Just as series creator Sam Esmail promised, the premiere of season two of Mr. Robot was darker than ever. Social chaos has taken over since the Evil Corp hack and the subsequent global financial meltdown, and characters are coping with it in various ways: partying, playing basketball, lighting $5.9 million in cash on fire, slicing off the balls of a bull statue. You know, the usual. But Elliot (Rami Malek), the mastermind behind the plot to save the world from consumerism, had a change of heart after the hack went down. In an effort to keep his alter-ego in check and to claim some semblance of reality, Elliot has taken to keeping a strict routine which involves no technology and lots of menial housework.
It also includes having every meal at a diner with his friend Leon, played by rapper Joey Bada$$. However dark and violent the premiere may have been was slightly mitigated by Leon’s discovery of Seinfeld. His binge-watching experience provided a nice touch of comic relief, because he has a hard time coming to terms with the “show about nothing” in these Peak TV times. His musings begin at breakfast:
There’s this one episode where they go to a Chinese restaurant, and they’re just waiting for a table the entire time. Like, they don’t even eat at the end, bro. Maybe I’m overthinking it, though. It’s really f*cking with me.
Then later, at lunch:
And then there’s this one where they’re stuck in a garage the whole time. Like, what? That’s not a TV show, bro. Where’s the story? It makes no sense.
By dinner, Leon’s coming around:
Maybe I just need to make peace with it. Like, maybe that’s the show’s point, that sh*t is just pointless, you know? Like life, love, and the meanings therein. The human condition is a straight-up tragedy.
It’s also hard to disagree with his point of view on Kramer: “If I knew him in real life, I’d knock his ass out.” Mr. Robot is a great show in its own right, but tuning into this season will be worth it just to hear Leon wax philosophical on ’90s sitcoms.
