USA Network
Rami Malek (L) and Christian Slater co-star in Mr. Robot.
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In the pilot episode of new USA Network series Mr. Robot, debuting today, its lead character sits in a court-ordered therapy session. He pauses to answer the question he's just been asked: "What is it about society that disappoints you so much?"
Elliot's response sounds like a treatise from an issue of Adbusters, leading off with a condemnation of Steve Jobs—"we knew he made billions off the backs of children"—and then calling out "counterfeit" cultural icons like Bill Cosby, Lance Armstrong, and Tom Brady. The character, played by 34-year-old actor Rami Malek, mocks social media "faking as intimacy," and he condemns America's obsessions with prescription pills and mass commercialism: "Maybe it's that we voted for [all of] this—not with our rigged elections, but with our things, our property, our money. We want to be sedated, because it's painful not to pretend. Fuck society."
Mr. Robot hinges on Elliot's desire to call out, and destroy, the apparent chokehold that large corporations have on American life (who knows how USA Network is selling any advertising for this series), and he uses social-media paranoia and computer hacking as his platform. That's an intriguing and unique entry point, especially for a cable network drama—you know, check out our apparently legitimate hacker as a series hero, one who furiously types server commands into a terminal window to get stuff done.
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