Mr. Robot: Season 1 [DVD]

Mr. Robot is a showed that aired on the USA Network from 2015 to 2019, and starred Remi Malek as Elliot Alderson, who by day has a job at a reputable cybersecurity company, and by night is a hacker who takes down bad guys. He is approached by a group of hacktivists called fsociety, whose goal is to take down a large, own-everything company called E-Corp, which basically uses the old Enron logo and is a metaphorical stand-in for any of the huge companies that basically run everything. Elliot has numerous mental issues such as social anxiety disorder and clinical depression and breaks the fourth wall by directly addressing the audience. The show has a lot of twists and turns that play out over the course of the ten episodes. By the end of the season a lot is revealed and a lot is still unanswered, and you find out there is a lot more to the storyline than what you necessarily think there will be at the beginning of the season. For those who get the blu-ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. There are not a ton of special effects, but the cinematography is very well done, and the show goes from looking dark and gritty to sleek and polished, depending on where particular scenes are being shot. The extras include a few deleted scenes and a short gag reel. The most extensive extra is on the second disc, a twelve-minute making-of featurette that includes interviews with the cast members and showrunner Sam Esmail. Overall, the season is very good. Malek is great as the series lead, and it has a strong supporting cast including Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wallström, Stephanie Corneliussen, Michael Cristofer, and Christian Slater. I cannot say much about the roles of any of the other cast members because to do so would give too much away. While the show does take some creative liberties, it does try to be realistic with the computer coding and the portrayal of hacking. It is really a show that you will know very quickly if you like or hate it. It definitely uses a serial storytelling format in which the episodes build on each other and more of the story is revealed as throughout the season. It does have some swearing, sexual content, drug use, and violence in it, so it is definitely not a family-friendly show. It is set in the real world as it uses video clips from actual events and utilized deep fake technology to have real-world leaders comment on the events in the show. I definitely put it in one of my best series of the 2010s along with series like Breaking Bad and The Americans. If you have not seen the show and are looking for a good dramatic series, this is definitely worth watching.

What a surprisingly delightful movie! Never thought I would enjoy yet another neo-dystopian anthem to today's occupy movement complete with masks and the requisite over-wrought slams against the all-pervasive government/corporate/monolith grinding the individual down to servitude, even SLAVERY!! while elevating a tiny class of wealthy, omnipotent and of course amoral managers (read the 1% and the Bilderberg Group) who are far too clever not to rule us. But I truly did. Our interest is peaked by a steady dose of "this-is-the-brilliant-Hacker-world" then sustained by a unrelenting barrage of well tuned acting, a taut script, good camera work, a wonderful techno soundtrack and more plot twists and flips than steel track roller coaster. It is an ever tightening, visceral addiction. Yes I am personally alarmed by the intrusive nature of today's Federal Government, no I don't think anarchy and revolution will restore our individual liberties, but so what? Season One is very, very fun and I give it Five Stars for outstanding entertainment!

Mr. Robot Season 1 I have to agree with other people other reviewers that yes this is by far the single best TV show currently on TV. Between the choices for the actors on the show, the twists and turns on each and every episode plus one and while certain scenes making you go did I just hear that line or see what I just saw on screen. It is truly intoxicating, grabs you and never lets you go making you want more and more until like me I watch the last 5 episodes back to back and so forth until I finish the whole season. Plus great job on the bonus material, laugh so hard at the gag reel and the making of Mr. Robot was also great plus have to agree with the creator of the show Sam that yes we as society need to interact more on a personal level, face to face, so forth plus question things about the world we live in. Maybe not get the answer we desire but least use our minds to bring up the questions we seek.

"Mr. Robot" is a multi-layered (and grim) look at life in what has become a global cyber society. It's a society that relies on information - and disinformation - for almost every facet of life and that makes it ripe for hackers who can get inside your (or anyone's, for that matter) computer and wreak havoc. They can steal your money, dig out the darkest secrets of your personal life, and wreck your career all with a few keystrokes. And if one of those hackers is driven by a strong sense of social justice and is also losing his mind? In that case, you can imagine that the world is in for a bumpy ride. What makes "Mr. Robot" a truly interesting television series? The acting - it has a wonderful cast led by Rami Malek - and, most importantly, its relevance. We live, after all, in an age in which corporations mine your data to sell you things you probably don't need; an age when nation states mine the same data in an effort to swing elections, discredit opponents, and boost their own images abroad. It's an age of online dating, online banking, online shopping (that's how I ordered this series) and - well - online everything. The result: It's an age of increased vulnerability. The producers and writers have done an excellent job of creating memorable characters, ranging from the psychologically fragile hacker Elliot and his small band of social justice warriors to the men and women of the gigantic corporation that has its fingers in virtually every facet of human life. They also developed a complex plot that I'm not sure works entirely well as a television series. Elliot is clearly disturbed but as this first season progresses we are asked to believe in his delusions as much as he does and that's difficult for me to do. Is he the leader of the group, for example, or is he a recruit? Did he come up with the whole idea of bringing down the world's largest corporation or is he merely one of the hacktivists trying to do that? Is his dead father really alive, or just a figment of his imagination? My point is that it was hard for me to believe in the narrative at times because I'm not as delusional (at least I hope I'm not) as Elliot. A great cast, an extremely relevant subject, and some strong secondary characters make this a pretty good - if, at times, almost unbearably grim - look at 21st Century life: 4 stars.

Good

Wow. Not many shows can grab a person's attention in one episode. Usually it takes a few episodes to get to know the characters and understand where the plot is going. Not true for Me Robot. I was amazed at how quickly this series pulled me in and made it perfectly clear what to expect. This show is beyond amazing. It's gripping, intelligent, dark and edgy. It has an interesting concept and a true and accurate picture of American society. Truly love this show and happy that I took a chance on it. Great plot, great cast, great performances.

Wow! What a series! This show was packed with so many unexpected twists and turns--and every one made perfect sense--none were simply "tacked-on" for shock value--that I was reeling. An incredible achievement, MR.ROBOT tells the story of hackers who plan to upturn the entire banking industry by erasing all the financial records held by a company called "E.Corp". When they are done, there will be no records for most of America's citizens of who owes credit or how much they may owe to any bank or financial institution. The series shows the nuts & bolts reality of hacking--a far more creative and difficult a process than usually portrayed on movies & TV--and illustrates many of the dangers associated with the cyber world so accurately that it has predicted many types of cyber attacks before they took place in the real world. A truly fascinating show.

Season 1 was AWESOME! I highly recommend it. However, after watching the season 2 premiere last night, it's an absolutely train wreck and not worth anything at all! Do yourself a favor and find something else to do with your time than trying to watch season 2. It turned from absolute awesomeness in season 1 to absolute disgusting, abhorent, rediculously confusing pile of crap in season 2. I've deleted it from my DVR schedule. I won't be bothered with my time to watch this s***! Hey USA network, thanks a lot for getting my hopes up. Eshmail should be fired ASAP!