One day after a busy work week, I sat down in front of my TV to enjoy what I thought was going to be another episode of Law and Order: SVU; we know USA network loves to re-run those. To my surprise, a new series by the name of Mr. Robot was on. I had seen previews for it, but I hadn’t actually intended on ever watching it. After a very deep psychological thrilling first season, I can’t wait for it to come back to USA on July 13. If you needed some convincing to tune in on Wednesday nights, here are seven reasons on why you should watch Mr. Robot.
1. The Amazing Cast
Rami Malek, Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wallström, Christian Slater, Stephanie Corneliussen, and Sunita Mani. Mr. Robot has a very diverse cast with incredible acting.
2. The Music
What’s a good show without good music? A mix of Alabama Shakes, Neil Young, Sonic Youth, and everything and anything in between.
3. The Plot
I had my doubts when I read the plot of the series. A show based on hacking sounds kind of boring, but the way that the show is written changes everything. There are so many tangled story lines in this series, and that’s what makes it so interesting. According to IMBD, the actual story line is more like this: "Elliot Alderson is a young cyber-security engineer living in New York, who assumes the role of a vigilante hacker by night. Elliot meets a mysterious anarchist known as 'Mr. Robot' who recruits Elliot to join his team of hackers, 'fsociety'. Elliot, who has a social anxiety disorder and connects to people by hacking them, is intrigued, but uncertain if he wants to be part of the group. The show follows Mr. Robot's attempts to engage Elliot in his mission to destroy the corporation Elliot is paid to protect. Compelled by his personal beliefs, Elliot struggles to resist the chance to take down the multinational CEOs that are running (and ruining) the world".
4. The Writing
At one point during his therapy session, Elliot has an internal monologue that could rival Shakespeare (okay, maybe not -- but close enough).
Krista Gordon: And what is it about society that disappoints you so much?
Elliot: Oh, I don't know. Is it that we collectively thought Steve Jobs was a great man even when we knew he made billions off the backs of children?... Or maybe it's that it feels like all our heroes are counterfeit. The world itself's just one big hoax. Spamming each other with our burning commentary *bullshit* masquerading as insight. Our social media faking as intimacy. Or is it that we voted for this. Not with our rigged elections but with our things, our property, our money. I'm not saying anything new, we all know we do this, not because "Hunger Games" books make us happy, but because we want to be sedated. Because it's painful not to pretend because we're cowards...
This is just one example of the incredible writing in "Mr. Robot". The series is narrated by Elliot’s internal monologue, and we are constantly in his mind. We get dragged into everything the way that Elliot sees it, making us question if what’s happening is real or just a creation of his with no real hint of what could be the answer.
5. The Numerous Movie Parallels
While watching the show, I found many movie parallels. I know that the creator pulled inspiration from movies like Fight Club and American Psycho, and it’s definitely apparent in a lot of the episodes. One instance that specifically caught my eye was when I was re-watching the series for the third time. During the first episode, Elliot is at a café and confronts a child pornographer that he’s discovered through hacking him. He’s offered money to keep his mouth shut and Elliot replies, “That's what you're wrong about Rohit. I don't give a shit about money.” and he walks out. This reminded me of The Joker in The Dark Knight, because similarly, Elliot just wants to watch the world burn.
6. The After Effect
Every episode will leave you speechless and questioning everything in the universe and it is so very worth it.
7. The Next Season
If nothing that I’ve said has convinced you to watch "Mr. Robot". the preview for the next season probably will. The cliffhanger ending we were left with left us with no satisfaction whatsoever and even more questions that we want answered in season two.
