Best TV Streaming Services Of 2020: Which One Is Right For You?
Though exact figures aren't available, a huge swath of the American public has ditched live TV and cable channels in favor of streaming services for their living room entertainment. As streaming services become more ubiquitous, with more networks and companies jumping in each year, it's easy to see a not-so-distant future where streaming services completely dominate home media, for better or worse. Streaming video services are giving traditional cable and satellite TV stiff competition by delivering live sports and prime-time TV programming online, often for a sizable drop in price. And premium channels such as HBO and Showtime are available as separate streaming services or add-on bundles for relatively inexpensive monthly fees. Live TV streaming services have no hidden fees, and if you ever decide to cancel, it’s easy and painless--a refreshing change from the hassle of dealing with your local cable.
The days of Netflix merely complimenting your cable package are gone. Now you have options galore, which is both good and bad. While subscribing to one streaming service can be viewed as a bargain, as you rack up subscriptions the combined price can start to look a lot like the cable bill that you were happy to ditch. Even just a combination of the most popular services--Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Prime Video--will cost you $30 a month on the low end.
To help you make the best decisions, we've put together this handy guide outlining the best TV streaming services to consider in 2020. We weighed both cost and content and will continue to re-evaluate over time as services change and new options become available.
Netflix
Best variety, most content
The Witcher
Price: Basic - $9/month, Standard - $13/month, Premium - $16/month
Notable original content: Black Mirror, BoJack Horseman, The Haunting of Hill House, Stranger Things, The Witcher, Russian Doll, The Irishman, Ozark, Mindhunter, Aggretsuko
Supported Devices: Roku, Roku Streaming Stick, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Fire Stick, Fire Tablet, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, Android TV, Android phones, Android tablets, Google Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, smart TVs, Blu-ray players, and web browsers.
Bottom line: If you can only subscribe to one streaming service, Netflix is the clear winner.
Netflix is the reason competition in the streaming space exists. The online DVD retailer turned video streaming giant has had a far larger impact on the home media industry than any of the other services on this list. Even with its stranglehold over the streaming industry, Netflix hasn't rested on its laurels. It remains the most popular streaming service for a reason--well, many reasons. Netflix has the largest and most varied collection of programming of any of the services available today. Its library includes a diverse array of original movies and TV content with a bounty of cable shows and popular films, including a nice selection of great anime and even some original anime. But Netflix doesn’t just produce multi-episode series that’ll keep you binge-watching through the weekend: it also makes feature films and documentaries that eat only a couple of hours of your time.
It's a cliche, but Netflix really does have something for everyone. If you're a fan of superheroes, The Umbrella Academy and a slew of (now-canceled) Marvel shows are available to stream. If you want to watch some of the most innovative modern comedies, Russian Doll and I Think You Should Leave have you covered. If you like horror, The Haunting of Hill House is there to make you sleep with the lights on. True crime buffs can don their thinking caps during Making a Murderer. And it's the only place to watch Martin Scorsese's latest film, The Irishman. Netflix even has a dedicated section for children's TV shows and movies that's filled with enough animation to keep the kiddos content for the long haul. Anime fans can also enjoy some excellent original anime like Carole & Tuesday, Aggretsuko and Devilman Crybaby, and some popular shows like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Death Note, and Fairy Tail. One of the few drawbacks for sports fans is Netflix's lack of live sports coverage. Unless you count the occasional MMA documentary, Netflix isn’t the place for sports, and certainly not live streaming sports.
Netflix subscriptions start at $9 per month, which lets you watch on one screen at a time in standard definition. For $13 per month, two users can watch at once, and the resolution is bumped up to high definition. If you're sharing your subscription with your family and friends (everyone does it), the $16 premium subscription is the way to go, as it allows four users to watch simultaneously and supports 4K Ultra HD for compatible content.
Hulu
Best for reluctant cord-cutters
Castle Rock
Price: $6/month (with ads), $11/month (no ads), $45/month for Hulu + Live TV
Notable original content: Marvel's Runaways, The Handmaid's Tale, Ramy, Castle Rock, Shrill, The Path, Veronica Mars, The Mindy Project, 11.22.63, The Act
Supported devices: Amazon Fire TV, Android, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Roku streaming stick, Roku streaming TV models, select Samsung and LG smart TVs, Echo Show, PS4, Xbox One, and web browsers.
Bottom line: Hulu is best for those who want to watch current network TV.
Hulu's main draw is its plethora of cable TV shows, making it a different style of streaming service than Netflix. Hulu adds a significant number of episodes the day after they air on TV, making Hulu the natural choice for those who are hesitant to abandon traditional cable. In the same respect, Hulu is probably not the best bet for those who still have cable. While Hulu has some great original programming, including The Handmaid's Tale and Castle Rock, the brunt of the library features shows that you can easily find on each week or on-demand TV. Hulu occasionally has some good movies to stream, but television is definitely the focus here.
Hulu's cable TV content is extremely varied and includes shows from ABC, Adult Swim, Fox, FX, NBC, and many other networks. There are far too many shows to list here, but here's a snapshot of what Hulu has to offer when it comes to scripted shows: This Is Us, The Good Doctor, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, Rick and Morty, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Preacher, The Terror, and NOS4A2. Popular reality shows like The Bachelor and Survivor are also available. Hulu even has a nice collection of anime, including popular series like Naruto Shippuden, Attack on Titan, Cowboy Bebop, and Sailor Moon.
For now, Hulu remains a great option for recent cord-cutters. And if you haven't cut the cord just yet, subscribing for a month or two to binge some of the original content is certainly worthwhile. Hulu subscriptions start at $6 per month. It's a bargain for sure, but the $6 tier has ads. For $11 per month, you can enjoy all of Hulu's content without ads.
If you mainly use your cable subscription to watch sports or other live events like awards shows, the Hulu Live TV package is a stellar alternative to your set-top box cable. For $45, you get access to Hulu's streaming content and a ton of channels, including ESPN, Fox Sports 1, and major news networks. Hulu Live TV users get to follow their favorite sports teams from the NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLS, MLB, and NHL, and it allows sports fans to record their games, provided they’re available.
YouTube TV
Best live TV streaming service
Price: $50/month
Notable networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Disney Channel, ESPN, AMC, Fox Sports
Supported devices: Android phones, Android tablets, Android TV, Apple TV, Iphone, Ipad, Google Chromecast, iOS, Nvidia Shield, Roku, Chrome web browser, PS4, Xbox One, Vizio SmartCast TVs, and select Samsung and LG smart TVs
Bottom line: YouTube TV offers the experience of cable at a lower price.
