Mr. Robot (TV Series) eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4 (2015) User Reviews

so much better on reflection

[jph299 · 9/10 · 9 January 2020]

The first time you watch this you do not have enough information to process what anything means, it's so abstract. After watching the finale and Season 4 you begin to see how early in Elliott's story his destiny and ending was decided.

Some lovely visuals here and the hallucinations have far more meaning on the rewatch. It would have been a 7/10 at best on first watch.

Some truly brilliant scenes, and some stumbles.

[TouchTheGarlicProduction · 8/10 · 15 July 2015]

The episode opens with Elliot's plan to take down the analog records. The group then finds out that there are copies being made, so they will have to execute the plan within the next couple days. Unfortunately, Elliot's withdrawal kicks in, making him useless.

In the end, they have to get Elliot one more fix so he can function for the operation. This results in what was easily the episode's best scene. Elliot goes into this junkie house to get some drugs. The whole scene was done as one shot. It was truly intense, especially the ending.

This results in Elliot having hallucinations. The hallucinations lasted the next QUARTER of the episode. Don't get me wrong, they were fairly well done. Hallucinations can be truly boring and pretentious if done wrong. Luckily, they found a good balance of surrealism, symbolism, and hilarity. I loved the voice of the talking fish. But the segment just lasted too darn long.

This took time away from other elements that really needed more time. For example, Darlene and Trenton's meeting with the army of darkness. We didn't get to see what happened in the meeting, and we really needed to. Maybe they'll return to it later in the season, but even so, it was handled in a confusing way.

In the end, despite a few stumbles, it was still a pretty good entry into the series. And that one-shot sequence was AWESOME!!!

Too Early for Character-Specific Metaphors

[uawiseguy2 · 7/10 · 28 February 2020]

Hallucination-based episodes are commonplace in modern dramas and they almost always help develop character subtext and are filled with easter eggs that are elaborated-upon in later episodes. Placing one of these stories only four episodes in, however naturally brought on by Elliot's morphine withdrawals, seems rushed and leads to confusion. We don't know Elliot, Mr. Robot, Shayla, or Angela enough to feel the imagery's potency. Even though Mr. Robot and Elliot have a bonding moment, this episode would've better been suited at least a season in the future.

Better when you've watched season 4

[coleson-71452 · 10/10 · 16 December 2019]

This episode didn't make sense when watching the first time around, but after watching season 4 and how the series was recontextualized, this episode makes a lot more sense.

It will all make sense, I promise!

[lalanametala · 10/10 · 9 May 2020]

This episode is brilliant!!! It contains the essential glimpse of what's to come by the end of the show. Keep going and you will see! Sam Esmail, sir, you are the man!

Don't skip, this episode is important!

[jaegersteven · 10/10 · 17 August 2021]

A lot of People saying this episode is trash or skip this episode, but do not skip this one, because it is important, why it is you will understand later in the final season. For me this is one of my favourite episodes of Mr. Robot.

I don't get the low rating

[DjDarkrai10 · 10/10 · 15 April 2021]

This episode was amazing. It got weird very fast, but I enjoyed every second of it. Although this series is quite a slow burn I have easily found myself invested in all of them.

I'd also like to say that the dream sequence was incredibly creative, creepy, and beautiful.

10/10 this is probably my favorite episode so far, will definitely keep watching.

Where will you be when the withdrawal strikes?

[quincytheodore · 7/10 · 16 July 2015]

This must be the most trippy episode in the season, if not in recent TV series so far. It's a mixed bag of impressive pacing and awkward presentation. The plan to physically hack Stone Mountain is progressing in highly fast pace, but Elliot suffers from personal bump as his addiction finally takes a toll on his mind and body.

The first half is superbly made, the build-up for heist aspect is interesting. It's certainly complex, yet the narration is clear enough for the viewer to understand and invest on. Shortly after, the merry band of hackers split into groups as Evil Corp deploys more security measure that has to be breached simultaneously.

Elliot is on the venturing group, but this is far from a happy road trip. Along the way he undergoes severe withdrawal effects, which ultimately leads him into old habits and extremely vague hallucination. The show spends a lot of time on this vivid imagination, down to talking fish and such.

