#mobley mr robot

[janimatorbot]

Trenton was real asf for not knowing how to drive at like age 19

[rathouseart]

Also yall should holler at me to finish this mr robot edit. I've had it in my drafts for months now

[mannytoodope]

[transmutationisms]

could you pls pls say more on mr. robot being a reddit show? im too far removed from reddit by now to at once grasp what u mean but ive been watching the show w a friend and sort of not knowing how to deal w the fact that he likes it wayy more than me. do you mean like the show itself/plot or more the way scenes are constructed/dialogue/etc? and yeah full transparency i kind of just like hearing people make fun of things and want to be in on the joke so to speak, my stakes couldnt be lower

-sinophobia

-sinophobic anticommunism

-sinophobic anticommunist ooh what if the nefarious chinese built a time travel machine but it wasn't really but it's hinted enough for ppl on reddit into crackpot physics to get really jazzed up constantly situation

-trans women are just like hackers because they have secret identities that we will not bother to write or think about in any depth. yes this part is also racist

-making a convoluted narrative excuse to force trenton to unveil and also constantly lampshading jokes about her being a terrorist and barely writing her or mobley for 2.5 seasons and then kill them by framing them as terrorists replicating 9/11

-black characters exist in this universe but primarily as punchlines or side support for the protags. barely written and clearly never cared about

-needle drops designed in a lab to give reddit users smug nostalgia abt songs that were and remain immensely popular in fact but are vaguely alt-credentialled enough to make ppl feel validated in how curated and offbeat their taste is

-literally everything about every political and economic development and e currency and blistering 2016 commentary on trump and every time they use the word "revolution" and the truest victims of the global economic order are um. usamericans with consumer debt

-truly bottom of the list like idc but the therapy apologia lmfao

[misscammiedawn]

I wanted to say thanks for that write up on the depiction of DID and Mr. Robot! You said everything that's been burning in my head for years now after watching. Hearing another system's thoughts on it was something we've been looking for.

Part of our inner world is also part of the NHM in London lol.

Truly and sincerely thank you.

First off, I am delighted to know that we're not alone in having the Natural History Museum as host to a segment of inner world. Would love to know which exhibit/area you see when you visit, though no obligation to respond. We know that these things can be deeply personal.

The show may not strike with every system but no two plural folx are going to have the same connections and attachments and comforts and that's 100% okay. For those who share our affection for Mr. Robot I am glad you get to enjoy the show and our ramblings on it.

Wishing you and your system well and thank you again for the ask. You've no idea how much feedback comforts and encourages.

Asks are always open.

-

Post the asker is referring to in the question, btw:

Also... have some random rambles about Mr. Robot in a readmore, because I feel like typing a bunch.

-

Also, because it gives us an opening to talk about it. Have some random Robot thoughts:

Mr. Robot is and remains my favorite show. I had started typing "our" favorite and got a sharp rejection so shall use singular pronouns. It has its issues, the use of the term "real" for instance, but with good faith a lot of it can vanish. Not all. But most.

I've been thinking about things a lot more since writing the essay and there are things I wish I had spent longer discussing. For instance during the portion where I wrote about how Coney Island represents a safety in nostalgia, a fortress for the Alderson siblings to hide in their treasured childhood memories; I didn't mention that both Trenton and Mobley use their own nostalgia as their hacker aliases with Trenton being where she lived when young and DJ Mobley clearly being someone Mobley found joy in at a younger age.

Similarly Hot Carla's name is selected because of a hair dresser who validated her gender identity and sheltered her when her parents were abusive. Whiterose's hacker alias is the last moment her life could have been the "good future" that she envisioned and worked so hard to force into reality.

I do like that pretty much every character who has an alias picks their alias as an identity forged in positive memories. Elliot clearly did with Mr. Robot being the store where he and his dad were friends and his other alias (The Gentleman) is a reference to The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie, a movie he and Darlene watched every year that became the entire iconography for the fsociety movement.

If I were to ever do another Mr. Robot essay I think it would be on the way each character insists on living in the past in order to escape their present and how that relates to the way trauma invades the present. Not going to promise that, though. We're already snowed under with our Loop and Beatrice essays.

