MR ROBOT

If you want to relive the philosophical and psychological war of Fight Club and the revolutionary V for Vendetta infused with modern technology, Mr. Robot is just the show for you.

Original and exhilarating, Mr. Robot presents the story of an asocial computer genius, Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek). Suffering from childhood traumas, he has made capitalism and inequity his lifelong enemies and seeks a way to destroy its greatest personification, E Corp. (or Evil Corp, in Elliot's head).

Elliot is an average techie in a cyber security company by day, and a knight (hacker) in his dark hoodie by night. Sounds overdone and obvious? Yes. Is it? No. Why? Because Rami Malek. Never has the casting for the protagonist ever been so dead accurate. His sunken eyes glare with paranoia, his shying away from human contact represents his utter distaste for people and his deep hollow voice growls the very death of kindness, morality and humanity. And suddenly, you can trust him and relate to him, you support him—you become him.

Helping him in his quest is Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), the leader of fsociety, the hacker organisation which shares the same goal as Elliot. They believe (allegedly) Elliot is the key to bringing down Evil Corp. Together they conspire, hack and try to end their tyranny, leading to a rather unexpected and equally amazing unveiling of the antagonist. Any more of the plot and I'll just spoil it for you. Yes, it's that good.

Aside from the great acting and story, the direction and cinematography worked an equal amount of magic to put up this mesmerising show. The pilot has been applauded for its adaptation of a more film-like presentation, owing of course to the fact that it had been directed by Niels Arden Oplev, director of the original "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." This, along with the voice-over, is a rebellious effort for a new TV show, which does nothing but justice to the show's philosophy itself.

What makes this show stand apart though, is not just its plot or performance, it's its entry to the world of TV, how a seemingly predictable story awes us with its authenticity, sucks us right in with a strained greeting, "Hello Friend" and makes us uncover the bigger-than-all-of-us conspiracy through the mind and eye of a cynical super genius. But at the same time, after each course of action, we question ourselves - is this all real or is it just in Elliot's head? That's how good it is.