YouTube TV is essentially your current cable service at a lower price. Unlike Sling, YouTube TV comes with live-streaming of the four major TV networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Overall, it offers more than 70 channels, including all of the most popular news and a large number of sports networks. YouTube TV also falls a bit short in device support, especially compared to the other competitors covered. What it does have is the most flexible cloud DVR which allows users to store their programming for up to nine months after recording, including standard pause/rewind and fast-forward features available.
YouTube TV is a better service than Sling TV simply because it gives you more options. You'll pay for those added options, though. YouTube TV costs $50 per month. Add-on networks include Showtime, Fox Soccer Plus, Shudder, Sundance Now, and Starz. Like Sling TV, HBO isn’t available on this service. You can stream simultaneously on six devices, which means you can share your service (and split the cost!) with family and friends.
Sling
Best budget live TV streaming service
Price: $30/month for Blue or Orange, $45/month for Blue + Orange
Notable networks: ESPN, TBS, TNT, AMC, FX, Cartoon Network, USA, TLC, History, Disney Channel, Nick Jr.
Supported devices: Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire tablets, Android, Apple TV, Airplay, AirTV, AirTV 2, Google Chromecast, iOS, Mac, Nvidia Shield, Select LG Smart TVs, LeEco devices, Roku Streaming Stick, Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, web browsers, PS4, Xbox One, Xfinity X1, Xiaomi Mi Box, ZTE devices, and Oculus devices.
Bottom line: Sling is the best live TV streaming option for sports fans.
Sling TV is for cord-cutters who don't want to drop the cable experience. Sling TV offers live TV streaming for more than 50 networks, including ESPN, TBS, TNT, FX, CNN, and many more. It also houses a library of on-demand TV shows and movies from its supported networks. What you won't find on Sling TV are the major networks channel lineup like ABC, Fox, CBS, and NBC.
As a cable alternative, Sling TV is pricier than the more traditional streaming services on this list. There are three plans available: Sling Blue, Sling Orange, and Orange & Blue. Both Sling Blue and Sling Orange cost $30 per month (first month is $20). There's some crossover between the two plans in terms of channel lineup, so you'll have to compare the two to see which one has more of the channels you want. Alternatively, you can get all of Sling's live TV channels in the Orange & Blue plan for $45 per month (first month is $35).
Disney Plus
Best for kids
Price: $7/month, $70/year
Notable content: The Mandalorian, Forky Asks A Question, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, scores of Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movies
Supported Devices: Amazon Fire TV, Android phones, Android tablets, Android TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Iphone, Ipad, LG smart TVs, Nvidia Shield, web browsers, PS4, Xbox One, Roku, and Samsung smart TVs
Bottom line: Disney Plus is the best streaming service for kids and young adults who want to relive their childhoods.
Disney Plus launched to much fanfare in November 2019 thanks to the debut of the first live-action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian, and an eclectic library filled with a treasure trove of Disney and Pixar movies. If you're mainly subscribing to a streaming service for your kids, Disney Plus is the way to go.
Though Disney Plus is rather limited when it comes to fresh original content right now, there are plenty of original TV shows in the works to get excited about, especially for Marvel fans. WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are slated to arrive in 2020, while Loki, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk are on the docket for 2021. There's also the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars series to look forward to.
For now, the main draw of Disney Plus is its vast library of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, National Geographic and Star Wars content. From classic Disney animated films like The Little Mermaid and The Lion King to Pixar hits like The Incredibles 2 and Wall-E to the first eight films in the Skywalker saga to the majority of the MCU movies, Disney Plus is brimming with popular content that is fun for the whole family. Disney Plus also has a collection of Fox content, including the first 30 seasons of The Simpsons and movies like Home Alone and The Sandlot.
Disney Plus costs $6 per month or $70 per year ($5.83/month). You can also purchase a $13/month bundle that includes Disney Plus, Hulu (with ads), and ESPN+. Verizon customers with unlimited plans can get a free year of Disney Plus.
Amazon Prime Video
Best streaming service you probably forgot you had
Price: $9/month (video streaming only) or $119/year for full Prime membership
Notable content: The Expanse, The Man In The High Castle, Bosch, Jack Ryan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Good Omens, The Boys, Homecoming, The Tick, Fleabag, Psycho-Pass 3
Supported devices: Live channel features only available on Amazon Fire TV; channel content can be accessed through your web browser and compatible smart TVs, Blu-ray players, PS4, Xbox One, set-top-boxes, Fire tablets, and by any device that supports Prime Video Now
Bottom line: Amazon Prime Video has a great library, but it's best for those who also use other Prime benefits.
Amazon Prime Video is an interesting streaming service because it comes bundled with all Amazon Prime subscriptions. We'd imagine that a sizable contingent of Amazon Prime members subscribed for the free one- or two-day shipping, not the huge library of movies and TV shows. But Prime Video is actually pretty darn good.
Prime Video features a growing collection of original content, including standout TV shows like The Expanse, The Boys, Fleabag, and The Man In The High Castle. It also receives movies distributed by Amazon Studios such as The Big Sick, Manchester by the Sea, and Beautiful Boy.
While Amazon Prime doesn't have quite as robust of a library of network content, it does have some of the best shows released over the last two decades. HBO hits like Six Feet Under, The Wire, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, and Curb Your Enthusiasm (through Season 8) are all available to stream. Prime Video also houses some excellent network TV, including The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Americans, and Justified. A kids' section features a fairly large selection of both live-action and animated shows and movies. Prime Video also has a nice selection of anime, including Vinland Saga, Psycho-Pass 3, and Made in Abyss.
Amazon Prime costs $119 per year (roughly $10/month). You can skip Prime shipping perks and subscribe to Prime Video for only $9/month, but what you lose out on is far more valuable than the minuscule savings. Prime Video is great, but if you already subscribe to Netflix, you'll find a lot of overlap with the exception of the HBO backlist. With that said, we recommend Prime Video for those who will make use of their Amazon Prime membership.
HBO Now
Best original series
Price: $15/month
Notable original content: Succession, Barry, Insecure, Watchmen, His Dark Materials, Big Little Lies, Westworld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Game of Thrones, True Detective
Supported Devices: Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire tablets, Android phones, Android tablets, Android TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Iphone, Ipad, PS4, Xbox One Roku, and Samsung smart TVs
Bottom line: HBO Now is home to some of the best TV, but it's a service you can go without until the next season of your favorite show releases.
