“Why, Stuart, are you writing about a show that finished nearly ten years ago?”
Good question, reader. It could be a warning sign of a declining mental state, or the first-of-many hints of an obsessive personality. But probably not, right? As far as I can tell — and quite unsurprisingly — the show has fallen out of our collective memory. On a recent rewatch, it struck me as a real shame, as the show has been clinging to my thoughts like an affectionate (if slightly deranged) sloth. Now you get to experience the resulting mind-spiral. You’re welcome.
As I begin this whatever-it-is, I can’t help but wonder how likely it is that you, as my reader, are unaware of this show. I mean, you clicked on this. But I’d better start with the gist.
Mr. Robot is the deranged, artistic, and visionary brainchild of writer/director Sam Esmail, and it is well worth the labour pains. It’s a dark, psychological heist-thriller that follows Elliot Alderson, a mentally ill vigilante hacker, as he joins an Anonymous-inspired hacktivist group that aims to destroy the world’s biggest and most powerful corporation.
This is a show full of revelations and reversals that are best experienced blindly. If you want to see some of the best hacking and social engineering put to screen, some pulse-pounding heists, twisted, heart-breaking character drama, and a bevy of excellent, career-defining performances from a fantastic cast… Watch it. This is a recommendation in earnest. Go watch it, and then come back. Spoilers ahead — you have been warned.
Okay, you done? Four seasons of TV later, and I’m still here, patiently waiting. I hope you enjoyed yourself. If you didn’t, you probably aren’t reading this, which means I can call you a buttmonkey without fear of reproach.
For the sake of clarity, this isn’t a review of the show. I do intend on going through and breaking the show down in a more detailed manner eventually, but this is a more reasonable and manageable endeavour. This is all about revolution.
As someone who *definitely* watched the show (and who is absolutely astute, attractive, and talented), you probably picked up on the not-so-subtle anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-social-media messaging. It would be hard not to, as the show really likes unzipping its proverbial pants and shoving its big opinion directly into your face. Undoubtedly it’s about as subtle as a kick in the testicles. It’s not particularly profound on this subject, and you’ve heard it all before, though rarely in such a polished, deliberate fashion.
But do not be fooled. This show has a lot more to say, and it does so with confidence, a deft hand, and plenty of delicious nuance.
Part 1: Dressed in all black.
Elliot Alderson, our protagonist, wears a lot of black. Black hoody, black jeans, and — I suspect — black underwear. This is what he is wearing in the very first scene of the show, and in the final confrontation. The outfit is present in nearly every scene in between. This represents a few things, but for this article, I want to highlight one in particular.
I think I first became aware of Antifa and the Black Bloc around 2014, when this show was first being released. You probably remember them too. They’re still somewhat active today, though not as visible as they once were. The prelude to the 2016 U.S election gave us dozens-upon-dozens of examples of their behaviour. Broadly speaking, they were an anti-capitalist, anarcho-communist protest group that generally turned up and made a nuisance of themselves.
That’s as far down that rabbit hole as I need to go. Elliot Alderson’s fashion sense evokes these people, and that is fitting. Elliot, too, is anti-capitalist, and describing him as an anarchist would be an understatement.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a political rant. The specifics of the Black Bloc’s identity aren’t that important to my point. What *is* important is that they are modern revolutionaries. Smashing the system, eating the rich, burning the money, and freeing the people. That is central to their ethos. This is true of Elliot, too.
Now, that says something. And its meaning only becomes clear as Mr. Robot’s first season reaches its end. I hope this little mind-splooge will clarify what I mean, but some of you may already be picking it up.
Let’s take a step back, though. We first see Elliot — and his 21st-century revolutionary-chic uniform — in his therapist’s office.
It’s a great opening scene. It delivers key characterisations and is already offering clues about the revelations to come. It also presents what might be mistaken for the show’s thesis statement: Fuck Society.
“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 of 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 why we do this, not because Hunger Games books makes us happy but because we wanna’ be sedated. Because it’s painful not to pretend, because we’re cowards.
Fuck Society.”
Here’s the clip. Unfortunately, due to naughty, naughty words, you might need to watch it in YouTube. I’ve put the quote in for convenience (or inevitable link breakage)
This is the first, and in my opinion the best of the monologues in the show. It’s performed well, edited energetically, and delivers everything we need to know about Elliot’s place in the world. He is an outcast. He is misanthropic. He is conspiratorial and he is passionate. Most of all, he is filled with hate and anger. I think most people feel a strong pull at the sentiments on display. Shit, I did — and still do.
It might be tempting to believe that this is a summary of the show’s thesis. That our world is fucked. That society itself is the problem, and it needs to be broken down and replaced. I won’t say this isn’t part of the show’s message, but we need to squeeze this lemon a little harder to get the juice.
