MR. ROBOT

[_MJ_]

I'm a cynical bastard and even I can't believe this Shayla hate. 

I'll admit I thought her character was a little thin in the beginning but I thought once they made her his "girlfriend" after she gave her backstory and explain her interest in art, I was on board with the character.  A lot of it is probably due to the actress, she played the character well especially considering the little scene time she had.

 

 

[J.T.]

2 hours ago, _MJ_ said:

I'm a cynical bastard and even I can't believe this Shayla hate. 

I'll admit I thought her character was a little thin in the beginning but I thought once they made her his "girlfriend" after she gave her backstory and explain her interest in art, I was on board with the character. 

This is important because right before Shayla shows Eliot her artwork, he proclaims to know everything about Shayla by virtue of rummaging through her social media and knowing all of her dark secrets, yet the revelation of this one important and very personal aspect of Shayla catches him completely off guard.

So, in fact, he really doesn't know her at all.  The most likely reason that Eliot is so surprised by this is because Eliot always looks for the ugly in everyone and this is something that is actually beautiful about our beloved morphine dealer.

Their kiss afterwards is sweet because that is the first time that Shayla and Eliot have a moment of bonding that has nothing to do with drugs.  She selflessly shares something about herself and Eliot is genuinely grateful for her thinking well enough of him to finally giving something to him that does not require payment in return.... at least nothing monetary or physical.

False intimacy is a running theme.  Eliot hacks people because he wants to know about people, but he does not want the give and take of a personal relationship.  He confuses cherry picking bad deets stolen from social media as being intimate without the mess of having to get to know someone or sharing his own life experiences with someone else.

[J.T.]

I think the show works a bit too hard to explain Tyrell to us under the assumption that his lack of screen time will not allow us to fully appreciate his depth.

I think that is why nearly everything that Wallstrom does as Wellick is so over the top.  I have no issues with homoerotic materiel in a television show, but I am smart enough to figure out that everything is about sex EXCEPT FOR SEX, and Tyrell's seduction of Big Evil's admin assistant is all about power moves so there was no need for the two minutes of pitchers and catchers on my television screen.

I also get that Tyrell is only the dominant when Joanna is not around so I did not need the shock value added of pregnant S&M to see that while Joanna is in the role of the submissive and getting tied down and gagged, she is still the alpha in that exchange.. 

If I have a wish for Season 2, it would be to hope that Esmail learns how to do more with less and stop assuming that I am an idiot that needs every graphic detail handed to me.  That is a bit counterintuitive since this is a show about a person who views other people as walking storage devices chock full of information waiting to be gleaned rather than human beings with normal frailties that deserve interaction and communion.

I also think that it is hilarious that Eliot's dream is to save the world, but he has such contempt for the people that populate that world.

[username]

3 hours ago, J.T. said:

but I am smart enough to figure out that everything is about sex EXCEPT FOR SEX, and Tyrell's seduction of Big Evil's admin assistant is all about power moves so there was no need for the two minutes of pitchers and catchers on my television screen.

To be fair, the, ummm.... "aftermath" of that allows then to show that Tyrell isn't just talk when it comes to hacking himself.

[Technico Support]

15 hours ago, J.T. said:

Eh, the entire premise of the show is that we experience everything through Eliot and he is an unreliable narrator.  There is no surprise that the thing with Shayla feels like it comes out of left field given that everything is filtered through Eliot's emotional wall. 

I can't LOL hard enough at this.  So we can handwave every lame shortcut, narrative mistake and piece of bad storytelling this show makes by chalking it up to "unreliable narrator?"  Come on man.  This is turning into an "emperor's new clothes" thing.

The Shayla relationship was so hamfisted and clumsily executed that I bet it was another thing stapled onto the show with the deftness of a kindergartner once they decided to stretch it into a series.

Keep in mind I like the show, I just don't think it's beyond reproach and there's more wrong with it that doesn't include your issue with gay/pregnant sex acts.  I can forgive an inexperienced showrunner trying too hard to be transgressive more than I can forgive narrative dishonesty and other such bullshit.

[Greggulator]

I'm really excited to see they handle the debt economics part of the story.

One of my thoughts about the show is that while I get the anger of fsociety... They don't get how global economics works. And while E-Corp clearly has an oligarchic power over the world, that they've amasses masses of loan debt doesn't make the world awful.

In my line of thinking:

1) We quickly become a cash-only society again.
2) There would be a gigantic run on banks to get that cash.
3) There is only so much cash in an economic system. What would happen if there was no system in place for people to receive cash? Or get paid? Does the government print cash and get rid of the banking middle-man? Do prices on goods have insane volatility?
4) Cancelling the debt should also mean that things like bond notes don't get paid, as governments and corporations have no idea who to even pay now. Every pension and retirement fund in the world would just implode.

