Why Mr. Robot 0wn3d Our Summer

When I was a kid I got into web design by ripping off sites I liked. All you had to do was view source on your browser and there it was. The code. You could copy paste it, modify it a little, put your name on it, and like that, it was your site. View source. What if we had that for people? Would people really wanna see? (Elliot Alderson)

Any avid and knowledgeable television watcher would have to be completely out of the loop to have avoided or been oblivious to the immense hype and even more enormous praise heaped upon USA Network's freshman sensation, Mr. Robot. Created by Sam Esmail, a name most were unfamiliar with outside of IFC fans and insiders, the series made an impact within three minutes of episode one. Once it had its grip, it refused to let go. The first season concludes tonight with a finale delayed a week due to the shootings in Virginia, and while I've wanted to write bushels of words about this great product since day one, I chose to wait and attempt to find a different voice on the subject.

One thing there is no shortage of these days is writers and critics about television. It's what comes from the "golden age" and the dramas that often (as our fearless leader Clay Travis has said in the past) affect us far more than any single motion picture could and certainly hold a much more addictive quality. If films were cocaine, television in some ways could be considered freebase. My apologies, I re-watched the Richard Pryor "Omit the Logic" documentary two days ago. But, come to think of it, Elliot Alderson enjoyed snorting morphine, so the drug reference works on a few different levels. I plan to begin reviewing each episode of Mr. Robot next season, but with so much being written about the show, the question emerged as to exactly how I could frame something potentially unique and engaging on a different level. We'll see how well it works.

What continues to strike me as I watch each engulfing hour of Esmail's series is just how uncomfortable it leaves me as a viewer. I'm consistently off kilter, not wanting a snack or often even a beverage, and a real sense of unease envelops me emotionally. I continue to anticipate that form of dull stomachache that erupts from painfully and simultaneously brilliant and raw emotional manipulation. Internally, my body tells me, "Somebody is royally effing (ahem dot dot dot society) with you, Jason." There's a sense of actual danger to Mr. Robot, which makes it feel as if it should be illegal in some form. It's not a narcotic, but it's something that feels like it should be placed in the vicinity of the infamous Anarchist Cookbook. Do you remember that reaction you had, particularly if you hadn't read the novel, to Christian Bale's portrayal of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho? It was a tremendous film, one of the cult classics of the 20th century, but you weren't sure at the end what you had just seen. It remains a stirring commentary and an incredible journey, but as the credits rolled, I recall sitting dumbfounded and numb. Great fiction does that to a human mind. Great nonfiction does that to a human mind. When a story resonates, informs, enrages, captivates, or results in the obsessive brand of intense thought, it has succeeded in its job. Many of the most memorable narratives we've ever encountered come from horrific, indelible moments in time that are unforgettable. For example, Tyrell Wellick choking the life out of a colleague's wife on a skyscraper roof during a party or that moment between the two in the bathroom.

It isn't just the story of Mr. Robot that leaves the sense of despair that has placed Rami Malek atop the acting heap of 2015. I have never, not once in all the many hours I've put on LBs watching great dramas, witnessed a technical marvel like the one I've experienced on the USA Network over the past two and a half months. I've seen bigger budgets and more expensive sets, but we're talking about something far off the usual pathway. The way the show is directed and the various camera shots have actually left me with the feeling that I may have accidentally struck the aspect ratio button on my remote control. I'm not kidding. I've actually checked it to make sure. This is a program with scenes showing characters that fill maybe twice the size of a news network crawl. Tyrell Wellick and Angela Moss both, multiple times, shots of just their face and head, and well over half the screen just a wall leading to a ceiling or a wall with no end or a hallway at an MC Escher-like staircase tilt. We're taught in college news classes to avoid excessive headroom, and here, Mr. Robot has found a way to make it a necessity to ensure focus cannot exist anywhere but on the face and from the mouth of the person speaking. Not only are these shots completely off balance and against almost anything we've ever been taught either in the industry or just as an audience, they're also angled to ensure it never feels "right," respective to expectation. Mr. Robot may not always exist to thwart expectation, but it's a show that thrives most in its mistakes and wrongs and revels in its expressed confusion.

