I had the immense pleasure of seeing Mr. Robot USA's new upcoming hacker thriller on-line before its premiere on June 24.
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| Credit: usanetwork
In this psychological/hacker thriller from creator Sam Esmail, Rami Malek (Short Term 12, Night at the Museum movies) is an anti-social, anti-media, pro hoodie wearing computer expert working for a tech security company by day and is a hacker by night. Elliot (Malek) is the one narrating the show in an inner monologue/voice-over way. He seems to hate or is just completely indifferent to people other then his therapist (Gloria Reuben) and oldest childhood friend (Portia Doubleday). He basically is all about f--k the system, society and pretty much everything else. As the audience I think it can go from thinking this kid is unrealistic (which I certainly did at times) and very emo to thinking well maybe this guy has a point. We are not sure whether he is good or evil or has voices that speak to him and is really just literally losing his mind.
Elliot rants in his inner monologue-y way after speaking to his therapist about why society disappoints him, which apparently is because he feels like; "the people we make out to be heroes in our society are counterfeit and the world itself is one big hoax. " He also goes on to say "social media is faking as intimacy" and he thinks we as a society do this because "We want to be sedated. It's painful not to pretend, because we're cowards." Wow Okay! I thought for a second ' like get a grip nothing we don't already know as a society in general,' which he also states he's not saying anything new. Lol.
He seems to be slightly fixated on his therapist and has already hacked her and knows she is lonely and dates on the Internet. He seems to want to control and protect as he even admits. Going as far as following his therapists dates and hacking a man she is dating as well. Elliot seems to think he is doing the hacking for the greater good. Which is what it comes across to as the viewer at least. But getting to know people for better or worse from hacking them, because you don't know how to behave socially and are lonely seems odd to me personally. Then again we know as the audience the character has obvious problems and is perhaps even delusional as his therapist hints.
The therapist is not the only person close to him that he is hacking though. Elliot is also hacking or has hacked his best friends boyfriend Ollie in the past. Ollie comes to Elliots' desk where he works as a security tech and tells him he feels like things are "awkward" between them and Elliot says bluntly "I'm Okay with things being awkward between us." (Hilarious. I love people that are socially awkward, probably because I am as well.) Elliot then has another one of his inner monologues as this guy Ollie is talking, asking " Am I crazy not to like this guy? Among some of his Facebook likes are George W. Bush's decision points, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, and the music of Josh Groban." He finishes by asking "Must I really justify myself any further?" I'd say definitely not!
Mr. Robot later drops in Christian Slater in a supporting role and things get more mysterious as we find out Slater is testing Elliot by hacking the E Corp which is a big conglomerate that Elliot has dubbed "evil corp." Slater and his group "f-society" cyber-attack ECorp and Elliot must decide how far he is willing to go to help a conglomerate he despises seeing as that is Elliot's day job.
Perhaps what makes me care about this character is that he seems genuinely devoted to his best friend and therapist and his awkwardness at being forced to participate in speaking with people he hates like his best friends boyfriend. And the fact that he hesitates given the opportunity to take down a company he hates.
My Bottom Line: Malek is a breath of fresh air and so is how Mr. Robot plays since it is different in its' dialogue in my opinion. I also enjoyed seeing Christian Slater for a familiar face but Malek proves this show is his and he can obviously carry Mr. Robot himself. I don't want to give the whole show away with any longer of a recap since it hasn't premiered yet. I loved the first episode though but I still find myself looking to the next show to blow my mind. (Also I'm not sure I'm entirely happy I watched this early because now I have to wait till July 1st for episode two.) Don't get me wrong this show is very good amidst all the other so-so stuff on television right now especially during summer. Sure there are a few new shows I am looking forward to like AMC's Humans and Fear the Walking Dead. Also shows that are returning like Netflix's Orange is the New Black, and Sundance's Rectify so there is the possibility of mind blowing TV yet to come this summer.
Did you watch the episode on-line, and if not do you think you will tune into Mr. Robot when it premieres on June 24 ?
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