This show is addictive, in a way I haven’t experienced in a while- with its intense drama and scathing social commentary. An imperfect hero sets out to change the world by taking down society’s most powerful forces, with his fellow team of hackers, in order to cancel debt and redistribute wealth.
You can’t help but reflect on the corporations that we let dictate our lives and our health. In the world of this show, huge “accidents” and political upheaval are caused and covered up by corporations.
It is compelling because there is a grain of truth. It is reminiscent, for me, of how, in the American public school system, we don’t learn about U.S. involvement in Latin America, get taught about what happened to the bodies of people in Japan after the U.S. dropped the atom bombs, or learn about the genocide of Native Americans.
I like the “F. You!” to corporate culture as well. The show kind of holds up a mirror to toxic work culture, and the dangers of ruthless social climbing without regard for ethics. In one of the American Psycho like characters, we see a young person obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder who takes out his frustrations from work on other people, in increasingly violent and psychotic ways. In one of the main female characters, we see the conflict between knowing that what a corporation you are working for is doing is wrong, and at the same time depending on that corporation to pay off debts. We also see the character somewhat enamored with the lifestyle the job affords.
I want TV shows and films that I see to be thought provoking, and this show certainly was.
I was initially interested in the show, in part, because I became a big fan of Rami Malek, after seeing him in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” His performance in Mr. Robot was deep and vulnerable- he really made the show. Without his narration, and emotional expressions, the show would not have pulled off portraying the main character in a believable way. You could really understand the character as a traumatized, exceptionally talented, yet struggling, person.
