Viewers looking forward to the season finale of Mr. Robot on USA Network last night were disappointed to find a rerun of last week’s episode. The network postponed the final episode until next week because “The previously filmed season finale of Mr. Robot contains a graphic scene similar in nature to today’s tragic events in Virginia,” it said in a statement.
So the Mr. Robot season ender featured something somewhat like a gunman murdering two people during a routine local news live spot and then posting his own video of the killings to social media. “Out of respect to the victims, their families and colleagues, and our viewers,” the statement went on, “we are postponing tonight’s episode. Our thoughts go out to all those affected during this difficult time.”
Well, better late than never. Now cue the reflexive calls for gun control from actors who’ve gotten rich off shoot-em-up fare (looking at you, Liam Neeson), and Hollywood can go back to creating more-better carnage.
When it comes to real-life violence, Hollywood’s hypocrisy know no bounds. In January 2013, just a month after the Newtown massacre and while movie and TV stars angrily demanded gun control, the top five movies in the nation featured 65 violent scenes (38 depicting gun violence) with 185 victims. Eleven months later, in the week leading up to the first anniversary of Newtown, prime time entertainment shows featured at least 39 gun deaths and 145 acts of violence including beheadings and torture.
Speaking of torture, Quentin Tarantino, the guy that in Reservoir Dogs lovingly choreographed and filmed a five-minute scene of a criminal torturing a cop, has a new movie coming out. Hateful Eight promises to pick up where Tarantino’s hyper-violent Django Unchained left off. The director indignantly rejects suggestions that in stylizing and glorifying violence Hollywood bears some responsibility when acts of spectacular violence occur in the real world. “Obviously, the issue is gun control and mental health,” he once sniffed.
So bravo to USA for having the decency to push back the Mr. Robot finale a week. Now how about having the decency to take a hard look at why it had to be that way at all?
