Imaginary friends - Mr. Robot s02e03 Review

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Hello again. The third episode of Mr. Robot's second season gave me mixed feelings, mixed thoughts and mixed messages. I've mixed them up, sorted through them and laid them out for you here, hopefully with better than mixed results. 

I’m hesitant to politicize deaths on Mr. Robot. I feel that it’s earned a lot of goodwill with its representation, subject matter and writing. I’ve also pegged it as an “anyone can die” type of show, even though few important characters have actually died so far. That being said, it does rub me the wrong way that out of all the characters that could have died they choose Gideon and Jerome, one being gay and the other one black. 

Just a week ago I was thinking about the diversity of both the show and fsociety. Now the group hanging around Darlene consists mainly of white people, most of them men, and one of the two original POC members are dead. Gideon is gone, and Trenton and Darlene have yet to be confirmed queer (as I’ve willed myself to believe will happen). Though I want to pretend I judge TV shows mainly on the quality of story, style and acting, I do enjoy them much less if they are overwhelmingly straight and white. Don’t you? It’s so unrealistic, and in a way that makes things less exciting than reality instead of the other way around. I just want to be excited!

Angela’s low self-esteem remains. She definitely doesn’t act like she has a lot of love for herself - if she had, she would not get all dressed up and talk to herself in the mirror for Phillip freaking Price. It hurts to see her this way, and it hurts to see Price’s smug face as he drags her deeper and deeper down into his world of bullshit. I know, Mr. Robot is supposed to be depressing. I just wish Angela got to be kick-ass while doing depressing things. Like Elliott when he’s laughing maniacally at Mr. Robot, or even when he’s eating Adderall pills from the puddle of his own vomit: Is it disgusting? Yes. Does it make him look weak? I don’t think so. 

It’s interesting to see characters behave in ways that most of us perceive as weak, to be susceptible to others’ manipulations (or pretend to be in order to be liked). What bothers me is that Angela has been chosen for this, that her “weakness” takes the form of self-effacing, and that her personality is all but erased in the process. Elliott has a whole other person inside his mind, and spends most of his time putting on masks to hide this, but he still retains distinct traits. Why can’t Angela? 

On to the next female character whose progression in season two disappoints me. I wonder what made Darlene such an asshole. Sorry, that’s a rude way to put it. Why is Darlene being condescending towards everyone around her, while also trying her hardest to make them feel guilty? Being direct has always been part of the character and we wouldn’t want Darlene to become either pleasant or polite, but right now she risks alienating everyone who could help her do something important (and who have done that already). 

By everyone, I mostly mean Trenton. Even without a romantic Trenton/Darlene relationship, I very much want more of her on the show. The glimpse of her we see here isn’t very exciting, but she does have a perfect response to Darlene’s accusation of giving up on the cause: “What, cause I don’t care about stupid hijinks, like burning money in the middle of a park?”. Ouch. I almost buy Darlene’s comeback, except I don’t actually think this is an effective way to crush public confidence in E-Corp. And this is why fsociety, as well as the viewer, needs Trenton. She provides a necessary counterweight to Darlene, not by always being more tempered (anyone can fill the role of constant party-pooper), but by having a different approach to the work. 

The show is setting things up like fsociety is losing direction without Elliott, but I don’t think it necessarily has to be him who corrects their course. No movement is dependent on one single person, except for as a symbol or a way to access media, politicians, or whatever you may need for your activism. What it does need is clear ideas on what it wants to achieve, and methods for realizing them. That’s my take anyway; if you’re interested in learning about the subject from more reliable sources, I suggest you take to Google and check out what’s been published in research on social movements, resistance and revolutions. If you want to be pointed in a more specific direction,  here’s a list of some books and articles by authors I’ve read and appreciated (Full disclosure: it’s based on the reading list for two university courses I took in 2013/2014). 

By now you may be wondering if I have completely forgotten about the main character, our bridge into this whole world after all, I’ve only mentioned him to point out how unimportant he is. I promise you, I remember. Elliott has an interesting episode arc, going from panic to panic, to euphoria, to kernel panic. For a brief moment, Elliott gets exactly what he wants: the panic stops. But the peace of mind is oh so artificial, and doomed to be temporary. At this point, maybe it’s just as well. Mr. Robot isn’t wrong when he says Elliott has a reason to be paranoid. As for needing him… No, I think Elliott has the right idea here. Elliott may be lost without Mr. Robot, but he’s sure as hell lost with him. And any friend who makes you throw a person like Gideon under the bus is not a good friend. 

