With many truly great television series now in the past and with the current series of True Detective proving extremely divisive, Mr. Robot is proving to be the sleeper hit of the summer. Strangely it is not transmitted by networks such as HBO or FX who have given us classic series such as The Soprano’s and The Shield respectively. Here, it is on USA network which gave us Suits marking a more cinematic change with a thrilling psyche based drama.
Elliot Alderson is a security engineer for a cyber security firm who is hired by a shady organization with plans to take down the corporations of America. A tech whiz, Alderson hacks the web profiles of those around him, subsequently using this information to help people by revealing the deceit inherent in other people online. His relationship with people is very detached revealing to his psychiatrist his closer connection towards technology rather than people. Rami Kalek brings incredible depth to the role and extremely engaging from the start. Christian Slater takes the title role as the head of the organisation called fsociety who teases and tests Malek’s character throughout.
The atmosphere is brooding and claustrophobic with a narrative technique reminiscent of Fight Club. Sam Esmail’s script is light on computer jargon making the language easily accessible. Without giving too much away, all I can say is the pilot is absolutely superb. The last time I was so engaged with a season premiere was Breaking Bad and thankfully it doesn’t lose it’s intensity with further episodes. Mr.Robot has the potential to be a truly great TV series and could not come more highly recommended.