It's no secret that HBO produces some of the very best shows on television. In the 2000s, The Wire and The Sopranos defined TV. In the 2010s, Game of Thrones captivated millions of viewers each week. Just last year, HBO released arguably the best show of the year in Watchmen and pushed one of the best ongoing dramas, Succession, to new heights. HBO also excels at comedies, with the wholly engrossing Barry leading the pack and the pivotal Curb Your Enthusiasm in its tenth season.
HBO Now is an excellent service, but it's quite pricey and, frankly, limited when it comes to content. Yes, it has the entire back catalogue of HBO shows and a rotating stable of films, many of which released within the past year or so, but there's only so much you need to watch on HBO.
It's easy to recommend HBO Now, because the ongoing original content is top-notch. However, the smart play is to keep your subscription active when a show you like has a new season. There's no sense in having an active HBO Now subscription if all you're waiting for is Season 3 of Westworld.
This logic may change when HBO Max, an expanded streaming service from HBO, launches in May 2020. HBO Max will replace HBO Now and feature all of HBO's programming and plenty more, including South Park, Doctor Who, Friends, and every Studio Ghibli film. New content will also be released on HBO Max. The lineup includes DC properties such as Green Lantern, Doom Patrol, and Aquaman; Snowcrash, an adaptation of Neal Stephenson's novel of the same name; and Dune: The Sisterhood, a spin-off series centered around Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel.
AppleTV Plus
Best at bringing Steve Carell back to TV
Price: $5/month, $50/year
Notable original content: The Morning Show, For All Mankind, Dickinson, Servant, Snoopy in Space
Supported Devices: Amazon Fire TV Cube, Amazon TV Fire Stick, Apple TV, Iphone, Ipad, LG smart TVs, web browsers, Roku, Roku Express, and Samsung smart TVs
Bottom line: AppleTV Plus has a lot of star power, but it's limited on content.
AppleTV Plus launched the same month as Disney Plus. Unlike Disney Plus, however, AppleTV Plus is entirely focused on new original content. Though that fact makes AppleTV Plus interesting, it also means that it's low on content at the moment. However, Apple has secured big names to both star in its productions and work on them behind the scenes.
For instance, The Morning Show, which follows a group of newscasters, stars Steve Carell, Jennifer Aniston, and Reece Witherspoon. Servant, an unsettling show about hiring a babysitter to take care of a doll, comes from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan. In addition to series aimed at adult viewers, Apple TV Plus has a new Peanuts show called Snoopy in Space and multiple Sesame Workshop in the works. AppleTV Plus will also soon have its own Silicon Valley-esque show, dubbed Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet, set in a video game development studio starring Rob McElhenney of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame.
AppleTV Plus is worth checking out, especially at the reasonable price of $5 per month or $50 per year. Since the service is so new, it's too early to say if it will be something you'll want to hold onto for the long haul, though.
CBS All Access
Best for Star Trek fans
Price: Starting at $6/month
Notable original content: Star Trek: Picard, The Good Fight, Star Trek: Discovery, Why Women Kill, No Activity, Stephen King's The Stand (upcoming)
Supported Devices: Roku, Roku Streaming Stick, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Cube, Amazon Fire Stick, Amazon Fire Tablet, Apple TV, Ipad, Iphone, Android TV, Android phones, Android tablets, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Google Chromecast, and web browsers
Bottom line: CBS All Access features new original programming, but it's really geared toward those who want access to CBS's historical library.
CBS All Access has been around since 2014 and is the first streaming TV service from a major television network. It started out mainly as a place to stream both ongoing and old CBS shows. While its library is still primarily comprised of shows you'd watch on CBS, the service now has a growing assortment of original shows, including the new Star Trek: Picard, Why Women Kill, and the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's beloved novel, The Stand.
CBS All Access' slate of original programming probably isn't worth subscribing to if you have cable, though. It's best to look at CBS All Access as another subscription that can be dropped and re-added as new exclusive shows arrive on the service.
That said, if you do not have cable and want to watch current CBS shows, CBS All Access is your best bet. Unsurprisingly, CBS doesn't license many of its shows to services like Netflix and Hulu. You'll also be able to watch CBS sports content with CBS All Access, including NFL games and March Madness.
CBS All Access with ads is $6 per month, while the ad-free subscription costs $10 per month.
Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company.
Shudder
Best for horror fans
Price: $6/month, $57/year
Notable original content: Creepshow, The Last Drive-in with Jo Bob Briggs, The Core, Primal Screen
Supported Devices: Shudder website via PC or laptop, Iphone, Ipad, Android phones, Android tablets, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, PS4, and Xbox One
Bottom line: Shudder is the best streaming service for horror fans.
AMC's Shudder has been around since 2016. Catering specifically to fans of horror, Shudder's library has grown substantially over the years. In 2019, Shudder released Creepshow, a horror anthology series and stellar follow-up to the classic film directed by George Romero and written by Stephen King. Season 2 is currently in the works. Though Shudder is still finding its footing with original programming, there's no denying that it offers the widest collection of classic and contemporary horror.
Shudder features the expected classics like Psycho, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Birds, Phantasm, and Night of the Living Dead while also housing a substantial library of horror films and shows you may have never heard of before. Yes, giants like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video have some horror, but their selections are nothing compared to Shudder.
Shudder costs $6 per month or $57 for an annual membership ($4.75 per month). To help you find the type of horror movies and shows you're looking for, Shudder has a huge list of curated collections to browse.
DC Universe
Best for comic book fans
Price: $8/month, $75/year
Notable original content: Krypton, Titans, Doom Patrol, DC Daily, Swamp Thing, Young Justice, Harley Quinn
Supported Devices: Web browsers, Iphone, Ipad, Apple TV, Android phones, Android tablets, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox One, and Amazon Kindle
Bottom line: DC Universe offers a treasure trove of content for DC fans.
Released in 2018, DC Universe is home to a growing slate of original DC programming and a vast back catalogue containing DC shows and movies, both live-action and animated. Most notably, DC Universe has Titans, a mature, live-action follow-up to Teen Titans, and Doom Patrol, which moves into its second season later this year.
Though DC Universe doesn't have very many original shows at this time, it does have an impressive back catalogue. You'll find a ton of animated Batman movies, including Batman: Hush, Batman Ninja, and Batman: Year One. Superman is also prominently represented with The Death of Superman, Reign of Supermen, and the 1978 movie starring Christopher Reeve. Animated shows like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Justice League, The New Adventures of Superman can also be streamed in their entirety. DC Universe subscribers get daily update videos courtesy of DC Daily, which chronicles all of the DC news you need to know.