The theme of control continues, this time making Elliot choose between control and things like well-being, awareness and authenticity. Even if it’s clear who makes the best decisions out of Mr. Robot and the rest of Elliot, the consequences of keeping Mr. Robot at bay don’t seem to be worth it - and it’s an impossible task to begin with. Elliot will have to find some way to live with this part of himself without losing control completely (or get professional help, which would be the best option). Hopefully he does better than the racist guy at the Christian group meeting, who felt enough remorse right after his act of violence to need God’s forgiveness, but not enough to stop himself from beating a man up, just for being Indian, in the first place.

In the same scene we hear that story, control is explicitly mentioned as Elliot goes on a rant about organized religion. He rightly points out that religion has historically been used to control people-- though he “forgets” to mention other purposes, like trying to explain the universe and human life--and makes comparisons to substance abuse and addiction, which is a perfect example of loss of control and autonomy. As he describes it, religious people essentially give up some of their autonomy for the sake of comfort. That is, they’ve made their choice between control and wellbeing, but also lost authenticity in the deal. 

It’s both fascinating and depressing that Elliot has, or thinks he has, seen through all of these mechanisms for controlling people, and yet he can’t even control his own actions. “I don’t even listen to my imaginary friend, why the hell should I listen to yours?” he exclaims, but we all know his imaginary friend does more than tell him what to do. While someone who believes in god retains their free will, Elliot doesn’t have that luxury. He can tell Mr. Robot to fuck off how many times he wants to, the man will remain, essentially a nightmare version of the tyrant god who does whatever he wants to. 

Other points of interest: 

I enjoy the way Gummer plays FBI agent Dominique “Dom” DiPerro, but I’m not sure I understand the character. Is she lonely and sad, or just apathetic? Straight forward or unfeeling? Manipulative or resourceful? It's suspenseful to watch her get closer to the truth about fsociety, but I want to know more about the character as well. 

Ray is just the type of character I was never meant to understand (are you noticing a theme here?). My first impression was that he’s adorable and sad; basically like what his dog looks like, though I don’t think the external is reflective of the internal there. The second and third impressions are still sad, but less endearing. Ray could be a villain, friend, good guy or complete sociopath, and I’m sure there are excellent theories about him out there, but I myself have none. What’s clear is that he wants something from Elliot, and it isn’t just company or someone to talk to. 

Because I’ve been focused on analysis from a societal or philosophical perspective rather than commenting on the technical or artistic aspects of the show (which is what I’m most qualified for anyway), I haven’t mentioned how much I loved the sequence with Elliot high on Adderall yet. So here it is: I loooved it. Mr. Robot is such a serious show, but it can also be damn funny, and it’s nice to be reminded. Add some of the show’s creative use of sound effects, visuals and editing - plus Rami Malek’s glorious, strange face - and you’ve got some highly entertaining, clever TV.

Tova Crossler Ernström is a bisexual Swede, feminist, socialist, INFJ, Hufflepuff, HSP and Taurus. She is fond of personality tests, labels and lists.

The Invisible Code of Chaos - Mr. Robot s02e01 & s02e02 Review

Hello friend! Welcome to my review. There will be more in the future, and I hope you’ll keep me company for all of them. Writing about TV can be a little lonely sometimes, you know—it’s always nice when that void you yell your thoughts into yells back. Or maybe not yells, but politely responds. Anyway, here are some of those thoughts, for you:

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The episode starts by showing us a little piece of the first season’s last memory gap (the one where Elliot launched fsociety’s attack and Tyrell disappeared), but doesn’t give us much new information, except that someone in Dark Army is really pretentious.

        In case you missed it: "the winds of the heavens shift suddenly. so does human fate. we will make an exception."

It also shows us Tyrell being pretentious and telling us it’s like the hack has “come alive.” Perhaps the message here is that everyone is really pretentious, and we shouldn’t pay too much attention to what they are saying? That communication is futile, because most of us are fixated on style rather than saying something of importance? Or maybe none of it means anything, and the purpose of this scene is just to add some suspense and make us wonder what is in the popcorn machine? I could have done without it, and without the scene of Elliot being pushed out of the window as well. It’s nice to see some of the strange cinematography of the show on display though, and the scene at the doctor’s office is brilliant both visually and in terms of sound.

This is what I’m talking about. This is a perfect opening shot. And then the story takes over, and Elliot’s narration draws us in.

