Mr. Robot is the best show on TV, by a wide margin.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:41 am

Now that GoT is tanking, True Detective is an embarrassment, and Better Caul Saul is in between seasons, MR. ROBOT (on USA Network) is way, WAY, WAY better than everything else on TV.

If you are not watching, please start at the beginning and catch up immediately. I think the first half of the first episode was a little "ehhh?" but after that, look out.

Garth's Equipment Shop · Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:18 am

Wow thanks for alerting me to this! Just aquired 7 episodes from the first season. I was going to watch a few or all of these 7 episodes before replying here but all it took was 13 minutes into episode 1 for me to know I was going to love this show!
You thought the first episode was "ehh" compared to the ones that follow? I can't wait to see them then cause this first one is so good so far!

First I love how he took down Apu the rich internet cafe chain owner who changed his name to Ron like the name of the chain he owns so he could pretend to be a real American while he secretly indulges his deviant pedophilic lifestyle.
Man that was awesome to see that in a mainstream tv show. Normally the networks' political correctness filter doesn't allow stuff like that through.

But it wasn't until around the 13 minute mark that I knew this show was most likely going to make my favorites list.
Though he was unable to actually connect the voice in his head to his mouth, the Unibomber/Tyler Durden-style rant he imagined delivering to his court ordered psychiatrist was a "Fuck yeah!" moment.

The Happiness Engine · Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:06 pm

Has Mr. Robot hacked all the democracies yet?

Garth's Equipment Shop · Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:33 pm

I think Global Plutocracy is a more accurate term but no, looks as if the quest to hack the planet (to rescue everyone drowning in usurious debt) is going to remain just out of reach. By episode 7 fsociety has everything in place to kill Evil Corp but I'm sensing a pattern of little snags and set backs that will keep pushing that goal to the next episode.

I'm wondering what I must have missed near the beginning that explains the name Evil Corp. At first I saw the E symbol on everything and assumed it was only the Anonymous style hacktivists who added the "vil" to it. But then everyone in the show was calling it that, even the corporation itself and its defenders, and the news reporters.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:39 am

Garth's Equipment Shop wrote:I'm wondering what I must have missed near the beginning that explains the name Evil Corp. At first I saw the E symbol on everything and assumed it was only the Anonymous style hacktivists who added the "vil" to it. But then everyone in the show was calling it that, even the corporation itself and its defenders, and the news reporters.

The real name of Evil Corp is E-Corp. Everyone in the show calls it Evil Corp, and even signs/commercials for it call it Evil Corp, because you're seeing the world through Elliot's eyes.

It's a nice touch.

Garth's Equipment Shop · Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:26 pm

Hmm. That would seem to go hand in hand with the viewer as imaginary friend of the main character perspective which I thought was a pretty cool concept. But if that were the case why aren't there other things that get consistently warped due to our subjective view point?

Or assuming we are only seeing things from the point of view of his imaginary friend and thus do not see the same reality every other character sees then what can we trust to be real, how can we rely on anything we are seeing or hearing?

For there to be any real story or plot or character development we as the viewers need to be able to trust the things we are seeing and hearing to be more than just figments of one character's imagination or psychosis.

Garth's Equipment Shop · Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:27 pm

I propose a different theory, that the corporation really is called Evil Corp and the fact that this does not seem to strike anyone in the show as inappropriate (to those who just see a successful corporation that provides beneficial products and services to the whole world) or ironic (to those who know that the corporation really is evil), is meant to convey the concept of the banality of evil.

Best example of this I can think of is the serial killer who, once finally caught, neighbors, coworkers, friends and family tell reporters how normal and harmless or even nice he seemed. Even those who knew him for many years. Or like spies and their cover identities.

And then theres the example of "friendly fascism" like the society portrayed in Demolition Man. The clean and friendly society of peace and order is just really good at sweeping all its dirt under the rug and keeping a lid (or manhole cover) on anyone who would tell a different story.

Hannah Arendt who attended the war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem as a reporter for The New Yorker published her final report in the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. In it she made the following observation about Echmann:

"Clearly, it was not enough that they did not follow the prosecution in its obviously mistaken description of the accused as a "perverted sadist," nor would it have been enough if they had gone one step further and shown the inconsistency of the case for the prosecution, in which Mr. Hausner wanted to try the most abnormal monster the world had ever seen..."

"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal."

Garth's Equipment Shop · Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:27 pm

Supporting evidence for this theory from the show itself:

Angela's conversation with Terry Colby in which she attempts to get inside his head expecting to reveal the kind of monster that would intentionally cover up a toxic waste leak in 1993 that caused the deaths of her mother and many others. She discovers that the people responsible for such monstrous acts are not themselves monsters.

