What people need to understand about the series
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ShannonTriumphant — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 08:41 AM)
Some spelling errors aside, I must agree wholeheartedly with this assessment:
i think the real problem ismost fans do not feel emotions any more so the whole medium is sort of moot.
american is a country of stupidgroupthink robots who parrot everything theyre told to b ieve puppets of the govt. the two winged eagle what eats their brains like mana.
I hadn't taken emotions into account this way, but yes, it's true of most American viewers. It goes painfully well with what Hunter Thompson called "The New Dumb". Nobody wants to think anymore, to even question what they are told is reality, much less to analyze anything, even their own lives.
I agree that Rami Malek brilliantly displays the confusion of a very messed-up kid trying to deal with a corrupt, self-serving oligarchy and the way it has poisoned society, even his family and friends.
I followed all the rulesand you followed none of them. And they all loved you more. -
mashkej — 9 years ago(September 22, 2016 08:00 AM)
I was going to start a new thread that has the same premise as the original poster of this thread but a different take on it. I think the feedback and discussion about this seasongood and badis great.
here's my take on what happened:- This show started as with any other, only getting one season. It was incredibly well written, directed, and paced. With some really cool reveals. Then it was renewed.
- Facing renewaland moreso a mutli season renewalthe writing team sat down to plot things out. I think they hit two major challenges: #1) how to keep christain slater in the show and keep that storyline fresh. #2) what is the next big plot driver/plan and how to spread it out. In both i think they had some missteps
- Mistep #1: handling of Mr Robot and Elliots imaginationit just seemed to feel more filler than content this season. The prison thing was pretty cool but could have been done more efficiently and impressively in an episode or two. Spending the entire season with Elliot just bickering with Mr Robot seemed to serve no purpose.
- Mistep #2: my guess is the team has a great over arching plan that would have been amazing if they did it all in Season 2, but they stretched it out over 4 or 5 seasons. What that means is we get alot of filler and no real loss within the show. I mentioned this in another thread, but think about where things were left at the end of S1 and where they were at end of S2. Yes yes yes there was some changes in characters allegiances and minimal collateral damage. But..for the most partthe only real growth was the introduction of the fbi and its building a case (with no real evidence mind you) against the crew from S1. Otherwise we just got a bunch of random stuff with eCorp CEO, angela, and dark army that realllly didnt go anywhere.
- Mistep #3: in plotting a multiseason arc they decided to keep Wellek out this season. That left a huge gap for any real villain. Obviously he's posed to get back into that. I suppose they put alot of cards in the basket of seeing if they could trick the viewer to thinking he was in Elliots head but that never seemed to be a possibility to me as they cant afford to loose such a strong villain.
Im not trying to troll or sh@t on the show as its got amazing characters and an amazing Season 1. I think it needs to spend more time writing tighter seasons than assuming people will hang in there for the long haul. As others have commented, it is possible to have a long plot spread across seasons BUT also have self contained stories and seasons. Its incredibly hardfew shows have done itbut its possible.
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trebor_trancheplanete — 9 years ago(September 22, 2016 11:11 AM)
@mashkej:
While I did enjoy season 2 more than season 1 (I really didn't care about all the drug induced episodes, to be frank and wanted more of the 'hacking' plot), I have to agree with you that season 2 has a lot of filler and it feels like they are stretching it.
While I am one of those who will stick with the show until the end, I have a fear that a large chunk of the audience might just bail out because season 2 didn't arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, much like when Twin Peaks build up the murder and at the end of the season didn't resolve it. -
mashkej — 9 years ago(September 22, 2016 05:25 PM)
@trebor_trancheplanete.
Thanks for your great and well thought comments. I love it when folks have a good discussion over stuff the like or are critical of but do so constructively.
Even thou im critical of several aspects of this season, i still admire the hell out of the show and those behind it. Im not ready to jump ship!
