Trying to erotisize the experience of being strip searched while being booked into prison is an insult to anyone who has been through that humiliation. Shame on you.
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For the most part through season 2, I'm bored. I DVR the show and wait a long time before I see it because I just don't care as much.
Joshua wrote: Hmmm, yes, it does have more to do with David Lynch's movies Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive ....
Save for the technical effects typical of Lynch, Mr. Robot doesn't really have the qualities or feel of a Lynchian universe. At his most sublime, Lynch can wring genuine tragedy from his darkest impulses. Lynch can move us. Mr. Robot intrigues, but I have yet to be genuinely moved by anything that's been depicted so far on the show. If anything, the world in Mr. Robot feels as though every genuine emotion has been sucked out of it, leaving nothing behind but sheer paranoia set to the pulsating hum of fluorescent lighting fixtures.
Save for the technical effects typical of Lynch, Mr. Robot doesn't really have the qualities or feel of a Lynchian universe. At his most sublime, Lynch can wring genuine tragedy from his darkest impulses. Lynch can move us. Mr. Robot intrigues, but I have yet to be genuinely moved by anything that's been depicted so far on the show. If anything, the world in Mr. Robot feels as though every genuine emotion has been sucked out of it, leaving nothing behind but sheer paranoia set to the pulsating hum of fluorescent lighting fixtures.
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Hmmm, yes, it does have more to do with David Lynch's movies Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.
How do I know this? Sam Esmail told me via Twitter when I asked him this very question and wrote about it in my recaps (onpiratesatellite) and on Reddit over a month ago :) (you can see the evidence of this on both my blog and on Reddit).
The good news, this week I mostly agree with you. That is progress friend.
How do I know this? Sam Esmail told me via Twitter when I asked him this very question and wrote about it in my recaps (onpiratesatellite) and on Reddit over a month ago :) (you can see the evidence of this on both my blog and on Reddit).
The good news, this week I mostly agree with you. That is progress friend.
Excellent show!
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At times I feel that "Mr. Robot" may disappear up its own behind just like "Lost" did, but the immense talent of the writer/director has kept me and will keep me watching. I love the brilliant framing (few things I have seen on any screen this year are as remarkable as the 2 umbrellas scene) and his great willingness to let scenes go on far beyond the obvious need, to great effect. His casting is, I think, brilliant, and eat times the acting even more so. I gave up on "Lost" after a couple of seasons. This ne I will continue watching. Lots more juice to squeeze out of this orange.
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Luckily for us Sam Esmail wrote the entire story out first to be pitched as a movie. Then he realized given the amount of material involved, it will have to be a TV series. At the end of last season he said Season 1 was but Act 1. So Esmail knows exactly how the story should end, and how to get there.
Agree with you about the framing of that scene: the way it starts with a high overhead shot of the two men walking, on a path near the top of the screen that runs diagonally downward to the right. It was just masterful. And later when they were talking, the two figures were tiny, placed on the lower right corner of the screen where networks usually place their logos (no doubt an industry insider joke). And as they talked Philip Price's umbrella was shaking with the force of his words, while White Rose's body transmitted no outward turmoil - just a perfect reflection of their temperament: chaos vs order, yang vs yin...
Agree with you about the framing of that scene: the way it starts with a high overhead shot of the two men walking, on a path near the top of the screen that runs diagonally downward to the right. It was just masterful. And later when they were talking, the two figures were tiny, placed on the lower right corner of the screen where networks usually place their logos (no doubt an industry insider joke). And as they talked Philip Price's umbrella was shaking with the force of his words, while White Rose's body transmitted no outward turmoil - just a perfect reflection of their temperament: chaos vs order, yang vs yin...
"Once he’s released from prison (via a sliding-door shot unintentionally reminiscent of a similar moment in this week’s finale of “The Night Of”), he’s immediately embraced by his sister Darlene..."
I thought the scene referenced Jake Blues prison exit in which, after walking through heavily guarded doors, he is framed in the enormous prison doorway and walks out into the arms of his waiting brother, Elwood.
I thought the scene referenced Jake Blues prison exit in which, after walking through heavily guarded doors, he is framed in the enormous prison doorway and walks out into the arms of his waiting brother, Elwood.
Hi, Sean. You've done the herculean task of writing a recap of this episode, which defies understanding. (Not surprising that I'm the first to comment, a day after.) Perhaps the defiance of understanding is what this season is all about. Just as I think I've figured something out, I'm scratching my head and saying "Wha? When did Elliot devise Stage 2? And murder the heinous Tyrell?" No bad guy deserves to die off screen--but, according to the show's twisted mind, it's likely that we'll find out what Elliot is talking about a few episodes from now. For now, at least two questions emerge: what's with Whiterose and Washington Township? And Philip Price? I confess to loving that he's willing to "rain chaos"; why not? Everyone else is doing that. Seriously. Maybe that's why Dom DiPierro, has receded the past couple weeks. Please, Mr. E., keep Grace Gummer on screen. Final thoughts: Angela, struggling to redeem herself after selling out to E Corp, finds her options narrowing.
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That's the great thing about the Philip Price character: he knows control (in the sense of keeping constant, tight grip to maintain status quo) is an illusion. He doesn't struggle with change, he always rolls with punches, and adapt accordingly. His analysis of situations is clear-eyed, unsentimental. For him every crisis is an opportunity to be ruthless exploited without fear or any other emotion that burdens a normal person - "once you remove emotion from this, it'll all be fine."
