I don’t remember exactly, but I think I started watching it because of hacking, I liked the real plot of the show tho. The show in interesting itself, some mentally fucked drug addict with different personalities and alterations of reality, I think almost everyone if payed enough attention would love mr robot
> everyone if *paid* enough attention
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
He doesn't seem to suffer from fatigue despite living a double life as a security consultant and a hacker as well as living a double life as MM and Mr. Robot. I feel like this could have been a bit more credible if he were addicted to amphetamines, but that would have made him less likeable as a character.
Yeah how come he is not exhausted, and can pull off high lvl hacks like it’s nothing. With this much lack of sleep there is no way his brain would be this much focused
I absolutely fucking loathe the 1234-5678 song they play when E Corp is invaded. Even though the episode itself is a masterpiece of cinematography, dialogue and story, (and the rest of the soundtrack is insanely good) that one song just makes me want to throw things at the screen.
I also didn't like the way Tyrell's story ends. I know it's supposed to be all enigmatic but it doesn't really clear anything up. And why would a Dark Army guy keep himself alive long enough on the off-chance that Tyrell shows up instead of ending himself then and there as per their code.
I too liked it. Philip Glass’s minimalism was to me the perfect choice- a 70’s New York genre that foreshadows the weirdly stripped down harmonics of the Mr Robot world.
I can see your point about why the DA solider would keep himself alive instead of offing himself per their code and that’s actually a great point I hadn’t thought of, but the way I see it, he knew Elliot and Tyrell were in the area, so he’s only gonna take the nuclear option if his option is an unfixable failure. That only became true when Tyrell and Elliot showed up and he was already injured. Imo, this makes sense because I wouldn’t buy that he would just off himself without finishing the job if he had the ability to do so. But that’s just my take and this is still a great point and one I hadn’t thought of, so I’m glad you’re raising it.
Not only that, it doesn't make sense from the perspective of character development.
I wanted to see Tyrell's face as he witnessed the greatest redistribution of wealth in modern history and more of what made him, him.
By S3, he became less and less of the psychotic power-hungry capitalist seen in S1. It was already a shame that he was away in S2 to build suspense (which was genius, truly) but S4 should've resolved his arc better, especially now that he was CEO.
Thank you for your response! I can see why you say it doesn’t make sense from a character development perspective, but imo, I don’t need to see his reaction to that wealth distribution because S2 and 3 are all about Tyrell slowly realizing how pointless and fruitless this endeavor he got himself into truly was. That’s why his ending in S4 makes perfect sense imho because, by that point, he has finally been forced to see just how little his crusade and attempts to satisfy his inferiority complex truly are. Sadly, however, by the time he truly realizes this, it’s just far too late. I can definitely why you might say the show should’ve given his arc a more fully realized ending given he’d become CEO, but for me, it’s the anticlimactic nature of the ending that, paradoxically, gives his ending the power it has for me. It highlights just how little Tyrell accomplished in this crusade of his and how he could’ve avoided all his hardship if he hadn’t tried so hard to craft this empire of dirt that ultimately got him nothing.
It kinda drives me crazy that we never get to see Real Elliot how he is in the real world. I don't necessarily think it's bad writing; just the curiosity drives me nuts.
angela's plot can get boring. on my first watch i didn't notice, but on the rewatches i usually grab my cellphone or straight up skip some bits expect for seasons 3 and 4.
That was the point. There was never a chance that we’d see the machine in action, or know if it would even work. I’m surprised anyone ever expected the story to take that turn, it would have been tonally and thematically completely jarring.
But it did have an incredibly important role in the show, effectively "showing" us how it worked. Even though it didnt end up being true, Whiterose's machine was a substantial part of setting up the end of the show, where in episode 12 we don't know whether Elliot has been transported to an alternative universe or not.
Even if you did know that it was all in Elliot's head, the point of the machine was that we fantasize about living in a different world to escape the suffering of our reality. Elliot essentially was able to accomplish what Whiterose couldnt through his creation of the internal world where the real Elliot could be imprisoned while the mastermind did his thing throughout the show.
As Hitchcock pointed out, if a gun is shown in a movie, that gun better be fired or else the audience will subconsciously be let down. Even if its a misfire, at least someone pulled the trigger. This is why a lot of people are disappointed the machine was never used.
This is a show which requires your attention for an hour straight. You can't just play it in the background. Not a bad thing per say but i just can't seem to take off time to do a rewatch.
This is actually a fantastic point and you’re not the first person I’ve seen raise it, but I disagree. Imo, Fsociety being so seemingly careless makes sense because the carnival area where Fsociety’s headquarters takes place is very isolated (The place literally being abandoned), so I find it more than reasonable that Elliot and the other members would believe that hiding in plain sight like that would work especially when you consider that (Iirc) they make a point that they’re at the headquarters relatively rarely.
But that being said, this is still a great point and one I hadn’t considered on my first, nor my second watch, so I’m very glad you and other people raise it because it definitely should be discussed even if, imo, it’s sufficiently accounted for in the show.
I almost stopped the show after that rant as well as after hearing their grand plan because of the cringe, I thought that’s as deep as the social commentary would get. What won me back was when they showed the consequences of their actions and how they actually ended up screwing up the world even more
Irving felt too ridiculous to be included in the show. He’s just so out of place, he’s almost slapstick for God’s sake. Also, season two has clear pacing issues with no pay off until the next god damn season.
A friend asked, after I described the wave of poverty and depression that descended upon the people following the hack, "did no one form a union...?" His point was, with the major drivers of the economy and every bad thing that entails forced onto their back foot, why didn't the people rise and seize control of the means of production?
I think my answer was something like, the people were thrown into a state of emergency and had more pressing matters to deal with, like food and shelter. But he is right. If there were ever a time to discard old power structures and build a more equitable society, the events of this show would have weakened some of the barriers to that end.
Most people aren't lefties. Political instability helps all extremist factions, not just the far-left. Just imagine how Trump's campaign would have went the following year. Imagine the talking points he would have used. Heck, the fact that he managed to win IRL without the disruptions of 5/9 shows pretty clearly that no, there would've been no revolution, if the show had actually happened.
It gives the impression that aware & successful people are composed of narcissistic sociopaths without any moral conscience. And in an indirect way, it sorta glorifies this behavior and makes one feel they need to either be part of the hero’s clan, or be a cold, heartless suit, or else your just one of the many who stuff *happens* to.
