All I needed to get hooked byMr. Robotwas the genius five-minute opening scene of the series. The opening scene is critical.The best TV introslay out what the show is about, explaining what the series is and what you can expect to watch. Some intros go in a different direction, offering up mystery to entice viewers.
Everyone’s been told to watch a show, but to “give it a chance”, meaning the opening scene isn’t going to grab you, but if you stick around, it gets better. Plenty of shows are worth sticking around for, butit is very satisfying when you turn on a new series and within the first couple of minutes, you’re completely hooked.
Sometimes, the first couple of minutes of an episode are so good, you wonder why you never gave the show a chance in the first place. There are too many great TV shows that get lost in the weeds, sometimes because their intro is not up to par. That’s not the case withMr. Robot, however.
I Knew Mr. Robot Would Be A Masterpiece After Watching Its Incredible Opening Scene
The Intro Is A Riveting Introduction To The Series
If you’ve Googled “Mr. Robot”, the image that comes up of Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson generally comes from this intro scene. In it, Elliot walks into a coffee shop and sits down in front of the unsuspecting owner. He awkwardly, and without breaking eye contact, slowly reveals that he’s gained access to the owner’s servers.
It’s at this point that he reveals that he is aware that the owner is hosting a website that shares child pornography. The stunned owner can all but eke out a desperate plea to pay Elliot to keep silent, but Elliot was never interested in money in the first place, and the police are already there.
From that one scene, I already had a handle onthe amazing main character ofMr. Robot, andmore than being interested in seeing what crimes he would solve next, I wanted to know how he was going to do it.
Why Mr. Robot’s Opening Is So Good (& How It Sets Up The Rest Of The Series)
The Intro Sets Up Exactly Who Elliot Is
The intro forMr. Robotdoes a couple of things.It spells out exactly who Elliot Alderson is: an odd, socially inept man who is a talented hacker but has difficulty communicating with people. The whole reason he’s there at the coffee shop is to work on his people skills, which means he’s also self-aware.
It also shows what Elliot cares about, and it’s not money. He targets a man participating in something degenerate and awful, but he doesn’t blackmail him; he just wants the owner to know who it was who did this. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t scared;notice how he jumps when the owner raises his voice.
TheMr. Robotintro scene even sets up the rest of the series. Elliot wants to stop criminals, but he doesn’t want to work with the police. He wants to be a hero, but he can’t stand to be the center of attention. All of this is done with a clean, open-and-shut case with riveting dialogue to boot.
