S01.E02: EPS1.1_ONES-AND-ZER0ES.MPEG

[editorgrrl]

Who does Angela think is Elliot's girlfriend? Shayla?

Slater stepped directly between Elliot & Darlene, so Darlene's eye-line *looked* like it was aimed at Slater when it could have been Elliot just as easily. I'm less certain about the rest of the group. They seemed to react to Elliot's odd behaviour (i.e., when Elliot followed-up on a remark from Slater), but then later they seemed to check out completely -- as if Elliot weren't there at all. I guess that could make sense if Elliot had in reality just been standing there not doing anything.

Angela saw Shayla in Elliot's rumpled bed, sound asleep. But now I wonder if Shayla's a sex doll. Meaning Ollie was being an arsehole when he said, "Let's double date."

This is the only show I don't multitask during—yet I still missed the eyeline thing.

Edited July 3, 2015 by editorgrrl

[shapeshifter]

Angela saw Shayla in Elliot's rumpled bed, sound asleep. But now I wonder if Shayla's a sex doll. Meaning Ollie was being an arsehole when he said, "Let's double date."

Speaking of Ollie the Donkey Ass: He (stupidly) puts the bootleg disc in his laptop, and then, after it obviously (to the audience--not obvious to Ollie) has begun screwing up his computer, he gets what looks like a porn site invite--to which he replys(!!!???!!!). I assumed the porn invite came from the disc, but his response made it seem like this was a regular squeeze.

...This is the only show I don't multitask during—yet I still missed the eyeline thing.

I'm too exhausted lately to catch all the nuances. Back when Rubicon was airing I just thought the viewers who tuned out were morons. Now I know they were just tired. One of my old Sociology textbooks, The Overworked American, frequently comes to mind. They could have (should have?) used long hours and lack of sleep instead of morphine as a reason for Elliot's mental confusion about reality. I once saw an overacheiving, sleep-deprived student collapse into a wild state where she was speaking in word salad. One of my daughters works in tech and had a job where they were expected to work 10-12 hours without lunch breaks.

Editing because now I finally see why split infinitives are frowned upon.

Edited July 3, 2015 by shapeshifter

[editorgrrl]

Ollie the Donkey Ass (stupidly) puts the bootleg disc in his laptop, and then, after it has obviously (to the audience--not obvious to Ollie) begun screwing up his computer, he gets what looks like a porn site invite--to which he replys(!!!???!!!).

I assumed the porn invite came from the disc, but his response made it seem like this was a regular squeeze.

I thought Ollie got a booty call from the woman Elliot mentioned in the pilot:

I witnessed his first "I love you" with Angela over GChat, then I witnessed the first of many infidelities with Stella B.

Edited July 3, 2015 by editorgrrl

[benteen]

Really enjoyed it and was surprised by the ending.  Thought Slater and his character worked much better here.

 

The guy playing Fernando really put off a sense of menace with the character.  Well done.

Edited July 3, 2015 by benteen

[MissLucas]

I'm getting tired of the mumbled monologues - it's probably not a problem for native English speakers but I'm only getting about 75% of whatever the hell Eliot is talking about. So he's a double unreliable narrator. And the stuff I get I find oscillating between pretentious and just plain boring. I get that there are reasons for him not actually talking to people but getting trapped for endless minutes in marble-mouth-mind is really taking its toll on me.

I'm intrigued by the fake rapper - that's about the only thing that will lure me back in.

[DEM]

Here is a screencap which shows the Darlene-Slater-Elliot eye-line trickery.

 

I think there's something to Darlene's talk about Elliot disappearing and her bemusement over him asking how she knows where he lives.  Is Elliot, as CofCinci asserts, also (to add to his laundry list of competing symptoms) dissociative?  Beyond that what does it mean? /rhetorical

[editorgrrl]

I'm getting tired of the mumbled monologues—it's probably not a problem for native English speakers but I'm only getting about 75% of whatever the hell Eliot is talking about. So he's a double unreliable narrator.