Did you immediately understand that the women Elliot lives with is his mother? I know they have a chilly relationship, but I’m still surprised that they act like strangers. It does not surprise me that Elliot’s life nowadays mostly consists of sitting silently, hollow-eyed, and listening to people talk at him. I just hope he finds a reason to talk back soon.

Then we find Elliot in the therapist’s office, in a tense and quite depressing conversation. I was disappointed when I found out the monologue was Elliot telling Krista about his routine, and not addressed to the viewer—not because it’s a bad storytelling choice, but because it feels strange to be left out like this. It’s not about style, but about the relationship between the viewer and Elliot (either the real viewer and the character of Elliot or the real Elliot and his fictional viewer friend, depending on perspective). After we’re cut off from his appointment with Krista, Elliot starts talking to us again. He doesn’t trust us, he says. We should have told him what we knew. Of course, we didn’t actually know anything, though most of us had a hunch or two, but that doesn’t matter much here. How would Elliot know he’s the (unreliable) narrator whose perspective we see things from?

Considering this recent mistrust, I wonder who his journal is directed at. It looks like it’s directed at a “you,” and though many people write their journals this way I suspect there’s a purpose behind it here. There usually is.

Welcome back Mr. Robot! This guy does not like the journaling, or Elliot’s new lifestyle in general. As Elliot writes in his journal, Mr. Robot wants to get to work. What exactly it is he wants to do isn’t clear, but we can assume when he tells Mr. Elliot to lead the revolution, it means more chaos. I’m really enjoying the back and forth between Elliot and Mr. Robot, even if I’ve seen something similar before (again, this show steals shamelessly from Fight Club). The theme of control is tied to Elliot’s mind and mental health here, but it also relates to other aspects of the show. Elliot can’t control his life—his actions, his imaginary friends and foes—but he’s still expected to take charge of a global revolution. And the targets are exactly the people you would expect to be in control, but all the power and money in the world can’t seem to give them that now. In 2016, power structures need digital structures for their daily functioning, and those structures can be hacked. Towards the end of the episode we see the unease this creates among E-Corp’s top people, and it’s damn satisfying to watch even if I’m convinced this is a mostly temporary state of insecurity for them. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

Elliot’s hallucinations have really gotten more advanced. Not just an unreal person, but a gun, and a bullet and being shot in the head with those two—which we learn from the journal has happened before. At the same time, he’s learned to understand that they are hallucinations while he is experiencing them. I find it interesting that even with Elliot seeing through his illusions, he still doesn’t see through them. They’re all there, down to details like blood dripping from his head onto the journal page. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about mental illnesses with distorted perceptions of reality to determine the accuracy of this—but I do know that unlike the illusions of some sci-fi or fantasy that the main character makes go away by declaring “this is not real,” hallucinations that come from the mind can’t simply be summoned away. I look forward to seeing more of how Elliot handles his illness, now that both he and us viewers are aware of it.

The scene with the “smart house” could be another clever, if somewhat obvious, comment on control: a house built specifically for the purpose of controlling one's environment goes out of control. It’s scary to think of how many things we use that we don’t actually understand, and can only control when they work perfectly—meaning we’re not really in control in the first place. Aside from this, there’s not much to comment on. If you’re curious about smart homes, this article on The Verge goes a little deeper in analyzing that part of the episode.

I’m happy to see Gideon, and sad to see him like this. Mr. Robot is such an asshole.
He may be part of Elliot, but we see him as the devil on his shoulder, and I keep wishing for him to shut up and let Elliot do things his (probably less destructive and hurtful) way. This “infinite loop of insanity” may make for some good TV, but it’s damn frustrating.

Darlene as tyrannical revolutionary leader, and the schmucks she leads, is less infuriating but also less intriguing. It’s definitely good to see her as some kind of leader, but the impression here feels flat. I hope we get more depth from her again later on in the season, and not just this juxtaposition of clichés, angry speeches, and crying in the bathroom.

The episode ends with what I was referring to earlier: the demands from fsociety, which Scott Knowles, Phillip Price and Susan Jacobs discuss in a very gray, fancy office, coming to the conclusion that Knowles should go and give fsociety 5 million dollars (an amount the company can apparently find “between the couch cushions”—I’m not disgusted by this at all!).

And intermission.

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This is a powerful image. Burning money is an effective way to get people’s attention. But then what? What’s the message? The opening scene of this episode reminds me of something my favorite Swedish politician Gudrun Schyman, and her political party Feministiskt Initiativ (Feminist Initiative), did six years ago: Burning 100 000 Swedish crowns, equivalent to roughly 11 500 dollars, to demonstrate how much money women in Sweden lose each minute because of wage disparities between men and women. Now, I adore Schyman, and I’ve voted for FI in elections for both the Swedish and the European parliament before—but I felt ambivalent about this action.

