MovieChat Forums > Mr. Robot (2015) Discussion > What people need to understand about the...

What people need to understand about the series

posted 8 years ago by dunnKID155
57 replies | jump to latest

It's all about the long haul. This isn't like traditional shows where each season neatly wraps up all stories and moves on to a new adventure. This is a 4-5 season show on one topic. Each season is merely a piece to the grand puzzle, not a puzzle of its own. Shows like Arrow have completely gone downhill steep bc of making each season it's own individual thing and it makes for less things to do. Game of Thrones is doing incredibly well and it took till the season 6 finale to wrap up storylines from the beginning of the series. Mr. Robot was intended to be a movie so it should be seen as that way. Season 2 to some may be a dull part of the movie, but in the end it is a crucial part of the whole series. Nothing will be wrapped up completely until the final season bc that's what the show is, a progressive series on one topic.

Season 1 introduced us to the concept of the show.

Season 2 brought all the problems to face

Seasons 3 and on will be solving the problems.

This series is literally a 50 hour movie

[–] BlueDweebz 8 years ago

The funny thing is that most people hated Lost for being wild and confusing, but Mr Robot is doing the exact same thing and everyone loves it. People are weird.

It's an interesting show but it's like trudging through old territory...I've seen it all before.

[–] marius_em 8 years ago

It was the same when Lost was airing, everyone was loving it until they wrapped it up, at which point most realized it wasn't as smart as they were hoping it to be.
Hope that won't happen to this show too, and they'll make the wait worth.

[–] THEADreaNaL 8 years ago

Word

[–] ajxajxajx 8 years ago

leave them alone! they're claiming they love it because it makes them feel intelligent and superior.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Meldove 8 years ago

leave them alone! they're claiming they love it because it makes them feel intelligent and superior.

Yes, super intelligent and superior for loving a TV show, I guess as intelligent and superior as a person who insults others on a internet forum.

[–] General_Haberdashery 8 years ago

This isn't like traditional shows where each season neatly wraps up all stories and moves on to a new adventure.

Well this show did that in the first season, though.
Season one could have just been the last and it would have been fine.
Perfect actually.

Season 2 almost seems like they didn't know where to go and threw in a bunch of plot threads and 'gotcha' moments (even the writers had to promise not to do that again) and really came across almost as an unnecessary direction.

Most TV shows end on cliffhangers and are all about the 'long haul', so I don't necessarily think this show is doing things that much different.

The only difference is quality.
The first season in particular was quality.

The season, it's gimmicky, largely uninteresting (aside from some very brilliant moments) and much more self-aware. Like it was trying to be as good as season one really badly.

It's really the opposite of season one.

[–] Pumba74 8 years ago

Season 2 almost seems like they didn't know where to go and threw in a bunch of plot threads and 'gotcha' moments (even the writers had to promise not to do that again) and really came across almost as an unnecessary direction.

👍

It tried to be cool harder than it tried to tell a well rounded story.

[–] dreaming-of-life 8 years ago

Season 1 had me thinking and talking about it for months after it finished. The way you the viewer were Elliot's closest friend, drew me to the character like nothing I've ever watched. It showed you his view of the world, I felt like I was experiencing his paranoia and hallucinations. And finally the overarching story, it was an awesome idea with a steady pace towards an ultimately satisfying finale. I felt a sense of closure but I still wanted more.

Season 2 has none of those things. Elliot is barely on screen, and when he is he distrusts you so much he lies to you constantly. Quite the opposite of the comradery you felt in the first season. With season 1 they used Elliot's skewed view of reality to keep us asking questions. Instead of that fundamentally interesting glimpse into how a mentally ill person perceives the world, this season relied heavily on just not showing the viewer any backstory to the scenes it randomly jumped between. They did this so much I found myself bored and disinterested, rather than intently digging for answers alongside Elliot. And the plot as a whole had no focus, no goals that we knew of, no reason to tune in next week.

While it had a few good moments I was very disappointed in this season. But at least season 1 can still stand on its own as one of the finest pieces of television ever. It does not need a followup to be great.

"One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate Reason." - A. Camus

[–] IamGOB1 8 years ago

i think the real problem ismost fans do not feel emotions any more so the whole medium is sort of moot.

american is a country of stupidgroupthink robots who parrot everything theyre told to b ieve puppets of the govt. the two winged eagle what eats their brains like mana.

if you have a soul this young man's mental disease should tear you apart. he obviously has no *beep* clue what is happenong to him and the whole world is ending and it is all his fault!

can you even imagine his stress and confusion? tyrell put him back to sleep before he implodes. poor guy. i weep for elliot.

[–] dreaming-of-life 8 years ago

The whole "Is it me? Was it him? Where was I last night? Is he gone? Am I sane?" gimmick thing has really worn thin.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] ShannonTriumphant 8 years ago

Some spelling errors aside, I must agree wholeheartedly with this assessment:

i think the real problem ismost fans do not feel emotions any more so the whole medium is sort of moot.

american is a country of stupidgroupthink robots who parrot everything theyre told to b ieve puppets of the govt. the two winged eagle what eats their brains like mana.

I hadn't taken emotions into account this way, but yes, it's true of most American viewers. It goes painfully well with what Hunter Thompson called "The New Dumb". Nobody wants to think anymore, to even question what they are told is reality, much less to analyze anything, even their own lives.

