Welcome to the first recap of AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, of which the first episode of season two premiered last night. Beware spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode yet!
Halt and Catch Fire season two starts off with Joe (Lee Pace), but in a flashback to 1983, back when he was optimistic and driven, and not the mess he became by the end of the season one. He’s still actually in love (or the closest thing for him) with Cameron (Mackenzie Davis), who’s playing a video game instead of getting to work. Cameron is driven and brilliant, but her work ethic leads something to be desired, as we’ll see even more of this season. The happy couple play a game, Joe cheats (no surprise there) and leaves the house. Cut to 1985, where the house has become Mutiny, the name for Cameron’s break-up business from Cardiff Electric, where she’s an overworked and under-appreciated programmer – and in a toxic relationship with Joe.
Donna (Kerry Bishé) is entering the house with her sack lunch (I really do like the look of the show this season) which has become more of a frat house than a business or home. The place is a mess, with wiring galore, a filthy kitchen, cans and bottles everywhere, and a mannequin. Mutiny has clearly become a boys’ club, despite Donna and Cameron being the superiors, and the guys really don’t hold back the sexist comments (ça change, plus c’est la même). Donna is dealing with the renovations and in-fitting from the programmers (there is a real backgammon crisis) and trying to get Cameron to take the server lags seriously. She doesn’t, using a ton of juice to brag a little about a design she had for one of the games, and the entire block loses power. Seriously, the wiring in this house could absolutely end the season with the entire house catching fire.
After the great opening credits (this will be the only time I say it, but I really like their simplicity), we see one of the most delightful period details: a fake commercial for home computing. Having seen enough I Love the ’80s, they nailed it; and it leads to the first appearance by Donna’s husband Gordon (Scoot McNairy), on TV to talk about the buyout, which is finally happening. Donna is standing there, proud of her inarticulate hubby (such a great relationship), but has to leave to get back to the chaos of Mutiny. Gordon is leaving the company after the buyout with no idea what to do next, and, as we learn, everyone who helped them will be losing their job, too. One of the employees tells him later in the episode, at a bar, that they had good times, but they can’t remember the details because everyone was so coked up. I think the father of two is getting out at the right time.
We finally see messy, unhinged Joe, who seems to be at least trying to pull things together. He has a new girlfriend, Sara Wheeler (Aleksa Palladino) a journalist (because he is one person who should not date someone in the same industry). He is running, and trying to be a better person, but it is clearly a struggle for him. And when we see Joe at a little party, he is clearly ashamed of what he did to Gordon and everyone else, saying “at the time, I thought I was unhappy with the project, but in reality, I was unhappy with myself.” His new girlfriend tries to brag about what he accomplished, let him off the hook a little bit, but he seems even more embarrassed to let her do that. They claim to plan to want to move to Silicon Valley as soon as the money from the sale comes in.
At the end of the night, the power in finally back on at Mutiny – thanks to Cameron stealing from the neighbors’. Her “it’s okay because they’re rich” belief is the future quote from every internet pirate, who will also want to steal from Cameron in the future. Donna wants none of it because they are already having trouble with the power company, who know they use too much, and they don’t want the public to realize they are working out of a residential house (although the neighbors can’t be happy with living next to Old School, either). When the power company finally calls, Donna, not Cameron (who rents the house) has to take the call. While Donna’s on the phone, Cameron asks why Donna didn’t go with the other misfits from Mutiny to get drunk, and tells her “you don’t have to wait to be asked.” This more than anything seems to annoy Donna, because 1) she interacts with them way more than Cameron, 2) she’s in the middle of a business call Cameron should be taking, and 3) a working mother of two would probably rather be heading home than going out with the guys from work after a late day. Donna tells Cameron that someone needs to be the boss, and Cameron, honestly and openly, responds that she doesn’t want to take that on. Donna puts her foot down that she doesn’t want to be mommy here, but she is being forced to because no one else is picking up the slack. It seems Cameron and Donna’s first fight from season one, when Cameron asked sarcastically if she was some kind of mom, is still a source of tension.
It’s the day the sale is official, and everyone’s getting paid. We finally get a Gordon and Joe scene, when both are waiting to sign and get their checks from Cardiff Electric. All the investors get paid first, indicating they are getting way more than either of them. Joe comments that they sold too low, but Gordon refuses to deal with anything Joe has to say after he “burned a truck full of their computers and ran into the woods.” It’s a great bit of staging, because the two barely even look at each other. Gordon seems to genuinely hate Joe, and Joe is clearly ashamed and embarrassed by what he is now. Gordon goes in, signs, and gets his check basically thown at him like he’s a dog getting a treat. But Joe finds out after signing that he’ll get nothing for his behavior last season. After a nice scolding and having the check torn up in his face, he makes some sarcastic comments and leaves.
