Is ‘Mr. Robot’ Hitting Its Sophomore Slump?

There’s another side of every underdog story that few people talk about. With a meteoric rise to greatness comes meteoric expectations about what you’re going to do next. That’s the position USA’s surprise summer hit, Mr. Robot, has found itself in this season. Audiences and critics alike watched with bated breath, hoping that Mr. Robot’s second season would deliver as many psychological and emotional shocks as its first season. However, with the exception of this week’s episode, the result has been a bit lackluster. Season One spoilers and mild Season Two spoilers ahead.

Much like Elliot himself, Mr. Robot has had a hard time getting out of its head this season, and the show has suffered for it. Season One left its unreliable protagonist and our anchor to this slowly collapsing world in a precarious position. In an inspired performance brimming with pathos, Elliot (Rami Malek) had just realized that Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) was actually a psychological manifestation of his dead father. It was a tough moment that the series rightfully refused to push reset on when it came time for Season Two. But delving further into Elliot’s many neuroses came at a cost. While the transformation was essential for the character, internal battles don’t make great television.

The first three episodes of Season Two tried their hardest to make this internal struggle seem compelling. In particular, Episode One featured Mr. Robot and Elliot fighting with one another about potentially killing sweet, hapless Gideon (Michael Gill). Also, Elliot’s internal fight in Episode Three, which terrifyingly recreated the effects of Adderall, was as disturbing as it was difficult to watch. However, the show’s central conflict — whether Elliot can escape from Mr. Robot — is starting to feel overworked, and the redundancy of this A plot has affected the quality of the show as a whole. So what’s the deal? Should you give up on Mr. Robot or do you need to hold out and keep watching?

YOU’RE NOT ALONE. SEASON TWO IS NOT AS FUN.

Mr. Robot hasn’t seen a deadly ratings drop from Season One, but it has seen a significant one. Season One’s finale saw live ratings of 0.5, but those numbers dropped to 0.4 for the show’s Season Two premiere. Episodes Two and Three have dropped even further, sitting at 0.3 a piece. There are a lot of factors that can explain that drop. The first episode of the season was made available on social media channels beforehand, so avid fans could have watched it there. Also, Mr. Robot is a show that solidly targets a younger demographic, a demographic that’s more inclined to cord cut than watch in real time.

However, USA’s decision to make Season One available to Prime users should have secured the series some new, devoted fans over the summer. It’s possible that almost all of those fans are more streaming focused as well, which is why we don’t have numbers on them, but that seems unlikely.

But let’s forget about Nielsen numbers for a second. The general conversation around Season Two can be summed up in one word: frustration. The Reddit thread for the show, which is comprised of over 58,000 active users, has been filled with confused questions and spotty theories. So far, that sounds like Reddit as usual, but prior to Episode Five, some threads have taken on a more frustratingly confused than inquisitive tone. Two threads directly address the idea that Season Two sucks (in all fairness, the second thread is arguing that the season doesn’t suck contrary to what many users are saying. However, it proves that there is a debate happening about Season Two’s quality).

Also, the critical conversation around the series has been a bit less glowing. Slate’s Sam Adams smartly argued that this season’s flaws can be accredited to its annoyingly comfortable territory, comparing this season’s tone to the series’ bleeped f-bombs. Seeing Elliot argue with Mr. Robot is well-worn territory. Seeing the collapse of modern civilization? Not so much.

DON’T GIVE UP YET. THERE’S STILL HOPE FOR SEASON TWO.

So yes, Season Two has been slower than Season One, mostly because prior to Episode Five, the series has refused to get out of its own head. However, we haven’t hit UnREAL levels of terribleness yet. The background characters of Mr. Robot have been building up to something, and I think there’s potential for a big payoff in this season’s finale.

We’ve been watching this season through the lens of Mr. Robot at its best. As a viewer who has gleefully dug through in-universe scavenger hunts for this show, it’s hard to remember just how slow Season One could be, but that’s what it was — slow and a bit drawling but with a big enough payoff to make you forget every time Elliot’s monologues made you roll your eyes. Mr. Robot is one of those shows that has many flaws but more truly great moments. For example, we can forgive the fact that the hacking collective is juvenilely named FSociety because we’re stumbling through a world not even our protagonist understands.

However, as Adams pointed out, it’s harder to forgive a line of dialogue like, oh, I don’t know, “Control is about as real as a one-legged unicorn taking a leak at the end of a double rainbow,” when nothing else is going on. Yes, Season Two is slow and at time cringe-worthy, but the series isn’t worth abandoning yet. Episode Five firmly proves that creator Sam Esmail has bigger things planned.

Not to give too much away, but this week’s episode turns up the drama and the stakes considerably. Finally, the building cat and mouse game between Elliot and the FBI’s residential badass, Dom (Grace Gummer), is starting to pay off, and Elliot is finally ready to hack again. This episode wouldn’t nearly be as engaging without the past three weeks of build up. So yes, Season Two is slower than you remember the show being, but we all need to hold hands and hold out. For better or for worse, Mr. Robot hasn’t officially abandoned us yet.

[Where to watch Mr. Robot]

Photos: USA