Thanks for this subtle but clear analysis which doesn't obsess on the obvious (Whiterose's gender identity/appropriate pronoun, Agent Dom's maybe not so incidental allusion to same sex attraction while violating Angela's psychic & physical space once again). But didn't Lynch obsess/default more to 20th century male gaze erotica as a major component/integral to his horror? Esmail never seems to exploit the grosser aspects of erotica as Lych & most current network tv due to link violence & sexuality.
"The malevolent beauty of “Mr. Robot” Season 2 is such that knowing and not knowing are equally unpleasant options."
Previously in Season 2 we had this clear dichotomy of what's happening in Elliot's mind (completely unreliable, going in circles), and what's happening in the outside world (clearly real, advancing the story). Now with Elliot out of prison, the two world has merged, and as Philip Price said, "it's raining down chaos".
As Elliot said in the previous episode, "what if the journey is you"? The hackers wants to know about Stage 2, only to find out Elliot conceived Stage 2, and that he had other means of contacting the Dark Army. So the story twists like a mobius back into the interior world of Elliot.
That's one reason for the unpleasantness. The other is every time a small questions are answered (who knocked on Eliot's door, where has he been...), a bigger set of questions emerges:
1. what's so important about Washington Township Plant (and what makes it so important even back in 1995)?
2. what is the bigger story here: Seems like Elliot, Darlene, and Angela are collateral damages (cancer -> retaliation against E Corp) from this long con, emerging as pawns in the latest chapter of that story.
3. what does white rose want: she seems to crave control, but she wants to upend the world...
We now know Elliot's plot is but a small part of a much bigger story, hopefully by end of this season we'll have a clear idea of what all of this is really about.
Previously in Season 2 we had this clear dichotomy of what's happening in Elliot's mind (completely unreliable, going in circles), and what's happening in the outside world (clearly real, advancing the story). Now with Elliot out of prison, the two world has merged, and as Philip Price said, "it's raining down chaos".
As Elliot said in the previous episode, "what if the journey is you"? The hackers wants to know about Stage 2, only to find out Elliot conceived Stage 2, and that he had other means of contacting the Dark Army. So the story twists like a mobius back into the interior world of Elliot.
That's one reason for the unpleasantness. The other is every time a small questions are answered (who knocked on Eliot's door, where has he been...), a bigger set of questions emerges:
1. what's so important about Washington Township Plant (and what makes it so important even back in 1995)?
2. what is the bigger story here: Seems like Elliot, Darlene, and Angela are collateral damages (cancer -> retaliation against E Corp) from this long con, emerging as pawns in the latest chapter of that story.
3. what does white rose want: she seems to crave control, but she wants to upend the world...
We now know Elliot's plot is but a small part of a much bigger story, hopefully by end of this season we'll have a clear idea of what all of this is really about.
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I echo your curiosity regarding The Washington Township Plant. I understand it led to the deaths of Andrea, Elliot and Darlene's parents. Why is Whiterose interested in it? I feel like I am missing something crucial. If anyone has time to explain, I would appreciate it.
We simply don't know. We can only speculate:
White Rose is a cabinet level official, he can make almost anything happen in China. So what is it that a plant in NJ suburb makes that cannot be made in China? It would have to be something high tech with national defense implications, say computer hardware or nuclear technology. Stealing nuclear secrets would just be another day in the ongoing arms race, it won't radically transform world/society in a way that gets someone like White Rose so excited.
It could have something to do with clocks. White Rose's obsession is with 'hacking time'. The system time circuitry plays a critical role in many of modern computer's basic/critical functions. For example, GPS is but a set of clock's in space that the terrestrial receiver checks and use the differences to triangulate the position. For this reason both China and Russia have their own GPS systems.
Clocks also plays a critical role in encryption, which relies heavily on generation of random numbers. A lot of times this is done using the hardware. If there's a weakness relating to the system clock, then the encryption can be broken. This has happened already with Bitcoin in 2013 when users of Android mobile systems had their digital currency stolen.
We know Phillip Price wants to use the crisis to hasten the conversion to digital currency. It would make sense part of the plan involves using a vulnerability built in by him to achieve complete control over it...
White Rose is a cabinet level official, he can make almost anything happen in China. So what is it that a plant in NJ suburb makes that cannot be made in China? It would have to be something high tech with national defense implications, say computer hardware or nuclear technology. Stealing nuclear secrets would just be another day in the ongoing arms race, it won't radically transform world/society in a way that gets someone like White Rose so excited.
It could have something to do with clocks. White Rose's obsession is with 'hacking time'. The system time circuitry plays a critical role in many of modern computer's basic/critical functions. For example, GPS is but a set of clock's in space that the terrestrial receiver checks and use the differences to triangulate the position. For this reason both China and Russia have their own GPS systems.
Clocks also plays a critical role in encryption, which relies heavily on generation of random numbers. A lot of times this is done using the hardware. If there's a weakness relating to the system clock, then the encryption can be broken. This has happened already with Bitcoin in 2013 when users of Android mobile systems had their digital currency stolen.
We know Phillip Price wants to use the crisis to hasten the conversion to digital currency. It would make sense part of the plan involves using a vulnerability built in by him to achieve complete control over it...
1
People who watch Mr. Robot are smart enough not to read this article if they are not caught up, to avoid spolers. Unfortunately, the article's writer has put out a spoiler without warning to not-caught-up viewers of "The Night Of". Other than that, it's a well written and enjoyable recap.
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