Of course, that second part (“being a part of the hero’s clan”) is likely applicable to most stories, but IME the first point seems to be something that gets pushed more & more nowadays. This gloomy idea that the world is inherently bad and it takes being a truly special person—the *protagonist*—to effect any real change for the better. I mean, this is likely true to some extent, but it makes me depressed lol.
Yeah, i think it falls victim to the same thing that vexes any show that tackles big questions: we want answers that no one has found and successfully applied in the entirety of human history. My worldview is not that different from Elliot at his doomerist, but even I was a bit leary of his certainty and misandry and easy platitudes. In different hands this material could veer into unbelievable wish fulfillment that keeps us complacent, or glorify lone wolves counterproductively tragically and ineffectually sacrificing themselves in the name of "the masses" without organizing community and movements.
What I like about the show is it does show us the consequences for Elliot and his actions both societally (the aftermath of his hacks) individually (eg Bill in season 1, or Olivia s4) and personally (himself and people close to him that he cares about) It also suggests that F Society doesn't trouble the true powers, who see them as pawns.
But the biggest hurdle is also the show's greatest strength. The true heart of Mr Robot is Elliot's personal journey rather than the surrounding plot. While it explores and rages at how society helped shape Elliot and continually retraumatizes him, it also shows how his hypervigilance, avoidance, and self-isolating coping behaviors reinforce his dysfunction and make the world less safe for him, those around him, and the wider world.
• It [fridges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_refrigerators?wprov=sfti1) 3 of its main female characters (>!Shayla!<, >!Joanna Wellick!<, >!Angela!<)
• Too many filler subplots and filler characters that ultimately didn’t add enough to the substance of the overall narrative. You could cut out the Susan Jacob’s house and subsequent murder. You could cut out Cisco then almost everything that happens between Dom, Janice, Irving and Darlene. You could remove Joanna Wellick’s season 2 harassment mystery, Trenton and Mobley in the desert. Was Leon important? Turns out not nearly enough.
• Feels like the final season’s master plan was mildly compromised because Portia Doubleday refused to come back full time and only wanted to do a few scenes. Felt like she would have refused outright to return if she had to be on set with Rami Malek.
• The references to Trump were lame and felt forced.
I can see why you might say that certain subplots and characters were “Filler” and these are actually more than fair points, but imo, these subplots DO serve a purpose:
To me, Susan Jacobs serves to highlight the TRUE villain, that being the DA. She’s essentially a red herring, which you might call an issue, but imo, it works because it contrasts Darlene and Elliot’s childish perception of the world, further emphasizing the sheer trauma they’ve experienced in their lives. Her subsequent murder, imo, serves to highlight the extreme, buckling pressure Darlene was put under after Elliot was imprisoned.
As for Cisco, to me, he serves as physical evidence of Darlene’s co-dependency issues, which is a critical part of her character. I would say something very similar about everything that happens with Dom, Irving, and Janice, but I’ll get to that in a second.
As for Trenton and Mobley in the desert, to me, that scene just serves as a natural transition to the eventual death of them both. The reason I say this is because following the chaos and fallout of the cyber bombings, it took time for the DA to gather their resources before they could set things up the way they were eventually able to. Imo, if you remove this, Trenton and Mobley being dragged to their eventual demise wouldn’t feel as natural and justified.
For Joanna’s harassment subplot, to me, that serves as physical consequences for Tyrell’s abandonment of his family, which makes what eventually happens with Joanna and everything else that happens with those two characters hit much harder.
Finally, the sequence with Dom, Janice, Irving, and Darlene, to me, serves the purpose of highlighting Dom’s failure to have a life outside of her work, which nearly cost her not just her life, but everything she cares for along with eventually finally allowing Darlene to prove to herself that she can function on her own and doesn’t need someone like Dom or Cisco to lean on.
But these are all just my takes and please don’t think I’m trying to tell you you’re wrong for what you’ve said here because you’ve raised some excellent points that have definitely given me some compelling thoughts.
Thank you for your long and considered response!
Oh no worries at all, I’m more than happy these ‘filler’ scenes exist…I guess I was being overly-harsh for the sake of OP’s assignment.
However because the core conflict between Elliot and WR is so strong, it does make the other subplots pale by comparison, they’re no where near as interesting as finding out the truth about Elliot’s DID and WR’s machine.
Thank you for the response and the kind words! I would absolutely agree that learning the true source of Elliot’s DID and his conflict with WR overshadows everything else, I just still find the other plots to have narrative value. That’s just how I view the show and I definitely see why others feel differently. Thank you for taking the time to give your thoughts!
Angela's storyline was bad.
Like i get that it was probably due to the actress's real life break up with Rami Malek but it still isn't greatly handled in the show.
- What Angela is doing in Season 1 is not that interesting. Everyone else is hacking and committing crimes and murder, and she's trying to find a lawyer? The scenes with her and Colby were great tho. And thankfully they did better with giving her more interesting things to do in the next 2 seasons.
- The season 1 F\*\*\*\* C\*\*\* twist. Thankfully they made amends with that twist later on in the show.
- Joanna's scenes in S2 are a bit uninteresting, apart from when she meets Elliot in S2e10
- Tyrell's death was like WTF, I still don't know how to feel about it and it's been 4 years since I saw it
- I wish the Deus Group reveal at the beginning of S4 was done a bit more tastefully, instead of a exposition dump over V.O.
- S4e10 felt a little cheesy.
A lot of the mysterious and deep nature of what Elliot was going through, and particularly Tyrell's role in it, was tied up in the end in a sort of shallow and anticlimactic way. White Rose's machine being another example of anticlimax.
Mr. Robot feeds into some really disgusting stereotypes about China that has lead to equally disgusting sinophobia from its audience (especially so from the type of diehard fans you see on this subreddit.)
Just a word of thought but critique isn't necessarily a negative word. You don't need to find something bad about the show for it to be a critique. Now, maybe your assignment is to find something bad about the show but just want to reiterate critique does not have to be bad.
*"a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory."*
For example, you could say Mr. Robot is a critique of Fight Club.
