Margaux and I cannot get enough of Halt and Catch Fire‘s nearly flawless second season.
Trevor: If you’d asked me last year, I would have scoffed at the idea of Halt and Catch Fire being better than True Detective. But here we are.
Margaux: That’s sort of an apples and oranges situation. Halt and Catch Fire benefitted from AMC’s overhaul now that the network is Breaking Bad and Mad Men-less, seems like they got better direction and feedback, shows in how confidently they’re telling the story this season. They don’t need to make a big to-do about the show now centering on women because women are compelling characters, too!
True Detective is too much up its own ass and HBO doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing anymore, see: Ballers. (Yes, I will take ANY opportunity to complain about how horrible that show is. YOU’RE BETTER THAN THIS THE ROCK).
Trevor: That’s a good point about the differences between the two networks. I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes, TD and HaCF are two different animals, but last year Halt was good, occasionally great, summer television. This year it’s appointment television. The leap in quality is pretty incredible, and it’s never more confident than in strong, confident episodes like “10Broad36.”
My favorite part of this season, which I’ve mentioned before, is that the show isn’t going to great lengths to make the characters likable (it’s also not doing the reverse and trying to make everyone an antihero). This was Joe’s turn to be the heel. In many ways he was the villain of “10Broad36,” until the end, when he became the savior. That’s ballsy storytelling, and it runs the risk of not only failing but undermining the entire story you’ve spent an hour telling.
Margaux: I really loved the cold open, Joe alone and wandering around his empty apartment, leaving the world’s most depressing voicemail to Sarah: “I feel like you want me to see these things.” I thought the long, stagnant shots of Joe being “reflective” showed a softer side to him before he spent the rest of the episode as usual, annoyingly smug self. He was in full-on 80s power douchebag regalia when he showed up at Mutiny.
Trevor: Pulling the typical “for your own good” Joe bullshit. He knew he could have gone down to $3.50, but he wouldn’t budge on $5, to the point that Donna had a very uncharacteristic (but well-acted) crying fit. This was quietly a very good episode for Kerry Bishe, but that’s kind of a “duh” observation to make because the whole cast is so on point. I felt for her, though; Joe was being such an intransigent dick that it was gonna make me cry.
Margaux: Donna’s story arc in “10Broad36” had some Shakespearean level shit happening to her last night, at least no one died. I definitely shouted at my TV, “GORDO, NOOOOOOO!” when he banged his brother’s high school girlfriend on the back of a truck bed. So not only have you cheated on Donna, but you did it in the most redneck way humanly possible, at least there wasn’t a Confederate flag around.
Trevor: It’s strange how Southern HaCF made California look.
Margaux: I had to keep reminding myself, this is California. Like, Fresno, maybe? I’ve never spent time there.
Trevor: Somewhere within driving distance of Sacramento. Maybe Modesto. If it were Fresno we would have seen a lot more murders. Speaking of which: Gordon’s brother Henry was played by Kevin Rankin, who’s come a long way since the last time he was on AMC, playing a Nazi on Breaking Bad.
Margaux: You’re right, too light on murders for it to have been Fresno.
Anyhoodle, the Clarks are going through some shit and even though they are fictional characters, it goes to show how well they’ve developed these characters, to the point where your emotional connection has you physically upset over Gordon’s cheating. It can’t just be me. Even Jules, Henry’s high school sweetheart, looks straight up repulsed with the man Gordon is. He should start getting used to that look. Oh, and thanks for that utterly heart wrenching scene that follows, when Donna sings her daughter to sleep with Gordon lying there, hopefully feeling GUILTY AS ALL HELL.
Trevor: When Gordon leaned in for the kiss, I actually felt my heart sink. I was mad at him, but more than that I was mad at Scoot McNairy, the FUCKING ACTOR PLAYING A ROLE. McNairy is just so good, and I’ve linked him and Gordon so strongly in my mind. And yes, that scene with Donna singing to her kids was a real gut-punch, because how else would you close out a day where your husband cheated on you while you got a secret abortion? Goddamn, “10Broad36” was an emotional roller coaster, which is a phrase I really didn’t want to use, sorry.
Margaux: It really felt like the beat that’ll take us to the end of the season, all of the drama and tension is stitched in and now we get to see if it’ll explode out all at once or if it’ll painful, slow burn. I really hope it’s the first one.
Trevor: This show handles tension really well. To wit: the ruse to convince Joe that they can run on UNIX is played like a heist. There’s all this tension surrounding Joe finding out, and when he finally does, it sucks, sure, but there’s also a weird catharsis because we can finally breathe again. Somehow Halt and Catch Fire turned a computer chess match into something far more high stakes (I give a lot of credit to director Larysa Kondracki, a Walking Dead vet).
Margaux: You mean, they turned a computer chess game into a chess game of HUMAN EMOTIONS?! (sorry I’m not sorry). I thought Kondracki did an awesome job, and knew I recognized the name from somewhere.
What liked the most about “10Broad36” was Cameron FINALLY, as Bos says to her face, taking a look in the goddamn mirror for once. After Donna had her understandable reaction to Joe, for a lack of a better word, fucking them for no real reason other than he can and he secretly (though, by episodes end, not so secretly) want to put his spray all over Mutiny (JUST LIKE A MAN DOES). I’m glad Cameron’s character is moving away from screaming brat and more toward hard-ass boss, she’s just way better that way. But 1000 brownie points to Bos for Dad’ing the shit outta their fight, and also, making little comments like, “don’t you think he made those suggestions because they might help?”
Trevor: Toby Huss really made the most of his limited screentime. I love the way HaCF treats its cast even behind the scenes. It elevates character actors like Lee Pace and Scoot McNairy to lead actors, and peppers its supporting cast with industry veterans like Huss and James Cromwell. Not to resort to another cliche, but this really is the best show that no one is watching.
Margaux: For whatever it’s worth, it has more positive buzz for a second season, summer show on premium cable channel – what’s an Extant?
Trevor: Halle Berry’s kid is a robot? Either way, I’m glad we decided to stick to reviewing this (I know we were briefly on the fence). I’m also glad I bailed on Under the Dome and Tyrant, but that’s neither here nor there. You wanna talk stars?
Margaux: As long we’re quickly reflecting on shows that shit the bed, I’m endless happy I have nothing to do with season 2 The Strain. Simply put: FUCK. THAT. SHOW.
But back to Halt and Catch Fire and “10Broad36”: thanks for smashing my already tenuous grasp on romance and relationships, Gordon!
Okay, for serious now, 4.5 stars – it was really another wonderfully acted and directed episode, and the subtext of: girl power (one of the final shots of Cameron and Donna outside a Planned Parenthood…in Texas) said so much, even though they barely spoke at all.
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