Hacking Robot

[formerlyfreedom]

A spot to discuss the after show.

[formerlyfreedom]

And boy, Andy Greenwald. You, sir, are no Chris Hardwick. (words I never thought I'd type). YMMV

[yourmomiseasy]

That was painful.

[benteen]

I think it was clear Greenwald didn't watch the show when he didn't understand what the #FindFlipper hashtag meant.

[qtpye]

What the hell...at least Hardwick was a fan of the shows he supposedly discussed.  We should send someone from this forum to go host that show.

[FoundTime]

6 hours ago, benteen said:

I think it was clear Greenwald didn't watch the show when he didn't understand what the #FindFlipper hashtag meant.

I know! #FindFlipper indeed :-)

NPR did a story a while back on after-shows and mentioned "After the Black" (for Orphan Black - also, groan) and the Game of Thrones after-show, which they weren't big fans of. I commented that the bad after-shows make you appreciate how good Chris Hardwick really is at that gig. Apparently it's not as easy as it looks. 

[Chaos Theory]

After shows are a new thing which I just can't get into unless and only if the host is a fan of the show.  What is the point otherwise?  Besides if I can't get what I need from the show then the showrunners aren't doing it right.  

[qtpye]

The problem with after shows is that you can not get a real discussion, like on these forums.  Hardwick is not bad, but he can never say "Wow, that finale was such a cop out."  He has to kiss the ass of the writers and creators, so it seems disingenuous.

[hnygrl]

Agreed. The problem with aftershows is they tend to be anti-climactic. You expect them to be as excited or whatever about the show as you are, but it ends up just being a lot of people who never watched the show or who deigned to watch it, but only so they can be on the aftershow, but never really got into the show like the fans are.

[Jodithgrace]

Did they at any point mention how they got president Obama to either take part or allow his voice to be initiated or manipulated?

[atomic]

It wasn't brought up on the aftershow, but it's explained here how they did that POTUS speech: http://www.vulture.com/2016/07/mr-robot-obama.html

Greenwald  actually wrote/podcasted about Mr. Robot all last season: https://grantland.com/tags/mr-robot/ I'm not sure how the hell the Flipper reference seemed to be lost on him.

[qtpye]

Quote

I think it was clear Greenwald didn't watch the show when he didn't understand what the #FindFlipper hashtag meant.

Maybe this week he will ask if Mr. Robot is really a robot.

[SailorGirl]

Anybody going to be in the LA area on September 7? You can be in the Hacking Robot audience. .
. http://www.usanetwork.com/mrrobot/hackingrobot/audience

[yourmomiseasy]

It was better this time.  It seemed like the host actually had been watching the show, which was a vast improvement.

[SailorGirl]

4 hours ago, yourmomiseasy said:

It was better this time.  It seemed like the host actually had been watching the show, which was a vast improvement.

hah -- you beat me to it! I was going to say the same thing -- he seemed to actually know who all the characters were and what was actually going on with them. I found it odd they kept all praising the Angela actress as having so much depth this season -- to me Angela has been the least interesting, wooden character, although maybe that's how she's supposed to be playing it. 

And no explanation about Dom's stupid lollipops. It was mentioned but then glossed over.  

I am glad to see that Christian Slater remains awesome in real life. I have always been a fan of his and seeing interviews like last night just reinforces that! 

[green]

I watched it because it suddenly popped on before I could change the channel to the ball game.  It was kind of a bore.  I did like the woman in the clip that showed how the set design the first part of the season tried to make Elliot's head world look a bit more like the prison.  Bar-like pattern in the wall paper in Elliot's mother's house etc. 

The other pre-recorded clip was the Whiterose actor talking about his role which was kind of interesting.  I though Whiterose was a man with a female or transgender thing going on but it is the other way around.  Whiterose is biologically female but "pretends" to be male to make it up the ladder in the Chinese ruling hierarchy and Whiterose hates having to play that role he said.  Which raises a lot of questions as to what the Chinese Communist Party is failing to do on their background checks and spying on party officials.  But I guess that is why this is a work of fiction.

Anyway that was a big reveal to me.  Whiterose is really female and is only playing a male because she has to and she hates doing it.

