Mandatory News: Mr Robot

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Who Is Craig Robinson Playing on "Mr. Robot"? Is He Real?

Mr. Robot: season_2.0 Official Trailer

The Season 2 premiere of Mr. Robot already made good on its promise to be darker than the first season. We got a few shocking moments and a lot of bleak portraits of personal despair, ruin (RIP Gideon), and madness.

It also introduced viewers to a number of new characters that are sure to be major players (more Leon!), and we should probably be most suspicious of the only cheerful, talkative one in the bunch. Just who is Craig Robinsons new character, Ray?

After everything Mr. Robot has already put us through, we should probably think twice about any new characters that seem to only interact with Elliot. So lets take a closer look at the evidence on Ray. Is he real, or another hallucination?

The facts

Ray arrives while Elliot is watching a basketball game with his new friend Leon. He has a dog named Maxine. He tries to make friendly small talk and seems to already know a few things about Elliot. He wants Elliot to help him with something computer-y. Elliot shuts him down, but Mr. Robot is in the background, goading him into doing it. In a later scene, Ray reveals that he and Elliot spoke the night before. Elliot had no recollection of the conversation and soon realizes that Mr. Robot was in control of him at the time. He then agrees to help Ray with whatever it is hes seeking.

The evidence

Ray has a dog. Unless this alter-Elliot stole a dog, which in fairness, would not be unprecedented, hes probably not imagining Maxine. One point to Real.

Ray makes some cynical existential comments about truth and basketball. It sounds like the kind of thing Elliot would say about basketball if he were wordier. One to Not real.

Ray comments that he envies Maxine: All she gives a s**t about is eating and sleeping. This sounds like a comment on Elliots new analog routine. Not real.

Ray and Leon exchange very brief words. Leon looks surprised to see him appear, but probably not as surprised as he would be if his new silent friend Elliot suddenly stood up to him. Real.

Ray is kind of socially awkward. He says he usually fake laughs when he doesnt understand what someone says. Its something a more verbal alter-Elliot might do. Not real.

Ray listens to Adele. Real.

Conclusion

Mr. Robot is a show thats fairly futile to speculate about, but that just makes us want to speculate more. So far, well tentatively say that Ray is real, mostly because the show seems too smart to pull that stunt a second time. However, there are enough little hints that Ray is like a chattier, more optimistic version of Elliot, that we should remain suspicious and proceed with caution.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFBvOz72U_Avv4LiOXErwyOYUAT6Q&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779158710944&ei=f-WHV_i8MsbH3gG2oYTYDQ&url=https://www.inverse.com/article/18278-craig-robinson-mr-robot-season-2

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

"Mr. Robot" Star Carly Chaikin Demands Your Attention

Christian Slater, Rami Malek Preview ‘Mr. Robot’ Season 2 | TODAY

The badass actress talks about Tinder, tech paranoia, and raging at Apple.

When Carly Chaikin, the reigning tough girl of prestige television, was in middle school, she said "f**k you" to her math teacher. "She wouldnt call on me. So I was like, "f**k you," and I left.

You could read this as the origin story of Chaikins persona nowadays. Her badass character in Mr. Robot, a hacker named Darlene, is similarly direct, observant, demanding, and takes no s**t. Or as Chaikin describes her: Shes just honest. Shes a b***s-to-the-wall girl.

Mr. Robot, a dark and cynical show about political hackers, is in the emerging stage, but it"s not hard to imagine it officially evolving into Breaking Badlevel obsession and cultish fandom. We hope. Already, Chaikin says shes proud of America for liking it. Its such a smart show, andnot to be rude, but a lot of America can be pretty dumb. It was one of those things like, Are people going to get it, or are they not going to get it? It could have gone either way.

For its viewers, Mr. Robot can spark a certain type of paranoia. The show, which is all about whats unseen on our screens, exists in a world swimming in shadowy threats. Recently, Chaikins iCloud was hacked, which sent her into a whirlwind of anger and fear. Mr. Robot has made me so much more aware of everything. I have to think about it," Chaikin says. "I was at this club in Miami, and this girl said she was trying to find her phone, but her hands almost went in my bag. I grabbed them, because nothing gets past me. After she walked away, I said to my best friend, "What if she dropped a device in my bag and is hacking me and tracking me and bugged me? Her best friend argued this was fairly unlikely.

Chaikin is also philosophical about the way the technology has changed us. What did we do before we had cell phones and we just had to sit there and be vulnerable? Rather than being vulnerable, Chaikin is completely hooked on exactly three phone games: AlphaBetty, Diamond Digger, and Farm Heroes. She"s at level 900 in all of them. She also praises Tinder as an excellent phone game. I think its an interesting, cool way to meet people. I have a boyfriend, but I always want to go on someones Tinder to swipe.

When we talk, she"s wrapped in a big sweater, her legs under her on a couch, shoes off. She isn"t someone who looks relaxed, though; she"s gazing around intently, and she repeats several times that nothing gets past her. In her non-acting time, she"s devoted to jigsaw puzzles and paintingboth of which hone her attention to detail. Her Mr. Robot co-stars, Rami Malek and Portia Doubleday, just gave Chaikin her latest puzzle. She"s still painting as Mr. Robot films in New York, though it"s just in a "tiny little nook," as opposed to her studio in L.A. For her subjects, she says, "I find myself going to faces and people more than anything. I just love human emotion and faces." Her next project is a set of paintings of the same eyesangry, sad, and happyto show how subtle the difference would be.

"Im so hyper-aware of everything around me and everyone and everything that people do." As she says this, she notices that I do some self-conscious shifting, she calls it out, and quickly returns to her mantra: My friend always says, Nothing gets past you. I can read people very well. This is also the appeal of a show like Mr. Robot: that there is something secret going on, and we might be able to figure it out if we just pay close enough attention.

And when Chaikin says shes observant, shes not exaggerating. Before the interview is over, she finds a pen I didn"t even know I had lost.