DC Universe is fairly pricey at $8 per month, but a $75 annual subscription can save you some cash. Naturally, DC Universe is geared toward dedicated fans of DC Comics. Subscribers also get the added bonus of having access to select digital issues of comic books. Since HBO Max will also have DC shows (such as the previously exclusive Doom Patrol), you could get your DC fix elsewhere. However, we'd definitely recommend DC Universe for those who are fans of DC's animated shows and movies.
ESPN Plus
Best for sports enthusiasts
Price: $5/month, $50/year
Notable content: 30 For 30, Peyton's Places, NBA Rooks, Detail, ESPN FC, UFC Embedded
Supported Devices: web browsers, Iphone, Ipad, Apple TV, Android Phone, Roku, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, PS4, Xbox One, Oculus Go, and Samsung smart TVs
Bottom line: ESPN Plus doesn't replace cable, but it still has its positives.
Before diving into what ESPN Plus is, it's important to relay what it is not. ESPN Plus doesn't give subscribers access to live sports and events airing on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNews. That means you won't get to watch NBA, NFL, or MLB games. However, ESPN Plus does have out of market MLS games, tennis tournaments, UFC events, and more niche sports (at least in the US) like cricket and rugby.
ESPN Plus also has a number of exclusive shows such as Peyton's Places and Detail, which is hosted by former NBA star Kobe Bryant. It also has the entire library of ESPN's riveting 30 For 30 documentaries.
ESPN Plus is more of a supplemental service for the average sports fan. At $5 per month or $50 per year, the service has a friendly price, especially for tennis and soccer fans.
WWE Network
Best for WWE fans
Price: $10/month
Notable content: All pay-per-view events, 205 Live, NXT
Supported Devices: Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, PS4, and Xbox One.
Bottom line: For the pay-per-view events alone, WWE Network is worth the cost.
Pay-per-view WWE events like Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and WrestleMania typically cost around $50 through your cable provider. The WWE Network costs $10 per month and lets you watch every pay-per-view event. It's not hard to see the value in the WWE's streaming service, even if you only care about a select few pay-per-view events per year. But the WWE Network has so much more than the latest pay-per-view events. It has almost the entire back catalogue of WWE, WCW, and ECW pay-per-views as well as many behind-the-scenes shows, documentaries about your favorite wrestlers, and even some reality shows. Even if it didn't include access to current PPV events, WWE Network still has enough content to satisfy hardcore wrestling fans.
Whether you're an enthusiast or simply someone who watches WrestleMania each year, the WWE Network is a worthwhile investment. Since you can cancel your subscription at any time, you can technically get each PPV (and sometimes two or three) for just $10. While you may be satisfied with your current cable slate of WWE shows--SmackDown, Raw, NXT--you cannot beat the value with WWE Network when it comes to pay-per-view events and historical content.
Crunchyroll
Best variety of new and old anime
Price: $8/month, $23/three months, $80/year
Notable anime: A Place Further than the Universe, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, In/Spectre, Laid-Back Camp, Konosuba
Supported Devices: Google Chromecast, Iphone, Ipad, Android phones, Android tablets, PS4, Xbox One, and web browsers
Bottom line: Crunchyroll has the largest selection of anime.
Pre-dating the streaming wars, Crunchyroll debuted in 2006 and has since become a one-stop shop for anime lovers. While Crunchyroll does have the option to stream shows for free, you'll have to endure ads, watch in lower resolution, and wait a week for new episodes to be added to the service. Crunchyroll Premium grants you access to HD simulcasts from Japan an hour after they air and eliminates ads.
Crunchyroll's library is massive, featuring more than 900 shows and movies to choose from. Simply put, if you want the largest variety, Crunchyroll is the way to go. Since Crunchyroll's split from Funimation, more dubs have appeared on the service. There are still a lot of shows that only have subs, but Crunchyroll is making a concerted effort to add more English dubs, especially when it comes to the most popular shows like Konosuba.
Crunchyroll Premium costs $8 per month. If you're on a budget, it's great to have the option to watch for free, but if you watch even semi-regularly, premium provides a far better experience.
Funimation
Best for dubbed anime
Price: Premium - $6/month, Premium Plus - $8/month, Premium Plus Extra - $100/year
Notable anime: Plunderer, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, Infinite Dendrogram, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, Smile Down The Runway, 22/7, Toilet-bound Hanako-kun
Supported Devices: Apple TV, Iphone, Ipad, Android phones, Android tablets, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Kindle, Roku, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Google Chromecast, Samsung smart TVs, and LG smart TVs
Bottom line: Funimation is the best service for dubbed anime.
Funimation lets you stream a small selection of its library for free, but you'll need a premium membership to unlock the entire 500-plus anime catalogue. Funimation has its own selection of exclusive anime such as Plunderer and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. It has heaps of classic anime, including the widest selection of Dragon Ball content to stream.
It's also worth noting that Funimation has Simuldubs, so you can watch some anime at the same time it airs in Japan with dubs. You cannot always watch with dubs immediately, but all Simuldubs anime is available to watch within two weeks of its air date in Japan. If you favor dubbed anime, Funimation still beats Crunchyroll despite the latter's recent effort to offer more dubs.
Funimation has three different premium plans. For $6 per month, you get access to the entire Funimation library and can stream on two devices simultaneously. Premium Plus costs $8 per month and offers five simultaneous streams and the ability to download episodes to watch offline. The $100 Premium Plus Extra membership comes with a slew of perks including five simultaneous streams, offline viewing, annual anniversary gift, two pay-per-view rentals, and more.
Kim Komando: Hackers, scammers and companies know when you open an email and use it against you
It’s hard to believe that a single pixel could ruin your life. After all, a pixel measures about 0.0104-inches. If you took a mechanical pencil and drew the smallest mark you could, this dot would be much larger than a typical pixel.
Since pixel-tracking is still unfamiliar to many users, let’s start with how it works before getting into what to do about it.
How it works
To review, these are common telltale signs of an email scam:
• Writer requests that you enter personal information.
• Unknown sender (“From” address).
• Instructions require immediate attention.
• Poor spelling or grammar.
• Requests you click on a link.
Even if you’re super careful, details can go unnoticed. Technically, this microscopic pixel is computer code, embedded within the body of an email. The purpose of this code is to track a large amount of personal information, such as:
• The number of times you open an email.
