No, but for a panicked moment rshetts had me worried. There are 10 episodes in this season, last night was the ninth.
The naming has always been a little confusing though, since it started with episode “1.0”. Last night was “eps1.8_m1rr0r1ng.qt”
When I was watching they had a banner run that said “You are watching the Season Finale of Mr. Robot. Stay tuned for … yada yada…” Anyway, they must have run the wrong banner. I found out later that it wasnt the season finale. I thought the ending seemed rather abrupt but that would not have been out of place for this show.
Ugh. Way too on the nose. I mean, seriously. I know they know we know they’re riffing on Fight Club, so I can’t imagine what they think they’re accomplishing by playing Where Is My Mind? As soon as the piano start it started, I was like, no way, you have got to be kidding.
And the stunt-framing is out of hand. Mr Robot and Elliot:
Angela and the lawyer:
Darlene and Angela:
Elliot’s boss and his boyfriend:
And all that was literally within the first fifteen minutes of the episode. Jeebus, already.
I suppose it was kind of interesting when this happened at the end.
-Tom
“Pulp Fiction? Never heard of it. You sure I can take you to that?”
I figured some people wouldn’t like Where is My Mind for exactly that reason, but it worked for me. And the stunt framing is something I’m aware of, but it’s not having any kind of cumulative effect on me; it’s not getting more annoying every time I see it.
And we do still get some beautiful shots, like Tyrell passing the detectives in the hallway, with the flickering of sunlight reflecting off the city and into the hallway behind him. Wish I had a GIF of that. I think the show looks great.
Here’s what’s getting under my skin: all the censorship. They’re saying “fuck” more often than most basic cable shows I can think of, so of course it’s getting muted, but it’s usually in quiet scenes and quiet dialog, so it’s not always immediately obvious that they’re dropping out a word as it’s happening. I’m doing mental double takes reparsing the dialog often enough it’s distracting.
Yep, my knowledge of read/written English has been forged through the years on videogames/Internet/books. That left me with a unbalanced, stunted English where I’m pretty good at reading/writing*, but less at listening it, and even worse at speaking it. But this year I subscribed to a Official Idiom School (they are state-funded, 5-6 years formation), with the hope of improving.
Mind you, this doesn’t mean I don’t understand any spoken English, usually unaccented, clear, not very fast English I handle without problems. I’m subscribed to several English science channels for example. But in tv dramas sometimes they speak not that clear or they do it very fast, and if they are series I’m liking as much as Mr. Robot, I hate the feeling of having lost one part of a sentence here, another there, as it leaves me wondering if that word was actually important for the plot or the character building, so I prefer to wait 24 hours to have the subs.
I remember watching the last two seasons of How I met your mother without subs because at that point I didn’t care that much :P.
*: at least now I always write schedule right.
So now it’s definitively established that…
spoiler
Eliot and Darlene’s dad is in fact dead, and that all the Christian Slater sightings were in Eliot’s mind?
So the subs you’re talking about are in English or Spanish? At first I thought you meant Spanish ones, but I would think watching with the English ones on would serve to help you get better at understanding idiomatic American English, so now I’m thinking that’s what you meant.
I agree with this. They took the end goal (destroying banks to remove debt) and plot twist straight from Fight Club and now they take the end song too? There’s homage and then there’s … whatever this is. There’s still the final episode so let’s see where Mr. Robot takes us.
Well when you put it that way, it does sound kind of silly. But in the context of the show, the bank/debt removal seems more personal and differently motivated in Mr. Robot, enough so that I’m not reminded of Fight Club by that aspect. I can definitely see why it could bother someone though.
Whatever of the two get to appear first :P, which usually is the English version.
Agree. Didn’t recognize the song myself, but I do remember being quite surprised how closely they parallel Fight Club. That’s wrong - they just wholesale ripped it off. At least they’re not trying to hide it. Otherwise, this show has been just fucking excellent, couldn’t care less about the cinematography which I actually feel is excellent. So, I’m in for the haul on it. I’m assuming it will go different places now that the ‘secret’ is out. Loved how the self-narration called it out “You’ve known this all along, haven’t you.”
