Is this a real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Did Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) get caught in a landslide of collapsing reality?
Credit: Peter Kramer/USA Network
Extreme Junction Diner forever!
Look, Elliot: Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
But its getting hard to be someone, isnt it?
So take, take me home!
To the life you dont remember!
Take, take me home!
To the life you dont remember!
Take, take me
Sorry.
I got stuck in a moment, and I couldnt quite get out of it.
You, too, I think, but it sure seemsMr.
Robotis to borrow from Leon really fing with all of us.
In my recap, I proposed that the feds have him in a psychiatric prison.
Elliots awareness of events happening to other people is informing this fantasy.
Elliots experiences of reality could be an act of creative appropriation and recasting.
But they could also represent sly commentary on other aspects of the show.
(The word totem means his kinnish group his family.
In the interim, they stew in existential frustration, itchy to do something, often doing nothing.
Elliots Hot Carla delusion tells us that he is aware of his sisters activities and angst.
My art historian friend Jonathan Anderson and fellowMr.
Money: the meaningful yet volatile fiction that rules our lives.
Another example, more simple: When Mr. Maybe hes spiraled deep into this matrix to elude Mr.
Robot or evade the interrogators trying to extract secrets from him.
Could Ray be Elliots fantastical rendering of FBI agent Dominique DiPerro (Grace Gummer)?
(Rays nosy, overly-familiar probe of Elliot = Doms nosy, overly-familiar probe of the bodega dude.)
Ray has a dog and Perro means dog.
Welcome to the madhouse.
This is not a new idea.
See: Zack SnydersSuckerPunchand Edgar WrightsScott Pilgrim vs.
The World, movies that present realities experienced through pop junkie consciousness.
How gonzo do we get?
(you’re able to hear my Eureka!
Given the shows metafictional devices that acknowledgeMr.
InMind Games… well, cmon, its calledMind Games.
Or maybe he was just crazy.)
Robotis about Christian Slaters ongoing attempts to hack into television.
AsMatt Zoller Seitz noted in an essayaboutMr.
Hunting and tagging Esmails references has become the summertime Pokemon Go!
monster hunting of savvy cineastes.
Robot, allusions can be nested within other allusions.
Robotend up being the coded allegory for Native American genocide that mad Kubrickians wantThe Shiningto be.)
Did something like that happen to Elliot between seasons?
Is his head stuck in his iTunes library?
Is his consciousness bricked in a wall of pet pop sounds?
Unlike other storytellers, Esmail doesnt sweat the anxiety of influence.
(For a great take onMr.
Robotand social media, check out this Maureen Ryan essay inVariety.)
The question Im asking right now aboutMr.
Robot: How long can I can be entertained by Whats real?/Whats not?
In our newEntertainment Geeklypodcast, Darren and I discuss the question.
I state that Id like to see the show establish some solid baselines for whats real.
Are the non-Elliot scenes in season 2 legit?
Can we trust that season 1 really happened?
(I hope so.)
You might hear worry in my voice.
Im concerned that Esmail might feel thatMr.
Robots brand and franchise obligation is to produce twist narrative each and every season.
Some were intrigued and hooked.
(My teenage son, who just got intoLost, loves season 6.
Its his favorite.)
Others were alienated and driven away by too much WTF?
Robot, but also make the twist beside the point, which is an achievable goal for this show.
of the protagonists reality blurring practices is more compelling than whats real?
What is he running away from?
Whats he trying to work out?
After I recorded the podcast, I was reminded by anotherMr.
Robotfan-friend that were only 12 episodes into this show.
So Im far from feeling panic.
I can be patient and enjoy the current focus on psych-out fuzz and metafictional funny games.
Red Wheel Barrow jottings?
Tweet them to me@EWDocJensen.
