You Should Watch: Mr. Robot

It's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening

I do see the beauty in the rules. The invisible code of chaos hiding behind the menacing face of order.
—Elliot Alderson, Mr. Robot S02E01 “eps2.0 unm4sk-pt1.tc”

It is, indeed, an exciting time in the world right now. That’s because all four seasons of Mr. Robot have been added to Netflix, and I get to tell even more people to go watch it immediately.

I’m aware that Netflix’s content has been in serious decline for years now, and I don’t begrudge anyone for having canceled their subscription. But it’s worth firing it back up for a month or two to watch (or rewatch) this series.

I’m also aware that yes, critically and awards-ically speaking, it’s hard to call Mr. Robot under-appreciated. Each season received widespread critical acclaim and the show won two Golden Globes, three Emmys, and a Peabody Award, which I didn’t even know TV shows could receive (it’s relatively rare). It’s garnered a cult following, including an X account that tweets every single frame from the show in order; was parodied in an SNL sketch in 2016; inspired a meme; and launched Rami Malek from “Elliot, just a tech” to Oscar-winning, GQ-modeling stardom.

But there’s a strong case to be made that Mr. Robot is underrated from a viewership standpoint. Its ratings were modest upon airing, and anecdotally, I rarely encounter people IRL who’ve seen it (and I talk about TV a lot). It didn’t help that since the show’s initial airing on USA Network, it hasn’t been available on a major streaming platform, unless you were willing to pay-per-episode on Amazon Prime. I’m hoping its addition to Netflix will bring it the larger audience recognition and appreciation it deserves, beyond the confines of critics and cult followers.

For now, here are all the reasons you should watch Mr. Robot, even if it’s just to make me finally STFU about it (I will not).

Soundtrack and original score

Mac Quayle’s Emmy-winning original score is to Mr. Robot what Trent Reznor’s was to The Social Network (2010). It ranges from emotional and moody, to dark and foreboding, to vintage and retro-sounding — sometimes all at once. The main theme goes especially hard, and you can listen to a 10-hour loop of it on YouTube (I dare you to put this on at a party and see how long it takes your friends to notice):

All eight(!!!) volumes are on Spotify. They’re all bangers, but I recommend starting with the OG, Vol. 1:

Music supervisor Brienne Rose collaborated closely with series creator Sam Esmail to curate the rest of the soundtrack, and they almost never miss. Esmail is known to factor music heavily into his creative vision for an episode or scene, even with a specific song in mind. The result is so many scenes where the song choice is just… 🤌🏻🤌🏻

Some standout examples (⛔️which contain spoilers so click at your own risk!⛔️):

• “Love on a Real Train” by Tangerine Dream in this scene, S01E05

• “Sound and Color” by Alabama Shakes in this scene, S01E10

• “Take Me Home” by Phil Collins in this scene, S02E01

• “The Order of Death” by Public Image Ltd in this scene, S02E09

• “The Moth & The Flame” by Les Deux Love Orchestra in this scene, S02E12

• “New Sensation” by INXS in the cold open of S03E02

Major thanks to Spotify user Fabian for putting together this massive playlist of all tracks featured in the show in chronological order.

Deep world-building

The Mr. Robot universe revolves around E-Corp, a massive multi-national conglomerate and near-monopoly that deals in technology, banking, consumer credit, digital currency, energy, commerce, media, entertainment, real estate, shipping, and postal service. Elliot, Angela, Darlene, and other E-Corp haters (of which there are many) call it “Evil Corp”, and Elliot frequently imagines it written and spoken as so. Throughout the series, E-Corp is everywhere, from subway ads to storefront signs to congressional hearings.

Lofty, immersive, yet meticulous, the show’s world almost never stops building, and the attention to both large and small detail is immaculate. Extending beyond E-Corp, it encompasses hacker collectives, the fallout of the 5/9 attack, family lore, geopolitics, and more. It manages to get just close enough to the uncanny valley to feel slightly bizarre, but without sacrificing realism.