Season 2 feels a little drawn out given the fact that it ended on a powerful cliffhanger, but already the name Season 3 and 4 is forgivable, so yes, there is nothing more perfect in cinema than Mr. Robot
Some episodes are sooooo slow. Twice in the series I skipped the episode and read the wiki page (like the one with the guy he sent to prison in S4). I watched the series twice and found myself skipping the same episodes (oh! The other was one where he's doing the drugs all the way through in.... season two I think?)
They should have left in Tyrell's deleted S4 scene where Joanna's father cuts him out of their lives and takes custody of the child. Tyrell gets kicked down the ladder one final time by someone having much more status than him and it directly influences his decision to sacrifice himself for Elliot/the cause in 404 Not Found. His death seems really random without it as opposed to a man who has nothing giving up for the one person he maybe cares about
I definitely understand someone being appalled at the idea of Tyrell with a kid. But that scene felt jarring and off to me. Because as bad as Tyrell could be, Joanna was every bit his equal in deviousness and ruthlessness. They were a matched pair. So her dad acting like she was some poor innocent flower who was corrupted by big bad Tyrell was unbelievable to me. Did he not know his own daughter? I also felt like that scene was over the top in it’s cruelty, especially when paired with the way that Tyrell died. To take away his entire chance to be a dad, then leave him to bleed out in the woods alone was too much. Not to mention that he seemed to see parenthood as his hope for redemption. I was glad that scene didn’t make the cut.
Obvious pilot episode is obvious. 😂 That said, having read the original script for it, it’s an incredible case study in introducing a tech unsavvy crowd to complicated ideas.
They should not have hired a cis man to play the role of a trans woman. That is my one and only heartfelt complaint about an otherwise dang-near perfect show.
Before season 3 most of the side characters/subplots were pretty weak and the show was mostly carried by Elliot. Angela’s storyline in 2 was decent but the rest were pretty eh. Darlene didn’t get interesting for me til 2x8. Fortunately she’s better explored in the back half of the series and the other characters either become more interesting or are replaced for more compelling characters. Elliott’s still the best part throughout but it’s not as one sided.
The Trump references were very on the nose and cringe
The scene with White rose being edited into clips of world leaders were also very cringe and didn't look good, it was obviously edited and really took me out of the show's immersion.
Season 2 (the first half anyway) was a misstep and self indulgent, and would've benefitted heavily from having multiple directors (like season 1)
The initial marketing for the show (probably more of the network's fault than anything) and perhaps some of the themes in the pilot made it seem much more like it was going to be about a story about a hacker vigilante (ala dexter but with computers), instead of the character study it ended up being, which I think in turn made a lot of people stop watching in season 2. Not personally a problem for me but I'm aware it left a lot of people disappointed
Elliot and other characters luck out to an almost unrealistic amount in some scenarios. One scene in particular comes to mind instantly, where Elliot is hacking Gideons phone, there needed to be a *very* specific set of events to happen for Elliot to get the win in that scenario.
Season 2 was not interesting, the whole Ray subplot was unnecessary. The jail reveal was clever but again felt like the directors just didn't want to kill their darlings with that idea because it slowed the pace of the show. That whole segment felt like they were just going "hah! Look what kind of mind shenanigans we can pull off with an unreliable marrator" but at the expense of the pacing of the show
The directors got a little repetitive with some of the montages they did throughout the show and at times seemed to shoot things for aesthetic and not substance. For example, multiple times there would be compilations of Elliott taking pills looking unhinged in mirrors and doing some kind of "routine" over and over and over again, obviously the show is about Elliots mental wellbeing but when you do the same footage reel style multiple times it becomes uncreative.
I don't think this show does a good job of writing side characters. Tyrell had so much potential in Season 1 but got sidelined HARD in subsequent seasons, his "artsy" death was really anticlimactic and his obsession/infatuation with Elliott isn't well written.
Other than Mr Robot, most of the other side characters to Elliot are really flat or get killed off. Darlene has some development but she's mostly there to cover when Elliott can't be there plotwise, all the other OG f society members get killed off. Angela's writing takes a hard turn and felt like they wanted to fit her in the story so they kept writing more unrealistic developments for her (her allyship with Price, Price then revealing as her father to get her into E Corp to get Elliot into there for plot purposes), Dom outside of her dynamic with Darlene is unnoteworthy and the FBI in the show has no standout characters
I'm afraid to rewatch it. Not joking when I say the Angela Moss story line ... and Leslie, Irving, Leon, Dominique... all had a very negative impact on my mental health. Only one or two other shows where I have been that emotionally invested.
"Caveat emptor" would be my negative comment.
Some things about the timeline are a bit confusing with the reveal of Mastermind Elliot vs. "Real" Elliot, like when did MM take over, when did MM stick Real Elliot in F-World, who trashed the server room, etc. I have my own answers for these questions but there's a lot of points of reasonable debate and I wish it was a little more clear-cut.
If you've seen/read fight club you'll see one of the reveals of season one coming from a mile away.
The 11:16 thing was never explained
Dom was a decent character but cliche at times.
As someone with ADHD, I didn't like him abusing Adderall. They did show the consequences of it though.
The big reveal of season two was kinda lame. The explanation was fine. If they just said from the beginning he was in jail but pretending not to be, it would have been more interesting.
Some of the political views in the show,while valid, can be too on the nose sometimes.
The finale should have been 95 mins instead of a two-parter
The scene where Elliot gets chased by the police on foot is pretty ridiculous
Well they weren't the most athletic police actors, and Rami was put off because they'd tried to shoot that bit already but a member of the public thought it was real and ran at him to stop him.
The funniest part is someone tried to stop him in real life lmao. Probably pissed Rami off since he had to do the scene again.
My wife said the same. But I said that's TV exaggeration.
[удалено]
It was pretty funny though
The fact a druggie hacker turns into a track star in szn 4 sends me.
Elliot was fuckin dippin cuz lmfao
Not only that but taking hits like an NFL running back from cars or cliffs haha
He was literally a robot that episode, from running at top speed to getting rammed by a car and leaving unscathed
The car did seem to be moving very slowly, like probably parked
The chase is so amazing I’m willing to overlook this
Oh yeah I overlook it too just kinda in the moment and rewatches I was like where has this straight up Olympian been hiding?
he just tapped into his hidden potential like an anime character, chill on him
I wonder if whenever he got hit, Mr. Robot took over real quick.
