Who Is Mr. Robot's Landlord? Thoughts On Recent Season 2 News
So, Who Is Mr. Robot's Landlord?
Oh, before you read any further please only read this if you have seen Season One or don't mind a little spoilage. At the very least you should know the name of Mr. Robot. In other words, *SPOILER ALERT*
"Who is Mr. Robot's Landlord" is usually the name of my weekly recap of the show Mr. Robot. For now, it is a placeholder until Season Two starts back up in about a month (July 13th).
Oh, I am also including some videos of my favorite songs from Season One.
Plot News: Investigating Elliot's Daddy Issues
Supposedly, Season Two will start with Elliot (Rami Malek) hiding out at his late Mother's house trying to live off the grid and come to grips with the guilt he feels over the international financial crisis that he has caused and with the realization that he is projecting and communicating with an imaginary version he has concocted of his dead Father.
Here is some more context for that.
Season One graphically played out much of Elliot's troubled relationship with his parents. His Mother was clearly both emotionally and physically abusive to Elliot so he was closer to his Father.
If you did see Season One but don't know the answer to the trivia question that I asked above (what is Mr. Robot's first name?), the most technically correct answer is probably "Edward."
If you are wondering, technically Mr. Robot is a figment of Elliot's imagination, so I imagine his name would be Elliot. However, Mr. Robot is a representation of Elliot's Father whose name was Edward (played by Christian Slater). Edward is referred to by virtually everyone associated with the show are "Mr. Robot" because, after he lost his job at Evil Corps as a Computer Engineer, he opened a computer repair store called "Mr. Robot."
Throughout most of Season One, Edward wears branded clothing carrying his stores "Mr. Robot" logo.
In the first season, as I mentioned, it is explained that Edward and Elliot were very close until after Edward opens Mr. Robot and, at some point, finds out that he has cancer. Edward and Elliot's relationship sours after Elliot tells his Mother about Edward's condition. When Edward finds out that Elliot told his secret he reacts by pushing Elliot out of a window (breaking his arm).
This event was so traumatic to Elliot that he reenacts it when visiting his childhood room with spectral Edward (including the fall). This suggests that, as much as Elliot idolized his Father, Edward had some real anger issues. And since the show is partially about Elliot's mental health, his projections of his father can sometimes have a cruel and sinister tone.
There is a lot of space to play with here. I suspect that part of what Elliot will be confronting in Season Two is the parts of himself that he fears share that darkness in his Father's personality. In other words, the parts of his personality that were okay with destroying the world economy to get back at Evil Corps for giving Edward cancer and then firing him.
Anyway, the reason I call the recaps "Who Is Mr. Robot's Landlord" is a play on that mental health theme (although it also would make sense literally).
Watch Mr. Robot Season One Again On Amazon Prime Video
The other day I opened up my Amazon Prime Video account and there was a Mr. Robot logo along with the tagline "Our Democracy Has Been Hacked." Yup, turns out Amazon has the exclusive streaming rights to Mr. Robot.
So, of course, I started binge-watching Season One again Have made it to Episode 5).
Good Times!
If you have Amazon Prime Video, you can watch Season One as well. Get warmed up for Season Two!
Watch "Mr. Robot Decoded": USA's Season One Special
Not only can you watch all of Season One again, you can revisit season One and preview season Two with many of the stars of the show on a new USA Network special.
Technically it is called "“Mr. Robot_dec0d3d.doc” but you get the idea.
USA Network is airing the hour-long special at 11:05 on June 20th (After WWE Monday Night RAW).
The Future of Mr. Robot
Sam Esmail (the creator and head writer of the show) says that he wants the series to be five seasons long. Supposedly he is already thinking about characters and new actors to add for Season Three.
In addition, he is asking the USA Network for a longer break between Season Two and Season Three (guess we have to wait until at least August next Summer).
As an aside, the use of "Pictures of You" in Episode 7 is one of the best uses of music to further plot that I have ever seen on a television show.
The CyberPunk Roots of Mr. Robot
Two items here:
1) One of my favorite things about the show is that they went out of their way to ensure that the "hackers" on the show were realistic. The consultant that was hired to help out was a security consultant named Kor Adana. As you might have noticed, about a month ago I got to ask him a few questions on Reddit about the show (he seemed very nice).
2) I read this really good article about how Mr. Robot has made the cyberpunk genre live again. The article is a good read and good to see Sam Esmail and I read many of the same books! Read it HERE.
I should also shout out Tangerine Dream's "Love On A Real Train" in Episode 6. For folks who are middle-old like me, this was most likely an homage to the Tom Cruise movie Risky Business.
Well, those are all the updates I have today, Season Two is getting close! Get ready for another season of "Who Is Mr. Robot's Landlord?"
What are you excited about for Season 2? Let me know, leave a comment!