Like... what they've done should create absolute anarchy. And while it may benefit them and a bunch of likeminded others who've amassed six figures in student loan debt... it should absolutely ravage the world.

The Mr. Robot world is obviously a different universe but I would very much want to see a realization that these gang of computer hackers wtih dubious haircuts might not know WTF they are talking about.

[J.T.]

8 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I can't LOL hard enough at this.  So we can handwave every lame shortcut, narrative mistake and piece of bad storytelling this show makes by chalking it up to "unreliable narrator?"  Come on man.  This is turning into an "emperor's new clothes" thing.

The Shayla relationship was so hamfisted and clumsily executed that I bet it was another thing stapled onto the show with the deftness of a kindergartner once they decided to stretch it into a series.

Keep in mind I like the show, I just don't think it's beyond reproach and there's more wrong with it that doesn't include your issue with gay/pregnant sex acts.  I can forgive an inexperienced showrunner trying too hard to be transgressive more than I can forgive narrative dishonesty and other such bullshit.

I'm not going to defend everything about the show, but I still think the Shayla hate is pretty absurd.  

She and Eliot both feel marginalized and she's the closest thing he has to a friend, but even that relationship is based on transactions.   The only reason he lets her close to him is because he depends on her for drugs and Shayla is close to Eliot because he is probably the only man in her life that isn't a threatening criminal.

It is a mutually beneficial dysfunctional relationship.

And yeah, like it or not we are indoctrinated on the way the world works in Episode One when we figure out that we're inside Eliot's head and get our feed through his eyes.  Doesn't excuse the shortcuts but it cushions the blow.

[J.T.]

18 hours ago, username said:

To be fair, the, ummm.... "aftermath" of that allows then to show that Tyrell isn't just talk when it comes to hacking himself.

That's why I used "power moves" in my statement.  Tyrell socially engineered the male AA and then bugged his smartphone will malware so he's well versed in the ways of hackerdom and the encounter was all about Wellick climbing the corporate ladder.  It had nothing to do with sex, so why did the scene have to pick up in medias res during the bumping and grinding part? 

Unless Esmail assumes we're idiots, we already know that Tyrell is going to bone the guy. 

The only real conclusion I can draw is that Esmail wanted to draw parallels between Tyrell's seduction of the AA (where he is clearly the dominant) and the later S&M encounter with his wife (where he is clearly the submissive despite taking on the duties of the dominant).

[J.T.]

This show never goes into the direction I expect it to and I am not sure if I love or hate that.

No updates on Tyrell, no mention of who knocked on Eliot's door on the season finale episode, no follow up on Whiterose's meet with Price.

Between Angela's heel turn and the world embracing the flash of fsociety rather than the substance, I am beginning to suspect that this season will be all about things not happening the way we expected them to.

Oh, and,

Spoiler

RIP Gideon. 

 

[Technico Support]

15 hours ago, J.T. said:

No updates on Tyrell

He's alive.  That's who was on the phone at the end of the episode.  The caller said, "bonsoir, Elliott," which si what Tyrell said to Elliott a few times in season 1. And it was clearly his voice.
 

Good enough opener and I'm with you w/r/t the show going in directions you didn't expect. 

Whenever a series premier or season opener is front loaded with the first two episodes, it's because someone thinks episode 1 isn't enough to hook new viewers.  And they're usually right, as episode 1 is always heavier on table-setting than on flashy stuff.  So good choice in that regard, USA.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Technico Support

[J.T.]

I figured that was Tyrell on the phone.  When I said "no update," I guess I was saying that we found out about what was going on with every major character except for Tyrell.  The two part episode made the season tablesetting not as painful to sit through as GoT, especially since there were quite a few OH SHIT moments packed in.

Normally Angela being confident and would make me happy but wow, her transformation into the monster she hunted last season was pretty unsettling.  Poor Ollie Parker.  Good luck trying to get back with Stella B, bro.  Ms. Moss has moved on.

Darlene is now my new favorite character.  Hacking the smart house of E Corps general counsel and then using it as the new fsociety clubhouse was fucking king sized. 

Looks like Romero and Trenton have bounced and I'm guessing that prosthetic leg guy is a new fsociety member.

I paused the episode and scanned the QR code in Eliot's notebook with my smartphone.  It is a url.

http://conficturaindustries.com/

 

[zev]

The Terms of Service at the bottom of that Confictura page made laugh. I wonder what will happen if I email the webmaster to say Bring Back Shayla.

