ICYMI: MR. ROBOT
Rami Malek + Christian Slater In The Hacker Thriller
In Case You Missed It is a series on PROVOKR highlighting cult TV series that have recently made their way to streaming platforms.
Hello, friend. That’s how Oscar winner Rami Malek introduces his character, Elliot Alderson, in the very first episode of Mr. Robot. At the time, of course, Malek wasn’t the star he is today, mostly known for minor roles in the Night at the Museum films and the final installment in The Twilight Saga.
When Mr. Robot launched in 2015 on USA Network, it was a modest hit buoyed by the celebrity of Christian Slater, who portrays the titular character, enigmatic anarchist Mr. Robot. What at first glance might seem like a simple premise—hacktivist recruits loner to an A-Team of tech savants committed to liberating the world from banks, debt and the crushing heel of capitalism—quickly devolves into one of the weirdest shows on basic cable, second only to FX’s Legion.
Showrunner Sam Esmail is responsible for all the signature quirks that make Mr. Robot special. Its shots are framed in an off-kilter way that deliberately makes the audience feel uneasy. The flow of information trickles in through Rami Malek’s unreliable narrator, borrowing twists from masters of suspense like David Fincher. The hacking lingo and coding scenes are realistic, a first for techno-thrillers. At the same time, even the most computer-averse Luddite can follow along.
Though the series hovered on the precipice of a 100% approval rating over its four season run, it never cracked 2 million viewers, with the numbers dwindling to under half a million by the end. Its streaming success has been much higher, however—with the first three seasons available for free to Amazon Prime subscribers, and the fourth imminent, the show’s fanbase has grown considerably.
Mr. Robot on Amazon is a marriage of convenience—none of the characters on the show would approve of being involved with such an evil corporation. Jeff Bezos represents everything that Elliot Alderson and his hacker crew despise; the show’s primary antagonists are the conglomerate E-Corp and its board of wealth-hoarding billionaires. For further irony, Amazon Prime is one of the only streaming platforms that can’t be viewed with a VPN, a restriction that might make watching Mr. Robot (or any other Prime series) a nonstarter for the tech-savvy.
If you can overlook that stuff, though, and are comfortable viewing the takedown of corporate overlords through the lens of chaos going down in Elliot’s world rather than a reflection of the aftermath of Occupy Wall Street and real-life hacktivist movements, Amazon is the place to be for Mr. Robot. It’s one of the most compelling series of the Prestige TV era and if you missed it on USA, now’s the time to plug in.