I agree that Rami Malek brilliantly displays the confusion of a very messed-up kid trying to deal with a corrupt, self-serving oligarchy and the way it has poisoned society, even his family and friends.

I followed all the rules...and you followed none of them. And they all loved you more.

[–] recyclar13 8 years ago

thank you, Shannon. "...most American viewers." NOT "american is a country of stupidgroupthink robots..." nope. but, that being said, those of us who aren't stupid...bots ARE outnumbered.

[–] IamGOB1 8 years ago

[–] mashkej 8 years ago

I was going to start a new thread that has the same premise as the original poster of this thread but a different take on it. I think the feedback and discussion about this season...good and bad...is great.

here's my take on what happened:

* This show started as with any other, only getting one season. It was incredibly well written, directed, and paced. With some really cool reveals. Then it was renewed....

* Facing renewal...and moreso a mutli season renewal...the writing team sat down to plot things out. I think they hit two major challenges: #1) how to keep christain slater in the show and keep that storyline fresh. #2) what is the next big plot driver/plan and how to spread it out. In both i think they had some missteps...

* Mistep #1: handling of Mr Robot and Elliots imagination...it just seemed to feel more filler than content this season. The prison thing was pretty cool but could have been done more efficiently and impressively in an episode or two. Spending the entire season with Elliot just bickering with Mr Robot seemed to serve no purpose.

* Mistep #2: my guess is the team has a great over arching plan that would have been amazing if they did it all in Season 2, but they stretched it out over 4 or 5 seasons. What that means is we get alot of filler and no real loss within the show. I mentioned this in another thread, but think about where things were left at the end of S1 and where they were at end of S2. Yes yes yes there was some changes in characters allegiances and minimal collateral damage. But..for the most part...the only real growth was the introduction of the fbi and its building a case (with no real evidence mind you) against the crew from S1. Otherwise we just got a bunch of random stuff with eCorp CEO, angela, and dark army that realllly didnt go anywhere.

* Mistep #3: in plotting a multiseason arc they decided to keep Wellek out this season. That left a huge gap for any real villain. Obviously he's posed to get back into that. I suppose they put alot of cards in the basket of seeing if they could trick the viewer to thinking he was in Elliots head but that never seemed to be a possibility to me as they cant afford to loose such a strong villain.

Im not trying to troll or sh@t on the show as its got amazing characters and an amazing Season 1. I think it needs to spend more time writing tighter seasons than assuming people will hang in there for the long haul. As others have commented, it is possible to have a long plot spread across seasons BUT also have self contained stories and seasons. Its incredibly hard...few shows have done it...but its possible.

[–] trebor_trancheplanete 8 years ago

@mashkej:

While I did enjoy season 2 more than season 1 (I really didn't care about all the drug induced episodes, to be frank and wanted more of the 'hacking' plot), I have to agree with you that season 2 has a lot of filler and it feels like they are stretching it.

While I am one of those who will stick with the show until the end, I have a fear that a large chunk of the audience might just bail out because season 2 didn't arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, much like when Twin Peaks build up the murder and at the end of the season didn't resolve it.

[–] mashkej 8 years ago

@trebor_trancheplanete....

Thanks for your great and well thought comments. I love it when folks have a good discussion over stuff the like or are critical of but do so constructively.

Even thou im critical of several aspects of this season, i still admire the hell out of the show and those behind it. Im not ready to jump ship!

PS: Im with you...i loved the hacking stuff in S1

[–] murtaghchris 8 years ago

I think that the Seinfield discussions were a deliberate comment on the pointlessness of much of this season.

Also the talk between blond girl and the chinese lady were almost as terribly pretentious as the scene in Matrix 2 when Neo meets the architect.

Ultimately I don't know how anyone will keep track of all this stuff if it carries on like this for five seasons, it seems to be opening lots of uninteresting doors repeatedly. There was bits in this season where I couldn't really remember who did what from last season. In the last episode I thought he was in a flashback to when Tyrell disappeared and was going to solve if/how he killed him, then it wasn't, then Tyrell could be dead, then he's not dead, but maybe it'll all turn out that he is dead and Tyrell didn't shoot him, he shot himself, like er in that film? what was it when a guy shot himself in the face, and there was a pixies song in the background... Is this series meant to invoke feelings of confusion and amnesia?

Then I'd like to think it will be a planned out tale like game of thrones, but I doubt they have that much of a plan. Then again at least this show has stayed true to what the first one was, just gone kind of let's do more of that, and let's put an upbeat but lonely FBI lady in the mix. It's like you liking a burger and chips so someone upgrades to a double burger and chips, you can't really complain. They even put a little pineapple chunk in there to be unexpected. You should be happy really.

[–] fede_4488 8 years ago

*beep* writing is *beep* writing.

If I don't reply, you're probably on my ignore list for something I forgot already

[–] bitwalker 8 years ago

Yes, except that the producers of the show don't know yet how many seasons they can sell. If it goes well, they will milk the cow as long as possible. When numbers are declining they will have limit amount of time to finish all story lines.

I hope they don't milk the cow. If it is material for 3 seasons, then they should do three seasons, enjoy the success and money, and do something new.

The comparison to Lost is often being made and I felt that's where Lost went wrong. When it became a success they started stretching it, added more sub-plots etc. and in the end didn't have enough time to bring it all to a good end.