• The operating system you use.
• The time you opened the email.
• What type of device you used to open the email.
The shocking fact is this detailed data is sent back to the sender without you having to click on any links or even respond — it’s done automatically. Pixel-tracking allows marketers, advertisers and other companies collect data about you.
This kind of tracking is legal, despite the fact that most consumers have never heard of it. As if collecting your info for marketing purposes without your consent isn’t bad enough, pixel-tracking can also serve as a valuable kind of surveillance for cybercriminals, too.
A little-known but widespread threat
Though it’s been used for years, this technique drew very little attention from the media or public; however, pixel-tracking was thrust into the limelight after a 2006 lawsuit revealed that HP employed a commercial email tracking service to trace an email sent to a reporter in an attempt to uncover her source.
As the use of pixel-tracking grows in popularity, consumers, data protection advocates and industry leaders have raised user privacy questions and supported regulations that call for placing limits on technologies like pixel-tracking. Here are a few steps you can take to help you avoid this marketing trap.
How to Block it
The simplest way to prevent pixel-tracking is to block images from displaying in your emails. If the pixel isn’t displayed, the code probably won’t work.
To block images in Gmail, click on the gear icon and select Settings. Scroll down and click on Ask before displaying external images under the Images option. Click Save changes (at the bottom of the page).
If you’re using Outlook or another third-party email client on a desktop or mobile device, you can enable this setting as well, typically located within the app’s settings.
Track the trackers
Why not turn the tables and track those tracking you? Using a browser extension, like PixelBlock, you can block tracking pixels and receive an alert indicating which emails contain the tracking code. A comparable extension, Ugly Mail, is available for Chrome and Firefox.
These browser extensions are easy to use and will reveal just how prevalent pixel-tracking is.
Other steps you can take
This advice is universal: Do not click any links within an email from a sender you don’t know, because the link may be hiding embedded pixel-tracking code. Unfamiliar links may also lead to malware, phishing schemes and any number of other malevolent things.
Never enter your email address in promotional emails, including those from well-known sites like Facebook or Amazon. Chances are, the email is tracking your response.
Although there is no guarantee you’ll eliminate these threats entirely, your best chance for reducing your inbox of these tracking emails is through awareness and taking the above precautions.
Kim Komando is a nationally syndicated columnist and radio host. Learn about the latest technology on the Kim Komando Show, the nation’s largest weekend radio talk show. For her daily tips, podcasts, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com.
Hackers Discuss the 'Mr. Robot' Series Finale
All good things must come to an end, but we got together one last time to discuss Mr. Robot’s series finale. This encompasses both part I and part II of the finale.
We talked about [SPOILERS, obv] Red Team Elliot vs. Blue Team Elliot, the iMac hack, FileVault, hidden partitions, body disposal (sort of), the finale’s music, recursive loops, disassociative identity disorder, and the show’s trans and queer representation. (The chat transcript has been edited for brevity, clarity, and chronology.)
This week’s team of experts includes:
Yael: I just want to say that tiny computer repair shops are adorable. I go to certified Mac repair shops that aren't Genius Bars all the time because they're nicer and more honest about what repairs you need and what they'd recommend doing/buying. And generally cheaper. So I like that throughout the show there's been these little nerdy shops and it makes me miss Radio Shack. Shoutout to MacMedia in Scottsdale.
Jason: Yeah, I remember going to a few indie computer shops back in the day. It's sad that most of them didn't survive the rise of e-commerce. Well, I'm less sentimental about the death of Circuit City, even though I worked one Christmas there. I do miss CompUSA sometimes.
Harlo: I really miss mom n pop computer shops. They used to be all over NYC.
Coding trophies
Yael: Do you really get trophies for coding? Is that a thing?
Jason: Maybe at some corporate hackathons? It's not something I recall there being any kind of competition for kids to do when I was younger, but idk.
Trammell: I'm glad everyone else noticed the CODING trophy. Did you see the one with the laptop?
Yael: I'll have to go back and look again. I just remember wondering, what would Young Preppy Elliot have gotten trophies for?
Micah: I don't think I ever got coding trophies, but when I was in middle school, my team won a MATHCOUNTS competition, and in high school I traveled to another state to compete in a regional programming contest and got first place. So I'm basically like Elliot.
Parallel Universe
Trammell: Did you all notice the cars? Every single car in the perfect world was white and new.
Jason: Lots of Tesla Model Ss.
Trammell: There were lots of fun small things, like the sign advertising the nuclear power plant with the nuclear family illustration turned into an ad for the community center with the same family. Or the Township sign that said, "A nice place to live," but in the earlier world was defaced to remove the "nice."
Yael: I was very excited to see an old-school iMac. I had one of those!
Jason: Yeah, I think I actually did my first programming on one of those iMacs in Junior High. Some JavaScript embedded in HTML docs.
Harlo: I had one of those, too. Mine was purple.
Yael: I had one of those right after I graduated college. And then at my very first post-college job we had a bunch of them in a circle for people to check their email if they didn't have internet access at home.
Harlo: What's the parallel universe Mr. Robot font? Because that is a distinct logo, I can't quite place it…
Jason: It's definitely inspired by the Geek Squad logo.
Harlo: Yep, can confirm with Bing!
Dual Elliots
Trammell: Malek did a wonderful job between the two of them with such different characteristics. Very Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black.
Yael: So if you were hacking your parallel/perpendicular universe self, would you be able to do it? I guess it's easier to break stuff than to protect it. Red Team Elliot has an advantage over Blue Team Elliot. So I guess my money is on Elliot being able to hack Elliot.
Micah: I noticed that when (A) hacker Elliot was searching preppy Elliot's apartment, he found a copy of Ubuntu Made Easy, the 2012 No Starch Press book.
(A) Elliot == Red Team Elliot
Preppy Elliot == Blue Team Elliot
Harlo: A CASE LOGIC FULL OF PHOTOS. WHAT A FUCKING DRIP
Trammell: Red Team Elliot also had the advantage that the iMac was old and would still boot into single-user mode. That was the same technique I had to use to break into a NeXT Cube with a long-forgotten root password:
Image: Trammell Hudson
Yael: I thought it was interesting that Elliot thought he could learn about Elliot through his social media profiles, at least as step 1. I just want to say that OSINT has its limitations in multiple ways... so what happened here was everything looked all happy and glamorous.
Jason: Everyone self-censors on public social media... one's Facebook profile is never a perfect representation of their life.
