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'Mr. Robot' on USA


I am Scags

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It's pretty good. Typical USA show though - attractive, young people with a "secret" (and sexual tension) who have a overdramatized normal job and get way in a situation way over their heads. Very conspiracy theory-ish, but entertaining.

 

Yea I'm not all that crazy about USA network shows, they definitely have a second rate feel to them but I'm going to give this one a chance.

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Yea I'm not all that crazy about USA network shows, they definitely have a second rate feel to them but I'm going to give this one a chance.

 

I enjoy them, but they all jump the shark eventually. I loved the hell out of Suits, but the show just got way too ridiculous. Same thing with Burn Notice.

 

I'll enjoy this for a couple of seasons, I'm sure, and then something absurd will happen and I'll be like, "Yeah, I'm done."

 

This show is like the love child of Suits and Burn Notice with a cybersecurity flavor.

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I enjoy them, but they all jump the shark eventually. I loved the hell out of Suits, but the show just got way too ridiculous. Same thing with Burn Notice.

 

I'll enjoy this for a couple of seasons, I'm sure, and then something absurd will happen and I'll be like, "Yeah, I'm done."

 

This show is like the love child of Suits and Burn Notice with a cybersecurity flavor.

 

LOL

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The best USA show I can remember is Psych, but only because it was pretty funny up until season 6.

 

I hated Burn Notice after season 5. Haven't finished White Collar yet, but that one is pretty formulaic so I don't know If Ill continue.

 

Its seems like every USA show sticks around for 2 seasons longer than they should. Except Royal Pains, that shouldn't even exist imo.

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Really? I thought the opposite of Burn Notice, they moved away from his constantly just assisting people and focused on him. The end was unpredictable and I thought was amazing. But just my opinion I guess.

 

White Collar was amazing too, ending was kinda rushed but I also loved that show until the ending.

 

Suits went from an amazing show to the classic love triangle bullshit which ruins every show IMO. And then it because so dramatic, I stopped watching it.

 

Mr. Robot seems OK so far, potential to be good. I have no idea why the ratings are so high. I think it was just because of the suspense ending leaving the mind to wonder.

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  • 1 month later...
So, have you guys kept up with this show at all? Because honestly, it's nothing like anything else on USA. In fact, it's pretty much fight club with computer hackers. If you aren't watching it you're missing the best thing to hit television in a while. Incredibly well written, raw and dynamic, and perfectly casted. I know it's easy to write off a show on USA, because honestly I did for the first 6 episodes, but I eventually gave in and started watching, and thank god I did. 100% recommend.
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  • 4 months later...

Finally got around to watching this once I realized it was available OnDemand. I have to say, I wasn’t as impressed as I was hoping I’d be. It felt too teenage angst for me, and I could absolutely see and hear the “USA Network” in it in the production.

 

I’ll drop most of my complaints into a spoiler tag to keep anyone who hasn’t seen it safe:

 

 

1. Calling the hackers, “hackers” is very Hackers of them. Minor complaint though.

 

2. Calling the hacker group “fsociety”? Really? Again, teenage-I-hate-the-world angst.

 

3. “Evil corp”? What low hanging fruit. You couldn’t call “eCorp” anything else to avoid this pitfall? Every time I heard it I felt like I was transported back to being 15 and believing in conspiracy theories like this.

 

4. It’s called “pace”, show-runner. As in to pace. To slowly, methodically move along, building to the payoff of your story arc. This show paced so well for maybe the first four or five episodes and then spiraled into chaos through to the finale, jumping forward in time by days or hours with no explanation other than “well, Elliot is crazy”.

 

5. Speaking of pace, all it takes is one full episode for Angela to sacrifice her character’s integrity by accepting Terry Colby’s offer to join eCorp? No rhyme or reason here other than to “swerve” the audience.

 

6. Why was their no introduction to eCorp’s EVP of Technolgy, James Plouffe, except to listen to him ramble like an idiot for two minutes before blowing his brains out on live television? FUCKING PACEEEEEE!

 

 

All-in-all, I felt the show concept was excellent on paper, but the execution was just OK. Season 2 could change that, at least for me, if some of my issues are addressed, but I have my doubts because this is still a USA Network show at the end of the day. The very reason I took this long to watch it in the first place.

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Finally got around to watching this once I realized it was available OnDemand. I have to say, I wasn’t as impressed as I was hoping I’d be. It felt too teenage angst for me, and I could absolutely see and hear the “USA Network” in it in the production.

 

I’ll drop most of my complaints into a spoiler tag to keep anyone who hasn’t seen it safe:

 

 

1. Calling the hackers, “hackers” is very Hackers of them. Minor complaint though.

 

2. Calling the hacker group “fsociety”? Really? Again, teenage-I-hate-the-world angst.

 

3. “Evil corp”? What low hanging fruit. You couldn’t call “eCorp” anything else to avoid this pitfall? Every time I heard it I felt like I was transported back to being 15 and believing in conspiracy theories like this.

 

4. It’s called “pace”, show-runner. As in to pace. To slowly, methodically move along, building to the payoff of your story arc. This show paced so well for maybe the first four or five episodes and then spiraled into chaos through to the finale, jumping forward in time by days or hours with no explanation other than “well, Elliot is crazy”.

 

5. Speaking of pace, all it takes is one full episode for Angela to sacrifice her character’s integrity by accepting Terry Colby’s offer to join eCorp? No rhyme or reason here other than to “swerve” the audience.

 

6. Why was their no introduction to eCorp’s EVP of Technolgy, James Plouffe, except to listen to him ramble like an idiot for two minutes before blowing his brains out on live television? FUCKING PACEEEEEE!

