Mr. Robot

[narrating] Hello friend. Hello friend? That's lame. Maybe I should give you a name. But that's a slippery slope, you're only in my head, we have to remember that. Shit, this actually happened, I'm talking to an imaginary person. What I'm about to tell you is top secret. A conspiracy bigger than all of us. There's a powerful group of people out there that are secretly running the world. I'm talking about the guys no one knows about, the ones that are invisible. The top 1% of the top 1%, the guys that play God without permission. And now I think they're following me.

Mr. Robot, CC BY-SA 4.0

Krista Gordon: What is it about society that disappoints you so much? Elliot Alderson: Oh, I don't know. Is it that we collectively thought Steve Jobs was a great man, even when we knew he made billions off the backs of children? Or maybe it's that it feels like all our heroes are counterfeit. The world itself's just one big hoax. Spamming each other with our burning commentary of bullshit masquerading as insight. Our social media faking as intimacy. Or is it that we voted for this? Not with our rigged elections, but with our things. Our property. Our money. I'm not saying anything new. We all know why we do this. Not because Hunger Games books makes us happy. But because we wanna be sedated. Because it's painful not to pretend. Because we're cowards. Fuck society.

Mr. Robot, CC BY-SA 4.0

My dad was a petty thief. Never could hold down a job. So he just robbed. Convenience stores, shops. Small-time stuff. One time, he sat me down. He told me something I never forgot. He said, "Everyone steals. That's how it works. You think people out there are getting exactly what they deserve? No. They're getting paid over or under, but someone in the chain always gets bamboozled. I steal, son. But I don't get caught. That's my contract with society. Now, if you can catch me stealing, then I'll go to jail. But if you can't then I've earned the money." I respected that man. I thought that shit was cool, as a little kid. A few years after that, they finally caught him. Sent him to jail. He dies five years later. My respect goes with him. I thought he was free doing what he did, but he wasn't. He was in prison. Just like you are now, Elliot. But I'm gonna break you out.

Mr. Robot, CC BY-SA 4.0

Mr. Robot: Hey, you like Ferris wheels? Ah, it's beautiful. It gets better the higher up you go, you know. I love it up here. You like it? Elliot Alderson: I'm here to tell you I'm turning you in. I'm giving them all the information. Mr. Robot: Let me tell you why you're really here. You're here because you sense something wrong with the world. Something you can't explain. But, you know it controls you and everyone you care about What are you talking about? Money. Money hasn't been real since we got off the gold standard. It's become virtual. Software, the operating system of our world. And, Elliot, we are on the verge of taking down this virtual reality. Think about it. What if you could take down one conglomerate? A conglomerate so deeply entrenched in the world's economy that "too big to fail" doesn't even come close to describing it? Elliot Alderson: You wanna create another financial meltdown like the one we just had, but way worse. Yeah, why would I want that? Everyone would lose

Mr. Robot, CC BY-SA 4.0

You don't take down a conglomerate by shooting them in the heart. That's the thing about conglomerates, they don't have hearts. You take them down limb by limb. And as they unravel, their illusion of control unravels.

Mr. Robot, CC BY-SA 4.0

[narrating] Sometimes I dream of saving the world. Saving everyone from the invisible hand, the one that brands us with an employee badge, the one the forces us to work for them, the one that controls us every day without us knowing it. But I can't stop it. I'm not that special. I'm just anonymous. I'm just alone.

Mr. Robot, CC BY-SA 4.0