Mr Robot

[bobbie solo]

SPOILERS
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I should have seen that coming. I kinda knew something was up with his scenes (the daily activities were odd, as were the interactions with Craig Robinson...especially the earlier ones. They didn't make any sense.) but I didn't think about them enough to guess that he was in jail the whole time. Great job by the writers.

[thelastdisciple]

Yeah it really makes sense now when you look back and notice how routine everything was but damned if i knew any better lmao

[mfte]

The one thing that doesn't make sense is that we saw Ray's henchman go into Rat Tail's house, and then talk to Ray in his car. Elliot wasn't present for tha.

[mfte]

despite another stupid door cliffhanger... what a tense episode! Who's behind that couch???

Also the creepiest hallway ever in that scene with Angela.

Another great choice of tunes.

[thelastdisciple]

This show is going to be one of those ones you have to watch over and over again, in order to pick up on stuff that was missed or to see if there were hints and clues early on that piece together where the story is going cause man some episodes should be titled WTFBBQ dot com.

One more episode left for season 2!

[bobbie solo]

i like the uneasy backdrop of everything being unsteady, tense and unreliable in society for weeks at a time b/c of what they did in season 1. It's a pretty unique setup and it's handled well so far.

[Substance242]

...try walking in my shoes. :-)

[loopcloses]

The idea that season two has been at all inferior to season one is insane to me. The decision to temporarily phase out the hacking and slightly rote social commentary in favor of balls-to-the-wall psychological thriller and doubling down on character development was such a great decision. The Adderall sequence in episode two is one of the best things I've seen on TV in years.

I feel like there's actually a slight bit of slipping now that we're getting back to reality--the FBI stuff, from what I understand, takes a lot more dramatic license than any of the hacking ever did. And the decision to give Elliot an ultimately non-essential detour plot (not unlike the Vera one in season one), ending with a major reveal and followed by an episode where he's entirely absent was questionable when it comes to the show's pacing--especially after much of the audience (not me) seemed to have its patience tested with Elliot's war with Mr. Robot in the first few episodes.

But even when though the writing is generally not the tightest on television (a distinction I'd easily reward to The Americans, followed by Better Call Saul), it's more than made up for with the incredible direction, editing, photography, and soundtrack. This is far and away the most stylistically compelling show on all of TV and I applaud USA for letting Esmail run wild with his vision. Definitely a gamble--precious few showrunners have taken full writing duties without eventually disappearing up their own ass. The writer's room is the time-tested default method of television writing for a reason.

[mfte]

I think this season is better than season 1. Definitely less boring. Last night's episode was nuts. Everyone has their back up against the wall. The last bit of that episode with that sad hopeless music was masterful. The very last scene was probably the best things on TV this year.

[elevenism]

So there are 12 episodes this season, thank god.
it threw me off thinking that episode 10 was the finale, although it wouldn't surprise me.
The 4th wall breaks in that episode are fucking incredible.

The music composer totally ripped off A Drowning by HTDA for a good 2 or 3 minutes-did anyone else catch that? I get the impression that the music is supposed to be similar to Trent and Atticus, but that was pushing it for me.

[implanted_microchip]

I've felt this whole season that it wasn't too boring or slow, just taking the time to plant some much-necessary seeds to explode in growth later on (because really -- where season 1 left us, it had to give itself more material to eventually work with), and I think it's been great. Definitely starting to see that pay off.

That subway scene was one of my favorite in the series. Wholly-earned and beautiful. Also I had the hardest time listening to Darlene's story because of how into the Pringles-wifi I was; I hope that was a sign that the show will soon slowly merge into the new McGyver reboot.

[elevenism]

Also I had the hardest time listening to Darlene's story because of how into the Pringles-wifi I was; I hope that was a sign that the show will soon slowly merge into the new McGyver reboot.

i know. i want to rewatch it so i can learn to make a pringles "super powerful antenna."

[Substance242]

it threw me off thinking that episode 10 was the finale

First thing after this episode, I searched for "mr robot wiki list episodes". :-)

[Archive_Reports]

I have watched the entire series in the last 10 days leaving me equal parts ashamed and excited to be caught up. This show is amazing and, until reading this thread, thought season two was only 10 episodes. Terrific.

[mfte]

last episode was a nice low boil. I thought i was watching a David Lynch movie during the Angela scenes.

[henryeatscereal]

I just got into the series, finishing first season, and trying to avoid 2nd season spoilers.

Probably it has been mentioned before in this thread but the series has a very "Year Zero" feel to it, i think this is the blueprint of what Trent wanted for his YZ series, even some music has a NIN-esque feel to it.

There's some confusing moments and some of the plots are a bit forced but i think it's better than most series i've watched lately, let's see how it goes...

[thelastdisciple]

Anyone else find the FBI chick completely unbearable to watch? I dunno what it is... maybe because I'm team Elliot or something but man... i just don't like her lol she makes me friggen cringe!

[seasonsinthesky]

Anyone else find the FBI chick completely unbearable to watch? I dunno what it is... maybe because I'm team Elliot or something but man... i just don't like her lol she makes me friggen cringe!