I think that can be one of the big failings of the show, actually, especially for those watching it as it aired. The show is deeply ingrained in the perspectives of characters who have critically distorted beliefs on reality and the show doesn't really start laying down objective reality until late season 3 after the cyber bombings.

Someone watching the show for the first time can watch Elliot's edgelord rants about "Fuck Society" and think that the show believes these things rather than its main character and we do not get the show delivering the message that it's small minded and childish (which, given that Elliot is stuck in trauma time and perpetually reliving a horrifically abusive childhood he cannot fully understand because he won't allow himself to remember clearly, is exactly what he is) until Irving and Price each spell it out to Mr. Robot in S3E7/9 or Whiterose outright calls Elliot on it in their final confrontation.

I adore the show for its patience and how it tells such an emotional and complicated story over its 45 hour runtime but I do understand people watching the first hour, getting the wrong idea about where the journey is going and opting out.

Hell I understand a system going in for DID representation and not having the patience to stick around the show's Fight Club pastiche era before starting to get to the meat of things.

But hey. I gave the show a shot and can't go back now. I love it too darned much.

Also because I don't want to start another thread on it, I do want to say that the show is truly frustrating in how it depicts economic collapse for society and yet none of the characters are ever impacted by it.

Darlene is homeless throughout the show, spare her stint living in an FBI safe house and she has no job through the show's run. She is never hurting for money, even when the banking system of the world collapses. She likely is stealing but it's frustrating that we only hear about the financial ruin in the periphery. We learn of the eviction of Elliot's neighbors spare for the kind older man who takes care of Flipper but Elliot himself can buy entire new computers on a whim and go months between jobs or spend a season in prison and not be impacted.

Like the show depicts the world going into a major decline during the economic crisis and it's clear by Season 4 that the show is venting frustration that when the banking system failed in 2008 the ones responsible were not harmed at all and it was the public who suffered and things just went back to how it was in time; it's just... every character is living comfortably in New York and Darlene is the closest we have to a "poor" character.

But that's a rant we have on every show. Poverty doesn't really exist in television. You watch a show like Ted Lasso and everyone is a millionaire. Even the Kit Manager (Nate, not Will) has parents who own a home, sent him to higher education and gave him private violin lessons. Kit Manager salary is about £25-50 per year, even for a Premier League Team.

...but my discomfort with how poverty is never represented on TV is just a random rant and I'm going way off topic.

I'll stop rambling now.

[honouredsnakeprincess]

Righto! I have torn myself from my oh-so-dilligent art-historical studies to watch another episode of Mr Robot! That's right, it's time for my thoughts on Season 2, Episode 3! This time, I took notes, so hopefully I'll have more to say, assuming that what's under the cut is even remotely coherent~

These thoughts aren't necessarily in chronological order. I thought they flowed better like this.

Romero's dead. The first and most obvious culprit, the one suggested by both characters and framing in showing a clip of Mr Robot threatening him with a gun, is that Mr Robot is what did him in. I think it's fair to mark this as barely even a fake-out, but between him and Gideon (and Mobley referencing a plan to hide out in Arizona), it seems like the writers are trying to cut out a lot of the supporting cast from season one in order to make room for new ones this season.

This FBI lady seems like she's sticking around, for starters, since I don't think the writers would go so out of their way to show how restless and unsatisfied she is with her life and her coworkers if she wasn't going to be a recurring character. I was surprised to learn that Alexa was a thing in 2016, which is strange because I was very much alive in 2016 and probably ought to know basic things like that. Anyways, I like her, but I can't tell if her helping Romero's mother roll weed is meant to indicate she's a good person or that she's an adept manipulator. Either way, I'm intrigued~!

On the topic of manipulation, I think it's pretty obvious that Mr Price is trying to pull something, if it wasn't already. You don't just randomly take a new hire out for a fancy dinner with high-ranking executives, and indeed he did have an angle; these honourable men he invited to dine with Angela have dishonourable pasts, and he's given her the choice to strike against them. Personally, I'd wager he'll win either way; either she becomes more complicit in the structures and passive villainy of E-Corp, or he gets to use her as a weapon against men who in some way stand in the way of his own aims. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but there's no way he doesn't have something up his sleeve here.