 

 

All-in-all, I felt the show concept was excellent on paper, but the execution was just OK. Season 2 could change that, at least for me, if some of my issues are addressed, but I have my doubts because this is still a USA Network show at the end of the day. The very reason I took this long to watch it in the first place.

 

My take away was very different in that I really enjoyed it and felt it was worthy of the rave reviews it's gotten. To address your points though:

 

 

 

 

1. Don't really understand your point here.

 

2. Playing off the function keys. Didn't bother me at all.

 

3. I took it as a slap at Google's "Do no evil" mantra. So to me, it was clever. Also, the sort of "find and replace" every time it's mentioned was also kind of funny, given it's a computer show.

 

4. I think they used pace to try to create empathy between the audience and what Elliot was going through. It wasn't explained by "well, Elliot is crazy" it was more, "share in the crazy experience".

 

5. I think we'll find that Angela is not sacrificing anything. She's realized she can't take down eCorp from the outside, so she's getting herself on the inside.

 

6. His character was only used for two things. Mainly to create an opening for Wellick to go after. Also, to show that even at the highest levels of eCorp, not everyone is completely ruthless. But the ones who aren't ruthless can't hang when the going gets tough.

 

 

 

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My take away was very different in that I really enjoyed it and felt it was worthy of the rave reviews it's gotten. To address your points though:

 

 

 

 

1. Don't really understand your point here.

 

2. Playing off the function keys. Didn't bother me at all.

 

3. I took it as a slap at Google's "Do no evil" mantra. So to me, it was clever. Also, the sort of "find and replace" every time it's mentioned was also kind of funny, given it's a computer show.

 

4. I think they used pace to try to create empathy between the audience and what Elliot was going through. It wasn't explained by "well, Elliot is crazy" it was more, "share in the crazy experience".

 

5. I think we'll find that Angela is not sacrificing anything. She's realized she can't take down eCorp from the outside, so she's getting herself on the inside.

 

6. His character was only used for two things. Mainly to create an opening for Wellick to go after. Also, to show that even at the highest levels of eCorp, not everyone is completely ruthless. But the ones who aren't ruthless can't hang when the going gets tough.

 

 

 

Like I said, great concept on paper. I just didn’t like the execution, personally. Most of my complaints were minor. I still think the concept is strong, and season two could make me a believer depending on how they handle the cliffhangers from the finale.

 

To respond to your list though:

 

 

1. Just don’t really like the term “hackers”. It’s been Hollywood-ized, so when it gets bandied about so generously in a show like this, it kinda takes away the appeal. I’m a bigger fan of shows that avoid this in a creative way, like how The Walking Dead refers to them as “biters”, “walkers”, “the undead” or any other descriptor that isn’t “zombie”.

 

But it was a minor complaint.

 

2. I know why they did it. I just don’t think it’s that clever. It’s corny to me. I'm sure there was some other cleverly-titled play on words they could have run with instead that would have matched the code to allow it to slip by the Untrained eye.

 

The same goes for the whole lifting from Anonymous thing with the silly mask. Come to think of it, most of the speeches given in those videos I also really didn’t like. They sounded like I wrote them when I was 15 and angry at the world. The whole “You can’t tell me what to do! You can’t tell me what to say! F society! I’m gonna make you pay!” stuff. I get that was their goal, but come on, you can’t be a little more articulate than that? Why did it have to be lowest common denominator? Brilliant hackers can’t be expected to speak better than professional wrestlers?

 

“Lemme tell you something, evil Corp! This Sunday, live on Pay-Per-View, you’re going down! You can’t control me anymore! You can’t control us anymore! We are fsociety! Rahhh!”

 

3. Don't be evil, you mean? I guess, yeah. I did like that find and replace all technique though. Like every television screen, every mention of the company from characters Elliot interacted with all referenced it as he interrupted it in his head. That was clever. I just didn’t think calling it “evil Corp” was. Screamed of low hanging fruit to me. Again, bad pro wrestling.

 

4. I’m talking about the pace of the entire show. The first four or five episodes, chronologically speaking, build really, really well. There’s a clear uptick in pressure episode-to-episode. Somewhere around the botched Steel Mountain attempt it just started to get really frantic, and it felt like someone pressed a button to force the show to operate at 2x the speed from that point on.

 

5. Sort of. I’d buy that if not for the shoe scene shortly after where she’s clearly being affected by the sudden influx of power/money. I just didn’t like the pace here. It felt like far too big a change in character and an advancement in the story to be handled within the span of one episode. That needs to be something that haunts the character for multiple episodes before she finally just does it, clearly having allowed the thought of taking them down from within to weigh against the reality of working for the company responsible for killing her mother.

 

6. Wellick (SVP of Tech) went after Scott Knowles (CTO), because he wanted his job. That was his main adversary, aside from Elliot. The Jason Plouffe (EVP of Tech) character is presumably Wellick’s boss, but was introduced only to be offed quickly. It was really poorly timed. For a show this heralded for it’s writing, that wasn’t well-written at all. That’s why his suicide screamed of shock value rather than shocking moment. I don’t even know who this guy is before he kills himself. I know nothing of his character. He’s introduced, he gets nervous and exposed on television and then he kills himself in front of a bunch of people. That’s all we ever learn. To me, that’s not good writing at all. Not when his character is supposed to have a real, measurable impact on the story. He should have been introduced the episode prior so we could at least learn who he was, then watched him as eCorp fumbled through the hack and the subsequent crash of their company, then put him on television and go with his suicide. In fact, if Angela is supposed to be working for him, use her to bring him in.

 

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