It has good one continuous shot and presumably a few metaphors, but this dreamy sequence is unfortunately too unclear, or it tries to be too meta for its own good. Furthermore, it drags on for quite a bit as well as borderline creepy philosophy. It's simply an odd spectacle. For the other group, their subplot isn't really flushed out. The role they are given is pretty crucial, however there's lack of clarity on their scene, which perhaps is stored for later episode.

I appreciate the good cinematography for the continuous shot or the outdoor visual, and the episode does buildup tension. However, half of it is incredibly fuzzy. Mr. Robot tends to give such enigmatic narrative, yet it's always accessible. This time, it's a tad too vague to be relatable for casual viewing.

It makes more sense after season 4

[KananZeynalov · 10/10 · 20 May 2021]

As some people said below, this episode is the foreshadowing of the finale..

Thanks Sam Esmail for perfection, and to Ramo Malek for increadible performance throught the series..

Still a good episode despite some confusing and pointless hallucination sequences.

[FallonTimberlake2016 · 7/10 · 15 June 2016]

The reaction for this episode was generally mixed to negative, but I think it is better than people are saying. Yes, there are a pretty good amount of hallucination sequences, but I think they work for the most part. I say "for the most part," because there is a weird sequence involving Angela and Elliot that didn't make sense to the story and I thought was generally pointless. However all of the others were either poignant, relevant, or just entertaining to watch.

If that was the only problem I may have given it a nine, but sadly it was not. There was a really big event that was hinted at throughout the episode that ended up never happening. Instead it was replaced by the hallucination sequences, which kind of made me mad because I felt like the show accomplished nothing.

However, unlike the last episode, they actually did the character development thing right this time. I got a sense of who these people are without them beating me across the face with it. The consistent strong performances of the ensemble cast help with this, along with amazing direction. Mr. Robot has the best direction of a show since Fargo. Overall this episode is good, but I am looking forward to an increase in quality in the next couple ones.

I give Season One, Episode Four of Mr. Robot a seven out of ten.

Chaotic, Confusing but well constructed, AMAZING!!

[mikeybrown-59880 · 10/10 · 16 July 2015]

This has to be the most bizarre, but most engaging episode yet!. I was left questioning myself "what's happening" as there were so many clues that i had yet to find.

A large theme portrayed in this episode was reality, as i was left considering what scenes were real and what wasn't. Furthermore another theme was Demons, which also left me gripped wanting to find more as you go deeper into Elliot's mind.

The episode was evenly paced, and had some create music adding to the tension of this episode; which left me hanging on the edge of my seat. Angela and the F-society's character development was great, each character had their part and you slowly begin to get an insight into their lives.

We are still left to wonder if Mr.Robot is real, or whether half the time Elliot is tripping. But the overall surrealism of this episode is great. can't wait for the next one!

Out of place... Not. Yes. Not really.

[sspureurubin · 7/10 · 10 April 2023]

When I first watched this episode, I was THIS close in dropping this show. I dont mind metaphors, imagery, all that figurative language we learned in Literature but this episode had too much. Yes, in retrospect, this episode makes sense. It makes sense when you're halfway into watching the 4 seasons, but as an early episode? It sucks. We dont know much about Elliot yet to care about him. What do I care about his house not knowing the significance of it? What do I care about his trauma when we dont know much about his history?

This episode, as-is, is OKAY. But placed in context relative to its placement on the season, it is bad. The illusions and dreams would have been better as a penultimate or a finale for Season 1. If you came here to see if you want to continue this show: continue. It is worth it, even with this tiny bump on the road.

Couldn't wait for it to end

[drbarbc-526-517466 · 2/10 · 18 August 2015]

Sure, this episode was a departure from "normal" television, one hallucination after another, but it was also unpleasant to watch. Maybe I am no that curious about morphine withdrawal, maybe I simply enjoy a story that builds on itself. All I know is I kept pausing it to check how much longer I had to endure this mess, all the while deciding whether or not to quit watching the show altogether. I really wonder where all the buzz regarding this show comes from. Is there a small army of USA Network employees paid by the review to hype this mess? There are so many other better shows yet this one reigns in 9+ ratings? There may be a REAL Evil Corp, all those people behind the great reviews conspiring to waste our time watching this horrible excuse for entertainment.