Price seemed to profess a belief in the importance of great men when describing the WW1 paraphernalia he keeps in his office. Part of me wonders if he fancies himself such a man, or if he is grooming Angela for such a role.

Ray's been an interesting character. He's definitely got his own angle, and needs an adept computer fellow like Elliot to transfer some bitcoins or what-have-thee, in a venture that does not seem to me properly lawful. Still, towards the end of the episode he seems like he has some genuine empathy for Elliot and his situation. I don't know how similar their situations actually are, and part of me suspects Ray is overemphasizing their similarity, but at the same time I think his philosophy, though somewhat fatalistic, is probably what Elliot needs to hear to break him out of this cycle of self-destructive and ineffectual repression he's been in for the past three episodes. It's just not working out, and Mr Robot is still around.

God, the business with the Adderall, huh? I cottoned on to the cement scene being a hallucination or dream sequence pretty quick, and my notes have a tangent about the logistics of killing someone with ingested cement vs regular sand that I won't reproduce here. I've not historically been great with vomiting scenes in film and television, but this one was pretty tame, all things considered. Until Elliot started picking the Adderall out of the vomit. On the one hand, it really does sell his desperation to be rid of Mr Robot, but on the other hand it did rather turn my stomach.

The close-up of Elliot's eyes, pupils mixed with iris, was especially disturbing in a way I can't quite elaborate. I hated the way it kept cutting back to him taking more pills.

The Adderall didn't help much, and the sequence it set off was unsettling, to say the least. I don't think it's usually prescribed for DID, but I am no medicus and will happily be corrected if I am wrong on this front. I suppose that overdosing on any kind of drug isn't generally recommended for anything, though. Again, it sells Elliot's desperation and self-denial, but it also fucking sucks to watch. Poor guy.

When he ran out of pills, I breathed a sigh of relief, though it did occur to me that I know not the withdrawal effects of Adderall, and they may be quite terrible.

Elliot's critique of organized religion rather reminded me of my father. I'm not unsympathetic, but I think his argumentation was flawed. Not the point of that sequence. Marx's critique was both more empathetic and more incisive. Still not the point of that sequence.

Seinfeld is still fucking with Leon. If Elliot was not my favourite character for the quality of his monologues, that place would be occupied by Leon.

Finally, the fact that F Society's former hideout has been found was an interesting way to end the episode. Of course, the group destroyed what evidence they could, and held a party to obscure fingerprints and other biological evidence, but the logic of storytelling inexorably drives me to presume that they missed something big enough that our new FBI friend will get a lead from it.

That or someone will return to the scene who ought not to. We'll see soon, I'm sure!

[bonniehooper]

MR. ROBOT REWATCH, 2x12: “eps2.9_pyth0n-pt2.p7z”

-Oh, we’re going back to what happened at the end of season one?

-It’s so weird to see Rami in place of Christian during this scene because you can tell this was a scene where Mr. Robot took over. Although, I do love seeing how Rami’s acting changes to match Christian’s acting choices when he plays Mr. Robot.

-Tyrell, calm down, don’t cry.

-I’m sorry, but if I was Tyrell and Elliot was this clueless to what was going on, I wouldn’t show him anything.

-Thank God, Darlene’s okay, but I’m quite sad that Cisco died.

-It was Scott pretending to be Tyrell. I was right!!

-Joanna, what are you about to do to this broken man?

-JOANNA, WHAT THE FUCK?!

-Was Scott beating her and choking her a part of the plan?

-This scene between Darlene and Dom is so good.

-Jesus, what is this plan that even Elliot can't decipher what phase 2 is?

-Oh shit, so did Joanna provoke Scott so that it’d piss of her boyfriend enough to convince him to frame Scott for his wife’s murder?

-Wait, was Romero’s death really just a freak accident or are you lying to her Dom?

-Shit, they have Elliot on the board.

-Oh wow, they think Tyrell is the mastermind behind all of this.

-Tyrell, you’re the dumbass who started to work with someone who isn’t all there. You should’ve dug into Elliot before you started working with him.

