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'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

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Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#31

They're at least self-aware, in one scene the fsociety crew is watching "Hackers" and one of them comments "I wonder what will ruin the next generations perception of hacker culture" or something like that. Not my favorite rendition (full disclosure: "Hackers" is my favorite), but they do really drive home the "otherness", which is the core of any "hacker culture" story.

I thought nothing would top Sneakers...Mr Robot is my new fav.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[SPOILERS] Except the basic CLI knowledge prepared her for when she needed to run some emergency commands e.g. to restore the network connection. I'll allow them a tiny bit of artistic license here, it certainly added to the tension.

If bouncing a network interface is hacking, I'm Captain Crunch. Maybe the other episodes are better, but that ruined it for me.

according to wikipedia "Draper is renowned for his lifelong intolerance of tobacco smoke and his poor personal hygiene."

so joke is on you :)

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#33
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, not only that but it was also very unoriginal. Straight up lifted from two particular movies in fact.

But it's a sideshow, the show even plays the same music as a homage. To me what makes it tolerable is that it accepts the twist as a matter of course and jumps right into other interesting plots, including whatever the fuck is going to happen tonight.

I understand it was a homage. It just didn't make sense to do it as the main twist.

I mean, if you're making a movie about an island zoo of dinosaurs, it's OK to pay homage to Jurassic Park using dialogue or the composition of a specific scene. But if the main plot of your movie turns out to be about dinosaurs escaping their zoo... well, that becomes a bit too much, in my opinion.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#34
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is the twist I think it is that twist is purposely obvious (I hope your not thinking your smarter than the show because of that). I mean that twist happens fairly early. S02 has far more truly hidden twists. I mean even in Ex Machina I had some rough idea of what was going to happen in the end but that doesn't make it a bad movie.

Well, OK you've sold me. Gonna watch S02 and rethink my opinion about the show.

It starts slow, but picks up.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#35
post #8

I love this show. Haven't been excited about a show like this since The Wire. Not because it is "real" in the same way that The Wire is, but because it is so fresh and challenging. There are points where things go wildly left-field, but it's not predictable. Even the first season twist, which is fairly predictable depending on what movies you've seen, is preceded and followed by other twists. The second season has ve…

(I tried to be vague to avoid spoilers but now fear my post makes no sense)

One of my favorite things about the twists though is that I feel like they actually lay a lot of groundwork and foreshadow them very well. For example, I think the twist before the main "first season twist" that you mention was foreshadowed beautifully at the beginning of the episode. By the end of the pre-opening credits scenes, I knew something was up.

Similar story this season. There were so many scenes that felt weird to me (things weren't "matching") that I knew something was up. And as soon as that twist was revealed, they had laid the background/groundwork for it so well enough in season 1 that I immediately knew why it was that way.

Edit: My point was that I've heard some people complain about the twist in season 1 being predictable, but I don't think a "twist" being unpredictable is always a good thing, sometimes it's shitty writing. Almost every time I'm surprised by something in Mr. Robot, I had suspected something was up and thought, "I should have seen that coming". It's almost like watching a really good magic show: I know how a lot of tricks are done, I know they're going to try to trick me, and I'm still surprised when they pull it off.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#36
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree, before even reaching the middle of S01 it was pretty obvious that what "twist" will be in the end. (Obv. hiding for spoilers)

FWIW what the shows creators have to say about that: > I actually wanted the audience to be a little ahead of Elliot on that. And we were telegraphing it intentionally, to the point that people thought it was a misdirect. That said I was somewhat irritated when I realized that the twist, along with the main plot arc were lifted from the same movie, which is also referenced almost explicitly in a couple of episodes.

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Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#37
post #3

I'm going to play fan boy here. After almost finishing the second season I have to say Mr. Robot is the best TV show I think I have ever watched. Even better than Homeland. The funny thing is if it didn't even involve hacking I would still consider my favorite show. The psychodrama existentialism of the show is so good. The plot is so damn good. The acting is so damn good. Th music, the timing of title screen and the…

I have a few problems with this show:

- The actors are often out of character (or their development isn't clear) and mumble unintelligible sentences targeted at milennials with existential crisis (there are a few rants from the main character that would make 14-year-old-me cringe).

- The plot reads a bit like Fight Club fan fiction with some American Psycho and geopolitics bits thrown in.

- The pacing could be improved. Some chapters feel like a mere excuse to shoot cool and edgy scenes where you don't see any progress until the expected cliffhanger.

- And the worst of all: Main character uses GNOME, codes in Python/Ruby, makes heavy use of the mouse (and not to use ACME) and doesn't use Gentoo. I also find his lack of anime wallpapers disturbing.

It is really well shot though.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#38
post #21

They're at least self-aware, in one scene the fsociety crew is watching "Hackers" and one of them comments "I wonder what will ruin the next generations perception of hacker culture" or something like that. Not my favorite rendition (full disclosure: "Hackers" is my favorite), but they do really drive home the "otherness", which is the core of any "hacker culture" story.

I find the Australian mini series "The Code" much more realistic.

Something clickable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Code_%282014_TV_series%29

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#39
post #28
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still no where near the easter eggs in Archer

I like Archer a lot but still think Sealab 2021 is a tiny bit more humorous.... Bizarro Stormy!

Would you put your brain in a robot body?

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#40
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is the twist I think it is that twist is purposely obvious (I hope your not thinking your smarter than the show because of that). I mean that twist happens fairly early. S02 has far more truly hidden twists. I mean even in Ex Machina I had some rough idea of what was going to happen in the end but that doesn't make it a bad movie.

Well, OK you've sold me. Gonna watch S02 and rethink my opinion about the show.

Season finale is tonight in the US, so it's good timing if you want to binge watch the whole thing.
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