Rated in the low 8s. Folks, you didn't get it, did you?

[connda · 10/10 · 4 November 2015]

This show is blowing me away. Quintessentially one of the grittiest shows that I've ever seen on TV, and I've been around for a long time. And this specific episode. I'm thinking that those who rated this episode didn't really understand it, not the subtly of it. Low 8s? Why? My guess is that most individuals who rated it haven't really experienced much in the way of life, or contrarily, have spent too much of their lives focused on a LED screen a foot away from their faces.

But that's OK. I 'get' where the writers are coming from. The tapestry they weave with their story-lines is...brilliant. Minor flaws with the computer engineering plot-line, but taken as a whole, I can overlook those to appreciate the bigger picture. Great stuff. The Game Of Thrones use to be at the top of my list - it just got bumped down a notch by Mr Robot.

F o r e s h a d o w i n g

[TheCorniestLemur · 10/10 · 7 September 2022]

Right, so...this is a weird one. I remember watching this episode for the first time and...still being interested, but having absolutely no idea what nearly anything in Elliot's crazy withdrawal hallucinations was supposed to be conveying.

And to be fair to myself, I really do think that you would need to have watched the whole show to fully grasp what's going on in this sequence. Now that I have...holy crap, this episode is a masterclass in foreshadowing. However, I completely get it if anyone considers the whole withdrawal trip scene to be pointless on their first watch, and it does take up a considerable chunk of the episode.

All I can do without spoiling everything is assure you that it is anything but pointless, and anyway, I think it reveals just enough subtle little details about Elliot's character to feel like it isn't just there for foreshadowing reasons.

Sure, neither Darlene nor Angela's parts of the episode are as fascinating as Elliot's, but they are both necessary, interesting on their own, and don't feel like they kill the pace or make the episode boring. And anyway, writing something as fascinating for either Darlene or Angela when we haven't delved into their minds nearly as much as Elliot's would have been virtually impossible as far as I can tell.

If you don't get it upon first watch though, I get it. I'm not gonna come to your house with a pitchfork. Promise.

Edit: I've decided that, at least for a while, I'm not going to be writing reviews any more. For the sake of time, my mental and financial health, other things I want to be doing, etc, etc, you get the point. It could be for a short time, but I won't lie, it could be forever. Depends on how it goes, but I'll still be rating things so you can get mad when my opinions are wrong...just not in as much detail.

Rewatch, 9.25/10

[dcdude-26988 · 9/10 · 28 June 2023]

This was definitely one of the most hated episodes of all time. I can give you that this was definitely confusing on first watch, but when rewatching it, it makes so much more sense. And when you come to a conclusion to think about it, this shouldn't be last place in all of Mr. Robot. Anyways, my favorite characters in this episode we're Elliot, Mr. Robot, and Leslie. My favorite things about this episode were the Protagonist, the action, and the acting. I can admit that this episode definitely wasn't the best, but yeah, it was still very good. Definitely deserves its 8.1 star rating back to be honest.

Crap

[stevensmith-51330 · 19 November 2015]

Absolute crap, this series tries to be clever and panders to people of a Brian Griffin mentality of wow that's so clever when really it's just a load of rubbish.

The whole show seems to just rip off other things, e.g. his demon is the same as Dexter's dark passenger, his trophy case of cds is the same as Dexters blood slides and so and so on.

None of what happened in her developed the storyline and none of it left you thinking I want to know more. All I could think is when will this finish, get on with it, where are you going with this and I really can't be bothered with this show anymore.

The show had so much promise but it tries to be too clever, trying to catch you in with an internal narrative of who's controlling who, what's real and what's not real. The problem is I just don't care what's real anymore and I don't have any connection to any of the characters.

Rubbish, avoid if you haven't watched and save yourself 45 minutes of your life.

Carried by Elliot's plotline

[thegraydude · 9/10 · 24 November 2022]

This episode is 100% a masterpiece on rewatch, at least when it comes to Elliot. Tyrell and Angela's subplot is fairly dull like the rest of the early episodes, but Elliot's is a standout. The dream sequence is probably one of the best trippy sequences I've ever seen, with the best part being when the song "Queen" by perfume genuis comes in. Besides that, this episode has a phenomenal soundtrack. I don't understand the low rating though, I loved this episode even on my first watch, I understand that some people don't enjoy Anglea's and Tyrell's plot but my god Elliot carried this episode wonderfully.