On a personal level, I’m anxious about money because I’ve grown up worrying about it, and seeing it wasted is unpleasant. On a political level, it’s a little distasteful when a party that claims to speak for the poor and marginalized takes money from wealthy, white men and uses it for spectacle. I would call it out of touch, except Schyman herself grew up in a poor working class family, so she knows very well what it’s like not to have any money. Darlene was never wealthy either—the backgrounds of other fsociety members are less clear.

One thing these two actions have in common that makes them less offensive is where the money comes from: FI received them as a donation from two male supporters; on Mr. Robot, the money comes from a powerful corporation. But whereas FI had a clear message—and used this as a way to get attention to spread that message—fsociety’s purpose is not as clear. They’ve already got everyone’s attention, but instead of saying something they just keep pulling clever stunts. I hope the writers on the show are depicting the group this way intentionally, and that we’ll see some type of commentary on the methods used later on (without completely dismissing civil disobedience and resistance). The show is clearly showing its political activists as flawed, but I don’t think that’s a free pass to avoid showing the consequences of this type of appearance focused and rather narcissistic activism.

Okay, I’ll shut up now. Enough with the political rambling.

I absolutely loathe Phillip Price, and I think you do too. But it’s interesting to hear how similar his understanding of capitalism and corporations is to his opponents’ views:

“That is the business model for this great nation of ours. Every business day, when that market bell rings, we con people into believing in something. The American dream or family values… It could be freedom fries for all I care. It doesn’t matter. As long as the con works, and people buy and sell - whatever it is we want them to.”

Basically, it’s all bullshit. And Price wants to keep selling it. The music choice for this scene confuses me—I’m sure the “off” feeling of the scene/music match is a stylistic choice, but I’m not sure it works.

Continuing on the theme of uncertainty, I don’t know what to think of the show’s treatment of Joanna and her sexuality. To me the scenes read like the BDSM sex is an extension of her sociopath-like behavior, and I imagine this might be offensive to many practitioners of BDSM (not to mention inaccurate). I’d love to hear what someone who knows more about the subjects thinks.

Like Elliot, I don’t care much for sports. Musings on order, chaos and fear are much more fascinating. What mask do I wear? Maybe a DGAF one, to hide the fact that I give too many fucks. Or the mask of someone who’s trying to save the world, when a lot of the time I’m just tired and frustrated, and I don’t want to think about anything real or important at all, much less do anything about it. And you? Are you a badass or just a shitty basketball player? Ray sounds like he has read Elliot’s mind here, which is an interesting change from the other people talking at him, who don’t even seem to have noticed he doesn’t talk back. I hope Elliot lets him in eventually—he could use a friend too. Late night phone calls during Mr. Robot-blackouts don’t bode well though.

Angela is wearing so many masks I don’t even know which ones are fake. She’s clearly not comfortable at E-Corp, but at the same time she seems to be taking the easy road when she decides to stay with the company instead of using the job to take them down.

Everything Angela tells Nayar (the lawyer, whose name hasn’t been mentioned very often on the show) is blatantly untrue, and sounds rehearsed—especially when she echoes the positive affirmations she’s started using with a cliché “I have value.”

So does that mean Angela doesn’t believe these things herself? Or has she completely forgotten what it’s like being honest with yourself and others, so that she doesn’t even notice when she’s talking bullshit? The low self-esteem might explain her readiness to adopt this new, skewed perspective, but is baffling in itself. I don’t remember Angela being this self-loathing in season 1, and I hope she doesn’t stay like that for too long. The first season introduced promising female characters; it would be a shame if the second one undid that work instead of progressing.

I admire the writers on this show for how they weave their themes into scenes and conversations. It’s really smartly done. Within two minutes of Elliot looking through his journal and starting a conversation with Mr. Robot, the concepts of control and identity/masks return, with some additional twists. Eliot may put on a mask (mostly by being silent) to hide Mr. Robot, but in fact it’s Mr. Robot that they see, without knowing what he is. And somehow Elliot manages to get Mr. Robot to give him what he wants by making him feel like he’s not in control - but in order for that to happen, he has to lose control, so that Mr. Robot can take over and contact Tyrell.

