Friday, September 30, 2016

Waiting another year for Mr. Robot

Elizabeth Both
Editor

In the summer of 2015 a show about computer hackers on the small TV network USA became the most unexpected hit of the summer TV season.
 Mr. Robot is a drama-thriller starring Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker who suffers from what one may call  “Fight Club” syndrome. For those who have not seen Fight Club, most of its themes rotate around one man’s alter ego--he is basically embodying two different personalities. Elliot doesn’t remember what he does more than half of the time, whether he’s embodying his alter ego or not. His thought process is highly influenced by paranoia and delusion. Without giving too much detail away, season one ends with an insanely intense cliffhanger that made it extremely difficult to wait 11 months for the second season.
 After a painful year, season two premiered this past July. The show’s creator, Sam Esmail directed each episode with such articulated camera shots that you find yourself thinking, Is this really a show on cable television? It may sound like a simple show about computer hacking, codes and servers but its slow burning pace makes it such an intriguing show. Labeled to many as the #1 show of 2015, it holds a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a tricky show to follow and may seem boring due to all the hacking lingo, but with so many diverse characters it keeps the viewers on their toes.

 With the second season finale airing on Sept. 21, many (including myself) are back to square one: waiting another year for answers. I don’t know what’s worse, waiting a year for a show you can’t binge watch on network television or waiting for a year on Netflix. Recently at the Emmy Awards (the Oscars for television), Malek won the award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series for Mr. Robot beating out Kevin Spacey’s manipulative Frank Underwood. Even though Malek has been in the industry for more than a decade, he’s still a fresh face to many. This win means a lot for the USA network and officially guarantees upcoming seasons. Mr. Robot is full of hacker lingo, but it makes you double think about government surveillance and what is actually happening in the cyber-security world. The good reviews are only a plus.