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Mr Robot the writing was so bad I genuinely spent several episodes thinking it was a parody of how bad Hollywood script writing had got.
Like someone was trying to make M Night Shyamalan's Fight Club: Now with More Daddy Issues.
I was watching with two friends and I thought they didn't like it because I was the only one laughing.
Mr. Robot is genuinely my favorite show and I was shocked to see it brought up in this thread. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
A lot of people don't like Rami Malek talking to the viewer/breaking the fourth wall. I love the show but I'll admit it can be a bit overly self-indulgent at times
That has nothing to do with the quality of the writing though.
Yeah, I used to bring it up a lot because plenty of people who don't strike me as idiots seem to have enjoyed and respected it, which I probably find as confusing as you find my opinion.
Whats a show you think has good writing?
The Wire is almost a cliche to mention but the dialogue is frequently phenomenal.
Frasier has some incredibly well written farces - the ski lodge love pentagram episode is a great example.
Simpsons and Futurama have some episodes that are just gold from start to finish - cape feare, hell is other robots, war is the h-word. The jokes are all so good and so densely packed.
Arrested Development wobbles occasionally but when it's good the writing is so well balanced - over the top while still being subtle.
The Great, season 1 at least. 2 was too awkward for me. I believe it was based on a play though, so maybe that didn't count (I've been ignoring shows based on books).
Veep and The Thick of It have absolutely beautiful dialogue. The swearing, the insults. "Don't mention Israel, Katherine" is a real triumph of a line.
Motherland, all of the characters are so impeccably written, it makes all the petty status games so transparent.
Deadwood has some lush dialogue.
Gavin and Stacy ekes so much joy out of impeccably written normal lives.
Derry Girls and London Irish. Moonboy.
Well I haven't seen many of those shows but I agree with you on the ones I have, Simpsons futurama and AD.
Is there anything specific that sticks out to you as bad in mr.robot?
Mostly it was the cheesiest, most overused "twists" appearing with such mind numbing regularity that I honestly thought it was parody. Hence the M Night Shyamalan comparison. Which also made it feel like a 12 year old boy's idea of deep.
And speaking of 12 year old boys, I remember not being able to tell if the dialogue was supposed to sound like an overly serious 4chan user because that was basically the personality of the main character, or if that was unintentional.
And the daddy issues! Whining about a distant or abusive father figure is the default character arc of US cinema. It's probably an artifact of boomer screenwriters having dads messed up by ww2 but by now it's like a painting of a naked lady on a couch - the single least interesting choice that will fill that space.
I honestly mean no disrespect to people who enjoyed it - it makes no sense to judge others based on the stories they like - but hopefully the above gives you a sense of how i experienced the show.
Those are pretty fair criticisms I guess. I just wasn't as bothered by those aspects and I was more curious to see where the story would end up. Ill check out some of your recommendations. Cheers
Np! Moonboy might be a good place to start, the writer plays his own childhood imaginary friend. Charming and easy going. If you like politics veep or the thick of it. If you like history try the great.
A lot of it is from the UK or Ireland.
I completely agree, I don't know why everyone sucks that show's dick so hard every time it's brought up. It's good for TV, but a lot of it is just hard to watch because of how stupid the writing can be.
They put the emo chick in and there's a lot of drugs so it's deep and cool can't you see.
At least the programming terms check out.
I liked the first season of that show and some of the second, but after that it fell off real hard.
M Night Shyamalan’s Fight Club: Now with More Daddy Issues.
Best take 🏆
Thank you! I have to admit I was pretty pleased with that one.