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Comment by julianlam | Hacker News Reader

I've tried to watch Mr. Robot... twice, actually.

There's something about it... perhaps the pacing, or the overall bleakness of the show, that turns me off. I have the same aversion to watching The Office (both UK and US).

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It is bleak. But the cinematography is amazing, and I think worth it for that alone.

Maybe even the best I’ve ever seen.

S4E07, e.g. “407 Proxy Authentication Required” was a work of art. Appreciated the whole show, but particularly that episode.

Indeed, that episode is the peak that makes the entire show worth watching. I like how for season 4 the HTTP status codes do fit the theme of the episode, very clever.

Both these shows have a first couple of seasons of slog. Mr Robot gets a bit better, but it's not worth it. The Office (US) was worth it for me -- eventually they settle into a groove of silly hijinks punctuated by occasional emotional connection and it just works. Mr Robot though suffers from a writers room that think telling a story in an over-engineered way makes it more engaging, and it just mires in that conceit for far too long. It's a movie, maybe a miniseries worth of content they tried to stretch out to four seasons. It has its moments, but they are not worth the trip IMO.

I didn't mind it. It was refreshing compared to Hollywood computer SFX that came before it imo.

I find the UK Office unbearably bleak and uncomfortable at times, but the US Office is practically a rom-com (or became one eventually).

It is. But it’s worth watching until the end to see what happens with Tim and Dawn

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