Yael: But one time I backstalked someone's Instagram to try to determine what kind of a person they were and my impression of this person’s character ended up being WAY WORSE than how they are IRL. So it cuts both ways.
iMac Hack
Micah: So the iMac hack, I never tried that before (in my earlier hacker days I never had Mac hardware), but this is the password reset he was doing. Also this.
Yael: Ooh, that's how he did the password reset?
Trammell: Once he was logged in to the account on the Mac, pretty much all of the websites would be accessible due to stored cookies in the browser, as well as any data backed up to iCloud. That's a huge advantage for Red Team Elliot.
Yael: What could Blue Team Elliot have done? Saved on an encrypted drive?
Harlo: FileVault.
Trammell: If the browser login cookies didn't persist, they would have been lost after the reboot into single-user mode. It's a hassle to have to re-login after restarting, which is why most folks don't do it.
Em: Would there have been an iCloud backup, though? Not introduced until 2011 and OS 10.7.
Jason: It looks like Blue Team Elliot used a weak password that was cracked pretty quickly on a single machine.
Harlo: But that was on the "hidden" partition.
Micah: So there's something in how (A) Elliot hacked preppy Elliot's computer that I don't understand. Initially, the password reset failed because of FileVault, right? And then he got around FileVault by booting to single-user mode, deleting /var/db/.applesetupdone which causes the Setup Assistant to re-run on reboot... but how does that unlock the FileVault drive? Wouldn't he still need preppy Elliot's password?
Jason: Yeah, I think so.
Yael: Maybe it was just the same complex password Red Team Elliot would've guessed
Trammell: Maybe he had an idea for what it might be and was able to limit the search space for the password testing.
Em: There are apparently ways around this. You need my Yubikey to boot into my Mac. Unless you go into Rescue mode, and then you can disable that requirement entirely.
Harlo: He definitely went into Rescue mode.
Em: "Physical access is total access."
Micah: He deleted the file “.setupdone,” though in real life it's called “.applesetupdone.”
Also, he didn't include spaces where they should be. I wonder if the producers decided to slightly modify the commands so they won't actually work if someone tried them? Like instead of /sbin/mount-rw/ the real command is /sbin/mount -rw /
Trammell: He seemed to miss spaces in several of the commands.
Em: Yeah, the iMac had no iCloud. So iCloud hacking wasn’t an option. It didn't—and couldn't—run the required OS.
Yael: I know they show has invented different tech that mimics real tech before to avoid the situation where the company says no and they get in trouble.
Micah: Yes they have. Like, I remember they've slightly altered Windows screenshots to remove words like "Windows" and "Microsoft," and I think they've maybe skipped spaces before, too.
Yael: So like for example if they wanted a Windows tool and didn't want to ask Windows they would just create an alternative Windows-esque tool that didn't say Windows because if a company says no and they do that, then it's worse than if they never asked, but at the same time, they got real tech from, like, Bishop Fox, etc. with permission.
Em: That's called Greeking. Or, as Wikipedia mostly calls it, "Product Displacement." But industry term is, IIRC, "greeking it." Interesting to note that with the missed spaces, etc., they animate the screens entirely. So it raises the question of how deliberate those things are.
Trammell: Back on the self-hack, right quick... he uses Chrome in headless mode to extract the various login cookies using a WebSocket debugger. That's super clever.
Yael: Can you parse that for us?
Trammell: Rather than running Chrome and trying out all of the different sites to see which Preppy Elliot used, he had Chrome tell him the stored login passwords (I think that is what those are in the value field).
Harlo: Can we say more about this! I heard of a new wave of identity theft where it's just about stealing people's browser footprints; is this related?
Trammell: Google tries to identify real people by having things like login cookies, search history, etc. So if you can copy some of those tokens from real people, you don't have to run lots of automatic searches to try to build up a history. (Preppy Elliot is also on twitter, but I can't make out the handle.) I think that is more about passing the Not a Robot test.
Hidden Partition
Micah: So I don't quite get getting through the first full disk encryption FileVault, but the hidden partition part was pretty awesome
Harlo: How do we know he had FileVault on?
Micah: When Red Team Elliot attempts to reset Blue Team Elliot's password in recovery mode, but can't, he says, "Shit. The drive's encrypted. Maybe he's more like me than I thought."
Em: (Again, he technically couldn't have because it wasn't a feature introduced until OS X 10.3 which his old iMac couldn't handle unless it was just a shell and he'd completely swapped out all of the tech, which is problematic in other ways but definitely doable)
Jason: I just watched the Mac hacking scene up to the discovery of the hidden disk volume, and I'm a little confused about what happens. I assume that he didn't actually get through FileVault to access Blue Team Elliot's user profile, despite his comment "shit, the boot drive is encrypted, maybe he's more like me than I thought.” The list of volumes also shows the filesystem is APFS, which is pretty new
Trammell: I can't find the full GIF, but the hacking scene was the most realistic since Hackers: https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1500997301ra/23405528.gif (That one is like a 12 hour time-lapse of Dade sitting at the keyboard staring at code and printouts while the sun sets, the rest of the crew dances, has pizza, and the sun rises).
Yael: Heh. Accurate. Except needs more Mountain Dew.
Micah: Speaking of The Matrix, the earthquakes were absolutely caused by glitches in the matrix
Harlo: Oh, hey, just a thought. What was that Mac OS X vuln where the root password was just ""? [nothing] Is that applicable here?
Em: That was a Sierra bug.
Trammell: The Intel Management Engine had a vulnerability where they did a password string compare with strncmp(real_password, user_input, strlen(user_input)), which means that an empty input will match.
Yael: Ooh, that's a fun bug.
Micah: Here’s the password cracker script. The password cracking script is really simple. It just reads from stdin, and tries mounting the hidden partition one line at a time. When Elliot actually runs it, he passes in passwords.list, which is some wordlist he must have downloaded or created. And apparently, it included the password ELLIOTS-desktop, which I think was the hidden partition's password.
Trammell: I would expect Preppy Elliot to use pico/nano, while Hacker Elliot would be more of a vi or ed sort of person.
Yael: Oh no, Elliot. You made it too easy for Elliott. So what's the 101 rundown of how the entire hack worked? He goes in, runs from safety mode, overrides...something, downloads a password list?
Trammell: Single-user mode, which used to not require any passwords. And provides write access to the non-FileVault encrypted parts of the drive. So that he could then add new users, change passwords, etc.
