After being away for far too long, Margaux and I reunite to discuss last night’s two-part Halt and Catch Fire.
Trevor: I think what I like most about Halt and Catch Fire – well, one of the many things I like about it – is its confidence in its storytelling. These two episodes were not, strictly speaking, flashy hours of TV. But the show can get by without that. We don’t need bombshells dropped on us every hour (in fact, the only bombshell comes in the last few minutes, and it concerns a brand-new character). I’m consistently impressed with how well this show has grown into itself.
Margaux: It’s admirable how Halt and Catch Fire has allowed the characters determine whose story is worth telling; in season one, it was all about Joe and Gordon. But now, entering their junior season (do we continue to refer to seasons of shows like high school past sophomore?), they keep expanding on their most fleshed out and compelling characters, Donna and Cameron. And it feels so organic, like it’s always been their show, no whiff of contrivance when it’s on trend to have female lead movies/show/reboots. Plus, their dinner meeting with a scumbag CEO is so current, if it wasn’t for those blazers, you’d have a hard time remembering this show is supposed to be a “period piece.” The more things change, the more they stay the same – which can be applied to the show’s characters and the present day state of affairs in Silicon Valley.
Trevor: Agree with everything you said, especially about Donna and Cameron. I liked the pivot last season, when they founded Mutiny together, but now not only are they in California, but so are Joe, Bos, the Mutiny staff, and Gordon. Donna and Cameron drive the show now; HaCF belongs to them, and I want to ask Cantwell and Rogers if that was their intention from the beginning. I’d bet against it, because season one tried too hard at times to be Mad Men, but holy shit, what a happy accident. And it doesn’t help to have great actresses like Kerry Bishe and Mackenzie Davis steering your ship.
So how does the location change work for you? The Silicon Prairie was such an integral part of the show’s first two seasons, so such a drastic shift could be very risky.
Margaux: But like you said, the whole gang is in California too, so it didn’t feel too jarring. If anything, it felt like the next evolutionary step in the show and Mutiny’s growth. Plus, the change in scenery opens them up to new characters, like Ryan (we’ll get to him in a minute). And it doesn’t matter where you go because there you are, and that is at least very true of Bos. The only thing I didn’t like was the on-the-nose allegory of the earthquake and the instability of Mutiny.
Trevor: I’ll agree with you there, but I did like how the earthquake was presented. We’re from California, so we probably don’t think about it as much, but for someone not from the west coast, earthquakes can be really scary. As a metaphor it might have been too obvious by half, but the whole Clark family was convincingly unnerved. I dunno, it worked for me just because of that scene and Gordon’s “It’s toast” punchline at the end.
Margaux: When they first started to freak out over the earthquake, my knee jerk reaction was to roll my eyes, and then I remembered they’re all supposed to be from Texas. But, seriously, come on guys, it’s just a fuckin’ earthquake. The toast button at the end of the scene did help diffuse my annoyance though, it was a good choice, subtle and smart.
Trevor: If that earthquake had been on Mad Men it would have dominated the whole episode.
Margaux: The other great, non sequitur button I appreciated was when Donna celebrated in the women’s bathroom of an investment firm whom she just nailed a pitch to, and kicks the door open of a woman who is on the toilet. It was unexpectedly humorous, better than that coder’s (audible) fart joke to Gordon. Those coders are still a bunch of animals. See, more of the same, just in a different place.
Trevor: I liked that moment too, and I really liked seeing Donna so happy. I’m kind of in love with the Mutiny plotline. They’re touching upon very 21st century concerns like the right to privacy (that scene with Cameron and the guy in the restaurant was deeply uncomfortable), and also about how hard it is for women to break into tech – which is unfortunately still true. I like that this woman-first perspective translates to the show itself; both parts of the premiere were directed by women, Daisy von Scherler Mayer and Kimberly Pierce, and they both did a terrific job.
But, ugh, let’s talk about that VC. Holy shit. Talk about an uncomfortable meal. Cameron might want to consider takeout.
Margaux: The business dinner got my blood boiling, mainly because of what you’ve already touched on, that type of shit still happens every.single.fucking.day. Maybe not every asshole tells you you were all but asking for because you wore red lipstick (ummkay, rapey much?), but when that sleazy CEO broke the news to Donna and Cameron that he wasn’t going to give them full funding, I couldn’t help but shout at the TV, “SO WHAT ARE YOU GIVING THEM? VERBAL CLAP?” I did think it was great that Cameron had to hold Donna back from pummeling that shitheels assistant. I loved how the scene was shot, it was nearly dizzying and disorienting so you felt as knocked back by these creepos as Donna and Cameron did. Also, the literal and figurative beating around the bush cutting between everyone around the table was really great direction and cinematography.
Trevor: Great eye, I didn’t catch that. What I did catch, just now, was how differently we reacted to the scene. By which I mean, it took me a second to realize just what the Dennis Reynolds-like implication was here, whereas you caught on right away.
Margaux: Just another fringe benefit of having a vagina, picking up on misogyny! In fiction and real life alike!
Trevor: What great, effective storytelling. And HaCF resists the urge to get on a soapbox about it too – look at Donna, being restrained by Cameron because she so badly wants to go back there and kick Harper’s ass.
Margaux: I thought the conversation between Bos, Cameron, and Donna post-dinner disaster was perfectly encapsulated with Cameron’s one line, in response to Bos telling them they “had to do the dance”: “Wow, even the metaphors are sexist.” Get comfortable, girl, because that is nice sounding as it gets.