Technical precision and accuracy

This is by far my favorite aspect of the show, and one of its most praised elements for good reason.

Sam Esmail is a tech guy himself: he learned to code in his early teens, studied film and computer science at NYU (where he was once placed on academic probation for hacking emails in the computer lab), and founded an ISP software company after college. For Mr. Robot, he brought in numerous experts to ensure the show’s technical accuracy, including a former FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force agent, the founder and director of Black Hat and DEF CON, and a principal security researcher at Cloudflare. The show’s hacking scenes were performed by these experts and then recreated using Flash animation, so what you see on a computer screen is legit.

In a Reddit AMA, a member of Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team rated the show a 9.5/10 on accuracy in IT security and hacking:

You’ll learn fun and interesting shit about hacking, cybersecurity, social engineering, destroying data, how a Rubber Ducky works, what a femtocell is, etc. And you’ll hopefully go change all your passwords to be less easy to guess.

At times, it’s pure competence p*rn — watching someone be really really skilled at something — and highly pleasing to watch.

Complex character arcs

I’ll go out on a limb and say that Tyrell Wellick is the true star of Mr. Robot. His character arc is complex, tragic, and unexpected. He has many qualities of an antihero — deeply flawed, sympathetic despite heinous actions, and conflicted identity — but I wouldn’t liken him to one. He’s more like Gail Wynand in The Fountainhead, someone who could be Elliot if he stopped only seeing what’s in front of him and not what’s above him.

Tyrell is divisive among viewers, so there’s no correct way to feel about his character. Just know that whatever your first impression of him is, it will change multiple times throughout the series. His most endearing quality, if you ask me, is his extreme devotion to others: namely his wife Joanna (another fascinating character), his infant son, and Elliot, to the point where there’s a shipping fandom of the two known as Tyrelliot.

You’ll often find yourself asking why he does what he does and what it’s all for, but you won’t get any answers — because Tyrell doesn’t know either. He spends much of the series in search of identity and meaning, and finding them in all the wrong places.

Angela Moss is another interesting one. Without giving too much away, she has one of those minor-to-major character arcs, a brilliant storytelling device in peak TV shows — think Cousin Greg in Succession or Jian Yang in Silicon Valley. She becomes, as Dom would say, “a lot more special than you think”.

Unorthodox cinematography

In Pink Floyd’s “Money”, the song sounds eerie and off-kilter due to an unusual time signature. Most of it is in 7/4 time, meaning each measure has seven beats, as opposed to a more conventional even number of beats.

Mr. Robot does something similar with its cinematography. In many shots, subjects are placed in the very bottom, left, or right of the frame, rather than the center or along the rule of thirds. Variety aptly described it as “disruptive”. Scenes where characters are left- or right-aligned feel odd and fragmentary, mirroring the overall vibe of the series, and scenes where they’re at the far bottom create a sense of them being part of something much bigger than themselves (for better or worse). The unusual cinematography was signature enough to be parodied by SNL at the end of this sketch:

Other scenes like this one (contains spoilers) use alternating high and low camera angles, reflecting both the literal and figurative positioning of Dom and Angela. The mounting close-ups create more looming in a way that “really makes you claustrophobic”, as one YouTube commenter put it.

The “man in the middle” scene

Season 2’s finale contains one of the most well-done scenes you’ll ever watch. It’s an all-time favorite of mine, and one of those scenes I’ll randomly rewatch on YouTube still in awe of it. It has major spoilers, so watch with caution.

***If you are OK with reading spoilers, go to this footnote for analysis of the scene:¹***

Otherwise, don’t scroll any further than the ⛔️⛔️⛔️ after the following section.

How to watch Mr. Robot

It’s on Netflix, but if you’re really against restarting your subscription, you can watch it on Tubi for free with ads.

What to expect going into each season:

Season 1: The very first episode will hook you. This is not a slow burn show — a lot happens in season 1 and it builds a great deal of suspense. A lot of character development takes place, especially of Elliot and Tyrell. There’s a twist toward the end that you’ll probably predict, but don’t hold it against anyone.