Micah: I think overall it was realistic in that if someone has physical access to your computer, there is a good chance they can get in. (At least, in the olden days). That gave him access to the disks and let him log in as the normal user. Which then let him do the social media searches, etc.
Jason: Why is it calling apfs-fuse on a Mac? Is that a thing?
Trammell: Fuse is a general-purpose user space file system.
Micah: Fuse is also used for other types of partitions, like macfuse is a dependency for Veracrypt.
Trammell: He's using fuse to probe the apfs encryption key, since it doesn't have any rate limiting, and since he doesn't need a slow GUI to keep popping up. Essentially using apfs-fuse as an offline attack against the password, where the official apple tools have provisions to make them less useful for automated attacks).
Trammell: That clarifies why you'd use a FUSE driver on a Mac for a native filesystem.
Jason: I think this might be the driver he's using: https://github.com/kholia/apfs2john— it looks like it runs on MacOS.
Yael: But wait, he had to do something else to find the hidden partition.
Harlo: It's NOT hidden, though. It's just... there. If you can find it with diskutil list, it's not hidden.
Jason: Yeah, it's not really hidden on/from the system. It's just not automatically mounted.
Harlo: Also, it's not hidden if you can find it running regular commands, and it's also labeled "fuck society." "Here are my secrets, thank you.bat"
Jason: I think Blue Team Elliot's "hiding" of those images is just intended to keep Angela/friends/family from stumbling on his weird hobby drawings.
Yael: So perfect Elliot wanted another life... and drew Elliot's life and F Society because “I figured that’s what an anarchist hacker would come up with,” which is actually pretty good tbh. I mean he did have a hoodie, but pretty accurate.
Trammell: They invented each other—Hacker Elliot imagined what a perfect life would be, and Preppy Elliot imagined what a l337 hacker would be like.
Harlo: One more thing about the hack. Passwords.list, do we have a link to that? Just a plug for diceware, my friends.
Micah: Whenever I need good wordlists to try to crack a password, my first try is using one of the lists in this repository: https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists.
Jason: Rockyou.txt is a pretty small password list that is highly effective in pentesting
Yael: Wait, if it's effective in pentesting, do you need to not use it for yourself? :)
Jason: Rockyou.txt is a list of a lot of common passwords. It's a quick and easy list to run through penetration testing tools and guess all of them quickly if no rate limiting is involved. If you use a password that is on that list, you should change it :)
Trammell: You can also do the RAND Corp style guaranteed random password generation:
Image: Trammell Hudson
Yael: I think EFF sells one, too?
Harlo: Nope, WE sell a dope diceware zine, but EFF sells awesome dice to go with it. :)
Micah: These are sitting on my desk at the moment.
Image: Micah Lee
Yael: Okay, I will link to these things for nerdy stocking stuffers/Hanukkah presents.
Killing Your Alt
Yael: Last thing for this episode. Would you kill your alt? I want to knooooooow.
Trammell: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KillingYourAlternateSelf
Micah: I wouldn't kill my alt. If I were in that situation -- without understanding exactly how real this world I was in was or not—I would have called 911 and tried to save him.
Yael: I think I would try to reason with my alt, esp. if she didn't call the cops on me.
Jason: Yeah, I'd call 911 and disappear.
Yael; Or I'd pretend I was a long-lost twin, maybe?
Harlo: I would NOT kill my alt. I think they would be really fun.
Micah: Even if they're sort of the same person, it's clear the other Elliot is like a sentient human. I guess it's true that the two of them interacting tended to cause earthquakes, but still.
Yael: I thought the earthquakes were from the nuclear reactor blast that did/didn't happen.
Em: It's proposed by Elliot, but what we see contradicts the notion that the earthquakes are caused by their proximity or interacting.
Micah: The first earthquake happened when he heard his alt's voice on the phone, then another happened when they touched each other
Em: No. The first earthquake happened when Elliot woke up in the street.
Part II Body Disposal
Micah: Elliot is fuckin dark. What's he gonna do with the body?
Em: For the record, it would be the easiest body disposal of all time since no one would be reported missing. The only way to get caught would be in the act.
Harlo: Isn't that the whole thing with multiple timelines? You have to kill your alt?
Em: That's a myth.
Micah: This is related to the philosophy of transporters in Star Trek. If you beam from one location to another, you actually end up murdering the first you and materialize as the second you. Is it ethical? There was even a TNG episode where a double of Riker got stuck in the transporter buffer for years or something.
Em: Well that's not murder, that's suicide.
Trammell: The Riker double went on to live a productive life in a different Trek franchise.
Harlo: Why wouldn't we want to have two Rikers? I mean, one was burdened with ineffable and unprecedented trauma...
Em: There are two things to discuss. One is that it's not a body Mastermind!Elliot is trying to dispose of its Host!Elliot. As in, actual Host!Elliot. The consciousness. You can't really examine the episode without looking at it through the lens of dissociative identity disorder. The show's version of dissociative identity disorder.
Music
Freddy: I just wanted to say that the song Ne me quitte pas that was playing before the wedding was covered by Nina Simone. A song about cowardice men. Harry Anslinger, who created the original Bureau of Narcotics (before the DEA) was obsessed with Simone. (Anslinger would obtain heroin for Joseph McCarthy for years.) There is an amazing book called "Chasing the Scream" that documents Anslinger's obsession with Simone and how he used it to launch the modern war on drugs. More on this here: https://www.thefix.com/content...
Em: Since we're addressing the music, have to say that the opening song in part 1 was more appropriate than everyone would think on first watch. Delightfully so.
You're wondering who I am (Secret, secret, I've got a secret)I've got a secret I've been hiding under my skinMy heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBMSo if you see me acting strangely, don't be surprisedI'm just a man who needed someone and somewhere to hideTo keep me alive, just keep me aliveI'm not a robot without emotions, I'm not what you seeI've come to help you with your problems, so we can be freeI'm not a hero, I'm not a savior, forget what you knowI'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond his controlThe lyrics tell you the truth right at the start.
Looking Back at Part I
Jason: I would say that the hacking and password attacks were probably easier than they would have been, given that the imagined Elliot exists entirely in our Elliot's mind.
Em: Okay, but it's not an "imagined Elliot." They would've thought pretty similarly. It's the host.
The "imagined Elliot" (Host!Elliot) is older than "our Elliot" (Mastermind!Elliot). If one has to say that either of them was "imagined," it'd be Mastermind!Elliot.
Micah: Maybe this explains my confusion with bypassing FileVault. How did that actually work, since Elliot didn't crack the password to initially root the box? Maybe it was more like what happens when you're hacking in your dreams. It doesn't have to completely make sense.
