It may have seemed overblown to call USA Network’s hacking show ‘the show of our times’ when we’d only seen three episodes of the series.  But as the first series finale sinks in, as Rome begins to burn, as corrupt oligarchs ensconced in high castles feel the threat of an aggrieved populace, you can’t help but draw comparisons to the social instability and widespread ire at wealth disparity in many nations today. Yes, Mr. Robot is a hacking series, a techno parable, but it’s also a timely socio-political piece of fiction consanguineous with the rise of politicians such as Bernie Sanders in the U.S. and Jeremy Corbyn in the U.K. Both of whom, like fsociety, have vowed to treat the affliction of income inequality. The series has been called dystopian by some critics, but I’d rather submit that it’s a realistic portrayal of modern life and the widespread dismay at neoliberal capitalism.

The show has been lauded for its realism, but most of the credit goes to the verisimilitude of hacking and hacking culture. We should give the creators of Mr. Robot a break, and also give them credit for tackling current social issues: greed, ennui, addiction, poverty, etc. It’s important television. Just as David Simon – the brilliant ex-journalist and social critic who created the unparalleled series The Wire – did, Mr. Robot is concerned with highlighting social dysphoria. While not as well researched as The Wire (Simon is an anomaly as far as TV goes), and lighter on the whole, the major significance of Mr. Robot is that it understands the profundity of technological immersion – imagine the damage fsociety could have inflicted on the dysfunctional Baltimore police force and any one of the shady characters working in local politics. The ‘game’ has changed a lot since the The Wire. Mr. Robot not only shows how immersive computer technology affects our lives as consumers, but how infiltrating it can change our lives. Fsociety finally succeeded in wiping out debt, but it’s only the first series. Expect debt to make a comeback. Hackers throw stones at glass houses (albeit sometimes fortified glass houses), they don’t erect buildings. The truth is, Mr. Robot, while realistic, is a grandiose fiction. That doesn’t mean, however, that white hat hacking as a prescription to some social wrongs won’t happen.

Self-Awareness

One of the most memorable moments in the entire first series came at the end of episode nine when Elliot realizes he is in fact Mr. Robot (his dead father played by Christian Slater). “You knew all along, didn’t you?” Elliot tells the viewer. Elliot, who knows almost everyone’s secrets, discovers his own best kept secret. He becomes self-aware of his dual personality – although given the tenacity the creators have for misdirection, don’t hold on to that theory. It’s what most viewers and critics thought would happen, but at the same time we all thought that that would be somewhat of a cop-out given how close the series was already aligned to the similarly anti-consumerist modern-is-life-rubbish film and book Fight Club. But our misgivings were immediately allayed when we heard a Maxence Cyrin piano version of the Pixies’ song, ‘Where is my mind’. The Pixies’ version of this song was played during the climax of the film Fight Club. It’s not only a beautiful rendition, but it shows the series’ creators were always aware of what we expected. Elliot becomes self-aware at the same time the series does. The hackneyed trope of multi-personalities becomes an admiral twist by acknowledging its respected predecessors.

When fiction melds with reality it catches us off balance, and in this instance I think it made the series much more compelling. Like in Michael Haneke’s highly disturbing thriller Funny Games, when the character speaks to the audience, the viewer becomes complicit; it gets us by the throat. We empathize with Elliot and his skepticism, because we are allowed into his madness.

Back to hacking realism

Much has been said about the show’s technological savvy. The hacks portrayed are all based on real vulnerabilities; the social engineering and calamity of human error are all exploits rife in today’s online world. We’ve already said a lot about the reality of the hacking, but a telling anecdote came our way after chatting with ProtonMail the other day. ProtonMail is the email service that Elliot uses for his personal email, and their team worked with the production team of Mr. Robot during the first season. Their conclusion about the series: “Mr. Robot is quite possibly the most realistic hacking TV show ever produced.”

Testament to this they told us, “To give you some idea, the producers at Mr. Robot went so far as to extensively research the type of email service a security/privacy focused hacker would use. They did their research so well that they even made suggestions that became part of our secure email product. It is almost unheard of for folks from Hollywood to dig so deep into a subject matter that they became good enough to make great product suggestions.”

 Season Two

When asked by Tyrell, the now fired, likely psychopathic killer formerly of Evil Corp (E-Corp), why Elliot did what he did, he answered: “I wanted to save the world.” Saving the world isn’t going to happen, the oligarchs maintain their composure at the end of the finale. E-Corp’s CEO Phillip Price seems almost phlegmatic when talking with Angela about the momentous hack and the growing number of fsociety supporters in the streets. His assumption is that people will crack, things will go back to normal. We then see Price talking with Whiterose, leader of the Chinese Dark Army (also responsible for the hack), at the very end of the episode. Whiterose mentions the fall of Rome – in historical terms America’s empire should be at the point of dissolution – but we don’t get to see Price’s reaction. While the two interlocutors seem quite intimate in their Eyes Wide Shut setting, a China vs. America subplot might might feature in the next season. I only hope this doesn’t get too far-fetched and devolve into the usual Hollywood superpower stand-off.

Elliot meanwhile deals with his own moral conundrums, unable to ascertain if his part in changing the world has been for the greater good – a term so controversial and convoluted now it’s almost become ironic. An executive blows his head off on live TV, the reason for the postponement of the final episode due to the on-air murder of a news reporter and a cameraman. There is almost a negative fall-out to every hack in the series; there’s always collateral damage, something that Elliot self-flagellates himself over. Price is starkly unemotional at the loss of his employee, glad even; more damage the writers of Mr. Robot seem to want to inflict on the supposed heartlessness of corporate leaders. Perhaps the creators of the series read Jon Ronson’s book The Psychopath Test, in which Ronson writes that many CEO’s exhibit the traits of psychopaths. If Mr. Robot wants to stay real, however, it must not fall prey to generalizations, the Good Vs. Evil platitude, and concentrate on the grey area. It needs to deconstruct Evil Corp as much as it defames it.

The revolution won’t last

It’s probable that the herd, as the father of public relations Edward Bernays referred to the masses, will be subdued in season two. Fsociety advocates were seen marching through the streets with placards saying such things as, ‘Money is Dead’ at the end of the series. But money isn’t dead, and Rome will likely have its flames doused. Social media could play a part in this. The next installment might consist of a heavy dose of criticism concerning the engineering of consent via social media. Why else would Price be so conceited after his own downfall? He trusts the herd will falter. Debt might have been eradicated, but the media hasn’t, nor have the heavy-handed CEOs; and so the machinations will continue. Elliot’s good intentions will become frost bitten, and his alienation will ensue. Hackers can throw spanners in the works, but they can’t break the machine. Series two will not be revolutionary; it will likely be more a depiction of regression and social manipulation. The dog, the hat, the thimble, the iron, will probably go straight back to GO at the start of season two. Fsociety, and Elliot, will realize that eradicating debt for some time was merely a plaster covering a gaping wound.

Mr. Robot can’t rely solely on realistic hacking to woo viewers in season two, as much as it impresses the more technical folks. It must remain as much a series about technology as it is a social commentary. It’s done well so far, and I hope it keeps hammering in the nails, enlightening us with fresh vitriol, and like The Wire, becomes a series (excuse my bathetic cliché) makes a difference. While cinema has arguably fallen into a state of disrepair, it would be unfair to give television the epithet ‘idiot box’ these days. It remains to be seen if Mr. Robot will become an indelible Dickensian tale of social injustice, or a high-octane Hollywood story about heroes implausibly saving he world. I’m betting on the former. Series one was very good, but it could be better.

Photo Credit: USA Network