I use closed captioning all the time for UK shows—and English is my first language. After broadcast, they're archived at http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/episode_scripts.php?tv-show=mr-robot-2015

[shapeshifter]

I use closed captioning all the time for UK shows—and English is my first language. After broadcast, they're archived at springfieldspringfield.co.uk/episode_scripts.php?tv-show=mr-robot-2015

How did I not already know about this site? Thank you, editorgrrl!! And I forgive you for not hacking into my computer to add it to my bookmarks earlier.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

...except he doesn't break anything? Not even, like, his wrist by trying to break his fall? On these rocks?

That's not much of a fall from those bathrooms down to the sandy beach in Coney Island, ten feet maybe.   He probably wouldn't even get cut on whatever broken glass is there.  I see drunks taking bigger falls down there all the time without getting scratched.

[Happytobehere]

Right now, I'm going with the theory that all the hacker brigade -- Christian Slater, Hacker Girl and the other folks are Elliot's delusions. Until I see any of them reacting with any real-world people, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

However, since the perspective of the show is being told by Eliot, an unreliable narrator, even if those interactions were seen, we would still have no way of knowing if they are real, or a reflection of what Eliot believes he is seeing.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Happytobehere

[Chicago Redshirt]

The show has at least some scenes not involving Elliot. For instance, we know the rapper/hacker who gave Angela and her boyfriend the malware CD is real, because he only approached them after Elliot had left, and because the CD had real-world consequences which Elliot doesn't know.

 

It may be a tall order, with Elliot in basically every scene, to expect scenes completely without him but with the hacker brigade. 

 

Also, it turns out that "Elliot" means "Jehovah is God" or "God is with us" according to sites that came up on Google, for whatever that's worth.

[dargosmydaddy]

 

Angela saw Shayla in Elliot's rumpled bed, sound asleep. But now I wonder if Shayla's a sex doll.

A sex doll with her own apartment? Or was that a hallucination? And if Shayla and therefore the creepy dealer are not real, then where does Elliot get his drugs from? This whole "what's real" thing leads down way too many rabbit holes.

 

But Rami Malek is keeping me riveted to the screen.

[editorgrrl]

If Shayla and therefore the creepy dealer are not real, then where does Elliot get his drugs from?

He doesn't. Why would anyone take morphine + Suboxone? They cancel each other out. To me, that's the biggest tell that Shayla's not real. And yes, that means Fernando Vera's a delusion, too.

Edited July 4, 2015 by editorgrrl

[Cardie]

Doesn't Elliot take suboxone to keep him from getting withdrawal symptoms so that he can limit his morphine consumption to a level that would send him into withdrawal otherwise. It's not so much canceling out as balancing out.

 

I think just Mr. Robot and the collective are unreal, and everyone else is real but occasionally appear in scenarios that Elliot's delusions create or alter. Otherwise, as I said above, the entire show would have to be the delusion of someone not out in the real world, like Life on Mars.

[AlwaysWatching]

Not that I haven't missed many things, but the one big one that's bugging me is the reappearance of Coney Island meeting place.  Didn't they show Elliot trying to show somebody this place to turn in Mr. Robot last week?  It was completely empty and appeared unused for a long time. Did that really happen? Not feeling well and, geez, was it hard not to believe you were watching someone's hallucinations.  Sorry, I haven't got my minimal writing capabilities tonight. Fireworks going off just a few feet from my window. 

 

This week was quite a bit slower than the pilot. I'm going to hang in there, though.   It might stay a show I watch several days after I DVR it.

[riverheightsnancy]

I have had plenty of patients abuse suboxone and get addicted to it as well (more likely at high doses though). Suboxone and morphine are both opioid agonists.  It doesn't cancel out morphine like the way other antagonist drugs may block the actual receptor sites or make the person sick so that they cannot use or get high on a drug. (thinking antabuse here or Naloxone/Narcan). 

[Chicago Redshirt]

As I remember it, Elliot was wondering whether to turn in fsociety, went out  to their location solo and saw it as run down. I don't think he actually tried to bring the authorities in.