Let’s start with the setting for this opening scene. The office of Krista, Elliot’s therapist.
Elliot’s internal narration — where he talks to us, the audience, like an imaginary friend — makes it clear he didn’t choose to be here. The precise nature of what he did is left deliberately vague, but it suggests something destructive and/or violent. A court order put him here.
I didn’t really notice it on my first watch. The quality writing, pitch-perfect delivery, and the pace of the early scene left me too intrigued with Elliot to really consider what it all meant. But after that impassioned little speech, we learn that Elliot didn’t say anything at all, and when this is pointed out to him it seems like he didn’t realise that. Krista pulls him out of his reverie and asks him “what’s wrong”. And all Elliot can manage is, “Nothing”.
Alright, so what? A character imagining something they might say or do something is a common storytelling device that allows the audience to see something interesting without it directly impacting the broader story.
Well, this does more. A lot more.
First, it tells you that Elliot has a loose connection with reality, and this is absolutely central to plot, theme, and character. Second, it tells us that Elliot is *not well*. Not only is he in court-appointed therapy, but he absolutely should be there. He can’t express himself to others, and has a whole lot of anger roiling like boiling oil inside him. A pressurised vessel will explode when introduced to heat.
Our protagonist is deranged. He’s a certifiable lunat bmic who is primed to do something extreme and risky. Of course, this is only implied, and the extent is very much unknown, but if you know how his story unfolds, these warning signs are set up a great deal of what is to come.
“But what’s that got to do with revolution, Stuart?”
I am glad I asked.
Well, it’s the first touch of what I think is a major part of what the show has to tell us about revolution. It is the first element of a warning. A warning that our revolutionaries might be insane. Or, perhaps to put it better, you have to be crazy to want to tear it all down.
To caveat that, I think the show understands that we can all relate to feelings of wanting to bring down society. I mean, “Fuck Society”, has a certain satisfying ring to it, doesn’t it? But what happens if we do fuck society?
Part 2: Smashing
By gum. I really hope you’ve seen the show. Because everything you think you know about Elliot Alderson gets a lot more complicated over the course of season one.
I don’t want to get lost in all the revelations and the many, many implications that will be expanded on throughout the rest of the show, but I will spoil the big one. Ready?
Mr. Robot is Elliot’s imaginary friend and Tyler Durden-esque alter-ego who looks like his dad.
The show revels in the realisation as it dawns on both Elliot and the audience, with the delightfully twisted touch of making us part of his delusion. It turns out that Elliot Alderson isn’t a damaged but incredibly talented young programmer who gets recruited into an activist, terrorist hacker group due to his vulnerable mental state and revolutionary aspirations.
No, Elliot is the hacker group. Founder, mastermind, and driving force.
Not to gush, but the second watch through of season 1 is even better. The dramatic irony of knowing the true nature of Mr. Robot, and the clever ways the show uses blocking and camera work to maintain the illusion that Elliot and Mr. Robot are separate while never contradicting the reality that they’re the same person, is incredibly satisfying.
Okay, I was gushing, but this kind of storytelling has only ever been done this well a few times and the only example I like more is Fight Club.
The key takeaway, however, is the plan. The hack itself is — in essence — to reset the debt for most of the American population to zero. It’s not unlike Fight Club’s climactic plot-line, but rather than ending with the successful destruction of all that information, it is only the beginning.
But what does this mean for what the show has to say about smashing the system? Well, it really just compounds and reinforces what the opening scene told us. Elliot really is batshit. He’s coo-coo for revolution. But most importantly, he is vulnerable to manipulation, especially by his own mind.
That vulnerability is thematically appropriate. Our protagonist is a hacker who can easily be hacked. But it’s true of revolutions too. How? Let’s keep going.
Part 3: With friends like these.
Suffice to say, Elliot’s plan works… too well. Kind of.
Importantly for my analysis here is the Dark Army. Initially introduced as a shadowy, and amorphous group of mercenary hackers who will “Hack for anyone” they will become ever more important and threatening with every passing episode. They are given their opportunity to enter the plot via invitation. Turns out, the facility that Elliot and his group are taking down is mirrored in China, which is where the Dark Army originate from. So, in order for the take down to stick, they need the Dark Army to strike simultaneously with Elliot.
Holy shit, does that turn out to be a decision our main cast regret.
But I think there is an interesting point being made here. The hack is Elliot’s Great Act of Revolution ™, intending to break the current system so thoroughly that the people are free. But this is unlikely to be possible for a single person or group. If you are trying to smash the system, you’ll need help.