Trevor: So do you want to talk about Joe, who didn’t make an appearance until the end of “Valley of the Heart’s Delight”? I worry sometimes that, with treatment like that, Halt and Catch Fire might still have too much reverence for its chief antagonist, but overall I think it worked.
Margaux: Ya know, as much as I love Lee Pace, I could do without Joe on this show in general. But I thought his speech at the historic Castro theater was pitch-perfect, Silicon Valley tech-bro douche – the fucking glasses, the black shirt, the goddamn lighting on stage, again so current you have to remind yourself this is supposed to be the 80s. It was every Steve Job wannabe (down to “unveiling” moment of a fucking EMPTY, CLEAR BOX) – with a dash of the insane founder of McAfee – and I thought it was as much of Joe as I needed to see. Like, of course he’s some evil corporate overlord after he had his heart smashed apart last season. But, again, this Ryan guy is going to pull him back into everyone’s orbit.
Trevor: Lee Pace is handsome, charismatic, and looks great in a beard, but you make a good point: has Halt and Catch Fire outgrown its need for him? I don’t think season one would have worked as well without Joe MacMilllan, but since Donna and Cameron took over the show last season, what, really, is Joe’s purpose? “One Way or Another” hints at a larger purpose, but as of now it kind of seems limited to fucking with Gordon, which he does by making him a ludicrous job offer and later poaching Ryan away from Mutiny. Pace doesn’t just play him like a villain; he plays him like a supervillain. When he calls Bos to congratulate him on the birth of his grandson, he purrs “Have you really forgotten about me?” the way a Bond villain would.
Margaux: Yeah, the congratulatory call to Bos was creepy as all hell. Like that ex who calls you between relationship to passive aggressively find out what you’re up to. Do you think Joe found out about Bos’s grandchild by hacking into Mutiny chats? Because I’m pretty sure the Infoworld reporter we meet in the premiere didn’t print that. And to that point, do you think that’s why he’s poaching a beyond willing Ryan away from Mutiny? His job offer call to Ryan seemed like a direct stab at Gordon, Joe at his most Machiavellian.
Trevor: And the thing about Joe is, he doesn’t give a shit. Mutiny is not competitive with MacMillan Utility (even his company name sounds like the front for a supervillain).
Margaux: Joe is on some Lex Luthor shit with the name, MacMillian Utility.
Trevor: I’d bet that if Gordon had taken Joe up on his absurd offer, Joe would have signed over 70% of the company just to work with Gordon and see what happens. He’s purely id-driven, and even if he’s not always perfectly ingrained in the narrative, he’s fun as hell to watch.
Margaux: In the same way that most assholes, in real life and not, are entertaining to watch…in small doses.
Trevor: One of my favorite scenes, actually, and one that wouldn’t work without two seasons leading up to it, was Gordon and the lawyer trying to figure out if Gordon and Joe were ever friends, and Gordon, years later, doesn’t know. Props to Gordon, though, for telling Joe straight to his face what he thinks about him.
Margaux: As if Joe storming the deposition like some type of white knight would stop Gordon from calling him a prick. NAH, DAWG. But I wonder what, if anything, will come of this lawsuit because Gordon obviously wants nothing to do with Joe professionally or personally, and it doesn’t even seem like he wants the money, and there’s not much he can do about Joe taking credit for his creation, so what’s there to gain?
Trevor: Well, Joe has a company with his name on the door; Donna and Cameron are making a huge splash as the female founders of a hot new company; and Gordon…has a mustache. He wants to be remembered. You can see, in “Valley” and “One Way,” just how listless he is, and how excited he is at the prospect of working with Ryan. Scoot McNairy has the un-showiest role in this ensemble, but he delivers a consistently great performance.
Margaux: Unfortunately, besides the sweet ‘stache, all Gordon has is that alarming neurological disease that seems to only get worse.
Trevor: Is there anything else you want to touch on before we get to star count?
Margaux: I really like Diane, the mother of the girl Joanie beats up, who ends up being the last name in a cluster of last names on the door of another investment firm that Donna and Cameron pitch Transactional Interactions – a new arm of Mutiny they hope to launch with extra cash flow, basically they’ve come up with Craigslist, minus the sex stuff – for now at least. I think the way Donna and Cameron able to constantly pivot Mutiny is such a treat to watch; from where they started as computer gaming, to online community chat, to proto-Craigslist and then, when they discover they lost out on funding because a competitor they didn’t know about was going to beat them to market and they double down and pitch Diane again, except this time to acquire the aforementioned company keeps the show not only fresh but really of 2016 times where companies you’ve never heard of are constantly being bought for BILLIONS versus the ladies humble thousands.
Um and I love how Cameron isn’t above bribing Joanie to invite Jennifer, Diane’s daughter, to her birthday party so she and Donna could have a second shot to find out what went wrong during their pitch. SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES AND THEY BRIBE KIDS IN THE PROCESS. It’s Joanie’s birthday and they conduct a business meeting in the middle of it if they want to.
Trevor: Yeah, Cameron is surprisingly great with kids.
To me, as a season premiere, “Valley of the Heart’s Delight”/”One Way or Another” is a solid four-star debut. This show is capable of great things. We’ve seen that. These aren’t bad episodes by any measure, but we know there’s greater things to come. Thoughts?
Margaux: The first two episodes did a lot of work to set up the rest of the season and I think they mainly pulled it off, I’m excited to see where this season goes – from Cameron crashing with Donna and Gordon (that could end poorly), what the hell Joe’s doing and how that affects Mutiny, anything and everything that has to do with Donna and Cameron continuing the brain trust, and hopefully some more stoned Gordon moments. The easiest four star rating I’ve given in a while.
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