[shapeshifter]

Not that I haven't missed many things, but the one big one that's bugging me is the reappearance of Coney Island meeting place.  Didn't they show Elliot trying to show somebody this place to turn in Mr. Robot last week?  It was completely empty and appeared unused for a long time. Did that really happen? Not feeling well and, geez, was it hard not to believe you were watching someone's hallucinations...

I haven't been at the top of my game for years, LOL, so I forgot about this, but now that you mention it, yes. That is what we saw. Right? If this was scifi, it would be a portal to a parallel universe, but since it's not, either 1) hallucination, 2) F-Society is really good at setting up and tearing down, or 3) Elliot's drug haze allowed F-Society to lure him to a different address. The first option seems most likely. Hopefully in the next episode the line between hallucination and reality will become more clear (at least to the audience), because even Fight Club didn't sustain it for more than two hours of screen time.

[Cardie]

Also, in Fight Club, only Tyler Durden was an hallucination. He was the "person" the narrator created to embody his more anarchic impulses. Everything that the narrator and Durden did in view of other people was real; they just saw Edward Norton doing all of it because the Brad Pitt persona was Norton, too, separate only in his own mind.

[AlwaysWatching]

As I remember it, Elliot was wondering whether to turn in fsociety, went out  to their location solo and saw it as run down. I don't think he actually tried to bring the authorities in. Chicago Redshirt

 

 

Sounds good and thanks!  I don't remember much about the scene.  It doesn't bother me if they try to continue this oddness.  I only hope that I remember more details from week to week. Yeah, good luck to me. 

 

I've seen people mention Rubicon a few times. Just want to throw in my love for that show.  Definitely not happy when it was canceled so quickly.

[Glory]

Well, not only do we get Christian Slater. We get deliciously evil Christian Slater. I'm in. Well done, show. 

[djsunyc]

ok...i think if we see characters interact with other characters while elliot is not there, they're real.

[Wynterwolf]

ok...i think if we see characters interact with other characters while elliot is not there, they're real.

 

But also, I think even if they are 'real', I don't think you can necessarily trust what Elliot hears them saying as what they are... actually saying.  Phew!  This show takes work to watch, but I'm... enjoying isn't the right word, but I'm engaged.  

[dgpolo]

Wikipedia had this name meaning for Elliott: 'With Strength and Right' or 'Bravely and Truly' or 'Boldly and Rightly'

 

Also, just as an observation because I don't know what the hell is going on, when they are both on the railing in the background the benches in the foreground are full of people, immediately after 'the push' they are completely emptly. ?

and 'Sacred pact' what was that about?

[bros402]

Wikipedia had this name meaning for Elliott: 'With Strength and Right' or 'Bravely and Truly' or 'Boldly and Rightly'

 

Also, just as an observation because I don't know what the hell is going on, when they are both on the railing in the background the benches in the foreground are full of people, immediately after 'the push' they are completely emptly. ?

and 'Sacred pact' what was that about?

 

Hobo Christian Slater was referring to Elliot's promise with his father as a sacred pact.

[editorgrrl]

Hobo Christian Slater was referring to Elliot's promise with his father as a sacred pact.

Shayla told Elliot, "promises matter, okay? I take this shit to heart." He was asking her to break a promise she's made to him, and she asked for a promise in return. Later, she made Elliot promise not to do anything to Fernando Vera.

Mr. Robot asked Elliot if he thought he deserved to be punished for betraying his father's trust: "You didn't commit to the sacred pact you'd formed." Elliot had sworn never to tell anyone about the leukemia—especially Elliot's mom. And Mr. Robot takes this shit really seriously.

Edited July 7, 2015 by editorgrrl

[Cekrypton1]

Well, Elliot did learn one thing from his father--he never reveals anything anymore. I was waiting for him to mention to his boss that Tyrell would be cutting all outside vendors, but he never did.

The sound mix on this show is terrible--Elliot mumbles so much I have the volume cranked up, but the sound mix has the background music at 3X the level of dialogue, I am constantly raising and lowering the volume.

