As hacker group Fsociety plans to take down Evil Corp the worst thing that could have happened to USANetworks’s Mr. Robot in episode 4 was a car chase, or a typical heist caper at Stone Mountain (Evil Corp’s heavily guarded data storage facility). But that didn’t happen; for the most part what episode 4 treated us with was a hallucinatory exploration of the protagonist, Elliot Alderson’s mind. This unexpected turn of events may have lost the series some of its less cerebral fans, but it may also have quieted some of the show’s few critics.

‘Daemons’ (eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4) not only explores drug addiction brought on by a pandemic of anomie – alienation, purposeless, social instability – but it asks the question of free will. Free will; and how much we are guided by our subconscious impulses. Alderson in his fixed monotone asks, “Daemons. They don’t stop working. They’re always active. They seduce. They manipulate. They own us. And even though you’re with me, even though I created you, it makes no difference. We all must deal with them alone.”

In the latest episode Alderson is taken to the nadir of his emotional well-being during an opiate withdrawal, at which point it seems he is left with the question of what is his ‘purpose’, and who are his monsters, or daemons?

Note: Demon, the modern spelling of the word daemon, has mostly negative connotations. A daemon (daymon) on the other hand was seen by the Ancient Greeks as being something benign that could communicate to both the Gods and mortals. A daemon is also a computer program that runs silently in the background of an operating system without the need for user interaction, something we might compare to how Mr. Robot seemingly functions in the mind of Elliot Alderson.  

Going Deep

Alderson, played by actor Rami Malek, talked to the Wall Street Journal about getting himself prepared for playing an opiate addict and also portraying realistically what it is like to detox from opiates. He explained that, “I’ve sat through some too-personal representations of what it’s like, but it helped me. You also have to remember scenes from other movies. ‘Trainspotting’ has a great withdrawal scene.”

The scene(s) from Trainspotting, was almost identical in parts to the detox in Mr. Robot, including the foreboding electro soundtrack, or when directly after a hit Alderson grabs and kisses a girl sat beside him. Notwithstanding, it was an enthralling trip that the director handled superbly. After watching this, and during the same episode seeing his colleague Angela, and neighbor Shayla, putting ecstasy (MDMA) to curative use, it’s evident that drug use and abuse is a major theme in the story.

The psychological depth to the story-line is  convincing proof that Mr. Robot is more about Humans than it is about Hackers. Realism, when expertly and empathetically contrived, is the currency of great television nowadays. Other depictions of hackers and hacking have so far bypassed realism and instead focused on fantasy. During what was one of the few comedic turns in the series so far we see Alderson’s hacking counterparts, Romero and Mobley, watching the 1995 film Hackers on television while Alderson is detoxing in the hotel bedroom. Romero says, “Hollywood hacker bullshit. I’ve been in the game 27 years, and not once have I ever come across an animated singing virus.”

He adds, “I bet you right now some writer is working hard on a TV show that’ll mess up this generation’s idea of hacker culture.”

While this meta statement is one of the reasons the show has gained widespread popularity, especially with people who understand the technical aspects of hacking, it is merely an aside to the torments the man in the other room is going through. Hacking, however much a satisfying simulacrum of the real deal, is secondary to the plot, even though Mr. Robot is first and foremost called a hacking series. It’s much more than that, so far at least.

The Hacker’s Fight Club?

Malek goes on to say in the WSJ interview that none of the hallucinatory episodes his character experienced during cold turkey were unintentional, while Christian Slater who plays Mr. Robot (now generally thought to be in Alderson’s  imagination) said when interviewed that he was thrilled when they got to the last episode of the season, adding that viewers, “have to pay attention, and there are little clues along the way, as to who Mr. Robot is and what his real agenda is.”

One thing that has confused many viewers who were/are adamant Mr. Robot is a kind of Tyler Durden type alter-ego is the fact that during part of Alderson’s cold turkey trip for the first time Mr. Robot is talked to directly. It did seem rather obvious, and maybe just a little too easy to align the series so comfortably with Fight Club. Nonetheless, it would make little sense if Mr. Robot was anything but a vision, something running quietly in the background of Alderson’s consciousness.

During Alderson’s hallucinatory detox we were given some other themes that permeate his subconscious. A talk with his pet fish, Qwerty, that is later turned into a trout and eaten by Angela, only for Alderson to sadly remark that the fish was his friend. A marriage between the two then ensues. He also sees himself being forced to eat the same fish by his mother. We see him go back to his childhood home only to find a 404 error message where it used to be. He discovers a key hidden in Pop’s famous raspberry pie. At last we see Alderson with Pennybags, the Monopoly Man; at which point there is a sharing of masks.

What it all means

What does this all mean? It’s hard to say, only that his journey, very true to opiate withdrawal, is the unveiling of some of the monsters that may have driven him to addiction in the first place. The loss of childhood pets – a fish, trapped, unaware of the world outside its small tank (consciousness?). The inability to come to terms with the death of his father. Angela and a shaky belief in love, something Alderson has seen little of. And his raison detre: perhaps the unmasking of Pennybags, maybe a symbol of greed.

Speculation is rife as to the meaning of Mr. Robot himself, something that has made the heavy (as of episode 4) social commentary something of a page-turner. Recently series creator Sam Esmail tweeted, “I have an ending and it’s about 4 or 5 seasons away.” Let’s hope there won’t be a hugely anti-climactic denouement or cheap deus ex machine finale. The problems with series that ask us to ask a lot of questions is that they often don’t answer them in any kind of convincing fashion. Given what we have seen so far, it doesn’t look like this will happen.

We may get to see, accurately, how a ‘Raspberry Pi’ (single board computer) is able to shutdown Evil Corp’s storage facility in the next episode, but it is Alderson’s journey, his purpose, and the hacking out of his own personal/psychological bugs, that is the most thrilling part of this cyber-thriller by a long way. But just as great series like The Sopranos or The Wire did, Mr. Robot will require some explosive elements. It’s when the creators find the right amount of thoughtfulness and shocking aspects, realism and hyper-realism, that you have truly compelling television.

Photo credit: USANetwork