‘Mr Robot' Season 4 preview: Elliot and alter ego unite to take down Dark Army’s Whiterose and the elite
When Mr. Robot premiered in 2015, there was nothing like it on television. The disaffected youth hacker, Elliot, whose fractured psyche was as far as one could get from the Matrix's Neo, drew comparisons to 'Fight Club' instead.
But Sam Esmail, the master of feint and parry took us through two more seasons of Mr. Robot, driven by Rami Malek's performance and Esmail's unique visual style. In season 3, the great cyber hack of season 1 was rolled back when Elliot realizes he has been played by B. D. Wong's "Whiterose", head of the "Dark Army" hackers, and also the Chinese Defense Minister.
Through the twists and turns, it is now finally time (after two years off-air) to see how Esmail plans to end his tale. In the trailer, Elliot intones that the one "good thing" that came out of all this was that "they" -- the top one percent of the top one percent -- had revealed themselves and now he was going to take them down.
He and his alter ego, Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), no longer seem to be in conflict, united by their final goal. However, it is to be noted that the year is now 2019. The top one percent have revealed themselves and shoved their wrongdoings in our faces and there is not much anyone has been able to do.
The hacktivist with his indecipherable code has been replaced by Greta Thunberg, the girl who uses the simplest of language. The time period for Mr. Robot's final season is still December 2015. Any attempt to make it current will seem odd and unlike its season 1, season 4 of the series is now a historical tale.
How Esmail plans to tackle this dissonance remains to be seen. Thankfully, his fractured visual style is still relevant in today's world of fake news and hysteria drowning out the real concerns around climate change, mass migrations, xenophobia and rising inequality.
Let's hope Esmail's saga won't feel dated when it airs Sunday at 10/9c on the USA Network.