Before I go on, I want to say that Nathan (Graham Beckel) must really, really hate Joe if he went as far as having a check printed out in 1985 with an exact amount he was owed, just to tear it up in his face. That suggests a desire not just to get even with Joe, but ridicule and shame him. Nice job… and great job from Lee Pace proving he’s still just Joe, unable to be humbled.
So the question is, did Gordon know Joe was being cut out? I’m not sure, because he certainly had a smirk, but it might just be that he knows he made more than Joe. Either way, they have a brief conversation, Gordon asking “what are you doing with your share?” (Nothing). And Gordon saying he’ll start working in the garage again, building machines and “getting his hands dirty.” Gordon walks away with more than $800,000 in 1985 (nearly two million today), and Joe walks away with his tail between his legs.
On her way to dinner with Gordon and the kids to celebrate, Donna sees Cameron with her headphones on, standing next to her car. She’s waiting to buy stolen computers, which Donna clearly seems a little on edge about. When the guy arrives, Donna looks them over and asks if she can test them, but before she can insist, Cameron agrees to the deal (but negotiates the price from retail to off the back of the truck prices). But even $500 isn’t a great price if the computers are counterfeit, which they are. The two go out drinking, Donna forgetting about the family, and put it on the line: one of them needs to take charge.
I have to hand it to Cameron for knowing what she wants. She doesn’t like managing or administration; she only likes coding. But so does Donna, who is working because she wants to do that thing she loves. They reach a compromise, that if Donna can focus on creating a forum for the gamers on their site (after seeing people sitting after games chatting for hours), she’ll do administrative work – if Cameron picks up the slack. They’re partners, but will this be another Joe-Gordon relationship or something a little less intense? Who knows, but at least they got back at the counterfeiter. After approaching him in the bar for stealing their money, Cameron steals his keys, and they realize he has the new computers they want… and just steal them from him.
Gordon has spent the night with his daughters, which is one of the sweetest things in the show. McNairy is great with these kids, and really seems comfortable playing a pre-Michael Keaton Mr. Mom. After Donna ditches him for Cameron, he takes them for ice cream to celebrate their new riches, promising vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and a banana (wow, don’t go crazy, dad). He also explains why they can’t use the money to buy an elephant (because you always need to buy two), before getting a very suspicious nosebleed. By the time Donna comes home, they are in two different mind-sets, and they barely even touch (if that relationship goes south, I will be pissed off).
Joe goes home to admit he has no money or prospects, and his girlfriend, a rich girl who doesn’t need his money, says it doesn’t matter. But for someone like Joe, it clearly does, and just like that, he asks her to marry him. And it is not romantic at all (but maybe, because it is coming from Joe). Late at night, Cameron and Joe are playing a game, and may or may not realize they are playing with each other. And the show ends with Cameron’s all too happy reunion with Toby Huss’s John Bosworth getting out of prison.
The show is off to a great start; Cameron was arguably the break-out character of the show last year, so seeing her take a much bigger role is pretty great. And realize how similar she is to Joe makes that relationship seem more logical than it did last year. They are both narcissistic, unscrupulous, driven, geniuses who know they’re geniuses, and Davis is awesome in the role. I really do love the chemistry between Kerry Bishé and Scoot McNairy, especially if the show really looks at what a big change it will be for the family if he starts staying at home and she works. Gordon still doesn’t even understand why she’s doing this, and the girls seem pretty confused by their mom suddenly wanting to work. I really look forward to seeing the house and band of misfits in this start up. Last season was so corporate-business politics heavy, this could be a pretty interesting change of pace to keep the show feeling fresh (and episode SETI felt like a pretty fresh episode).
Loose Ends:
- I loved that the moment from the Oscars they play is “The winner is F. Murray Abraham,” not just because it’s funny, but because that feels appropriate for a show. Joe seems like the all-star, but Gordon won out in the end.
- Donna seems amazed that users are willing to pay just to chat. Imagine what she would think of comment pages today.
- I’m really glad Cameron grew her hair out, because as someone who used to have bangs, I hate when hair gets in your eyes. I felt about her hair the way I felt about Peter’s in Heroes: like I just wanted to get some scissors.
- I get that it was supposed to be an insult, but who would ever compare Donna to Mrs. Garrett (the housekeeper from Different Strokes and Facts of Life) seems like a real stretch. She does have a great pissed look, though.
- I hate Joe’s Miami Vice look. I get that it’s a bit of a trend, but was there a dumber look?
- More Gordon with his daughters: he’s adorable and at his absolute happiest with them.
- Line of the night was definately Cameron’s “still want to go out with me” yelled at the guy she just robbed as she drives away and throws his keys at him.
Lesley Coffin is a New York transplant from the midwest. She is the New York-based writer/podcast editor for Filmoria and film contributor at The Interrobang. When not doing that, she’s writing books on classic Hollywood, including Lew Ayres: Hollywood’s Conscientious Objector and her new book Hitchcock’s Stars: Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System.
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