-Oh my god, Elliot this is so fucking risky.

-Elliot! Mr. Robot tried to warn you!!

-What the fuck? Tyrell is calling Angela?

-Angela: “It’s okay, you did what needed to be done.” Angela, what the fuck?

-Tyrell: “But I love him.” I know you do Tyrell, but your love is making you a little crazy.

-Wait, that’s the end?

-Oh shit, I forgot about the mid credit’s scene.

-Mobley and Trenton! My babies!!

-Where are they living now?

-I wonder if it feels weird for Trenton to not to be wearing her hijab.

-Fuck, I forgot about Leon finding them.

[lifewithaview]

Rami Malek in Mr. Robot (2015) eps1.4_3xpl0its.wmv

S1E5

Elliot, Romero and Mobley head to Steel Mountain. Elliot goes in with Mobley's help, who creates a fake Wikipedia page in his name. Elliot encounters Tyrell Wellick, with whom he has lunch with. This is a perfect opportunity for Elliot to complete his mission. It is the time when Elliot learns that Tyrell is onto him. Angela leaves Oliver for good and goes back to her dad. Tyrell and Johanna visit the Knowles. Darlene loses China.

*The hack is supposed to happen in "one week" - the last week of March/First week of April. Yet all outdoor scenes have the trees in full bloom/with leaves, which only happens in the New York area at least a month later - late April/early May.

Similar Seasonal dis-continuities occur throughout the series.

[redwheelbaerrow]

[beanbag0509]

late 5/9 drawing

[trans-tyrell-wellick]

[s-k-y-w-a-l-k-e-r]

M R . R O B O T R E W A T C H » eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12

[mannytoodope]

Trenton: You think she actually... Has to be self-defense. What's the plan?

Mobley: We can't stay here. Who knows who's gonna be waiting for you at home? Dark Army, FBI, cops.

Trenton: I can't leave my family.

Mobley: If you had that much to lose, you shouldn't have done this in the first place.

Trenton: But I did this for them.

Mobley: What we did was colossally stupid, and we can't afford not to realize that anymore. Peace, Trent.

[okunie]

illustrations for Mr. Robot Zine

[shinypetrichor]

Mr. Robot Appreciation, Day 1 — Favorite Season:

Season 1 & 2

[honouredsnakeprincess]

Darlene has discovered the power of violence. My thoughts on season 2, episode 8 below the cut.

To start, I liked how the flashback at the opening of the episode set the stage. Elliot and Mr Robot are off in prison, and couldn't make that initial coffee shop meeting, so the episode is about Darlene, Trenton, and Mobley.

They leaked a call they record between various secret police honchos that implicates the FBI in the surveillance of vast numbers of people, but if American history is anything to go by, there's nothing that can really curtail the power of their secret police and intelligence services, so I don't imagine that will cause much more than a short scandal.

The main consequence of the call, then, is to freak out Trenton and Mobley. Mobley's been kind of erratic in his last few appearances, and clearly never expected things to get this far, and getting taken in by the FBI clearly has not made him any less paranoid.

Darlene killing that lawyer on purpose was a surprise to me! I saw the email about 'living with a pacemaker', and so when Darlene brandished a stun gun, I thought the show was going in the direction of "people often assume stun guns are nonlethal weapons, but the contemporary parlance is actually that they are "less-lethal", because in the right circumstances they can very much still kill the target" and have Darlene accidentally kill the lawyer when attempting to subdue her. Nope! She deliberately gets her in the chest, then claims it's an accident to her comrades.

Darlene's surprised she had that kind of violence in her, but while the killing itself was a surprise for me, the fact she had the capacity to do it was not.

I don't really know what else to say here, beyond just summarizing the episode, which I don't think would be very productive because my limited readership has all already seen the show. Today's just an off day for writing these, I suppose.

I like Trenton. I hope she comes out of all this okay. In season one I actually thought she had yuri chemistry with Darlene, but I don't really see it anymore.

I wonder if Elliot's on the list of suspects. I imagine he is, but I think there could be a certain dramatic irony in them not suspecting the one member of fsociety they actually have behind bars.