Every once in a while, a TV show comes out of nowhere and changes the very fabric of the medium. Off the top of my head, I can think of five: Twin Peaks, Lost, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. After Vince Gilligan's hit drug drama ended in 2013, I wondered what series would capture the cultural zeitgeist next.
The answer came in the form of an edgy show about the internet, of all things. It starred a relatively unknown character actor as a flawed, neurodivergent hacker genius who gets sucked into a shadow government conspiracy. The show was lifted up by solid performances, relevant themes, slick writing, epic world-building and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing week in and week out.
The program I am talking about is an Emmy-winner, a game-changer and one of the best thrillers to ever hit television. Now, for the first time ever in the United States, it is available to stream in full on Netflix.
This is Mr. Robot.
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Rami Malek plays Elliot Alderson in the hacker drama Mr. Robot. USA Network
"Hello, friend," Rami Malek's hacker antihero Elliot Alderson says in the opening moments of the pilot episode. He's talking to the audience. But moreover, I took it to heart that he was talking to me. As someone who related to his antisocial, black hoodie-wearing, outcast vibe, it felt as if Elliot was the TV embodiment of me -- if my goth outcast phase of the '90s and '00s never ended.
Without getting too into the weeds here, Mr. Robot follows Elliot, a computer programmer who works for a giant company, named E-Corp (or Evil Corp, depending on who you ask) by day and flexes his chops as a hacker at night. He gets recruited by a mysterious Anonymous-like organization that wants to crash corporate America. The only issue? He works for the company at the top of the greedy corporate food chain.
That's the nutshell explanation but there's more going on here than that. Add in a V for Vendetta-style anarchist cult, a mysterious mentor figure (conveniently named Mr. Robot) and a complicated mental health struggle and you have one heck of a layered onion to unpeel.
Mr. Robot is an absolute banger of a TV show. It was different from anything else on television (and pretty much, still is). It was clear from the jump that this series was going to move the needle; it was a programming paradigm shift and it had a lot to say.
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