Mr. Robot - Série 4

Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Robot. I believe Esmail’s statement that he had thought out the course and conclusion of the opening scene of the first episode (besides, the structure and the composition is fully in line with that; it even adheres strictly to “the course" of the song). But I only trust him in terms of Ellit's and Darlin's storyline. Not on the society-hacker level. He fell into his own trap, giving some characters too much space and then forgetting about them and... Well, let´s put it this way: He slipped more than once. However, not in the final season. Everything works as it should. Thanks to the trio of Esmail, Campbell and Quayle, the robot has always looked and sounded unmistakable and great. The fourth season takes it considerably further; each scene is an audio-visual masterpiece full of original shots, unconventional angles and unmistakable camera approaches. Light, composition, (a)symmetry, mise-en-scène; if you are into these components and you can appreciate them, then you will hardly find another project with such distinctive features, on top of which the content serves well. It would take a long time to celebrate the perfection of the final season, but basically it can by summarized by saying that even a purely gimmicky episode (on paper) along the lines of “we will film a wordless heist episode" turned out to be so nerve-racking and captivating that, although you are aware of the gimmick, it doesn't even come to your mind when watching. Great job. In fact, the excellence of the content, character development and form of the final season are unprecedented and full of one memorable moments. Even so, I will complain about one thing: The whole series comprises storylines about “hacking for a better tomorrow/dealing with Elliot's inner demons", which are basically balanced and mostly go hand in hand. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but always together. In the final part, however, this is not the case. First, the hacking storyline is addressed (in a damn good way) in two episodes, which, however, is completely free of the main, personal storyline. And then the next three episodes deal only with the personal aspect. And that is a problem. Two and a half episodes are devoted to building “something", but it must be clear to you that Esmail is too sophisticated a creator to spoil his opus magnum with something like that. So, he needlessly designs a twist out of nothing, but no one believes it. The final part is something completely different, when Elliot's story is finally addressed. Again, there is nothing to complain about, because it is specific enough to change your view of the whole series during subsequent viewings, but it is also ambivalent enough to leave room for interpretation and it is emotional when it turns out that despite all the technologies and great ideas, it has always been mainly a deeply personal character odyssey. (04.02.2020)

Clever and compact. The last season took Mr. Robot to the finish line, but not without the greatest of sacrifices. With precision camerawork, Esmail presents a psychological deconstruction of Eliot Alderson and, despite frequent pop-culture references, also manages to be unbelievably original. Masterful plot twists and tricks played on the viewer. The most powerful aspect is the dialogue about humaneness and the end of all that is good inside us. The closing two-part episode that negates everything that has been presented so far is a surprise. A story about hearing voices. (24.12.2019)