Forbes magazine said in a quote that USA has run ad-nauseum all season long that Mr. Robot is on its way to being a "modern classic." It raised the ire of many critics who felt it was a little too much Jon Grudenish for their liking. It sounds hyperbolic, and indeed it is today, because as good as season one was, Homeland was also stellar in season one. Hell, HEROES was awesome in its first year. What Forbes was indeed accurate about, however, was that Mr. Robot was a blisteringly exciting experience. It's easy to exaggerate when a show takes over your life the way this one has for many of us this summer. It's undeniably the best show of the summer and the one that keeps us talking with friends and speculating about the future. It was not a bad summer at all for the small screen as Rectify was stellar, Halt and Catch Fire was terrific, and both UnREAL and Deutschland '83 both showed up in a big way. Those are just a few examples. But Elliot's story trumped them all and singlehandedly changed the way USA Network programming will be perceived going forward.

USA was always known as the "blue sky drama" channel. Slickly produced shows that would always end happily and case of the week procedural stories that generally survived on the strength of likable and fun lead characters. Oh, and boatloads of the most beautiful people on the planet. Suits has been more of a mixed bag in terms of the happy endings. It's also inarguably the best USA show outside of the subject of this article since Monk, which helped begin the trend. I've been a quiet, unabashed fan of all of these shows for many years. I loved Burn Notice, even when it was clear the show worked in a specific cycle. White Collar was a favorite and the chemistry of the four main contributors was great fun. I increasingly fell in love with Covert Afffairs, and the list goes on and on. But, without a doubt, all of these shows may have been different in atmosphere or subject matter, but they were almost all the same. They were fun. They were what I called "blue shows," or ones that I could put on in the background at any time, regardless of mood. Mr. Robot is a show I can't believe is even on the USA Network, or any basic cable channel for that matter. It's as "red" a show as I've seen in a while.

When I referred to the danger of the series, it's a very visceral feeling. Maybe I'll look out the window afterward or perhaps I'll do the crossing-the-street look to the right and left as if it's almost criminal that I'm watching this thing. That's not to mention the fact that at any time, someone could die or disappear, and no one is immune to the possibility. The kicker is I'm completely opposed to the concept of the always-evil corporation and the Occupy, Anonymous, Alan Moore, cyber-nihilistic impression the show gives off. I would be far more likely to rail against the lessons of the story itself if I actually believed those lessons meant anything in the long term. Furthermore, I equate E-Corp to General Electric, a company I despise. I would likely disagree with Sam Esmail on quite a bit, but I certainly stand beside him in regards to what makes great television and how to tell a story. Luckily, that's all that counts here. Regardless of where I am politically, I'm still pulling for fSociety, the elimination of all debt and the underlying theme of the magic of chaos and disarray. It's not like I agreed with Tony Soprano or Walter White, but they may be the two best characters in drama history. Elliot Alderson still has a long way to go, but could join the upper echelon of that list if Mr. Robot continues along its path.

The comparison to Fight Club was immediate and it was apt. It felt like a David Fincher project and it also felt like THAT style of Chuck Palahniuk story. Upon meeting Tyrell, Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho (and other stories of his) jumped to the forefront. It comes across as both derivative and in its own class. Again, what's expected is subverted, and then sometimes is provided, but not on any proper timeline. Since the outset, the questions arose as to whether or not Elliot or Mr. Robot was real, and who Mr. Robot actually was. The tag line for the series in advertising was "Who is Mr. Robot?" The tag line for Fight Club was "Who is Tyler Durden?" This was all by design, and in the Episode 9 scene that revealed the kindred spirit between the two works, it made sure to embrace the obvious mix, rather than appear in any way cheap. It felt like homage and not imitation, and while in any series, a big writing choice leads to passionate opinion, basically everything Mr. Robot has done has worked because I've never thought, "I could have done that better."