I like watching her do her job but not this Alexa-stential crisis thing she has happening when she goes home. Then again, the Alexa crap makes her far more developed and interesting than others on the show... like Angela... and Darlene.

[DigitalChaos]

SPOILERS
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I should have seen that coming. I kinda knew something was up with his scenes (the daily activities were odd, as were the interactions with Craig Robinson...especially the earlier ones. They didn't make any sense.) but I didn't think about them enough to guess that he was in jail the whole time. Great job by the writers.

MORE SPOILERS





apparently, if you go back and watch many of the scenes, you'll notice the audio doesn't match up with the visual environment. It matches up with the environment Elliot was truly in. Ex: basketball hitting a chainlink fence when it goes out of the court, general prison noise when elliot walks down a hall. etc. You can also see that damn caged prison light in the background of various shots, like in Krista's office. And that's not including all the vertical stripe imagery. Even the big mural in the visitation area showed up in the "house" as a large painting in the living room. Customers in the cafe carrying lunch trays. sooo many clues.

[DigitalChaos]

Man, there are SO many little details hidden. Some you can't even get unless you go frame by frame. During the last scene where Spoiler: the Lupe's restaurant gets shot up, the neon sign falls apart to sell out "Lies" http://i.imgur.com/jlFH4Yr.jpg

Is anyone here paying any attention to the ARG? It seems they are now starting to fuck with the people playing it by giving false clues. The puzzle Mr Robot was solving last episode showed a lot of potential clues on the screen, but all of it was just him solving the DEFCON22 (2014) badge contest wtf?!?

[thelastdisciple]

So happy for Rami Malek winning an Emmy, he really kills it as Elliot.

[elevenism]

watched episode 11, and there is just no doubt that this is the best show on television.

[DigitalChaos]

watched episode 11, and there is just no doubt that this is the best show on television.

Im really nervous about the finale this week. It's either going to be completely amazing, or its going to be one of the biggest shark jumps ever. (assuming Sam actually advances things with some revelations, which im almost certain he will).

The show isn't perfect... it occasionally gets into these areas of being cringey due to how edgy and "scary" it tries to be. But it is doing a whole lot of things really really well. I'm so afraid that it could jump the shark and then we will never have something with this kind of magic recipe again.

[implanted_microchip]

Happily shocked to see Rami win that Emmy. Incredible competition and he deserved it just as much as the rest.

[elevenism]

Im really nervous about the finale this week. It's either going to be completely amazing, or its going to be one of the biggest shark jumps ever. (assuming Sam actually advances things with some revelations, which im almost certain he will).

The show isn't perfect... it occasionally gets into these areas of being cringey due to how edgy and "scary" it tries to be. But it is doing a whole lot of things really really well. I'm so afraid that it could jump the shark and then we will never have something with this kind of magic recipe again.

Shit, man. I feel you.
I was scared when it even went to two seasons.
I was like no, nO! wrap this shit up! this is too good to keep working!

so far it's been fucking awesome though.

[mfte]

Pretty solid finale. Kinda bummed that I dont have this show to watch next week. The Romero McGuffin was a little meh but Im willing to forgive and forget. The musical choices for this show are grade A.

Anyone else think that Joanna was enjoying the attack?

[bobbie solo]

The Romero McGuffin was a little meh but Im willing to forgive and forget.

I must've not caught on. You referring to how he died from a random stray bullet instead of being murdered in relation to the conspiracy?

[mfte]

I must've not caught on. You referring to how he died from a random stray bullet instead of being murdered in relation to the conspiracy?

Correctomundo.

[elevenism]

I said "fucking seriously?" when the finale ended, because so many plot threads were left loose and i just couldn't believe it was over.
The more i think about it though, the more i don't really know what i was expecting. There was just too much story to wrap everything up.

Mr Robot is, in my humble opinion, the best summer tv show by far, and is only (arguably) edged out by game of thrones as the best show on tv at all.

[Presideo]

As much as I love this show, it needs to stand on it's own two legs sooner or later. The first season was great, but relied on it's Chuck Palahniuk / Bret Easton Ellis influence way too much for it's own good. S2 had a chance to break past the influences, and create it's own path. Instead, I felt like I received visual blue balls by the end - for every question answered, there seemed to be five more unanswered questions that spring up - that's not good storytelling, it's a showrunner that wants to elongate a series for the sake of elongating the series. We've seen from the days of 'Lost' that viewers can only take so much before they realize that there's no real payoff or endgame in sight and jump ship.

Also, the nerd in me also realized that S2 takes a lot from Japanese manga/anime - Elliot learning how to control his 'monster' for his own benefit and the whole mask analogy are directly taken from the manga series 'Bleach'. The entire prison subplot amounts to a training arc, a common trope in shonen manga series. Hell, even the whole prison twist feels heavily influenced from an arc in the anime series Un-Go.

I have very high hopes for this series, but the story needs to have a large payoff sooner rather than later. You can't have Elliot running around like a chicken with his head cut off and pass it off as plot progression. That insults the intelligence of the fanbase and depreciates what could potentially be a groundbreaking story.