How did Donald Trump get elected?
Mr. Robothas its own theories.
In the third season premiere, Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) wanders the streets of a New York.
Credit: Nadav Kander/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images
This is not what Elliot intended.
He had a plan, but was this the goal he had in mind?
Did my revolution just bury our minds instead of freeing them?
Encrypting Evil Corps data was meant to empower us.
Instead, it left us powerless.
The disarray around him becomes more surreal.
Did Elliots rebellion fail because it was commercialized, like a protest filmed for a Kardashian-adjacent soda ad?
The editing starts slashing together real and fictional news footage.
There is a shot of Frank Cody (Erik Jensen), a fictional conspiracy newsmonger.
Codys popped up a few times; Im not sureMr.
You might assume that the show is saying that Cody and his ilk are part of the problem.
The difference here, maybe, is that Elliot isnt pointing fingers at lizard people or fluoride.
For Elliot knows orthinkshe knows that he made the world this way.
Where will it go from here?
Thats what Im afraid of the most, says Elliot.
This dark future that I set into motion.
Who knows what can come from this?
Elliot is in 2015, but he sees the next two years clearly.
The news footage unfurls; youve seen it all.
Maybe you dont agree with Elliots assessment.
(Slightly less than half of American voters were, presumably, happy about the 2016 election.)
But Elliots not offering himself as a hero; far from it.
But none of thats true, he offers.
The truth is, Im the one to blame.
Its a wild scene, the kind of thing Oliver Stone used to conjure up in his 90s heyday.
And it speaks to howMr.
Maybe this is Elliot the heroic revolutionary looking in the mirror and realizing he was a villain all along.
You could argue that, within the context of the show, Elliothasruined the world.
Elliots role within the show is complex, often paradoxical.
Elliot as Zuckerberg, Discuss, Elliot as @Jack, discuss.
Then again, dont trust anyone in media who says they know who to blame.
Those NBC chimes are a joke within a joke.Mr.
Robotis intellectual property owned by NBC-Universal.
We have met the enemy, and this is us: Look, Mom,normalizing!
Robotsaying that Trump was created byallof us, supporters and opponents alike?
Yes and also, quite the opposite, no.
The episode that aired on Wednesday marked a flashback within the shows greater 2015 setting.
Robots Thanos or its Nick Fury.
Whiterose welcomed a surprising visitor: Frank Cody, the aforementioned Fox-ish newscaster.
This conspiracist is part of the conspiracy, taking orders from this foreign national.
Cody responded to these directives with lowest-common-denominator showmanship recalling the late, unlamented Roger Ailes.
Sure, Thats brown enough, shouldnt be too hard.
Any chance Obama goes after him?
Peopleloveto defend anything he hates.
Whiterose had one more command: I may have a potential candidate for President I want you to back.
You cant be serious, said Cody.
The guys a buffoon.
Hes completely divorced from reality.
That last piece is a codephrase for Whiterose, who speaks often of alternate realities.
There is a read onMr.
Robotthat considers all that talk seriously, assumes a turn toward genuine science-fiction sometime in the near future.
But its hardly a framework unique to the rich and the gasbaggy.
So maybe Whiterose is speaking metaphorically.
Trump is divorced from reality?
Robots kind of man!
If you pull the right strings, a puppet will dance any way you desire, Whiterose concludes.
(No,youre a puppet!says the puppet.)
This scene is quieter than Elliots rant but just as wild.
Can you guess why hes doing this?
Or is there a why?
Is this an act of world-ending nihilism by a god grown tired of the planet he controls?
Godhood comes up with some frequency onMr.
Robot, mainly through conversations with maniac Tyrell (Martin Wallstrom).
Greek tragedy for the new millennium, so to speak.
Mr. Robotscrambles both dramatic modes.
Elliot is a character with the hubris to tackle postmodern institutions.
He has internal struggles he plays chess with his bad self!
and yet he is also some sort of new god, destroying those institutions or somehow making them stronger.
Elliot caused Trump, but so did Whiterose, and the media, and reaction to the media.
The best intentions and the worst, together at last!
Ive seen the next few episodes theyre great!
and theres at least one more reference to the 45th president, less analytical but much funnier.
Elliot can only ever be desperately confused about what he has wrought, and what his world has become.
Who cant relate to that?