Sure, though it could also be that Elliot got the idea from reading/watching Fight Club, which would be possible considering the show’s timeline. Which wouldn’t placate those who find it too on-the-nose, or whatever.
Elliot is a tough role for an actor, I think, because there’s a fine line between that sort of disaffected/zombie state being annoying/lazy/boring and working. Whatever Rami Makek is doing is heavy on the “working” side, for me at least.
Oh, Elliot, you so crazy.
Episode 9
I thought given how the last ep finished, with him clearly not having memories to trust, it was clear his dad was a figment of his imagination, but at the start he misunderstood the big twist for “my dad is still alive!” instead of “I’m fucking crazy and I suffer delusions”. The entire episode was correcting that mistake.
It seems Mr. Robot will “leave” the series for now, with Elliot recognizing it was only him all along. Until the moment is right, at least, I’m sure he will appear again, maybe when Elliot really needs his help or has a new traumatic experience. Tyrell appears just in time for being the new Elliot’s partner in crime.
The series isn’t perfect, I’m not liking a lot the Angela’s plot, it seems a bit boring, and unconnected to the rest. I always thought it would cross with Elliot’s plot at some point and Elliot would be involved, but that hasn’t been the case. At least the new angle of “working inside E corp” could be interesting.
You know, as I was watching this episode, I remembered your previous comments, but even then I thought this framing style isn’t that bad or bothersome. It’s interesting because at least partially the reason is technical (something you wouldn’t think at first): we don’t have 28" tvs any more. We have 47-55" widescreen tvs. And let’s be honest, we are still sitting at the same distance of the screen. In these modern huge tvs, even when the characters are thrown into a side in the screen, they still have plenty of presence on the screen and the rest of the frame gives a natural/immersive look at their location. Apart of course of the entire isolationist angle that it’s behind this psychological thriller. Every character is an island apart from others.
Actually, I like that a lot, Steve. I mean, if they’re going to invoke Pulp Fiction and Time Cop, you figure Fight Club might as well be part of the Mr Robot universe. I might be on board with the music choice now. :)
Rami Malek is the reason I started watching this and he’s the reason I’ve stuck with it. He’s crazy talented, and not just at playing this show’s difficult disaffected/zombie state. He’s really good as the comic relief in Need for Speed and especially as the perspective of the audience in the excellent Short Term 12. I’ll see anything the guy is in.
It’s a stylistic choice, and the choice itself isn’t a problem. I just find it overdone. It calls too much attention to itself. At those moments, I’m suddenly very aware of the guy behind the camera setting up the shot. That’s almost never a good thing.
-Tom
The short-siding can be obtrusive, but the same impulse that leads to that also leads to the wonderful use of wide lenses, and those great compositions in the cemetery with all that headroom above Eliot. Same deal with Breaking Bad: full of laughable “Let’s mount a camera on X!” shots, but compensated for by other really good stuff. Home run hitters tend to strike out more than most.
You are aware of it because they do something unsual on a technical level but 99% of viewers won’t even notice it (in a consience way). That’s why I’d argue they have to “overdo” it or else it won’t register in an unconscious way.
You are aware of it because they do something unsual on a technical level and someone like you will obviously notice it a lot but that’s not true for 99% of the audience (in a consience way). That’s why I’d argue they have to “overdo” it or else it won’t register in an unconscious way.
In other forums there are more people noticing the framing work, it seems you have to go to this extreme for the normal viewer to notice, otherwise if it’s too subtle it goes above their heads.
Interestingly enough, Steven Soderbergh thinks it’s the best directed show on TV.
Finale postponed until next week in light of today’s shooting.
USA said the decision to postpone was made because the finale “contains a graphic scene similar in nature to today’s tragic events in Virginia.”