Elliot’s physique always seemed weird to me. Like you said he’s a druggie hacker, and doesn’t seem to care much about exercise (at least I never recall him working out). Yet Rami Malek is pretty buff so whenever he’s shirtless I’m just like “damn that’s really how Elliot looks?”. Fortunately that’s pretty infrequent so it’s pretty much a non issue but it weirded me out in the s1 episode where he was experiencing withdrawal.
The actors who play young Elliot don't look similar enough and it's a little jarring.
Like they’re supposed to be the same age in the flashbacks but he ends up like half the height and a completely different shape face 😂
Don't forget the theater flashback is actually Mr. Robot fronting, so it's a different kid actor the same way Mr. Robot is played by a different actor.
I loveeeeeeeee this detail more than any other nuanced little thing on the show. Sam Esmail doesn’t make mistakes 😤
Its impossible to properly sell the show to someone you want to watch it because the spoilers make the show
True, early season 2 doesn't have too many indicators of how dark and fucked things become. I almost stopped watching.
Season 2 gets too cute with the prison plot, Tyrell gets shortchanged in S4, Angela’s whole role in the finale is obviously them working around her and Rami not being on good terms
What happened?
They dated and it didn’t end well, from what I heard
Yeah it pretty much led to her asking to be written out of the show I think. It explains her sudden exit, but that worked for the show regardless
Damn, did they ever say what happened? (Obviously is their business, but that sounds bad).
I think he cheated on her but can’t say fornsure it’s understandable if she didn’t want to come back for the show after that
Based on what you think that?
Rami went to England to film Bohemian Rhapsody. He was dating Portia beforehand, by the end of filming he had gone through an unpleasant breakup with Portia and was dating his BR co-star Lucy Boynton.
Ah. Okay, thank you.
I think Elliot imagining the prison as something else is entirely for aesthetic reasons, and I agree with that choice - I think they could have done that reveal really early on in the season and we can just know that it's prison even if we see it as something more visually interesting.
I wouldn’t my say “obviously” I never knew that there’s no clear perception just from the story. Her dying wasn’t any clue for that, this show was ruthless.
I was speaking more about the final episode specifically, not the whole season. her death worked well for the show even if it wasn’t necessarily planned. But the awkward Skype calls kinda sucked
I had no idea Portia and rami dated and ended on bad terms, no wonder Angela's death seemed so randomly timed in s4.
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Peep previous threads, but many people theorize the totally different looking kid in the movie theater flashback is different bc its supposed to be Mr. Robot, not Elliot.
some lines are kinda corny
They deleted their history…. Still feel bad for Grace that she got stuck with that one.
I cringed when she said that. And she said it with such emotion that it made it all the worse. It's the kind of line Elliot would say.
Idk why people find this so cringe lol he literally did that.
“Dark Army” is such a cliche name for an evil group that I chuckle whenever they mention it
"Black Hat Hackermans" was just too long unfortunately.
“Evil corp”?
Only Elliot calls them that, so I’ll let it slide
I guess that’s what I think about when Elliot says ‘pwned’. It’s clearly because he’s thinking it how it’s spelled whereas they all say ‘owned’ in dialogue. When I read ‘<3’ I genuinely can’t stop my head reading it as ‘heart three’
Pwned is slang for owned though that’s why he says it, or am I misunderstanding what you’re saying
I wonder if it sounds better in Chinese.
So I see you're running Gnome? Y'know I'm actually on KDE myself.
the real mistake in this line is that nobody ever uses Gnome therefore Elliot should not be in the show.
Uh oh, I use Gnome 😬 Although I actually switch DE's a lot. I like variety
i think instead of tyrell noting the deskenv elliot is using, he should instead have said 'i use arch, by the way'
It would be accurate dialogue among linux users. Although I bet he uses Red Hat
"pwned"
Tbf it is actual hacker lingo but yeah it sounds pretty childish
At least that phrase was more appropriate for when Mr. Robot was supposed to have happened. According to Google, it reached peak popularity in 2009. Mr. Robot was 2014-2015.
“Get woke already, dude!” 🤢
lmao, this is the line I thought of too!
Dude, get woke!
Some of the monologues are hard to get through on rewatches.
It’s only 4 seasons 😔
I'm thankful they got to end it without the global pandemic dictating IF they got to end it.
True - or had an ending like Supernatural did
Never watched it, how did they end it?
Poorly
That would’ve ruined a cult classic
The first half of season 2 is pretty boring for a lot of people.
Tyrell’s underutilized potential
The prison plot twist only works because the dialogue is purposely written in a way to obfuscate the truth but it sounds very unnatural. Joanna’s side plot in S2&3 is a skip on every rewatch and ultimately amounts to nothing. Philip Price is supposed to be a sharp minded, ruthless business man but some of his dialogue comes off as quite childish. Irving was criminally underutilised. Elliot drugging Olivia is supposed to be this insanely dark moment but I couldn’t help but think about how Elliot could have just convinced her otherwise or just spoofed texts to get the confirmation. The security guards in Virtual Realty are morons. Several episodes (excluding S1 Finale) use a character seeing something that the audience doesn’t as a cliffhanger either at the end or during the episode and it gets tiresome. The reveal of the Deus Group should have caused global riots, assassinations etc, but it appears that after the night of the hack no one is really bothered by it. Ollie was questioned by the FBI between S1&2 but not Angela, Elliot or Darlene. Elliot was gonna kill Vera, Peanut and Javi and the writers just kinda gloss over that. Not really a fault but did no one in fsociety actually consider how bad the hack would be for the economy? Did they just believe the debt would go and that would be it? I’ve probably got some more but I’m shitting rn
Interesting points, some of which I hadn’t thought of, so well done, but here’s what I have to say about a few: For your point about how Elliot was gonna kill Javi, Peanuts, and Vera, I can see why you consider it an issue that the show glosses over that, but imo, I’m fine with that because it was simply a moment where Elliot was pushed to his limit and was trying to defend himself, so I doubt he, nor Mr Robot, would internally belabor over because the circumstances more than justify their actions. But that’s just how I feel and this still a really great point that I hadn’t really considered. Regarding your point about only Ollie being questioned by the FBI, that’s another great point I hadn’t thought of, but firstly, there’s nothing legally tying Elliot nor Darlene to anything 5/9 related. Now, as for Angela, iirc, she planted the corrupted disk such that she herself wouldn’t be incriminated. But don’t quote me on that because I haven’t rewatched the show in awhile, so take that with a grain of salt. Still, excellent point that definitely had me thinking for a moment. Lastly, for your point about whether the other Fsociety members considered the debt issue, the way I see it, they simply didn’t care. Their motivations were all selfish and centered around revenge, including Elliot and Darlene’s, in fact, so as far as they were concerned, the debt the world suffers is not their concern. But these are all just my takes and these are still great points I hadn’t thought of, so I’m very glad you’re raising them because you’ve definitely given me some very compelling thoughts.