Other than those two pre-recorded clips above which were 100% better than the rest of the show the show seemed dull and awkward to me.  Actors live always look like fish out of water and kind of ruin the illusion of their characters in the process.  Give them lines -- or time to prepare (Whiterose actor) -- and they can do well.  Let them loose on their own and they feel the need to "entertain" because that is what they do and tons of people are staring at them on the other side of the tube.  But they don't have their lines so it all looks awkward. 

Rami seems pretty together and the actor who plays Darlene seemed to be having fun but the whole thing just bored me in the end.  Only good line from any of them was when stupid host was asking about being shocked by something Darlene did and the Darlene actor managed to get in a zinger about how Susan certainly got shocked by her.  Score one there.  But that was about it.

And didn't they promise some "coming up this season" talk and a gag reel but the totally inept host ran the live show out of time instead holding 60 second instant polls on crap no one cares about and other inane stuff like what the "vomit" Elliot's adderall pills were sitting in was made of.  Who cares.  We all know it wasn't real vomit.  We hope.

Edited September 8, 2016 by green

[mtlchick]

First time watching it (I live in Canada so we don't get the post show on the network that airs it but I'm in New York this week.)  I tuned out about halfway through.  It just felt it was lacking a certain flow and the 60 second twitter poll was lame.

That said, Rami is adorable (in a bizarre but charming way), Carly seems to snark and my love for Christian Slater will never die.  And I was a bit surprised that White Rose is supposed to female, but plays male. 

 

Quote

I am glad to see that Christian Slater remains awesome in real life. I have always been a fan of his and seeing interviews like last night just reinforces that! 

Read the write up on him in GQ magazine.  Fabulous stuff. 

[MikeJJ]

Hi, am I the only one who spotted that QR code on the wall with a link to a "supposedly" secret page?

Edited September 8, 2016 by MikeJJ

[Milaxx]

10 hours ago, yourmomiseasy said:

It was better this time.  It seemed like the host actually had been watching the show, which was a vast improvement.

after weeks of watching the aftershow on the verge, I still didn't like Hacking Robot.

5 hours ago, green said:

I watched it because it suddenly popped on before I could change the channel to the ball game.  It was kind of a bore.  I did like the woman in the clip that showed how the set design the first part of the season tried to make Elliot's head world look a bit more like the prison.  Bar-like pattern in the wall paper in Elliot's mother's house etc. 

The other pre-recorded clip was the Whiterose actor talking about his role which was kind of interesting.  I though Whiterose was a man with a female or transgender thing going on but it is the other way around.  Whiterose is biologically female but "pretends" to be male to make it up the ladder in the Chinese ruling hierarchy and Whiterose hates having to play that role he said.  Which raises a lot of questions as to what the Chinese Communist Party is failing to do on their background checks and spying on party officials.  But I guess that is why this is a work of fiction.

Anyway that was a big reveal to me.  Whiterose is really female and is only playing a male because she has to and she hates doing it.

Other than those two pre-recorded clips above which were 100% better than the rest of the show the show seemed dull and awkward to me.  Actors live always look like fish out of water and kind of ruin the illusion of their characters in the process.  Give them lines -- or time to prepare (Whiterose actor) -- and they can do well.  Let them loose on their own and they feel the need to "entertain" because that is what they do and tons of people are staring at them on the other side of the tube.  But they don't have their lines so it all looks awkward. 

Rami seems pretty together and the actor who plays Darlene seemed to be having fun but the whole thing just bored me in the end.  Only good line from any of them was when stupid host was asking about being shocked by something Darlene did and the Darlene actor managed to get in a zinger about how Susan certainly got shocked by her.  Score one there.  But that was about it.

And didn't they promise some "coming up this season" talk and a gag reel but the totally inept host ran the live show out of time instead holding 60 second instant polls on crap no one cares about and other inane stuff like what the "vomit" Elliot's adderall pills were sitting in was made of.  Who cares.  We all know it wasn't real vomit.  We hope.

Last week BD was on The Verge along with Flipper the dog.  He said that then.

