TV Review: Mr. Robot - The Final Season

TV Review: Mr. Robot – The Final Season

October 2nd 2019, 5:14pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Synopsis: Set during the 2015 Christmas holiday, the fast-paced season will be one filled with answers, hacking and blood. Elliot and Mr. Robot are getting back to work and down a path that could prove endless. But have they crossed a line?

Review: When Mr. Robot debuted four years ago, it represented a shift in programming for the USA Network. I took a chance on the series to find that creator Sam Esmail had crafted something unique, especially compared to all of the marquee drama series airing at the time. Starring Rami Malek and Christian Slater, Mr. Robot's first season was damn near perfect television. The second and third seasons didn't quite match that first run, but with Esmail venturing to new projects (Amazon Prime's Homecoming and USA's upcoming Briarpatch with Rosario Dawson) and Rami Malek enjoying the afterglow of his Oscar for BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, Mr. Robot is back for a final season to wrap up the complex mythology it has built for itself.

While the first season managed to pull off a Fight Club-esque twist, the subsequent seasons tried very hard to replicate that and never quite managed it. Sure, there were some creative episodes including one that was an ode to 90s sitcoms and another that was a real time/long take, but the narrative continued to get bigger and more out of control. With this final season, Sam Esmail reels it back in for a run that is much closer to the paranoia and claustrophobia of the first year. Set entirely in the Christmas season of 2015, the final season of Mr. Robot is shaping up to be one of the most memorable swan songs for any television series. Yes, there are definitely still filmmaking flourishes and unique narrative choices, but it finally feels like Mr. Robot is coming full circle to what made it such a great show when it debuted.

Season Four runs for 13 episodes, which makes it the longest in the show's history and the time is not put to waste. While only the first five episodes of the season were made available for review, they are full of mysterious developments that both culminate the ongoing arc of the show as well as introducing some new elements. It is virtually impossible to give any sort of a recap of these episodes as they will all be laden with spoilers. Suffice it to say that there are callbacks to events from all three prior seasons, so if you haven't watched Mr. Robot in a while, you should probably brush up on what has happened so far before diving into this season.

What I can say about these episodes is that they focus heavily on the relationship between Elliott and Mr. Robot which also gives Christian Slater a lot more material than he has had since the first season. Slater is excellent in this role and there is a nice shift in the character here that makes him much more intriguing than ever before. We also get to see why Rami Malek earned his Emmy for his performance on Mr. Robot which is the polar opposite of his Oscar winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury. While that role was loud and exposed, Elliott is much more introverted, deliberate, and calculated. But, Sam Esmail continues to evolve who Elliott is and we see much deeper into his fragmented psyche than before. It is handled very well and gives this show one more big mystery reveal before ending for good.

We continue to see the rest of the excellent cast including Carly Chaikin as Elliot's damaged sister and fellow hacker, Darlene and Portia Doubleday as Angela Moss who found herself having a breakdown at the end of season three. Michael Cristofer continues to play both sides as E-Corp CEO Phillip Price and Grace Gummer is still a welcome addition to the cast as FBI agent Dom DiPierro. But, the best character here has got to be BD Wong as Whiterose, the head of the Dark Army who has evolved since the beginning of the series from a secondary antagonist to the big bad of the entire show.

Sam Esmail may have moved on to different projects but his ambitious Mr. Robot doesn't get short shrift here. There is a focus and dedication to finish this series as strongly as it started. Some of the twists may be a bit telegraphed compared to what we have seen come before it, but it is a vast improvement over both the second and third seasons of the show. Rami Malek and Christian Slater are at the top of their game here and if the second half of this season is as good as the first five episodes, fans are going to be very pleased with how this show comes to a close. Like any series with a die-hard fandom, some are not going to like the choices these characters make, but the filmmakers are certainly taking better and more rewarding risks than ever before.

The final season of Mr. Robot premieres October 6th on USA Network.