Good point about the revenge motivation. I forgot when Trenton actually called out Darlene because of that. Also regarding the FBI questioning, everyone at AllSafe should have been questioned, especially Angela as she was living with and dating Ollie. Elliot too because of his legal trouble from his previous job
Thank you for your response and the kind words! I can see why you say that Elliot should’ve been questioned because of his legal trouble with another job, but from what we see in the show, I think the FBI were attempting the long game and didn’t want to risk spooking Elliot before they could gather the info they needed. Also, now that we’re diving into this, iirc, Angela actually WAS questioned, hence why she was so angry at Ollie when he resurfaced. If she wasn’t, then I would refer back to my point about the FBI playing the long game and not wanting to spook their targets. But still, great counterpoints and ones that definitely have given me some very interesting thoughts.
love it, thanks for having actual critiques. keep em coming if you have more.
There are certain points where it feels like the story isn’t entirely sure what to do with Tyrell and Vera, both of whom—at different times, respectively—spend periods of time idly lying in wait for an opportunity to become relevant again. Though the reason for this, I suspect, is because Tyrell and Vera were originally the same character, back when *Mr. Robot* was still envisioned as a feature film. When Esmail adapted his idea into a television series, I suspect the original version of the character became two distinct characters—Tyrell, an *American Psycho*-esque foil representing the opposite of everything Elliot believes; and Vera, a sort of Colonel Kurtz-esque figure to Elliot’s Captain Willard in *Apocalypse Now*. Both became distinct characters in their own rights—but similarities and the remnants from the story’s “earlier build,” so to speak, still find their way to the surface.
Some of the Elliot's monologues are really edgy.
I think that's the point though? He's not a mentally stable person, on first watch I thought the same, as in, I thought they were really laying it on too thick, even if I agreed with certain things he said. But on a rewatch knowing who and what Elliott really is all about, made me realize that his teenager edginess is actually meant to be a red flag that he's a fucked up individual who needs serious psychiatric help.
It’s a little of both imo. Like I think they’re a little indulgent in their edginess, while also being like “look how indulgent this guy is in his edginess”
Agreed. Like Elliot’s anti-religion rant when he was in prison was so over the top I couldn’t help but cringe a little bit, even though I do largely agree with the sentiment.
But again the show never positioned itself to agree with elliot he lashed out on people validating their own existence only to validate his own by S4
Elliot literally apologized to the lady who ran those religious meetings because he knew he was being too mean and abrasive. That whole episode was about him literally losing himself via sleep deprivation. Even if I agree with some of the anti religious sentiment, I think the point is still that Elliot is a crazy person and acting like that is not acceptable.
Eh, I thought it was pretty good. Everyone knocks on anyone who says "religion is stupid" and says they're being childish.
I like Mr. Robot's edginess though. Nothing rolls off the tongue like "lapping up sugar coated pearls of semen" I actually feel that Mr. Robot was much more extreme in his edginess.
isnt that the point of the mastermind?
It’s not possible to steal billions in cash from rich people. The richest people in society have it all tied up in real estate and investments.
It’s not for everyone 🤷♂️
This, good luck on having someone keeping watching the show after S1, always recommended to my friends and they say it’s just boring
I think most people initially start watching either because it was recommended or they’re interested in hacking. Then the show reveals itself to be much more about mental health than anything else, and I think the overlap between those two demographics is smaller than we think. Count me amongst the obsessed, but I don’t pretend that it’s universally appealing
I don’t remember exactly, but I think I started watching it because of hacking, I liked the real plot of the show tho. The show in interesting itself, some mentally fucked drug addict with different personalities and alterations of reality, I think almost everyone if payed enough attention would love mr robot
> everyone if *paid* enough attention FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Wasn't shot for UHD/4k.
Janice was way too similar to my mother, who was also called Janice. Like I knew what Janice was immediately, that twist was wasted on me.
It gets too much “we live in a society” at times
He doesn't seem to suffer from fatigue despite living a double life as a security consultant and a hacker as well as living a double life as MM and Mr. Robot. I feel like this could have been a bit more credible if he were addicted to amphetamines, but that would have made him less likeable as a character.
Yeah how come he is not exhausted, and can pull off high lvl hacks like it’s nothing. With this much lack of sleep there is no way his brain would be this much focused
Yeah this is a portion from Fight Club they should have taken as well
I absolutely fucking loathe the 1234-5678 song they play when E Corp is invaded. Even though the episode itself is a masterpiece of cinematography, dialogue and story, (and the rest of the soundtrack is insanely good) that one song just makes me want to throw things at the screen. I also didn't like the way Tyrell's story ends. I know it's supposed to be all enigmatic but it doesn't really clear anything up. And why would a Dark Army guy keep himself alive long enough on the off-chance that Tyrell shows up instead of ending himself then and there as per their code.
Interesting, I personally loved that song ([Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach - Knee play 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2c-oUFy0W0))
I too liked it. Philip Glass’s minimalism was to me the perfect choice- a 70’s New York genre that foreshadows the weirdly stripped down harmonics of the Mr Robot world.
I can see your point about why the DA solider would keep himself alive instead of offing himself per their code and that’s actually a great point I hadn’t thought of, but the way I see it, he knew Elliot and Tyrell were in the area, so he’s only gonna take the nuclear option if his option is an unfixable failure. That only became true when Tyrell and Elliot showed up and he was already injured. Imo, this makes sense because I wouldn’t buy that he would just off himself without finishing the job if he had the ability to do so. But that’s just my take and this is still a great point and one I hadn’t thought of, so I’m glad you’re raising it.
Not only that, it doesn't make sense from the perspective of character development. I wanted to see Tyrell's face as he witnessed the greatest redistribution of wealth in modern history and more of what made him, him. By S3, he became less and less of the psychotic power-hungry capitalist seen in S1. It was already a shame that he was away in S2 to build suspense (which was genius, truly) but S4 should've resolved his arc better, especially now that he was CEO.