[kat165]

"Darlene" brougt up a good question ("What do you think Stage 2 is?") that they completely
glossed over. What is the point about airing live if there's nothing spontaneous about the show?
They must have had all their little games and polls and social media shit (grand timewasters)
all set up and not to be disturbed or left out because of time issues. That was an interesting
question, and I would have liked to have heard the viewers' responses or even the actors'
responses although I'm aware that they can't be too candid as they can't give stuff away.

After Carly suggested it and they did nothing I could kind of see the air go out of the other
actors and they all seemed to be sitting there out of obligation, not out of interest. It was so
anticlimatic after such an exciting ep ending.

Wow, was really surprised at BD Wong's reveal about White Rose. So intriguing. It was
really a shock but such a good one.

My understanding though was that White Rose is currently biologically female, but transgender,
having been born a male. And now has to play a male in order to take care of business.

This was only the 2nd aftershow I've seen. Have they been online instead of on tv after the show?

[yourmomiseasy]

My understanding of Whiterose was basically the same as kat165's.  Whiterose was born a male, but identifies as female, but has to portray herself as male in order to get ahead/have any power in society.  I wasn't clear on if she has had surgery or not.  It was very interesting to me though that they had thought it through so in depth.

[kat165]

It's also interesting that as far as I can figure we have not been given this info in the execution of the show. We seem to be only finding this out now via BD Wong's interview. Of course I am not the most observant viewer so it could have been indicated only to go completely over my head/under my radar. I wonder what else I'm not getting. :) (Probably a lot.)

Edited September 9, 2016 by kat165

[FoundTime]

I heard BD Wong (love!) say that Whiterose was a transfemale who has to present as male (what kat165 said), and that would explain why he resists the male persona. It would represent everything s/he went through and got away from to become her true self as a woman.

On ‎9‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 4:39 PM, kat165 said:

It's also interesting that as far as I can figure we have not been given this info in the execution of the show. We seem to be only finding this out now via BD Wong's interview. Of course I am not the most observant viewer so it could have been indicated only to go completely over my head/under my radar. I wonder what else I'm not getting. :) (Probably a lot.)

I don't think the show ever presented this definitively one way or the other. It was just something the actor knew and used to play the role. But this is what aftershows should be giving us, this kind of information that is new and gives some insight into the show or a character that we might not get elsewhere. It made me see Whiterose from an entirely new angle.

[Milaxx]

I think it was implied when he was showing the dresses to Dom. The way he teared up talking about them, it was an almost painful yearning.

 

On 9/8/2016 at 3:41 PM, kat165 said:

....

This was only the 2nd aftershow I've seen. Have they been online instead of on tv after the show?

The Verge aftershow is online only. I think it may also get up loaded after the fact to the Mr. Robot youtube page. Here's the link to the last ep.

[kat165]

Thank you, Milaxx.

[jvr]

First time in this thread and also first time seeing the actor BD Wongs comments. I was just saying to a friend that this past episode where White Rose squatted to pee on the dead CEOs grave was confirmation for me that White Rose was transgender female and not just a man that liked to cross-dress or something else entirely. I don't know if the writers intended that little moment to mean anything to the viewers but that's what I took away from it. 

I like the information on why she still presents as male in some settings, I think I got that on my own but hadn't thought it completely through. I was thinking that if she revealed herself as female she may not be the Chinese security minister anymore.

[green]

13 hours ago, jvr said:

First time in this thread and also first time seeing the actor BD Wongs comments. I was just saying to a friend that this past episode where White Rose squatted to pee on the dead CEOs grave was confirmation for me that White Rose was transgender female and not just a man that liked to cross-dress or something else entirely. I don't know if the writers intended that little moment to mean anything to the viewers but that's what I took away from it. 

I like the information on why she still presents as male in some settings, I think I got that on my own but hadn't thought it completely through. I was thinking that if she revealed herself as female she may not be the Chinese security minister anymore.

What I got out of it was that she wasn't transgender.  She was born a female and doesn't want to be a male.  She is forced to play a male to get ahead in the Party and the government like you suggested.  Transgender isn't about being "forced to play" a sex opposite the one they are and who they fell they are by definition I don't think.  She does what she does and cross dresses as a man to climb the Chinese power structure that has a bias against women in high places.

I could be wrong and she could have been born male and had a sex change operation but that would be a hell of a thing to hide from the Party's scrutiny.