Last year, in a review of the final
season of The Americans, it was
referred as to one of the greatest series still on the air (true). Game of Thrones was mentioned
(respectfully disagree) as was Better
Call Saul (enthusiastically agree). But somehow, Mr. Robot wasn’t mentioned in the discussion at all, nor has it
been in any reviews I’ve seen so far. And that strikes me as rather odd,
because it is clearly one of the most astonishingly perfect series I’ve ever
seen, basic cable or pay, broadcast or streaming. It is one of the most
visually striking series in the history of television, certainly among one of
the best directed. It features sterling performances from it’s entire cast and
guest cast, launching lead Rami Malek to superstardom. It is willing to make
twists so bold that it would make the writers of Lost stare in awe, and have teaser so astonishing, Vince Gilligan
would take off his cap. And that’s without counting all the experimental
episodes that is has done over its run - eps3.4_runtime-error.r00
is a stunning when it comes its visual work alone, as well as being a vital
story link..
But now, creator Sam Esmail has
decided it is time to bring this dark series to its end, and the fourth and
final season begins, Elliot Alderson (Malek) is so buried in his desire to
destroy the Dark Army and White Rose (B.D. Wong) that he can no longer connect with the
slightest bit of emotion. The burden of narration has now fallen on his alter
ego, Mr. Robot (Christian Slater, daring us not to give him a nomination), who
spending three seasons spitting vitriol, is now shocked at how Eliot is dealing
with things. But Elliot has every reason to be concerned. In the opening
moments of the Season 4, Angela (Portia Doubleday) was murdered by the Dark
Army, while her father, revealed in the final moments of Season 3 to be Philip
Price, the CEO of ECorp, watched helplessly. White Rose has made it abundantly
clear that as soon as the final actions of Elliot take place, he will be
disposed of.
Everyone is a mood of despair. Darlene (Carly
Chaikin) can’t accept that Angela was murdered, and can’t deal with her
mother’s death. Agent Dom DiPerro (Grace Gummer), the one person in the Bureau
who seemed to know what the Dark Army was doing, is now under their thumb. Even Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallstrom) who
finally seems to have achieved his dream of running ECorp, can’t seem to raise
enough spirit to go through the motions. At this point, everything seems to
hinge on a desperate attempt to steal the Dark Army’s money – a heist that it
now seems like Price is willing to help with, even though everybody seems to know
it is a suicide mission. All of this is complicated enough without the fact
that old enemies of Elliot’s are appearing – and he seems to have developed yet
another alternate personality.
Mr.
Robot is one of the most incredible shows, partially because it is one of
the most original dystopian series. It proves you don’t need to have an alien
invasion or a zombie apocalypse or even take place in the future – it makes the
argument that dystopia is going on here and now. During the course of the series, it is
involved a hack that has led to financial ruin for the country, blackout
throughout the nation, and a terrorist attack over the course of a single year.
It argues that we are the architects of our own destruction in a far more
realistic and subtle way than we’ve ever seen on TV before, and that trying to save the world can only
make things world. And it argues that even the people who completely control
the world – the White Rose and Philip Price – can’t ever be satisfied. Some
might argue that this series is pro-Bernie or even pro-Trump, both of whom
appear in frequent clips. It has no political affiliation. It’s pro-anarchy. It
says not only that Big Brother is watching, but we volunteered to let it watch. That’s more quietly frightening than a
nuclear war.
Will Mr. Robot cement its place as one of the greatest shows of the
decade? It really will depend on how well it wraps up. A lot of it is going to
depend on when we finally learn White Rose’s endgame, which the series keeps
referring to as some shipment in The Congo. But even if Elliot somehow manages
to stop their plans – as they reversed the 5/9 hack at the end of last season –
you don’t have to be a genius to know it won’t have a happy ending. However it
ends, though, Sam Esmail has cemented himself as one of the great geniuses in a
medium that has produced more than its share. The bottom line, this is one hell
of a thriller, and I’m sad to see it go. Especially since considering no matter
how ugly its version of 2016 is, it
can’t be any crazier than our present.
My score: 5 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment