Even in the post-war era of streaming, now that streamers are producing fewer titles than before and canceling or dropping the ones they have, there’s still so much TV that it’s hard to watch all the big shows everyone is talking about — much less catch up on older, popular shows. It doesn’t help that streaming has been successful, so finding older titles is nearly impossible, between licensing and simple lack of interest in media preservation. However, Tubi is a very underrated player in the streaming landscape.
This free streamer is the closest thing to the feeling of going to a video store back in the day, with a somewhat eclectic library full of hot indie films, big blockbusters, horror gems, and even a fair amount of classic titles, including anime! It’s truly a must-see for movie and TV fans, and in 2025 they’re bringing one of the weirdest and best shows of the late 2010s, starring an Oscar-winning actor: “Mr. Robot.”
That’s right, the first season of “Mr. Robot” is streaming for free on Tubi. Granted, you’d have to go elsewhere to find the remaining three seasons, but it’s enough to grab your attention and introduce a spectacular story. Created by Sam Esmail, “Mr. Robot” was unlike anything else on television at the time, a complex show full of shocking twists and turns, with an incredible performance from Rami Malek and a story that resonates even more today than when it first aired. If you’ve never seen this show, now is the time to start.
A captivating techno thriller that’s not afraid to get weird
Much of what made the first season of “Mr. Robot” so gripping was its mystery box approach. Sure, the series was full of mysteries, unanswered questions, and shocking twists, but much like how “Lost” balanced its lore-building with exquisite character drama, “Mr. Robot” made the narrative framework of Elliott having a severely damaged mind part of the mystery in a way that didn’t drown out the story. The unreliable framing of the narrator allowed the series to introduce or remove mysteries and make them part of Elliott’s character arc rather than being a way to keep the audience engaged for another week.
“Mr. Robot” set a new standard for depicting mental illness on television without being exploitative, with a nuanced portrayal of anxiety, schizophrenia and DID, with Elliott’s journey being a gripping and tragic story. Still, the show wasn’t afraid to get weird, with an episode featuring ’80s TV star Alf and even an entirely silent episode. Meanwhile, on a macro level, the way “Mr. Robot” approached the post-Occupy Wall Street world and the rise of the tech oligarchy has become more timely and more prescient over time, with the series offering a poignant message and a rather accurate and exciting depiction of hacker culture and cybersecurity in the modern world.
Then there’s the look of the show, which has garnered widespread praise for its unconventionality. “Mr. Robot” often places the characters in the corner of the frame, or at the bottom of it, in order to show their isolation and increase the sense of paranoia in the story. This was a highly experimental series, and if you embark on this journey, know that it will only get better after the first season.