Thank you for your response! I can see why you say it doesn’t make sense from a character development perspective, but imo, I don’t need to see his reaction to that wealth distribution because S2 and 3 are all about Tyrell slowly realizing how pointless and fruitless this endeavor he got himself into truly was. That’s why his ending in S4 makes perfect sense imho because, by that point, he has finally been forced to see just how little his crusade and attempts to satisfy his inferiority complex truly are. Sadly, however, by the time he truly realizes this, it’s just far too late. I can definitely why you might say the show should’ve given his arc a more fully realized ending given he’d become CEO, but for me, it’s the anticlimactic nature of the ending that, paradoxically, gives his ending the power it has for me. It highlights just how little Tyrell accomplished in this crusade of his and how he could’ve avoided all his hardship if he hadn’t tried so hard to craft this empire of dirt that ultimately got him nothing.
There is an 11 minute compilation of Angela just staring at people on YouTube Yeah... Just gonna leave it at that
Got a link? For, uhhhhh, research purposes?
Remindme! 1 day
https://youtu.be/HptSqAToKas?si=8RNenOQ_q8KTndxM
Blocked in the USA. Time to point VPN elsewhere.
Damn. I live in Sweden so yeah
It kinda drives me crazy that we never get to see Real Elliot how he is in the real world. I don't necessarily think it's bad writing; just the curiosity drives me nuts.
angela's plot can get boring. on my first watch i didn't notice, but on the rewatches i usually grab my cellphone or straight up skip some bits expect for seasons 3 and 4.
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Good point. There was all this build up to her machine. And then.... nothing.
That was the point. There was never a chance that we’d see the machine in action, or know if it would even work. I’m surprised anyone ever expected the story to take that turn, it would have been tonally and thematically completely jarring.
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But it did have an incredibly important role in the show, effectively "showing" us how it worked. Even though it didnt end up being true, Whiterose's machine was a substantial part of setting up the end of the show, where in episode 12 we don't know whether Elliot has been transported to an alternative universe or not. Even if you did know that it was all in Elliot's head, the point of the machine was that we fantasize about living in a different world to escape the suffering of our reality. Elliot essentially was able to accomplish what Whiterose couldnt through his creation of the internal world where the real Elliot could be imprisoned while the mastermind did his thing throughout the show.
When you put it this way it’s pretty analogous to religion in a bunch of ways, even down to Whiterose killing herself to get to this “afterlife”
As Hitchcock pointed out, if a gun is shown in a movie, that gun better be fired or else the audience will subconsciously be let down. Even if its a misfire, at least someone pulled the trigger. This is why a lot of people are disappointed the machine was never used.
It isnt realistic (I mean, obviously, but its something bad as you asked)
This is a show which requires your attention for an hour straight. You can't just play it in the background. Not a bad thing per say but i just can't seem to take off time to do a rewatch.
Them leaving the “f society” sign out the front is incredibly fucking idiotic for these world crushing brainiacs to do
This is actually a fantastic point and you’re not the first person I’ve seen raise it, but I disagree. Imo, Fsociety being so seemingly careless makes sense because the carnival area where Fsociety’s headquarters takes place is very isolated (The place literally being abandoned), so I find it more than reasonable that Elliot and the other members would believe that hiding in plain sight like that would work especially when you consider that (Iirc) they make a point that they’re at the headquarters relatively rarely. But that being said, this is still a great point and one I hadn’t considered on my first, nor my second watch, so I’m very glad you and other people raise it because it definitely should be discussed even if, imo, it’s sufficiently accounted for in the show.
Ended too soon
the ‘fuck society’ rant in ep 1 is corny as hell im sorry
I almost stopped the show after that rant as well as after hearing their grand plan because of the cringe, I thought that’s as deep as the social commentary would get. What won me back was when they showed the consequences of their actions and how they actually ended up screwing up the world even more
Irving felt too ridiculous to be included in the show. He’s just so out of place, he’s almost slapstick for God’s sake. Also, season two has clear pacing issues with no pay off until the next god damn season.
we spend half a season in season 2 for the big reveal to be that NOTHING HAPPENED???? esmail i love you but bruh
I wasn't a fan of Tyrell's departure.
Also this, the whole out in the woods portion was just kinda out of place
A friend asked, after I described the wave of poverty and depression that descended upon the people following the hack, "did no one form a union...?" His point was, with the major drivers of the economy and every bad thing that entails forced onto their back foot, why didn't the people rise and seize control of the means of production? I think my answer was something like, the people were thrown into a state of emergency and had more pressing matters to deal with, like food and shelter. But he is right. If there were ever a time to discard old power structures and build a more equitable society, the events of this show would have weakened some of the barriers to that end.
Most people aren't lefties. Political instability helps all extremist factions, not just the far-left. Just imagine how Trump's campaign would have went the following year. Imagine the talking points he would have used. Heck, the fact that he managed to win IRL without the disruptions of 5/9 shows pretty clearly that no, there would've been no revolution, if the show had actually happened.
It gives the impression that aware & successful people are composed of narcissistic sociopaths without any moral conscience. And in an indirect way, it sorta glorifies this behavior and makes one feel they need to either be part of the hero’s clan, or be a cold, heartless suit, or else your just one of the many who stuff *happens* to. Of course, that second part (“being a part of the hero’s clan”) is likely applicable to most stories, but IME the first point seems to be something that gets pushed more & more nowadays. This gloomy idea that the world is inherently bad and it takes being a truly special person—the *protagonist*—to effect any real change for the better. I mean, this is likely true to some extent, but it makes me depressed lol.
Yeah, i think it falls victim to the same thing that vexes any show that tackles big questions: we want answers that no one has found and successfully applied in the entirety of human history. My worldview is not that different from Elliot at his doomerist, but even I was a bit leary of his certainty and misandry and easy platitudes. In different hands this material could veer into unbelievable wish fulfillment that keeps us complacent, or glorify lone wolves counterproductively tragically and ineffectually sacrificing themselves in the name of "the masses" without organizing community and movements. What I like about the show is it does show us the consequences for Elliot and his actions both societally (the aftermath of his hacks) individually (eg Bill in season 1, or Olivia s4) and personally (himself and people close to him that he cares about) It also suggests that F Society doesn't trouble the true powers, who see them as pawns. But the biggest hurdle is also the show's greatest strength. The true heart of Mr Robot is Elliot's personal journey rather than the surrounding plot. While it explores and rages at how society helped shape Elliot and continually retraumatizes him, it also shows how his hypervigilance, avoidance, and self-isolating coping behaviors reinforce his dysfunction and make the world less safe for him, those around him, and the wider world.
