Halt and Catch Fire took a step back this week, but Margaux and I are still enthralled by it.
Trevor: Let us now praise Scoot McNairy. “Extract and Defend” wasn’t the best episode of Halt and Catch Fire’s second season, but McNairy continues to somehow get better at playing Gordon, a character he was never really bad at playing to begin with. He plays every part of Gordon – look at the way he blinks his eyes in a conversation about money, or the way he cradles the phone as he tries not to tell his wife bad news. Goddamn, what a performance.
Margaux: Really hope HaCF stops beating up on Gordon, he’s been through the wringer more than any of the central characters this season so far. That’s not to say Joe, Donna, and Cameron aren’t dealing with their own shit, but Gordon trying to tell Donna the news he’s basically dying was really heartbreaking. Especially the scene in the nightclub where he tells a random woman whom he’s hallucinating is Donna that he’s dying, was so freaking sad I almost turned off the TV.
Trevor: It’s a ballsy move on HaCF’s part to introduce the brain damage angle. It doesn’t feel desperate (Cantwell and Rogers have clearly not run out of ideas). But to compromise a main character in such a major way is a hell of a gamble. I think it’s paying off, due in no small part to McNairy’s performance.
Margaux: This episode should’ve been called, “Deep Secrets”; everyone is keeping something from someone who should probably be informed of what’s going on. Besides Gordon’s deathly diagnosis, Gordon never really got around to telling Donna who’s behind giving Mutiny the network boost. And even though Donna immediately tells Cameron what’s she knows, Donna has yet to tell anyone (besides Bos, somewhat accidentally towards the end) that she’s pregnant.
Trevor: Well, this is roughly the halfway point of the season, it would make sense for everything to start falling to shit right about now. Speaking of Bos, my favorite part of “Extract and Defend” was his sudden realization that Lev is gay. Toby Huss can really do no wrong in this role.
Margaux: It was only the lighthearted moment of “Infiltrator” (“oh…I got a cousin…”); I thought Bos recovered nicely and it was another small hint of “Bos enters the 20th century.” Speaking of Bos, it put a smile on my face to see him out on a date with the Mom he convinced to sign back up for Mutiny last week.
Trevor: That’s why she looked familiar, thank you. I couldn’t place it. Bos is pretty much at the perfect level of “supporting character”; he gets his moments to shine (like his tearjerker of a wedding toast to his son) but very rarely takes the lead.
I was actually pretty impressed by how well Cameron handled herself in that meeting with Jacob Wheeler. I had the same misgivings as Joe: Cameron’s gonna show up in a Black Flag shirt and call this guy an asshole. But Cameron always responds best to people who are genuinely curious (which is why she and Bos bonded at Cardiff).
Margaux: It was Cameron’s most impressive 5 minutes of screentime because she wasn’t screaming, throwing a tantrum, or whining about how all she wants is for everyone to “leave Mutiny alone!” I was honestly surprised at how upset the idea of Joe continues to make her. I appreciated the glimmer of maturity she gives Donna when she asks her leave her room, after finding out that Joe is their secret network benefactor. But again, she ruins it almost instantly by tearing her room apart like she’s a rockstar in a hotel room.
Trevor: Yeah, Tom is swimming in dangerous waters, dating a girl who’s always that close to a temper tantrum. I get that Mutiny is her baby, but she needs to realize that everyone else who works there is just as passionate as she is. I mean, these people took stock options instead of getting paid. She’s not the only one who wants this company to succeed. I feel like that’s going to be the thrust of Cameron’s arc this season, but she’s been in the same place, more or less, for five episodes now. She needs to move forward, because as it stands, scenes with her can be frustrating and are one of season two’s few – very few – problem spots.
Margaux: And I don’t see how Cameron’s character can move forward if she keeps repeating the same mistakes, ie: banging weirdos she works with. It’s even more high key than her relationship with Joe, Bos catching Tom jumping out of Cameron’s window early one morning lead to his suspicion later on that Cameron might be pregnant. The tangled webs Cameron stupidly weaves.
Trevor: That’s a good point, even though Tom really endeared himself to me by loudly announcing that he had a date, then sneaking into Cameron’s room. That was sweet! I fell for the line about the date, and so did Cameron. I don’t see things ending well with Tom, obviously, but I’m on board with the character. Especially because even while trying to be romantic he can’t stop being a nerd, coming in through Cameron’s window saying “This is how the game should start, coming in through an air duct.”
Margaux: Between Cameron and Tom collaborating genitals, and ideas for this FPS game, this relationship will end up in bigger flames than a truckload full of Giant computers. Or, Joe’s relationship with Sarah, which I didn’t think would end so abruptly or soon. I mean, I didn’t see them getting to the altar, but I didn’t expect her to leave his ass in Dallas.
Trevor: And after he signed the pre-nup too! Joe hasn’t changed all that much – going behind Jacob’s back was classic MacMillan – but he’s still changed some. I actually felt for Admiral Eyebrows, as his coworkers at Cardiff apparently called him.
Margaux: Lev and Donna’s bond is another bright spot, I like how they’ve gotten together and grown Community so much and so well. I don’t know what will become of Mutiny, between their innovative new game and the creation of OG AOL chat rooms, HaCF continues to prove they made the right choice by making Mutiny the heart of the show.
Trevor: It’s really rebuilding itself. Rather than start with a big company like Cardiff, we’re watching Mutiny rise up from dirt. IT’S A METAPHOR FOR THE SHOW. You wanna talk stars?
Margaux: YAS QUEEN. “Extract and Defend” is a solid four star episode; I can see how our Cardiff main characters will keep intersecting in each others lives, making us question how much progress they’ve made, but I’m also oddly excited for Gordon’s road trip to see his brother. Homey is in DESPERATE need of some friend time.
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