If she had discovered he was some kind of real life monster, unlike most other people in the world, it would have been a relief to her in a way. It might have restored her faith in humanity. But instead she finds out that Evil is not restricted to a few mutants or monsters but exists in everyone. That there are no "normal" people, or evil seems to be the norm.

Perhaps the show will explore this philosophical question further. Perhaps her hacker buddy, the main character, will manage to restore her faith, if not in average or "normal" humans then perhaps in those exceptional few heroes humanity is once in a while capable of producing.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 6:25 am

Nice spoiler warnings. Also, your theory is wrong, and Mr. Robot does not adhere to traditional storytelling tropes, which is one of the reasons it's great.

Garth's Equipment Shop · Wed Aug 12, 2015 5:43 pm

If you need spoiler warnings then you aren't up to speed on all the available episodes and therefore are not qualified to form an opinion of my theory. Anyway is that all you've got? Just your declaration that my theory is wrong without responding to any of the problems I raised? Your ninjutsu is weak son.

ICJ · Post by **ICJ** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:51 am

I am avoiding spoilers.

Is my girlfriend gonna like this? I'm gonna grab them all and make us watch them if you think she would like this. Or is this just nerds hacking stuff?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:12 am

First of all, I wasn't asking for spoiler warnings for ME, but for people like, oh, I dunno, everyone else I created this thread for. Jesus.

Robb: There is a lot of nerds hacking stuff, but that is not why it is good. It has a distinct Fight Club vibe, so if she liked that, or otherwise likes well-done things regardless of subject matter, she will like it.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:25 pm

I watched the first episode. I am a bit fascinated by the opening scene.

Eliot found a coffee shop that had fast internet. He proceeds to figure out that Ron, the owner of the shop, is running a CP ring. He turns Ron in.

A lot of people would consider Eliot a hero for turning in the horrible, horrible monster of a person that distributed CP.

I'm watching this thinking that Eliot is a piece of garbage. The internet server that Ron offered was free. Most free WiFi networks are terrible. Hell, most don't exist, because some company decides they can charge for it, instead.

There's a lot going on with this show, so I wouldn't put it past the producers to not really want audience members to be on Eliot's side after what he does there. They found a way to put him up against what we, as a society, has decided is one of our worst archetypes - the would-be child molester - and not necessarily make everyone on Eliot's side.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 2:55 am

Many years ago the rock group Queen sang about this show, "Domo Arrigat, Mr. Robot."

As for the show, I hadn't seen it but since you're discussing the concept of "The Banality of Evil"tm I'll throw in my 0.02 Euros from my book:

"I think it was said that the War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg, Germany showed, not the horror of evil, but its banality. Being a guard in a concentration camp, where you raped a few Jewish women, gassed their husbands, stole the gold out of the teeth of the corpses, and worked the survivors to death, was just another job like being a file clerk, or any other ordinary occupation."

Since there's been a discussion here on the subject of Evil I'd like to separate it off in order to discuss it in general outside of the contexf of the show.

What is 'evil' and how do you define it? http://www.joltcountry.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 4400#84400

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 2:35 pm

Tdarcos wrote:Many years ago the rock group Queen sang about this show, "Domo Arrigat, Mr. Robot."

Styx, not Queen, and "Mr. Roboto," not "Mr. Robot," but other than that, close.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 3:04 pm

The ability to raise someone's blood pressure from 1,000 miles away and not even realize they're doing it?

That's evil.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 11:09 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I watched the first episode. I am a bit fascinated by the opening scene.

Eliot found a coffee shop that had fast internet. He proceeds to figure out that Ron, the owner of the shop, is running a CP ring. He turns Ron in.

A lot of people would consider Eliot a hero for turning in the horrible, horrible monster of a person that distributed CP.

I'm watching this thinking that Eliot is a piece of garbage. The internet server that Ron offered was free. Most free WiFi networks are terrible. Hell, most don't exist, because some company decides they can charge for it, instead.

There's a lot going on with this show, so I wouldn't put it past the producers to not really want audience members to be on Eliot's side after what he does there. They found a way to put him up against what we, as a society, has decided is one of our worst archetypes - the would-be child molester - and not necessarily make everyone on Eliot's side.

I would like Pinback's take on this.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 11:21 am

I think you should just relax and enjoy the show.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 1:22 pm

Is Elliot someone we are supposed to root for or not?

Or we can just make this Paul's Discount Freeway BBS, I don't care.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:33 pm

Is anyone else watching season two?