Overall Good [7.5/10]

[panagiotis1993 · 7/10 · 11 June 2023]

My Reaction / Review for Mr. Robot Season 1 Episode 4: The third episode was good and I gave it a rating of 7.5/10, I hope this one is just as good or better, let's see. Elliot needs to stop taking drugs, he is losing it, shouting at strangers. Damn, Elliot's withdrawal symptoms are bad. It's sad that Elliot cant stop his drug use. Also using a different drug this time? This could make things even more complicated. He got shot? Damn. A loop that ends when life does, that's a cool line. Elliot being in this dream-like state and seeing that he is getting married to Angela? Damn. This episode is trippy for sure. Wait was him using that new drug a dream too? Wow. Ok, Elliot seems like he can beat this, he can stop his drug use I hope. Overall a good episode. My rating is 7.5/10.

What is reality and what is a dream?

[caupolicanre · 8/10 · 12 January 2024]

It started amazing, with Elliot developing and explaining his plan to fsociety, getting what he wanted from the beginning, not hurting people, but ending Evil corp.

This episode started pretty quickly and got strange (in a good way) pretty fast. We got to see a little more about fsociety members.

But the peak of this one, is the whole dream and trip Elliot has. It is creative, has good scenes, good music and sound ambiance, good photography, and the most important part: you don't expect how is going to continue the next scene. You lose the perception of what is reality and what is a dream, and just because of that, this episode was just great.

Episode one was promising - episode four is crap!

[sprouty · 2/10 · 22 September 2016]

I watched season 1, episode 1 and thought "Hey, this is pretty good." Elliot was an interesting lead character, a neurotic computer programmer with a drug problem. He is also a hacker tackling cyber criminals from individual sex offenders up to world corporations run by the elite few. It also tapped into the disaffection with modern day life, false heroes, politicians, and technology out of control. 'Fuck society' was our anti-hero's mantra.

Three episodes later. Each got progressively worse. Episode 4 was a pile of crap. Few of the support characters are believable. The hacker group Elliot joined dedicated to freeing the world are boring and predictable. The most predictable thing was the politically correct casting, a black one, a hot one, a Muslim one, a fat geeky one, and a Hollywood "star" Christian Slater). The main plot has become more and more ludicrous. To spice it up we have lots more drugs, some straight sex, some gay sex, an unexpected lesbian kiss and gratuitous violence in the shape of paying a tramp to beat him up. Also the worse cold turkey sequence I've ever seen. After a really promising first episode I felt let down.

I will not be watching any more Mr Robot.

The quintessential "filler episode" or the key to everything?

[Hannah_Bananah · 2/10 · 13 November 2021]

Some reviews say this episode means more when you watch the 4th season... Perhaps. In the context of season 1 however, it plays like a fever dream and is more than a little self-indulgent. If an episode only makes sense when you've seen 3 more seasons, then it's clearly too early to watch it in season 1.

Some viewers may like the detour down the rabbit hole, however this early on in the shows run, I felt like this was filler. To maintain momentum, after the first 10 minutes of this episode you can easily skip to the next episode. An episode that potentially wastes your time, that you can skip over so easily just can't be rated 10.

Maybe it's worth coming back to this episode much later in the show's run, but most viewers can easily skip this and not feel like they've missed anything substantial to the plot - which is why I consider it filler.

Daemons. They Don't Stop Working. They're Always Active.

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 5/10 · 8 September 2021]

This is certainly the most bizarre ep. Yet. Hard to determine how much is dream and how much is real.

Eliot seems to have many dream sequences here.

Darlene seems to be getting uppity with Cisco. Is he her boyfriend or what? She doesn't really have the right to talk to him like that is he isn't.

Anyways this one...a bit confusing as to how it advances the plot but I'm sure there is much more to be revealed! 5/10.

Great ep but

[saaddouarr · 1/10 · 8 May 2022]

The scene where Trenton praying . It was not supposed to be recorded because men are not supposed to see a women praying. Otherwise it was a great ep but im not happy with that scene thank you.