This week has seen many summer shows sign off and last night was the season finale of the best new show of the year. An all killer, no filler, 10 episode run introduced us to Mr. Robot and Elliot Alderson that took many people by surprise.

Here’s the synopsis from IMDB, since I won’t be able to make it any more succinct than this:

Follows a young computer programmer who suffers from social anxiety disorder and forms connections through hacking. He’s recruited by a mysterious anarchist, who calls himself Mr. Robot.

Elliot suffers from a lot more than social anxiety disorder, I can say that right off the bat. Played brilliantly by Rami Malek, he is the main character and the narrator for the viewer. He brings you into his world, grabs you right from the opening scene with his staunch ethics, brilliant technical know-how and ability to sniff out what isn’t right. But then the other hook of the show appears. The audience is left to sniff out what isn’t right about Elliot. Things don’t seem…right. Elliot is clearly not the most level headed person and with each intense moment and interaction what’s true and what isn’t is constantly up for debate.

The show owes much to Chuck Palahniuk, but there are enough new and interesting character and story developments that make Mr. Robot not feel like a Fight Club rip-off. I consider it an homage to a past great to give us a different and modern take on our society.

Going beyond the brilliant writing (I love Elliot’s inner monologs), the craftsmanship of Mr. Robot is what makes it stand out so much. The soundtrack is Quentin Tarantino levels of perfect down to making each title card at the opening of each episode a striking moment. What’s shown to the audience is meticulously thought out and beautiful, someone has to get at least an Emmy nomination for directing. It’s subtle, there are hints all over the place in every episode, it lets you think about things without beating you over the head. Things that seem odd makes sense when the other shoe drops. The cast makes all of this possible, from the aforementioned Rami Malek to Christian Slater, who gets to finally show off how great he is again. I love that all the female characters are strong too, everyone gets a chance to make their mark in important ways.

I’ve been very vague about what goes on in Mr. Robot because I want people who have never heard of it, to go in fresh. It’s the best to go into and out of it that way. There are massive spoilers out there, so do yourself a solid and avoid them as best as you can. Watch and discuss it with others, remarking on all the things you pick up on and see if you can figure out what’s going to happen, it’s a blast. I loved the finale, it was super intense and went in a direction I didn’t see. I don’t think I’ve been so in love with a show since I first saw Breaking Bad. I love Elliot, I can’t wait to see what Sam Esmail has in store for us next.

…is it a coincidence Esmail is Email with an ‘s’ snuck in there? Hmmm…