Oh Gideon—he certainly makes an honest and sympathetic impression, and I don’t think it’s a mask. Gideon manages to be a complex character while still being a thoroughly decent person, and I’m going to miss his presence on the show. He is also the only confirmed queer character, and though I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a bury your gays type situation, it’s still unfortunate that the show’s world is now completely void of queer people. Here’s hoping the Trent/Darlene ship finally sails this season! I don’t know about you, but I’ve watched enough 100% straight TV. It’s 2016, and we can all do better.


Tova Crossler Ernström is a bisexual Swede, feminist, socialist, INFJ, Hufflepuff, HSP and Taurus. She is fond of personality tests, labels, and lists.

Mr. Robot: An Introduction

Next week, season 2 of Mr. Robot is starting up, and I will be reviewing it here on Critical Writ!

For those of you who haven’t watched the show, I would describe it as a hacker drama-thriller with political overtones. The main character, Elliott, is played by Rami Malek. He works as a cybersecurity engineer at a company called Allsafe, and in his spare time uses his hacking skills do dish out a kind of small-scale vigilante justice (we mostly see this in the first episode). Though no specific diagnosis is ever mentioned, Elliott seems to suffer from social anxiety and depression. He also expresses paranoid thoughts and often questions his own perception of reality.

Much of this is related through inner monologues where Elliott directly addresses the viewer, whom he calls his “imaginary friend,” and sometimes even looks into the camera (no, not Bueller-style). The show is full of these types of clever uses of cinematography and slight rule-breaking in the use of storytelling techniques, which gives it a unique aesthetic as well as make you question what you’re seeing and wonder how much of it is real. For example, the big corporation that Allsafe is hired by, and which is at the centre of events in the show, is called E-Corp, but Elliott has nicknamed it EvilCorp. We don’t just hear that name from him, however; it’s also clearly visible on signs and papers on the show, and when someone else mentions the company to Elliott, we hear it as “EvilCorp.”

Mr. Robot doesn’t solely rely on style. The show has first-rate writing and fascinating characters. It deals with issues of capitalism and corporate greed, mental health, human connection and how technology shapes individuals and society. In addition to Elliot, there’s his (seemingly only) friend Angela, who also works for Allsafe and whose mother died in the same toxic waste accident as Elliott’s father. Angela is important as one of the few people Elliott knows and trusts, but she also has her own story throughout the season.

Elliott and Angela’s boss Gideon is described as one of the few truly good people Elliott knows. He’s also a non-stereotypical, complex gay character. In an early episode Gideon tells Elliott about his sexuality, because he feels like that’s something he should do rather than because he wants to, and show creator Sam Esmail has some interesting things to say about the pressure on queer people to be “out” in relation to  Mr. Robot’s theme of privacy.

Then there’s Darlene, one of the first people Elliott meets when he’s introduced to hacking group fsociety (which I promise you is not as silly as it sounds). If Mr. Robot is sometimes almost jarring in how much it reminds me of Fight Club, then at first Darlene would seem to be its Marla. That is not the case - she’s much more than an aid for the male lead’s story.

Other fsociety members are Mobley, Romero and Trenton.

E-Corp employee Tyrell Wellick and his wife Joanna are two of the more disturbing characters on the show. Tyrell has just the right balance between cold, calculating charm and the sense that he’s about to crumble at any time, and Joanna is just plain scary.

And finally there’s Mr. Robot himself, the leader of fsociety. If you’re a fan of Christian Slater and have been wondering why he never does anything worth watching anymore, you’ll be pleased to know he’s doing some excellent work here. The role might as well be written for him.

I highly recommend you check it out. As eloquently put in Amy Ratcliffe’s (spoiler-ridden) review of the whole season: “This isn't something you put on in the background. Mr. Robot deserves every ounce of your attention and energy. It will frequently punch you in the face with the crappy sides of humanity, but there are victories.” And oh, it’s worth it. I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone who started watching it now binged the whole thing and caught up with me in a couple of weeks.

For those of you who have already watched Mr. Robot, I will gently refer you to one of these sources for a good reminder of what the hell happened in the first season. Bonus material: a thorough analysis of the episode names and their connection to both the show and external contexts. I would recap it all for you myself, but I also need to study up on my Mr. Robot facts. I’ll make sure to be all caught up by next week, so I can dive right into reviewing the show for you. Hopefully I’ll get some company in the comments, where you can improve upon my interpretations and share all your crazy theories!


Tova Crossler Ernström is a bisexual Swede, feminist, socialist, INFJ, Hufflepuff, HSP and Taurus. She is fond of personality tests, labels and lists.