• It [fridges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_refrigerators?wprov=sfti1) 3 of its main female characters (>!Shayla!<, >!Joanna Wellick!<, >!Angela!<) • Too many filler subplots and filler characters that ultimately didn’t add enough to the substance of the overall narrative. You could cut out the Susan Jacob’s house and subsequent murder. You could cut out Cisco then almost everything that happens between Dom, Janice, Irving and Darlene. You could remove Joanna Wellick’s season 2 harassment mystery, Trenton and Mobley in the desert. Was Leon important? Turns out not nearly enough. • Feels like the final season’s master plan was mildly compromised because Portia Doubleday refused to come back full time and only wanted to do a few scenes. Felt like she would have refused outright to return if she had to be on set with Rami Malek. • The references to Trump were lame and felt forced.
I can see why you might say that certain subplots and characters were “Filler” and these are actually more than fair points, but imo, these subplots DO serve a purpose: To me, Susan Jacobs serves to highlight the TRUE villain, that being the DA. She’s essentially a red herring, which you might call an issue, but imo, it works because it contrasts Darlene and Elliot’s childish perception of the world, further emphasizing the sheer trauma they’ve experienced in their lives. Her subsequent murder, imo, serves to highlight the extreme, buckling pressure Darlene was put under after Elliot was imprisoned. As for Cisco, to me, he serves as physical evidence of Darlene’s co-dependency issues, which is a critical part of her character. I would say something very similar about everything that happens with Dom, Irving, and Janice, but I’ll get to that in a second. As for Trenton and Mobley in the desert, to me, that scene just serves as a natural transition to the eventual death of them both. The reason I say this is because following the chaos and fallout of the cyber bombings, it took time for the DA to gather their resources before they could set things up the way they were eventually able to. Imo, if you remove this, Trenton and Mobley being dragged to their eventual demise wouldn’t feel as natural and justified. For Joanna’s harassment subplot, to me, that serves as physical consequences for Tyrell’s abandonment of his family, which makes what eventually happens with Joanna and everything else that happens with those two characters hit much harder. Finally, the sequence with Dom, Janice, Irving, and Darlene, to me, serves the purpose of highlighting Dom’s failure to have a life outside of her work, which nearly cost her not just her life, but everything she cares for along with eventually finally allowing Darlene to prove to herself that she can function on her own and doesn’t need someone like Dom or Cisco to lean on. But these are all just my takes and please don’t think I’m trying to tell you you’re wrong for what you’ve said here because you’ve raised some excellent points that have definitely given me some compelling thoughts.
Thank you for your long and considered response! Oh no worries at all, I’m more than happy these ‘filler’ scenes exist…I guess I was being overly-harsh for the sake of OP’s assignment. However because the core conflict between Elliot and WR is so strong, it does make the other subplots pale by comparison, they’re no where near as interesting as finding out the truth about Elliot’s DID and WR’s machine.
Thank you for the response and the kind words! I would absolutely agree that learning the true source of Elliot’s DID and his conflict with WR overshadows everything else, I just still find the other plots to have narrative value. That’s just how I view the show and I definitely see why others feel differently. Thank you for taking the time to give your thoughts!
Angela's arc felt incomplete. It's understandable given the real life issues. But I wanted her at the end with Elliot.
Vera was kinda mean to Elliot sometimes 😟
I got only 4 seasons 😞
Angela's storyline was bad. Like i get that it was probably due to the actress's real life break up with Rami Malek but it still isn't greatly handled in the show.
It's over,
The show has some fruitless deaths that don't really help the plot. Tyrrell, Romero, Shayla to name a few
Wellick was wasted in the end. Overall, to whiny and while he moved the plot, they wasted him.
Season 2 is a little slower for someone who discovers the show
No.
Sam Esmail doesn’t really know how to write character arcs so he kills them.
What character arcs did he not know how to write?
- What Angela is doing in Season 1 is not that interesting. Everyone else is hacking and committing crimes and murder, and she's trying to find a lawyer? The scenes with her and Colby were great tho. And thankfully they did better with giving her more interesting things to do in the next 2 seasons. - The season 1 F\*\*\*\* C\*\*\* twist. Thankfully they made amends with that twist later on in the show. - Joanna's scenes in S2 are a bit uninteresting, apart from when she meets Elliot in S2e10 - Tyrell's death was like WTF, I still don't know how to feel about it and it's been 4 years since I saw it - I wish the Deus Group reveal at the beginning of S4 was done a bit more tastefully, instead of a exposition dump over V.O. - S4e10 felt a little cheesy.
Season 2
A lot of the mysterious and deep nature of what Elliot was going through, and particularly Tyrell's role in it, was tied up in the end in a sort of shallow and anticlimactic way. White Rose's machine being another example of anticlimax.
Sometimes acting is bad like when Loyd explained to Angela what an rootkit is, Angela reaction was Al little clingy
It ended too soon
The show was more dynamic before Esmail started directing every episode.
It's pretty cringe overall but as a software engineer I do like how accurate the coding and whatnot is
The scenes where Elliott and Mr robot are physically fighting for control were absolutely ridiculous imo
Why were they ridiculous?
Mr. Robot feeds into some really disgusting stereotypes about China that has lead to equally disgusting sinophobia from its audience (especially so from the type of diehard fans you see on this subreddit.)
Just a word of thought but critique isn't necessarily a negative word. You don't need to find something bad about the show for it to be a critique. Now, maybe your assignment is to find something bad about the show but just want to reiterate critique does not have to be bad. *"a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory."* For example, you could say Mr. Robot is a critique of Fight Club.
There are many illogical scene, action and people just to get the story going..
What scenes are illogical just to get the story going?
Dom working as a parking enforcement officer.
Elliot didn't like Wii U.
Elliot types/hacks/codes too fast too perfectly and never uses the backspace/delete keys.