Spoiler

It's a link to USA Network's terms. And next to it is a link to NBC Universal's privacy policy.

 

[Jrag]

So Elliot's new friend is another part of him, right? 

The unreliable narration is reaching new levels. 

 

[zev]

Eliot doesn't watch much tv and doesn't really pay attention to the guy he has all those meals with.

He's confused Seinfeld with The Office and now he's imagining Craig Robinson as Darryl is trying to hire him.

Maybe next week Newman will show up.

 

 

[Technico Support]

I'm glad this episode touched on the thing that had bugged me since season 1: why the fuck would they not change the sign on the building???  God dammit.

Elliott's religion speech was heavy handed and edgy teen in the same way that the season 1 finale Times Square speech was, but the acting was amazing.  It was obvious the point was that this was Mr. Robot taking over at that moment.

[J.T.]

Boy, that episode.  

The thing that hooked me on this show was the techno-babble, so the lack of hacktivism in these last two episodes has left me a little cold yet the rampant social commentary has sparked more than a few heated and interesting discussions in my social circles.. 

Elliot's speech on religion was really hamisted.  You can find fault with the entire concept of organized religion and still manage to find good in your spirituality. 

It is interesting to wonder whether or not Esmail actually feels that way himself and is speaking through Elliot, or if this was just a sign of Elliot's private turmoil spilling out into the real world since that seems to be the theme of the new season.

Anyway, between that and Elliot puking and the FBI agent unsuccessfully attempting to pleasure herself, I think that Esmail has made it his mission to make this season as hard to watch as possible, yet still make it great.  I did like the background stuff with Romeo and the little thing about how fsociety really got its name.

Lots of good shit this season.

[Greggulator]

I very much love this season.

I thought the religion scene was great. Eliot's sermon was ham-fisted and exactly the type of thing you'd expect to hear from a college freshman who just discovered Marx or whatever. Eliot has that same stunted philosophy. No one in the church group looked at him like he was a savior or truth-teller. They all sorta just had a recognition that this person was insane and needed help.

The Adderal scene was so spectacular. Just great visualization. I also loved Eliot's dream of the future he wants to fight for in this past episode. It's really beautiful to watch. I also loved that the music touch this week was a symphonic version of Basket Case. Maybe a little too obvious but certainly fun.

These first bunch of episodes really did a good job setting up what's to come. The world is burning. Darlene and the gang are worried. Angela has been subsumed by this corporation and has begun the game with the CEO. The Dark Army lurks in the background. And now Eliot has accepted that the part he wants to deny will never go away.

What a great show.

[zev]

Should've shown at least one person grabbing for some of that cash before it all got burnt in the street.

Also, good think Pokémon Go wasn't a thing last year, else the F Society building would've been found within 10 minutes of their first big hack.

[Casey]

DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS~!

[zev]

That was a fantastic episode that just aired. I feel like I've been rewarded for making it through the slowest of the slow portions of the season.

Spoiler

The USA graphics, Up All Night ad included, were great.  And I marked out big time for ALF!  Note that it took 22 minutes to go from episode start to first real commercial break. Proper sitcom length that was.

 

[J.T.]

Yeah, this shit is finally picking up steam after a bumpy set-up episode.

[zev]

Spoiler

 

That catchy theme music in the "sitcom" portion of the episode was supposedly written by the folks that did the original Full House theme music.

I could've guessed a thousand different things this time yesterday about what that episode would bring. None of those guesses would've been Alf kills Gideon.

 

 

[Technico Support]

Instead of memorizing absolutely foreign commands and stressing over it, couldn't Angela have just written them all down in a notepad document and copied/pasted later?  Or couldn't the hacker guy just scripted out the commands so she could have just double-clicked and been done with it?   Instead of typing one thing at a time on the phone with Darlene, couldn't she have used Teamviewer?

I do like this show but their approach to technology is ridiculously hit or miss.  They do the impossible but then shit the bed on the easy stuff in order to make things more dramatic.

PS Angela couldn't think of an excuse for the FBI guy??  Anybody who's ever worked in an office building knows there's always one awesome bathroom that's always clean and never crowded, and you reserve that for #2.  She couldn't just tell the guy that this was her special bathroom?  Jeez.

[J.T.]

On ‎8‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 10:10 AM, Casey said:

DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS~!

I am not sure if it was a nod to the arrest and possible railroading of Ross Ulbricht or if they are buying into the conspiracy theory that Ulbricht fell on his sword to protect the other Silk Road admins and that Ray is one of them, but that was great stuff.

[username]

You know... I honestly did not see that coming in the least.