Season 2: I won’t lie: this season gets dark. But stick with it! Many scenes I’ve called out in this post are from season 2, because it has much of the show’s best music, writing, and cinematography. The pacing is a bit slower, but expect lots of depth. The first 17 minutes of S02E06 “eps2.4 m4ster-s1ave.aes” are stylized as a twisted 90s sitcom, and it’s one of the most creepy and unsettling things you’ll ever see (in a cool way). Another twist occurs that is less easy to predict, and one that I personally loved.

Season 3: The most action-packed season. Shit starts to get weird, but the tight pacing and high-stakes drama will keep you hooked. There’s an incredible one-take episode (or at least it appears like a single take) capturing a corporate heist and a riot, S03E05 “eps3.4_runtime-error.r00”, that is riveting to watch. Have fun!

Season 4: Another eventful season, but heavy on the emotion too. Two exceptional episodes were much beloved by fans and critics: S04E05 “405 Method Not Allowed”, which depicts another heist and uses very little dialogue, and S04E07 “407 Proxy Authentication Required”, an intense psychological and emotional exploration. The two-part series finale contains one final twist, a bold and risky one, but you won’t be disappointed.

If you’d prefer to watch a few clips before diving in, the official Mr. Robot channel on YouTube contains hundreds, but beware of spoilers. For thorough information on characters, episodes, and everything in the show’s universe, the Mr. Robot Wiki is fantastic. The subreddit is also rich and still active.

⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️

1. This scene alone in the season 2 finale makes the entire series worth watching:

DOM: And no matter what story gets written in the final analysis, we’ve both been a part of one of the biggest events in world history.

DARLENE: Believe what you want, but neither you, nor I, are special. I’ve already learned that lesson.

DOM: If you’re open to changing your mind, I’d like to show you something. Come with me. You are a lot more special than you think.

I fucking love this scene for so many reasons, but let’s start with the song. As mentioned, Sam Esmail knows how to dial up a scene with a killer song choice. This one really completes the scene not just through its sound, but also its lyrics. The song is “The Moth & The Flame” by Les Deux Love Orchestra, a cover of Aimee Mann’s “The Moth” about the intoxicating, sometimes dangerous nature of desire and attraction.

In this instance, instead of two lovers, it signifies the cat-and-mouse affair between the FBI and fsociety:

The moth don't care when he sees the flame
He might get burned but he's in the game
And once he's in, he can't go back
He'll beat his wings 'til he burns them black

No, the moth don't care when he sees the flame
The moth don't care when he sees the flame

The moth don't care if the flame is real
The flame and moth got a sweetheart deal
And nothing fuels a good flirtation
Like need and anger and desperation

The scene is a rare depiction of competent police work, which is refreshing and worth appreciating in a show where law enforcement aren’t exactly the protagonists. The all-too-common trope of “Don’t worry, if they had anything on us, we’d be arrested by now” (which, ironically, Darlene tells Angela earlier in season 2) is a gross misunderstanding of the immense time and resources it can take to build a case. Dom spells this out to Darlene, telling her that in fact, the FBI took this drawn-out approach on purpose:

Sure, the strategy was risky, but we knew we only had one shot. If we rounded everyone up, guns blazing, we thought we would never get the man in the middle. And with the stakes being this high, it was imperative that we got him before he knew we were getting him. So we sat back and waited.

They call it the python approach. They’ll lie in wait for the right moment to strike. You know some can go up to a year without eating? A patient predator.

The strategy worked in terms of the sheer amount of information the FBI had on fsociety, and it had the audience thinking the “bad guys” might actually win. As a viewer, it was fun to share Darlene’s genuine shock and awe at just how much the FBI knew — some of which she herself didn’t know at this point — from the initial social engineering attack on Allsafe through Angela’s boyfriend, all the way to Elliot’s hacker alias and what is probably the only known photo of him. In a testament to Elliot’s elusiveness, there was still a very key piece of information the feds didn’t know, but fsociety was largely unaware of the FBI’s game.