While I discuss Mr. Robot with friends, I also don't spend much time trying to determine where the show is headed, because I'm perfectly satisfied in letting Esmail, his staff, and his cast, lead me down their pathway. A show so full of mystery and secret spends most of its time defining its world and its characters directly. The secrets unfold, but what's on screen is real. It isn't bait and switch. Elliot has a sister, and as Grantland pointed out a few weeks back, it was in our face the entire time. Everything that's happened makes sense and scenes all lined up with the actual reality of the fiction, with only the morphine withdrawal not fully believable. In case you didn't pick up on it, I want you to watch Mr. Robot and am trying to sell it without giving away all its gifts.

There's been so much to love about Mr. Robot and the show has such balls to do what it does...how it does it...when it does it...and in whatever way it wants. Very rarely have I had a sense that a show had the potential to be far more intelligent than a smart, detail-attentive audience. Even more rarely have I watched a television drama that felt like art, not just in the storytelling, but in the cinematography, the music, the pacing, the individuality of the visual presentation, and the execution of those elements as a collective masterpiece. The tech-savvy highlights are both understandable and unapproachable, and the entire thing plays out as a methodically sound thriller.

No series is perfect, and Mr. Robot struggled a bit to ramp up the interest level in the second week, finding its stride in the back half of that episode. The pilot was outrageously good, but its direct sequel was a bit slow to get going. I've also never been a fan of drug hallucination and although it was done well when it was used, I personally could have done without it. I would like more depth to Tyrell's character, though I know it's coming and we're supposed to be conflicted in our thoughts on who he is as a man. Maybe that's just me wanting to be in the know in a series where the real joy is in the ignorance. But, I had to sit and think about those before I could write them, because the flaws didn't pop to mind naturally. The show has been so great, so often, that it's hard to find many spots to criticize without a nitpick mentality. One column where you can't find an issue is the cast, because from Rami down the line to minimal roles, they've all been excellent. Christian Slater felt out of place, right up until that spot where him being out of place made him perfect to have been the choice. Carly Chaikin has been really special, as has Portia Doubleday and Frankie Shaw. Michel Gill has done well for himself after being brought down by Frank Underwood on House of Cards. Gideon Goddard is the most likable character on the entire show; even to the extent Elliot can't find anything on him after a deep hack. Martin Wallstrom's Tyrell is cripplingly effective and unsettling. The fact that he and his wife are speaking both Swedish and Danish as a sort of verbal encryption is a stroke of genius. He plays creepy and unstable to a ridiculous degree. Rami Malek has delivered the performance of the year, bar none. It's been a great year, but Rami's been far better than great. He's been jaw-droppingly superb. No further exposition required.

I don't know where Mr. Robot ends its season tonight. I'm not sure what they'll do (some critics have seen it, I have not), outside of at least one scene with a popcorn gun, but I'm riveted just to let them show me. If I had to guess, I could see Angela taking the offer from Terry Colby (and does Bruce Altman play a good asshole or what...dude has been off the chain for decades), but on behalf of fsociety. The two outliers are Angela and Tyrell, and it's quite possible they both are key points in the final hour of the season. And, because it's Mr. Robot, one or both could also die. And also, because it's Mr. Robot, one or both could murder someone.

Sam Esmail had me at the oversized, almost obnoxious title logo that can quite literally occur anywhere. He had me with the black hoodie and the emotionally stunted, modern day dystopian world he created. He had me with the first hacktivist moment and Elliot's jagged morality. This is an awkwardly gorgeous protagonist amidst a terrifyingly possible landscape. Sam originally thought of Mr. Robot as a feature film. Thank God it ended up on television instead. It's so strikingly different that it feels like my little secret, just like it does yours. This show was somehow created for me, and somehow it was also constructed to fit you as well. I want no one else to watch it, because it's mine. I want everyone else to watch it, because it's can't miss on every conceivable plane.

I'm not sure what "the game" is when people refer to someone or something changing it (and I'm one of those people.) What is the "game" of television? No idea. I understand the answer is subjective. But, I do know this, even in my own fog, However you choose to define it...

Mr. Robot has changed it. We've found our new obsession.

I'm @GuyNamedJason. Follow me there. Dwelling is so inefficient.