- Severe
- The show is very graphic and tackles heavy themes of control, hacking, mental health, consumerism, corruption, trauma, capitalism, loneliness and many more. Season 3 and 4 are notably intense with very high stakes and tension.
- Throughout the series the main character deals with various mental illness that are related to child trauma such as autism spectrum, paranoia, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder, this makes the series very difficult to follow sometimes, so we see the things from the character's perspective and we feel as lost as him
- The show gets increasingly more intense as it goes on and even though the violence never becomes too much it is still a very dark and brooding show.
- The first season of the show is likely suitable for 13+ as it has occasional scenes of moderate violence, a suicide and some adult content/language. Season 2 onward would more appropriately be suitable for 16+ due to graphic violence and overall heavier themes including language, sexuality, etc.
- The intensity is overall severe with the entire series being unshakenly dark, tense, nihilistic and occasionally violent.
- Recommended rating: R for strong violence, bloody images, some sexual content, drug use and language.
- Season 2 may be frightening for some viewers due to unexpected and jump scare-like scenes of violence, suicide and lots of creepy images in correlation with uncontrollable mental illness. The rest of the series is less intense in this aspect but is still quite strong.
- There is a graphic and frightening sequence where a man forces himself to overdose on adderall. He vomits up the pills but then digs through his vomit to eat them again and stays up for many nights. He psychologically and physically degrades throughout the sequence. This is one of the most brutally frightening scenes in the show.
- While this is not a show for kids, if your kid has seen Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul or Daredevil then this show is likely appropriate. Expect dark and mature themes, violence, profanity, some sexual content and episodes with graphic drug use.
- Season 2 is the scariest season with the most elements of psychological horror, jump scares in the form of unexpected violence amongst other things.
- The episodes midway through season 3 are overwhelmingly intense, nerve racking and scary. There is constant tension and overstimulating sequences of brutal chaos. There is one episode that is 45 minutes of completely uninterrupted havoc and emergency.
- While season 3 is very intense and violent, season 4 is overwhelmingly emotional and upsetting.
- Season 1 is the mildest season in every regard except for drug use where it is the most extreme.
- Many scary and suspenseful episodes that may be too much for some viewers. These episodes include S1E4, S2E3, S3E5, S3E7, S3E10, S4E8 and S4E13. These episodes have either aspects of horror, extreme suspense or lots of disturbing content. The most tense season is probably season 3.
- Elliot suffocates a man to death. Elliot looks away while doing it and says "I think you should look away too", and the camera cuts away from the scene. This ends up not being real and all in his head.
- In Season 3 Episode 8, Elliot buys a bag full of drugs and it is heavily implied that he is about to commit suicide but in the episode, a young boy distracts him from this and Elliot does not end up committing suicide