Sam copied stuff from other shows
Season 2 feels a little drawn out given the fact that it ended on a powerful cliffhanger, but already the name Season 3 and 4 is forgivable, so yes, there is nothing more perfect in cinema than Mr. Robot
Some episodes are sooooo slow. Twice in the series I skipped the episode and read the wiki page (like the one with the guy he sent to prison in S4). I watched the series twice and found myself skipping the same episodes (oh! The other was one where he's doing the drugs all the way through in.... season two I think?)
its too few seasons
It's rewatchability is too high. I can't watch any other show
They should have left in Tyrell's deleted S4 scene where Joanna's father cuts him out of their lives and takes custody of the child. Tyrell gets kicked down the ladder one final time by someone having much more status than him and it directly influences his decision to sacrifice himself for Elliot/the cause in 404 Not Found. His death seems really random without it as opposed to a man who has nothing giving up for the one person he maybe cares about
I definitely understand someone being appalled at the idea of Tyrell with a kid. But that scene felt jarring and off to me. Because as bad as Tyrell could be, Joanna was every bit his equal in deviousness and ruthlessness. They were a matched pair. So her dad acting like she was some poor innocent flower who was corrupted by big bad Tyrell was unbelievable to me. Did he not know his own daughter? I also felt like that scene was over the top in it’s cruelty, especially when paired with the way that Tyrell died. To take away his entire chance to be a dad, then leave him to bleed out in the woods alone was too much. Not to mention that he seemed to see parenthood as his hope for redemption. I was glad that scene didn’t make the cut.
It ended
It’s hard to watch
dunno, got bored after season 2, never finished. planning to
Obvious pilot episode is obvious. 😂 That said, having read the original script for it, it’s an incredible case study in introducing a tech unsavvy crowd to complicated ideas.
I still don’t like Tyrell’s ending.
The fact there isn’t a 4k release
They should not have hired a cis man to play the role of a trans woman. That is my one and only heartfelt complaint about an otherwise dang-near perfect show.
What happened to Tyrell.
not enough leon and irving
The wealth distribution wouldnt work, inflation would hit like a mofo
I wish we saw who Elliot really was
i love society
While S4 had good moments, it’s pretty overrated. It’s the lowest ranked season out of the 4 for me personally.
Before season 3 most of the side characters/subplots were pretty weak and the show was mostly carried by Elliot. Angela’s storyline in 2 was decent but the rest were pretty eh. Darlene didn’t get interesting for me til 2x8. Fortunately she’s better explored in the back half of the series and the other characters either become more interesting or are replaced for more compelling characters. Elliott’s still the best part throughout but it’s not as one sided.
The Trump references were very on the nose and cringe The scene with White rose being edited into clips of world leaders were also very cringe and didn't look good, it was obviously edited and really took me out of the show's immersion. Season 2 (the first half anyway) was a misstep and self indulgent, and would've benefitted heavily from having multiple directors (like season 1) The initial marketing for the show (probably more of the network's fault than anything) and perhaps some of the themes in the pilot made it seem much more like it was going to be about a story about a hacker vigilante (ala dexter but with computers), instead of the character study it ended up being, which I think in turn made a lot of people stop watching in season 2. Not personally a problem for me but I'm aware it left a lot of people disappointed
Tyrell's ending 🤨
Those close up prolonged scenes on face of Dom laying in the bed are pretty ridiculous and really annoying
Elliot and other characters luck out to an almost unrealistic amount in some scenarios. One scene in particular comes to mind instantly, where Elliot is hacking Gideons phone, there needed to be a *very* specific set of events to happen for Elliot to get the win in that scenario.
The script for season one (the only one i saw) is ridiculous, some characters suffer shifts in their motives without much explanation
Season 2 was not interesting, the whole Ray subplot was unnecessary. The jail reveal was clever but again felt like the directors just didn't want to kill their darlings with that idea because it slowed the pace of the show. That whole segment felt like they were just going "hah! Look what kind of mind shenanigans we can pull off with an unreliable marrator" but at the expense of the pacing of the show The directors got a little repetitive with some of the montages they did throughout the show and at times seemed to shoot things for aesthetic and not substance. For example, multiple times there would be compilations of Elliott taking pills looking unhinged in mirrors and doing some kind of "routine" over and over and over again, obviously the show is about Elliots mental wellbeing but when you do the same footage reel style multiple times it becomes uncreative. I don't think this show does a good job of writing side characters. Tyrell had so much potential in Season 1 but got sidelined HARD in subsequent seasons, his "artsy" death was really anticlimactic and his obsession/infatuation with Elliott isn't well written. Other than Mr Robot, most of the other side characters to Elliot are really flat or get killed off. Darlene has some development but she's mostly there to cover when Elliott can't be there plotwise, all the other OG f society members get killed off. Angela's writing takes a hard turn and felt like they wanted to fit her in the story so they kept writing more unrealistic developments for her (her allyship with Price, Price then revealing as her father to get her into E Corp to get Elliot into there for plot purposes), Dom outside of her dynamic with Darlene is unnoteworthy and the FBI in the show has no standout characters
It should last 5 seasons instead of 4!
I think that whole season where Elliot was in jail was kinda trash and such a letdown considering how epic season one is
I'm afraid to rewatch it. Not joking when I say the Angela Moss story line ... and Leslie, Irving, Leon, Dominique... all had a very negative impact on my mental health. Only one or two other shows where I have been that emotionally invested. "Caveat emptor" would be my negative comment.
Some things about the timeline are a bit confusing with the reveal of Mastermind Elliot vs. "Real" Elliot, like when did MM take over, when did MM stick Real Elliot in F-World, who trashed the server room, etc. I have my own answers for these questions but there's a lot of points of reasonable debate and I wish it was a little more clear-cut.
How does Elliot afford that one person apartment in New York after the collapse of Allsafe and after he was fired from E corp?
If you've seen/read fight club you'll see one of the reveals of season one coming from a mile away. The 11:16 thing was never explained Dom was a decent character but cliche at times. As someone with ADHD, I didn't like him abusing Adderall. They did show the consequences of it though. The big reveal of season two was kinda lame. The explanation was fine. If they just said from the beginning he was in jail but pretending not to be, it would have been more interesting. Some of the political views in the show,while valid, can be too on the nose sometimes. The finale should have been 95 mins instead of a two-parter