Herein lies a danger. Of the sliver of humanity who would be both willing and capable to commit to the destruction you’re enacting, how many do you think have pure intentions? How many are aligned with your desire to free the people? Optimistically, not many. But if you’re selecting humans based on their willingness to throw the world into chaos, I suspect you’ve found a pretty reliable method for finding bad guys.
It is in the interest of these bad folk to let you believe they line up with you, that they share your intentions. Hell, they might actually share your intentions, or have other grand desires for a better world. But you and your revolution will always come second to their own wants. They are the wolf, and your revolution is the door through which you invite them. Once in, you better believe that the best you can hope for is to survive.
History shows this often enough. Grand revolutionary leaders overthrow their hated governments, only to find that the most ruthless members of their conspiracy overturn and replace them. The Dark Army is the Stalin to Elliot’s Lenin.
This is reinforced by the results of the ‘big hack’ in season 3. Season 2 spends its time exploring the consequences of the first hack that becomes known as ‘Five-Nine’, but season 3 is all about ‘Stage 2’.
Part 4: Oh The Humanity
It’s pretty heart wrenching. Elliot’s hack succeeds, but the show does not pull its punches when showing the consequences such an act might have in the real world. In simple terms, the debt hack plunges the world into a great recession. E-corp creates an e-currency close to replacing the dollar, and, most importantly, makes life increasingly miserable for the average person.
Season 2 spends an agonising amount of time following these consequences. It’s brutal, if a little slow at times, but when season 3 gets moving, it all gets much, much worse.
Without getting too far into the weeds, season 3 follows Elliot and Mr. Robot as they work against each other. E-corp has begun gathering the hard-copy data required for them to rebuild the debt database. Ever the unhinged revolutionary, the Mr. Robot personality works with nefarious characters including the Dark Army by night. This is Stage 2. They are working to get all of those paper records into one place in order to destroy them in an explosion. Ah shit, here we go again.; violent destruction as revolutionary tool.
But Elliot regrets the first hack and works against Mr. Robot (himself) by day, stalling the terrorist act while searching for a way to permanently undo that first hack.
To cut a long story short, he manages to spread all the paper records across dozens of facilities. All around the country. He protects E-corp from the Dark Army, but he makes the mistake most would make when dealing with the ruthless, zealous people that can be found in our world. He underestimates just how far they are willing to go. He manages to stop them from bombing a building. He saves many lives. But then he discovers that the planned bombing was only one of many. Each of the facilities containing the paper documents is destroyed, along with the people manning them.
This tragedy is overwhelming. Take Angela, Elliot’s best friend. She has been undergoing her own sanity-testing journey, and breaks completely due to her part in the attack.
Both Mr. Robot and Elliot had no idea that this was the true goal of Stage 2, and the betrayal is so powerful that it effectively realigns them.
I think the message here is pretty clear. Aiming to destroy. aiming to break everything. All in the vague hope that a better, new society will rise from the ruin. It makes you vulnerable. The kind of ideological commitment required expands your blind spots, and the true psychopaths will not hesitate to use you.
Elliot is the perfect representation of this. His many flaws all share one characteristic: Vulnerability. Vulnerability to manipulation. So much so, that he even manipulates *himself* by literally altering his own perception of reality.
It’s hard not to see a similar thread in many stories of societal upheaval.
I hope all of this makes sense. It’s an odd idea to articulate, especially as it is only relatable to an extent. I reckon it is a safe bet to assume that none of the people reading this are near-supernaturally talented hackers who are on a journey to tear down our society. But we can all — and probably have, at some point — imagined ourselves as the ones overturning the big, bad world.
But the message here doesn’t just apply to the grand revolutionary vision.
We all have our hates. We all have things that piss us off. We’ve all fantasised about breaking something. Hoping we’d get something better afterward. Revolution is just a question of scale. The lesson always applies though. Don’t be led by anger and hatred, you’ll only hurt the people you care about, and give the worst people in your life a chance to use you.
When it’s been distilled down to that, it’s a message as old as storytelling, isn’t it?
Outro: End Program
So, there it is. ‘Thought provoking’ as a term of praise is overused these days. An easily packaged phrase for three-word reviews by dying media corporations. Most shows will give you something to think about. But Mr. Robot offers up a lot, and what I’ve discussed here is only a single facet of a lovely, shiny gem.
Oh, and if you are sensitive to nihilism in stories, don’t worry. Mr. Robot ends in hope. Elliot Alderson has a chance to be a hero in the final moments, and he takes it. The nihilism is a reflection of the character, and is one of his flaws. It is not the message of the show.
That’s all for today. Stay frosty, and don’t let the wolves in.
– Stu, The Saucerer