windjamm | Watch Along: Mr Robot (Reply)

The first time around I really couldn't care less about this show. Partially because the ex-friends who recommended it were very irritating about it and partially because I was just very over the sort of edgy societal takes it was offering.

Today I'm more amenable to its perspective and I'm really in the mood for hacker media for some reason. Plus, it's the end of the year and I'm quite listless, so having a project like, "get through a season of this show" is really beneficial.

Anyway, I won't be avoiding spoilers with these discussions, so browse at your own risk.

Episode 1: eps1.0_hellofriend.mov

Wait is that really the episode title? How long until we run out of filetypes? Are the filetypes important? Is that going to be some encoded, "the .mov files are dubiously real while the .mp4 files are pure fantasy and the .mkv files are pure reality" thing?

Okay, anyway I actually did enjoy this episode this time around. I think Elliot is interesting and I do remember having looked up things about this show when I DNF'd it last time, but it was so long ago that I actually forgot, which is adding an interesting perpendicular obsfucation to actually being able to tell what's real and fictional. The unreality is at the forefront of my mind at this point. It's fascinating to me the way Elliot struggles with unreality and also, at times, will school his own delusions into a form he finds suitable, like E Corp becoming Evil Corp such that we, the viewer, only hear people call it that aloud and see it written so everywhere. It's a really fun way to play with the structure.

My predictions are that Mr Robot isn't real. The way Darlene talks to him suggests he forgot something. It is meant to read as her telling him off before he knows what she's talking about, but what she SAYS sounds like she's been waiting, like he's discussed something with her and she's trying to follow up. It's incongruent with her just being bitchy. Plus the way that he complied with their request and then couldn't find them immediately after?

But I can't remember if I KNOW Mr Robot isn't real or not. I keep thinking I remember and then second guessing myself. Well. I guess we'll see!

Episode 2: Ones-and-zer0es.mpeg

I appreciate that his Very Clever System for not getting withdrawal (i.e. staving off addiction) from his morphine usage was only as infallible as his willpower. I mean, of course it was but all of his behavior in the first episode was unhinged, yet spoke to his dilligence and self-control, which were only (apparently) functions of a life in a very specific rhythm of boredom and loneliness. The moment it's thrown out of wack, the whole conceit falls down. Also, I think if you self-medicate any emotional symptom it will still get addictive with or without withdrawal symptoms. That's sort of the main criterion.

I also appreciate the way that the news about the FSociety demanding the release of the guy they setup is directly paired with Elliot wondering if he ruined a man's life for no reason. Which is to say, his doubts and the demands of the FSociety to undo this action happen near simultaneously. I'm sure it'll have some ulterior motive that changes the tone of the demand, but if Mr Robot IS a delusion and Elliot is running the FSociety, this would be a really fun detail.

OH WOW! Darlene talks as if Elliot knows things he doesn't know AND everyone deferred to Elliot when he walked into the arcade, gathering around him like he was in charge and Mr Robot literally inserts himself in between Elliot and Darlene to Talk About the Plan because why would he be talking to Elliot?

Fascinating. That feels like a Fight Club shot. Also, she's NOT looking at Mr Robot at all, she's just looking through him to Elliot. Okay, pretty sure that's not even a theory anymore.

Episode 3: eps1.2_d3bug.mkv

Keeping my "Mr Robot is Elliot" belief at the forefront, the whole pushing Elliot off of the railing thing is an interesting magic trick. There's been a lot of talk about hating yourself being a motivator juxtaposed really cleanly with the way Mr Robot says, "do you think maybe he was right [to push you out of a window at age eight]?"

We're involving a lot of touching, a lot of Mr Robot infiltrating Elliot's space, which is creating a lot of fascinating "evidence" in the same way that someone might deliberately go out of their way to forge an alibi immediately after committing a crime so they can have a bunch of people ready to say, "no they were here all night, nothing strange."

Conclusion:

Alright, as fun as this has been I think we'll call it there! It's getting a bit too time consuming to actually write all of these out and I feel like multitasking, so thank you for joining me! Maybe I'll do a write-up at the end of Season 1, who can say?

Edit, days later: