Mr Robot Episode 1 Review: F Society (Season Premiere)

"Mr Robot" is a new USA 10 part series that premiered Wednesday at 10 ET. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot and Christian Slater as Mr Robot. Elliot is a socially isolated drug addicted techie who during the day works at Allsafe (a cybersecurity company) with his childhood friend Angela. At night he becomes a vigilante hacker. We first meet Elliot as he takes down a guy peddling child porn from his coffee shop. Elliot meets Ron in person to tell him exactly what he's done... right before the police arrive.

Elliot keeps seeing mysterious men in black. Is he delusional or really being followed? He must attend court ordered therapy sessions. His psychiatrist Krista tells Elliot "When you hide, your delusions come back. It's a slippery slope". Elliot later hacks Krista's boyfriend who is actually a married man who cheats on his wife (obviously) and hires hookers. Elliot tells the loser to break up with Krista or else. Elliot also takes the man's dog (since he treated it poorly). Bestie Angela also has a boyfriend named Ollie. He wants to be buds but Elliot doesnt feel the same way. Elliot does some cybersnooping on Ollie. He's also cheated on Angela. Should Elliot tell her?

Elliot hates his job, he hates big government, he hates social media, he hates consumerism, he hates college debt, and I dont think he likes himself very much either. Dont get me wrong, I like Elliot. I find him to be an interesting character. I just have a hard time with shows that rail against society but dont offer an alternative? What would you suggest in it's place?

Proof That F Society Hacked E Corp

One of Allsafe's largest clients is ECorp (AKA Evil Corp). It's a gigantic conglomerate with its tentacles into everything. Someone wants to bring them down and is hacking into their system. Elliot saves the day and getting their servers back online. The ECorp biggies arrives at Allsafe to determine the culprit. The head honcho, Terry Colby, is a real asshole to Angela. He has her thrown out of the big meeting. This pisses off Elliot who decides to take Colby down.

Because All Top Secret Meetings Must Be Held In Dilapidated Buildings

Elliot encounters a mysterious man on the subway and around town. Mr Robot eventually takes Elliot to an old arcade on Coney Island. This is the meeting place of a group known as "F Society". Mr Robot tells Elliot he's going to participate in the biggest revolution the world has ever seen. To start with, they want to take down Evil Corp and Elliot is just the man to help them.

At the end of the episode Elliot earns that Terry Colby has been arrested thanks to his and F Society's work. In Times Square he sees Terry's face splashed all over the jumbotrons. Just then two guys shove him into a car. Elliot is taken to see Terry's second in command. Uh oh. That doesnt look good. I bet ECorp is pissed OR that guy is happy because now he's the boss. .

Favorite Quotes:

"What is it about society that disappoints you so much?"- Krista to Elliot.
"When you hide, your delusions come back. It's a slippery slope"- Krista to Elliot.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). An interesting premise but will it keep me coming back regularly? I'm not sure yet. I really do like Rami Malek though. His character is flawed and it makes me want to hug him (although I dont think he'd like that). Despite his likeability, when is someone going to call Elliot out on his behavior? Snooping around on your bestie and your therapist is not cool. Sometimes people very well know what's going on but chose to look the other way. Elliot is all about control is his life but doesnt give anyone control in theirs.

I think "Mr Robot" needs to make a conscious effort not to be overly techie or they may lose some viewers. I'm fairly techie but I'm more interested in the interaction of the main characters. Also selling a show where the main character looks at a screen most of the time is a hard sell. So far they've done a good job.

Now for the million dollar question is-- do we think Elliot is delusional or sane? I thought Mr Robot was a hallucination but we saw him interact with several people so I assume he's real? I still think this might all be in Elliot's head but it's too early to tell.

My major gripe with "Mr Robot" has nothing to do with the show. There is no closed caption. Is this a USA thing? Sorry, I dont typically watch this channel. USA, please add CC so we dont miss any of the dialogue (especially since the voice overs are so extensive).