If you’ve been following the brilliant and twisted world of Mr. Robot as we have then you know season four is coming. Unfortunately, it’s scheduled to be the final season, but the show has had a brilliant run, and we’re looking forward to the finale. Admittedly, there’s a small part of us that hopes the fourth and final season announcement is a bit like Elliot’s unreliable narrator position and might not be entirely accurate. Sadly, there’s no indication that the network is anything like Elliot. We’re probably almost as delusional as he is to think things could change this late in the game. Don’t hold your breath for a fifth season just because we wished for it here. There’s so much to love in this show. We’re certain we’ll be pining for it long after the finale rolls and the final credits fall. SPOILERS AHEAD! If you’re not caught up on all three seasons this far, we might let something slip that you haven’t learned yet.
Why We Love Mr. Robot
Before we get to the last season and that dynamic trailer, we just wanted to reminisce through a few of the things that make the show one of our standout favorites. Elliot himself is naturally a huge part of that The lead character as an Unreliable Narrator is a brilliant device. The fact that neither you nor he can trust what he thinks he sees is a great way to keep fans on their toes. We adore being one of his imaginary friends even as he struggles with his mental state and the state of the world through the lens of his increasing isolation.
Unique Visual Style
The combined vision of Sam Esmail and Tod Campbell is both unique and inescapably entwined with the mood of the whole show. Every shot where you see main characters seems to have them framed alone in the bottom corners of the screen. While this isn’t typical of film or TV, it is a fantastic way to show their isolation rather than describing it. Even when characters are together, they are shown as cut off from the world around them in small lonely islands of action or inaction depending on the scene. Overall, the sense of loneliness is one of the prevailing impressions we get from the whole series as each character drifts further into their solitary existence.
Paranoia & Anxiety
Anxiety about life, the future, and the world around us is something everyone experiences at times. Beyond just the overall anxious vibe, the feeling you’re being followed is a shared human experience. The idea that people are staring at you when they shouldn’t is something most people sometimes feel in their life. You might say these are two seminal human experiences. The unrelatable grandiosity of the plots coupled with the completely familiar moods and experiences is brilliantly executed. It’s not hard to fall right into the complex and often bizarre adventures of the characters seamlessly. Mr. Esmail’s ability to draw us in is pure literary genius translated flawlessly onto our screens.
On With The Show
We watched the teasers and trailers several times to see what we could get from them. Knowing that Mr. Robot is just a fracture in Elliot’s personality that represents an idealized version of his dead father puts things in a strange light. We see the two discussing Elliot’s need to get back to work. His dual goal of taking down E-Corp and it’s puppetmasters while also saving people around him is going to play heavily into this season, but it always does.
There’s a sense of almost hopeless determination in the trailer. Elliot recognizes that ‘the top one percent of the top one percent,’ who are secretly running the world without asking anyone else if they mind is a massive goal. It’s hard to conceive of a win in this situation. Over the previous three seasons, he’s fallen deeper and deeper into this wormhole of echelons above echelons. We’re left wondering if he can discover who, or what group is truly at the top. It’s like looking at the film version of a mandala puzzle that turns endlessly in on itself making new shapes but never-ending.
Mr. Robot says it best, “If you go down this path, it will never end. There will always be another symbol to destroy more people to save. This is an endless war.” It seems very much as though Mr. Robot, who is Elliots’ guiding star as it were, seems to think he’s going too far. Even in the world of his own mind, his lost father figure counsels him against going forward with his plans.
Drugs & Murder
It doesn’t take much to see that this season definitely centers around some killings. A gunman fires and a bouquet of white roses are stained red in the bottom corner of a scene. In another split second, you see what clearly looks like cocaine being poured out. It’s not a huge surprise that these are setting the tone, but that’s not the only white powder we’ll be seeing as the Christmas spirit is strong in this trailer.
More Paranoia
The words “They’re Listening,” written on a yellow notepad helps to remind us that fear of ‘them’ is always a driving force in the show. What we find more compelling is the final image of Elliot and Mr. Robot standing in front of a fire. Elliot tells himself, aka Mr. Robot, that he thinks things have gone too far to give up anyhow. We got the impression that the flames weren’t just to make things cozy. Resultantly, we have to wonder if the two of him weren’t perhaps burning some evidence to keep ‘them’ from finding out what he’s been up to. Both as the leader of his hacktivist group and as a solo entity who sometimes fights against his own overall goals, he certainly has secrets worth burning.
Final Thoughts
We can’t wait to see how it all plays out. The elegant scenery in many of the trailer scenes hints that Elliot might be nearing the bottom of his rabbit hole. He may just reach the top of his ‘one percent of the one percent’ this season. Of course, it could be all in his head. We’ll all have to wait and see what happens to poor Elliot and the world when he reaches the end of the line.
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