Mr Robot (Season 4)

I'm going to be honest. I didn't really like Season 4 of Mr Robot. It's still as well-filmed and acted as the show has always been, but the pacing is really wonky and the season contains a lot of plot directions that didn't sit all that well for me. 

Frankly, the first two thirds of Season 4 were really good. I like the Christmas vibe it had going for it and the story of the final confrontation with the Dark Army was compelling. There were tons of experimental episodes that stood out with some of the best in the series, and I also really liked seeing Mr Robot as the narrator this time. Angela and Tyrell's deaths, while frustrating, were really well-executed, and the middle of the season was top-notch. I feel like having most of the season take place on the same day led to some odd pacing, but it was overall a novel idea.

It's not until the episode "410 Gone" where the cracks started to show. While it was a great episode, it felt odd having to say goodbye to the side characters when there were three episodes left. I thought Dom or Leon would return for the finale, but the finale was entirely focused on Elliot. Then I arrived at "eXit" and it introduces a "parallel universe". I didn't like this plot point because I didn't want Mr Robot to go hard sci-fi. I thought it was too grounded to do that. Still, I saw the last two episodes, and while it was revealed that there were no parallel universes, what I got was even worse.

"Hello, Elliot" was one of the most underwhelming finales I have ever seen and it felt like a low point for not just the season but Mr Robot as a whole. I like the idea of an ambiguous and psychological finale but it didn't feel like they went all the way, settling for some pretty rote "parallel universe" shenanigans. And then there's the plot twist, the reveal that Elliot was also a split personality called 'The Mastermind" and he locked his real self away in the "parallel universe utopia", so the show ends with Elliot stepping back and letting his real self take the wheel. Sure it makes sense, but it's ridiculously convoluted, and the more I think about it, the worse it ends up being.

This finale just felt like an insult to the audience. The character we've been following the whole time, a character who's one of the best depictions of mental illness out there, a character who breaks the fourth wall and talks to the viewer, isn't even real in his own universe. If that's really so, then why am I supposed to care about anything that happened in the last four seasons? On top of that, most of the other cast members are shafted, and the lingering questions still aren't answered. I understand why people would like the finale as it definitely has a degree of emotional punch, but for me, this was a massive disappointment.

Thankfully, there are still a bunch of really good episodes that helped the first two thirds of the season remain strong:

402 Payment Required: I like the low-key nature of this episode. The focus on Elliot and Darlene each dealing with their mother's death in their own ways is great. We also get the first mention of the Deus Group, along with the twist that Elliot has another split personality. 

405 Method Not Allowed: Believe it or not, I didn't realize this episode was entirely silent until almost halfway in, and it made the whole thing so much more enjoyable. The heist was a lot of fun, culminating in the show's greatest action scene; A chase through the streets of New York City that's both intense and a hell of a fun time.

407 Proxy Authentication Required: Damn it, Vera! I'm supposed to hate you but all of your episodes are so good! This episode feels more like a play than an episode of a TV show, with five acts and everything. It has a bit of a slow build, but it remains tense throughout, culminating in a genuinely devastating final third.

409 Conflict: This episode is just satisfying. Seeing the Deus Group fall apart, Price outwit Whiterose, and the Dark Army nearly being slaughtered is amazing. Price was especially brutal during this episode, definitely his best moment in the show.

Overall, there are a lot of good episodes and the production is as top-notch as usual, but the ending just completely drops the ball for me, dragging down not just this season but the entire show. Maybe if they stuck the landing, this would be one of my favorite shows of all time, but now it's just a mess.

3/5 Stars

My ranking of Mr Robot's seasons would be:

1. Season 3: Easily the peak of the series. Meant to payoff everything Season 2 set up, Season 3 starts at 11 and continuously gets better from there. Nearly every episode is fantastic.
2. Season 1: What a great starter season. Season 1 of Mr Robot tells a great self-contained story with confident pacing and direction and a phenomenal triple-whammy at the very ending.
3. Season 2: While slow and aimless at times, Season 2 has a lot of great episodes especially around the middle, and most of it is made better by the payoffs in Season 3. 
4. Season 4: There's a lot of great episodes and moments in Season 4, but the bizarre pacing and the ending that just didn't work for me at all really dragged it down.

And my ranking of Mr Robot's finales would be:

1. shutdown -r (Season 3): I love this episode so much. It's so small-scale in premise, cramming the cast together into a farm for most of its runtime, but Shutdown manages to resolve all of the show's major storylines in dramatic and satisfying fashion.
2. eps1.9_zer0-day.avi (Season 1): While more of a denouement coming off of the last two episodes, Zero Day still manages to surprise by completely subverting everything the season was building towards.
3. eps2.9_pyth0n.p7z (Season 2): Python is a bit of a messy finale that tosses a ridiculous amount of plot twists and cliffhangers at you as possible. It's not super satisfying, but it is very surprising.
4. Hello, Elliot (Season 4): Yeah, I've ranted enough about the series finale. I didn't like it.

Favorite Episode: eps3.4_runtime-err0r.r00