Em: This is what I meant by "it all has to be analyzed through the lens of DID because that's how it was constructed by the producers." And it did make sense, but you can't think of it as hacking because it wasn't. It was Mastermind finding ways to access parts of themself that had been cordoned off, basically. Some of which were figments. But thinking of it as "hacking" at all is inaccurate, which is one reason why all the tech didn't actually make sense. The iMac wasn't an iMac, it was a box stuffed with memories and idealized versions of things. It was an amalgam.
Jason: If I was imagining how I'd hack a Mac in my brain, there would be some inaccuracies because I don't perfectly remember how they work
Em: But that's not what this was. It wasn't a Mac. It wasn't even the idea of a Mac. Not really. Think of the iMac as a memory palace that's locked. Think of it as memories that you've lost. You're not imagining finding them. It's not imaginary, it's more symbolism. Thinking of it as "hacking" at all is like thinking of trick or treaters as ghosts and goblins. It's something else with a sheet over it.
Micah: I really liked it when dream-reality started to seriously break down.
Yael: The FSociety masks?
Micah: Yes, the FSociety masks. Everyone having Mr. Robot's face. All of the glitches in the matrix where suddenly he was somewhere else.
Yael: He called himself on the phone, ermigod. Yeah, it was fun. Kind of reminded me of The Butterfly Effect and of Being John Malkovich
Jason: It also kind of reminds me of the end of Brazil, with the Baby Face masks
Recursive Loops
Yael: What did they mean by "recursive loop" re: this imagined universe?
Em: That it was limited and repeating. The same day over and over. The same fantasy. Host!Elliot never married Faux!Angela, Host!Elliot was always about to get married to Faux!Angela. It was a loop that Elliot's mind tried to interpret through a technical lens, same as the so-called hacking. Host!Elliot = "preppy Elliot" AKA the "real Elliot."
Harlo: Thus the busy work of the last episode.
Jason: I thought that the phrase "recursive loop" was a little goofy in a technical sense. Is it recursion, or is it a loop?
Harlo: Ooooh, that's good. If it recurses, it never gets to loop. Poesie (chef's kiss).
Micah: You can infinitely loop, but you can't infinitely recurse—each time you call a recursive function you take a bit more memory, and eventually you run out of memory
Harlo: Fucking killjoy.
Jason: Yeah, the earthquakes are an out of memory condition.
Em: They're dissonance.
Jason: Maybe it's recursive, and the collision of Red Team Elliot with Blue Team Elliot is the result of it reaching an exit condition. Same as the missing faces/F-society masks at the wedding.
Em: Hard disagree.
Yael: Out of memory condition is when your computer runs out of memory and starts doing weird glitchy shit?
Micah: Generally if a program uses all of your computer's RAM, your OS kills it
Yael: But you can’t kill the host
Micah: I kept hitting that in one of the Advent of Code recursion challenges
Harlo: How so? That’s interesting!
Micah: I was running out of memory with my implementation for this challenge https://adventofcode.com/2019/... you need to solve a series of complicated mazes in the most efficient way possible, and you do this by building up a tree recursively. I actually hit the python RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded exception, so I increased the maximum to something insane, and ran it again, and I could open System Monitor and watch my RAM usage go up, and up, and up, until the computer freezes for a few seconds and then my OS kills my Python script.
Em: It's not an "out of memory" thing. That has nothing to do with this. The earthquakes, the masks and the faces were the result of dissonance. Each one happened when the "reality" was challenged. That happened most directly by Mastermind and the Host confronting each other, but several things caused it. Each instance happened when "reality" was challenged, either by entering into the denial space/alternate reality, seeing "himself" or having Mr. Robot flat out tell him "that's not real."
Harlo: Oh... also, Gretchen Carlson. Oooookkkkkk. It was all a dream! And you were there, and you were there, and Gretchen Carlson was there...
Tying Up Loose Ends
Yael: Anyone have anything else to add, maybe about stuff I cut out in past seasons or that we didn’t discuss?
Harlo: So, a while ago in the robot chat (I forget which season), I mentioned that this show has a Sybil vibe to it. The editors linked to the Sybil consensus against attacks (which is totally reasonable). But actually, I was talking about the Sybil complex (Flora Rheta Schreiber) this entire time.
Yael: Oh, that was me that linked to that, not an editor. (Sorry!)
Micah: Here's one thing I didn't quite get. Whiterose's body was found in the nuclear reactor, and the news was reporting it as a foiled terrorist attack. And Elliot was found unconscious at the site of the attack, and Darlene is like in hiding. Yet she's just visiting him in the hospital, and they're not in FBI custody?
Yael: Yes, we all know that you'll never be off the hook for hacking, even if you do save the world. (cc: Marcus Hutchins).
Em: The show was kind of really shitty in terms of trans and queer representation. Consistently so.
Yael: Please go off.
Em: The only trans character was motivated to commit mass murder over decades due to her dysphoria. They linked it directly to her being trans. The producers misgendered White Rose on at least one occasion in public materials, after the reveal of who she was. Dom and Darlene got fxcked in how their story was handled and told. The only queer and trans characters were either villains BECAUSE they were queer and trans or the show went out of its way to deny them any sort of happy ending, or even closure. What happens with Dom? No one knows, and the show didn't care.
Yael: I touched on this a tiny bit last episode, but Janus reminded me of Hot Carla.
Em: Hot Carla at least got a bit more rep than what was in the show itself, but still. She was treated with more dignity than White Rose, even if I'm not sure if we actually saw her or not. Hot Carla was a prisoner who was treated somewhat as a joke by the show, from what I recall. She wasn't a character, she was a plot device and a joke.
Yael: I was expecting the Dom/Darlene situation to resolv, but yeah, they really did leave that stupid airport thing unfinished. I was disappointed with the ending tbh.
Micah: I'm glad we finally got to understand all of Elliot's various personalities, and that the entire show was really about Mastermind Elliot
Em: His main personalities, we didn't get to understand all of them. We (the viewers) are a collective alter and the final alter of the Dr. was never explained or addressed, that was just a 'form that was chosen,' but we sort of did get the others explained, even if it was more of a "tell don't show" situation, unless you count retroactive stuff, which I hesitate to.
Yael: I agree, not the best ending, and beating WhiteRose ended up seeming a bit anticlimactic. But overall, it’s been a great four and a half years. Goodbye, friends.
Comments
Post a Comment