I have to say it again, TV in US is doing really good. The variety and quality of shows available is just amazing. Seems we may have to add another one on the list, coming from USA - Mr. Robot.
The name does not give you much, except that it should be a sci-fi show about a humanoid or robotic creature, who's probably the lead protagonist/antagonist, either saving or destroying the world. Most probably saving, and struggling with his new found emotions towards humanity... HOLD ON. The show has nothing to do with any of that. At least not so far. It's actually a show about the digital world that we lead in, how computers and internet affect every aspect of our lives. And a lowly and ordinary software hacker, who's also kinda crazy, is just doing his best to survive.
***spoilers***
The series follows Elliot (Rami Malek), a young cyber security engineer by day and a vigilante hacker by night. He hates his job and hates even more the company he's supporting in his job, called E Corp aka Evil Corp (Apple? Google? Microsoft? Doubt it can be Microsoft anymore) suffers from a severe case of social anxiety disorder but connects to people by hacking them. That includes his co-worker and childhood friend Angela Moss, whose boyfriend he hates for being a cheater and retarded. The scene between him and the boyfriend is hilarious, specially when Elliot says "i'm okay with thing being weird between us". That also includes his therapist Krista Gordon, who's recently divorced and into dating losers, which Elliot has a problem with, and wants to protect her. The scenes between them are also quite intriguing, specially his inner monologues.
Elliot finds himself at a crossroads when a mysterious anarchist Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), who's hobo by the night and hacker by the day, recruits Elliot. The show follows his attempts to recruit him to destroy the E Corp, which he is paid to protect. Compelled by his personal beliefs, Elliot struggles to resist the chance to take down the multinational CEOs he believes are running (and ruining) the world. He does end up following his belief and helping to destroy the CTO of E Corp, although Mr. Robot and his group seems to be disappeared. But right at the end of the pilot, he's escorted into a room of suited folks, being lead by one of the VPs of E Corp, he met earlier. Are these the folks he's been worried about? Who actually is Mr. Robot? Is this all real or just Elliot's imagination?
***spoiler ends***
The show has some great performances but Sami Malek takes the limelight. From his inner monologues, to anxieties, to people interaction, everything is either hilarious or pretty serious. And he does great job of it too. Christian Slater did not have a lot of screen presence, but was pretty good and has an interesting role, it seems. The focus has been on Elliot's character so far, which is obvious, but show can take some good turns. Gloria Reuben as the therapist has quite an interesting role. One of my friends Smarat Chakrabarty was also in as Ron, and had a great performance in a short role.
There's some great writing and amazing monologues and dialogues on the show. Makes it more fun to watch. As far as cinematography is concerned, it's great. Scenes in Manhattan, Subway and Cony Island look very NYC. The hacking aspect seems pretty realistic for an average audience, not sure if true hackers will agree though. It does bring some real concerns about cyber security and how the internet and social media impacts our every day lives. The show also has some pretty strong and clear opinions about people, things and events, like George Bush, Neil Armstrong, Bill Cosby, Transformers-2, facebook etc.
Anyways, it seems an interesting and great start to possibly a great show. I'm looking forward for more.
Note: These ratings and review are personal opinion of the author.