PS: Im with youi loved the hacking stuff in S1 -
murtaghchris — 9 years ago(September 22, 2016 03:51 PM)
I think that the Seinfield discussions were a deliberate comment on the pointlessness of much of this season.
Also the talk between blond girl and the chinese lady were almost as terribly pretentious as the scene in Matrix 2 when Neo meets the architect.
Ultimately I don't know how anyone will keep track of all this stuff if it carries on like this for five seasons, it seems to be opening lots of uninteresting doors repeatedly. There was bits in this season where I couldn't really remember who did what from last season. In the last episode I thought he was in a flashback to when Tyrell disappeared and was going to solve if/how he killed him, then it wasn't, then Tyrell could be dead, then he's not dead, but maybe it'll all turn out that he is dead and Tyrell didn't shoot him, he shot himself, like er in that film? what was it when a guy shot himself in the face, and there was a pixies song in the background Is this series meant to invoke feelings of confusion and amnesia?
Then I'd like to think it will be a planned out tale like game of thrones, but I doubt they have that much of a plan. Then again at least this show has stayed true to what the first one was, just gone kind of let's do more of that, and let's put an upbeat but lonely FBI lady in the mix. It's like you liking a burger and chips so someone upgrades to a double burger and chips, you can't really complain. They even put a little pineapple chunk in there to be unexpected. You should be happy really. -
bitwalker — 9 years ago(September 25, 2016 12:26 AM)
Yes, except that the producers of the show don't know yet how many seasons they can sell. If it goes well, they will milk the cow as long as possible. When numbers are declining they will have limit amount of time to finish all story lines.
I hope they don't milk the cow. If it is material for 3 seasons, then they should do three seasons, enjoy the success and money, and do something new.
The comparison to Lost is often being made and I felt that's where Lost went wrong. When it became a success they started stretching it, added more sub-plots etc. and in the end didn't have enough time to bring it all to a good end. -
OmnicidalManiac — 9 years ago(September 25, 2016 08:17 AM)
Really miss Mr.Robot's theme, they hardly played it (only variants of it). I also missed the terminal, the daily hacking, everything that made the first season great. The second season wasgood. It's obvious Esmail went the way True Detective went, he directed every episode and it shows. Season 3 should have many directors and please bring back the Mr.Robot theme!
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NotASpeckOfCereal — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 09:36 AM)
It's all about the long haul. This isn't like traditional shows where each
season
neatly wraps up
Season? Most shows have each EPISODE wrap up, then the next episode is an entirely new story same familiar reoccurring characters and perhaps general arc, but a new story with a episode by episode resolution nonetheless.
Be sure to proof your posts to see if you any words out -
Dreamers_x_Disease — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 01:37 PM)
I'll admit that for a time I was one of those people shouting out about needing answers and resolutions and all that, but once you view the show as the whole it will be and not the segments we get now, it just makes everything so much better (in my opinion).
It's easy in the short run to be frustrated, the nature of the show calls for one to be frustrated, but thinking big picture helps put it all into context for why we're not getting everything neatly tied up by the end of the season. They're not just doing season arcs, they're doing entire series arcs. It's ambitious to be sure, and clearly not everyone will like it, but by the time it's over I bet a lot of people will look back at s2 and get it and like it a whole lot more and understand how it fits into the greater story at play here.
We've been conditioned to watch tv a certain way over the years and to know what to expect from its format, so to get something that turns that on its heador maybe not even that, but toys with its conventions like Mr. Robot does, it makes sense there will be a certain amount of backlash or confusion to that. I agree with the OPs sentiment though, that they're building for the long game and not worried, necessarily, about appeasing the short game. It's a bit risky, and again causes frustration, but that may just be what makes or breaks this show for some people, and that's just how it is.
The next time I find myself screaming about wanting a clear cut answer, I'll have to remind myself of all of this, and that I'd much rather have a cohesive, mind blowing series end than a mildly satisfying season finale that gives me what I'm anticipating. As the show has taught usit's all a matter of perspective