Mr. Robot did an amazing job of making a “modern day” cyberpunk story. It takes place in the real world yet has everything you would want from a cyberpunk show. But even with how amazing it was, I don’t know if I could re-visit the show after watching it when it was new.
Part of the problem (for me) is it feels so firmly rooted in the era when it was made. The show went to great lengths to show hacks that were valid at the time of the show, which is amazing attention to detail, but other things make it feel dated to me. I remember it had multiple news reports showing Obama as the current president. Also, when that Ashley Madison hack happened, they were able to fit it into a storyline in that next week’s episode. But this many years removed, who even remembers that the Ashley Madison hack was a real event? I feel like parts of the show will be lost by watching it out of context.
Another problem (again, just for me) is the subsequent seasons focused more on Elliot’s mental health and other character drama than the cyberpunk world happening around them. Season 1 was incredible, everything I wanted. But by season 4, society falling into a cyberpunk dystopia was just the background for the inter-personal drama happening. I stuck with the show because the writing and acting truly was great, but I also held out hope that there would be more hacking and general cyberpunk “feel” in the next episode. I think I’d struggle through those seasons now, knowing those things don’t come back.
Am I being too harsh? The show isn’t bad by any means, it’s incredible. But I think if I watched it now, wanting a cyberpunk show, I would be disappointed. Because really, only the first season felt cyberpunk to me. All the pieces were there in the later seasons, but the show’s focus moved elsewhere.
If you’ve never seen Mr. Robot, here’s a quick trailer. Also, the entire series is streaming on Amazon Prime.
It’s going to make a really interesting vision-of-tomorrow snapshot that we’ll be able to look back on in a decade or so.
Back around 2000, there was a low budget US political thriller called Deterrence about the son of Saddam Hussein controlling Iraq and threatening to use nukes while the US President is snowed into a Colorado diner during a campaign stop (setting up a ‘in a bottle’ plot scenario). It’s a fine little thriller, but mostly fascinating in terms of its vision of global politics in the near future… right before 9/11.
Mr Robot is going to be like that, right before LLMs and asset generation tools changed everything.
I remember the Ashley Madison hack. It came out that most of the women on there were just employee created bot accounts. That people were paying for that was hilarious to me.
The fulfilling part for me was that the writer(s) had a vision for the whole story line from the beginning. It wasn’t necessarily the story I wanted to see but it felt complete and avoided the usual tropes many successful tv series fall into. It had a clear beginning, middle part, and end. Sometimes it’s ok to appreciate the story the author wanted to give us even though we would have liked to see more play out.
It is still one of my favourite shows of all time. Still measure most series of that caliber by it.
The acting, camerawork and plot is so damn good and the soundtrack and effects gave me the chills.
Watched most episodes a few times when it came out to theorize and watch for little details.
And it managed to do what most shows suck at. Have an amazing and satisfying ending.
I was not very into social media or american news at the time the show is set in, so i did not even care about those things in it tbh.
Was just going with the flow of a gripping story about someone that wanted to change the world.
It just to happen to be in a reality of ours.
A lot of the hacking scenarios hit harder when it came out closer to the 2008 financial crash, when the threat of being hacked by Anonymous was a real concern for some people and crypto currency was brand new. You can view it as a time capsule of that era.
I watched the first season when it came out then binged the whole rest of the series last December. Absolutely loved it, but don’t think I’ll watch it again. I’m a tech guy so I thought the hacking was pretty cool but I still liked the psychological stuff. The hacking was just the background for that story really.
But a big part of the show was that the reveal of things was slow and there was some stuff that really took me by surprise. None of that will have an impact on a second viewing.
Saying that though seeing kinda goth-ish Carly Chaikin again might be worth it…
Yep I’m watching it now. Have 4 episodes left…
I get what you’re saying. There was a series from the late 90s on HBO Oz…
I can’t bring myself to rewatch it, I started the first episode; and just had to turn it off. Amazingly- it was the first time I remember seeing BD Wong. Ha!! But yeah it is very set in its tone and time but the drama of what happens is still too raw.
I’ve only seen the first season. Should I give it another go to finish it?
Honestly, that’s where I’m stuck. It depends on what you want out of the show. If you want more hacking, it’s minimal. But if you want more focus on an unreliable narrator with mental health issues, the show is phenomenal.
Also, there’s the Alf episode in season 2
I think you sold me with Alf :)
Do yourself a favor. No spoilers
Remember Alf? He’s back… in Mr Robot form.
It’s my favorite show, despite its flaws. I think the creativity shone through to the end, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I always recommend it.
I don’t keep track of American TV so I don’t who Ashley and Obama or any other TV celebrities are, so that wouldn’t impact how I appreciate the show.
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Ah, rings a bell
Not keeping track of American people is apparently worthy of downvotes.
![[TV] Mr. Robot was a fantastic show but I don't know if I could re-watch it](https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/15a1d8ef-b3f5-4e3e-ad4d-dc9598f22e8c.webp){kind=link}