the new USA show MR. ROBOT: the rise of Rami Malek and the inexplicable solidness of Christian Slater

Started watching this show last nite. The missus read some blog saying it was like a mash-up of Fight Club, Matrix, Taxi Driver and American Psycho. Having watched the first episode, would have to add Peep Show to that list - couldn't help hearing the internal monologue in the voice of Mark Corrigan, cf the episode where Mark hacks into Sophie's email.

the principal actor played PSH's son-in-law in The Master, right?

That's him. Mostly people seem to know him from The Pacific (still unseen by me)

No comments on the finale?

Much of it was kinda meh and wheel-spinny compared to much of what came before. That one scene, though. Jesus. Totally understand why they pushed it back a week. Not to spoilerize, but that was maybe the most graphic depiction of that particular act I've ever seen outside of the infamously-filmed real-life version of same.

i dropped this after the roof murder. nothing anybody did was making sense anymore. i feel like the writers were just like "oh this would be crazy" and wrote it.

this season is basically the first act of the original script sam esmail wrote for mr. robot when he wanted to do it as a movie, just with a lot of additions. the general skeleton of the whole overarching story was and is planned - like it or not, these arent seat-of-pants writing decisions a la the latter seasons of LOST

finale was fucking great precisely because it wasnt a big-bang thing full of more #tweests and watercooler shock moments, it centers around how these earth-shaking events are dealt with as traumatic bruises on the main characters, which has been the point of the series all along imo

just started watching
have to say, the music choice is still lovable. "world destruction"!

I feel like I JUST heard "World Destruction" on another series this year?

Anyway I liked how truly disorienting and weirdly paced the finale was, skipping over the actual hack the whole season was theoretically building towards, never showing us Wellick, completely stranding Angela at Ecorp. Loved the scene w/ Elliot and Wellick's wife and baby.

Yeah! "I feel like she can hear us?"

B.D. Wong is the best

for a moment there the times square set looked kinda hokey and when slater started in with "well whats REAL" i worried for half a second they were gonna go with 'actually this is all a tv show'

lol yes I had a similar thought

there were definitely some cornball elements but I'm willing to give the show some room 'cause it's out on a wild limb so often

Overall I think the story is fine but not exceptional -- a fairly smart rewiring of Fight Club and V for Vengeance, with a big dollop of William Gibson thrown in. What makes it for me is the production, filmmaking and casting. It has its own distinct vibe and has sustained it well.

I get more Anonymous-tinged crap than V for Vendetta, although fsociety is an actual meeting group

It was kind of late when I watched, but that was BD Wong in the last scene, right? Meaning the Chinese darknet group is working multiple sides

yep that is whiter0se

using BD wong in that role is another 90s film reference, to cronenberg's m. butterfly

why DID times square look so hokey

because it was a pretty funny green screen composite

also because times square is hokey irl

well and like

*obvious tight shot of 20 people with signs implying large crowd* was dumb as hell

oh also that One Scene was unexpectedly graphic dang

yeah, the individual in question suddenly becoming more calm in his affect was a major "uh oh" and having a character you can relate to noticing that while everyone else in the room is too busy to pay attention....

also I am kind of amazed in 2015 we get that with no cutaway

Stuff that gets a pass on TV (even network TV) in 2015 would've earned a movie a hard R 20-30 years ago.

who am I kidding, I watch and love Hannibal and there's worse stuff there on the reg

Stuff that gets a pass on TV (even network TV) in 2015 would've earned a movie a hard R 20-30 years ago.

Yeah, but that was during crackdown times. You would be amazed what got into G- and PG-rated movies in the 70s.

I had a dark lol @ them apparently exploiting the air delay to ADR in that line about the Ashley Madison hack

I was impressed they got the Ashley Madison ref in there

I assumed that was what happened, unless they'd just filmed the episode sometime in the past week.

just a quick dub prob

ya that was p good

this didn't really stick the landing and the final ep was mostly a lot of loose ends waggled and some new ones added
all in all it felt like an ad for season two
i liked this show a lot but it's not hannibal / americans level just yet. very very good first season, hope they can keep the ball rolling now.

all in all it felt like an ad for season two

yeah the knock at the door smashcut felt like a frustrating copout

also uh is it fair to call the wong scene a "post-credits" scene on tv, that seems weird

Does anybody else worry that this show is gonna have the steepest Season 1-to-Season 2 dropoff in quality since Homeland?

I'm not sure that's the comparison I'd make, since it didn't even take a whole season for Homeland to turn stupid.

nahdawg. for one, homeland never had any plan beyond season 1 (the showrunner has said as much publicly), and it did ok with the seat-of-the-pants method for a little while (like 5 episodes) and then shat itself. it's still shitting.

mr robot, per the creator, has a specific ending in mind, and while it's not perfect I think that having that focus a la breaking bad will prevent it from a collapse.

(xp)

So is Eliot Tyrell?

they certainly suggest it.

tyrell's wife's aloofness was suspicious af

but elliot as tyrell makes so little sense? he's a low level analyst at a contracting firm *and* a rageaholic executive at one of the firm's clients?

I really really hope Elliot isn't also Tyrell, unless they also reveal that Elliot is in fact a shapeshifting psychic alien, because that would be dope

the creator dude claims the ashley madison line was already in the script lol. stupid.

Tyrell's wife doesn't seem to recognize E, but who knows.
As somebody who got strung out on the American version of The Bridge, I can't say I'm beyond Whut Does It All Mean tranceification, but Elliot was born a cyberpunk cliche of the mid- 90s (which is when I finally gave up on William Gibson and his wannabees). I also have to admit I've watched every episode, but think it's more about presence of Malek and Doubleday, who plays Angela. Also Angela's storyline, but now she's surrounded by droning baddies (the balding beardo actor's really trying, though; kind of a squirmy, Vincent D'onofrio effect, which could pay off). Sure hope Sat Night Live does a take-off, with Elliot played by Kate McKinnon, in her Bieber gear.

Somebody upthread suggested that E himself is a defective computer program---now that could be cool! Also like how he seems to be addressing the audience as an increasingly untrustworthy imaginary friend (wish they did more with that and didn't bring back Ghost Dad, now w Ghost Mom and Little Elliot, yeesh)

I posited the 'Elliot = Tyrell' thing upthread, but there are an awful lot of inconsistencies with that theory. I don't see how it would be possible.

Yeah. It just seemed like his conversation with the wife was possibly hinting at that. Or maybe just that she had seem him before, in Christian Slater form.

the whole "okay.... 'OLLIE'" bit seemed pretty telegraphed imo

i thought that conversation was so good
the guy from ny mag talking about this show not entirely understanding its strengths is otm, i think; it has reached these various kinds of perfection, none of which especially relate to its ostensibly key concerns/themes. like i could just watch anxious elliot on the stoop all day.

first second/second season drop off talk is p cynical imo

I dunno I can easily see this following an Orphan Black trajectory: incredible first season carried by awesome central performance, devolving into endless convolution. Found the finale incredibly irritating.