[DotCotton]

I was thinking about Flipper.  Real or not real.  I like the idea someone mentioned above that the dog shows us the missing time, which makes me think he's real.   Also, Elliot took Flipper to Shayla to take care of, so that makes me think  both Flipper and Shayla are real. 

 

Part of me thinks the therapist isn't real. But if the therapist and married boyfriend aren't real and Flipper is- how did Elliott get Flipper? Ug!  This show really messes with my head!

 

As of now, I've decided Angela and Qwerty are real (Angela missing him was sweet).  Other than that, I haven't a clue but looking forward to finding out. 

 

 

 

[dgpolo]

In the pic for the story attached to this thread you can see the empty bench behind them as they sit on the rail. In the 'last week' shots at the beginning of tonights ep first the benches are empty, then full, then empty. Still don't know what it means except that perception is definitely skewed.

[TonyMicheaux]

In the pic for the story attached to this thread you can see the empty bench behind them as they sit on the rail. In the 'last week' shots at the beginning of tonights ep first the benches are empty, then full, then empty. Still don't know what it means except that perception is definitely skewed.

yall in here got me confused because i didn't notice that at a;; and assumed everyone was real now my head hurts lol

[TonyMicheaux]

Also in fightclub the movie the show reminds me everyone was real but bra pitt character so that would be some real trippy shit if everyone was a figment of elliot's imagination.

[catrice2]

I like the show, but I too question what is real and what is in his mind and it is starting to get too tedious.  I actually like him with Shayla and hope they just leave the childhood friend alone. 

[ganesh]

I just watched the two episodes over a day, and it didn't occur to me that a Fight Club concept might be going on. I thought the VOs would be a little more toned down in this episode, and it's been rather distracting overall. My attention was probably about 90% too, so not total. Next time, I'll give my full attention.

 

If they're going with Elliot = HCS, then I'm ok with it. Now that I'm thinking about it, Elliot is so flat when he talks to people and HCS so animated when he's talking. It seems gimmicky, but something that could work with careful writing, and the type of concept a summer show would do. 

[areca]

Disguising data as an audio CD collection is a pretty great idea, honestly.

You can hack cars like that you know. Make the brakes not work and stuff. Actually you can pretty much take over the whole car, no matter what the inhabitant is doing. Watch/listen for a couple of minutes while the researcher talks and she'll tell you how they hacked a car with a song..and you'll never know it happened.

https://youtu.be/zurrQiETDHA?t=53

 

The sound mix on this show is terrible--Elliot mumbles so much I have the volume cranked up, but the sound mix has the background music at 3X the level of dialogue, I am constantly raising and lowering the volume.

I'm half-deaf due to way too much loud music in my youth, and I kept thinking it was just me. And then the damn commercials have that 10+ shocking dB change. Kids, don't watch this on demand - make sure your recording. Ugh.

Edited July 20, 2015 by areca

[Ubiquitous]

Hobo Christian Slater, that was harsh!

Yeah, I totally saw that happening.

[Clanstarling]

Yeah, I think it did. I must be slower than you.  There were little cracks of light in the first episode. 

I remember laughing a lot during the first one, as dark as it was. This one, not so much. Like Shapeshifter, I'm a little too tired these days to do the deep thinking - so I thank ya'll for coming up with the interesting observations and ideas

[KaleyFirefly]

On 7/6/2015 at 1:00 PM, Wynterwolf said:

 

But also, I think even if they are 'real', I don't think you can necessarily trust what Elliot hears them saying as what they are... actually saying.  Phew!  This show takes work to watch, but I'm... enjoying isn't the right word, but I'm engaged.  

Exactly. The scene with the therapist in this episode seemed weird...the therapist was acting more aggressive with him and not like her usual self.

Who's real? I think Mr. Robot & the group are NOT real. I think Elliot's neighbor is real. I think Swedish Evil Corp guy is real. I am not sure whether his therapist is real or not. I though so, but she seemed really off in this episode. IS FLIPPER THE DOG REAL??