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View Full Version : USA Network's "Mr Robot" - what did you think?



MaindotC
May 30th, 2015, 06:01 AM
You should be able to watch the pilot episode at https://www.usanetwork.com/mrrobot/videos/eps10hellofriendmov (I assume North America addresses only). I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Apparently this series caught attention at SXSW (http://www.indiewire.com/article/review-what-is-mr-robot-and-why-did-it-win-the-sxsw-audience-award-20150325). It's like the original Hackers movie updated with new terminology that is still improperly used and completely out of place. I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from a series by the "USA Network", but I fail to see why it garnered such reviews.

I think the main character acts well and I like his demeanor, but he's forced to spew lines of technical jargon that are just plain gibberish. As someone who works in IT security it was difficult for me to stomach the entire episode. Thoughts?

DuckHook
May 31st, 2015, 06:54 AM
What you have experienced is what physicists, chemists, astronomers, biologists, doctors, lawyers, mathematicians and historians have all complained about at one time or another: Hollywood's grasp of technical subject matter and its dedication to facts is at best woefully shoddy, and at worst, wilfully moronic.

This, in turn, is due to the fact that the writers, directors, actors and producers are almost all technological ignoramuses―and proud of it. Engineers don't tend to go in for the fine arts. And those who gravitate to writing and acting don't do too well with coding or differential equations. Therefore, verisimilitude is not a priority in Hollywood writing, and will be gleefully sacrificed to advance the plot, develop the character or not impede the big explosion.

You can probably guess that I don't watch much popular entertainment. When I do, I try to anaesthetize my brain and lower my expectations to the level of my boots, or my gonads, depending on the flick. It's best in your case to pretend that you don't work in IT, know nothing of security, and just allow the gibberish to wash over you like new-age elevator music. That way, you won't be letting those pesky facts distract you from the plot, the angst of the character and all those kewl explosions.

kerry_s
May 31st, 2015, 07:09 AM
i think i'm going to give it to the second show to decide if it makes it on my list of things to watch. :)

Linuxratty
May 31st, 2015, 01:19 PM
No tv...I have escaped this! Yippie!

coldraven
May 31st, 2015, 06:01 PM
and all those kewl explosions. LOL, but I haven't owned a TV for over 10 years. It's the shampoo adverts with their made-up chemical names that made me shout at the screen. I had to get rid of it for the sake of my own sanity.

DuckHook
June 1st, 2015, 03:29 AM
...I haven't owned a TV for over 10 years...You are one austere man, coldraven. A monk in an earlier life, perhaps?

DuckHook
June 1st, 2015, 03:31 AM
No tv...I have escaped this! Yippie!Must be absurdly liberating. You have a life whereas the rest of us have a glass teat.

sffvba[e0rt
June 1st, 2015, 02:48 PM
I also gave up the jail of the TV screen... for the jail of a PC screen :/

MaindotC
June 1st, 2015, 06:57 PM
I also gave up the jail of the TV screen... for the jail of a PC screen :/

Same here - almost everything I watch is online. So, actually it's not that I've given up a TV screen but more I've given up cable. Mr. Robot seemed like it might be promising and had great reviews so I gave it a chance, but it's horrible. It's really a shame that this type of garbage needs to be produced in order to appeal to audiences. Maybe an on-line series targeted for the IT-savvy? Almost every day at work is an episode for me. Fires, alert notifications, escalations, conscious moral dilemmas...it happens every day.

monkeybrain20122
June 4th, 2015, 10:39 AM
I have never owned a TV, haven't watched any TV for 5 or 6 years (there was one in a shared house where I lived, but I rarely watched). I do watch occasional TV shows online. Actually cable TV is dying according to surveys, it is now mostly for the older demographic who are not comfortable with computers. :)

Idjit_BoB
July 19th, 2015, 06:47 PM
I suffered through four shows with my wife. We're done with it because even the plot line seemed to wander off.

I am not very technical regarding the software side of things. I get by with a little help from my friends on this forum.

From the get go Mr. Robot seemed to toss out Linux buzzwords now and again because they could. I was amused where in the pilot episode Evil Corp's Senior VP of Technology Tyrell Wellick commented that Elliot "Just a Tech" Alderson was using gnome and how he was using KDE. It seemed a bit contrived and appeared to be a transparent ploy to throw out more buzzwords with no meaningful context for it.

Let's just say I'm not a fan.