Margaux and I liked last night’s Halt and Catch Fire, even if it was a little aimless.
Trevor: I feel like I say something like this every week, but: how good is the soundtrack to this show? They could have gone all Wedding Singer and made it nothing but A-Ha, Flock of Seagulls, and Men Without Hats, but even the obvious ‘80s tracks (like “Psycho Killer” from a few episodes ago) are woven seamlessly into the narrative. Sorry, just had to comment on that. Oh, and you were right: the opening credits are different.
Margaux: First of all, do not besmirch Wedding Singer, it’s one of the few good Adam Sandler movies. Also: RIP Alexis Arquette, that performance was iconic af.
But back to HaCF and it’s stellar soundtrack, Spotify adds to their HaCF playlist every week with the songs featured in the most recent episode and I have been consistently listening to it since the show started. I mean, even the cold open song is one of the more catchy show themes (Stranger Things is definitely on that list too). I find myself watching the cold open waiting for the opening sequence to start so I can hear that song, and try to spot the differences in this seasons imagery versus last season.
Trevor: I love the long memory of this show, and this episode exemplified it well by sending Bos and Cameron back to Texas. It made for an interesting juxtaposition, the two of them dealing with personal crises and fraying relationships, while Joe, seemingly in another show, dealt with a very topical health crisis. Halt and Catch Fire’s third season is almost unrecognizable, but the show has lost none of its identity. That’s not easy to do.
Margaux: Joe’s storyline continues to put me to sleep, I want to fast forward through his scenes with Ryan, they should’ve given Joe AIDS – would’ve made him more compelling while humanizing him. But other than Joe being the weakest link, I thought “Yerba Buena” did an impressive job of splitting the episodes narrative between Bos and Cam, Gordon and Donna, all of them grasping at some sort of personal fence mending and more or less failing at that. I like that the characters on this show very rarely get what it is that they want, and when they do, turns out they don’t even want it anymore.
Trevor: I thought about the show giving Joe AIDS, but do you think it could sustain that and Gordon’s brain tumor? Damn show would turn into Rent.
Margaux: Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes! Maybe Joe and Gordon could duet Seasons of Love. God, I hate Rent. And I hate it more when you’re right. But Joe is such a fuckin’ wet blanket, as much as I love Lee Pace, Joe doesn’t add anything to the show, I just want him to be more interesting…or something!
Trevor: This was in a lot of ways a “transitional” episode, but that’s not necessarily a knock against it. It took aim at a lot of the personal relationships that define the show, but that’s important because season three has been so inwardly focused. For instance, Cameron is turning into she-Joe: she has a massive ego, doesn’t play well with others, thinks she has the answers to every problem, and isn’t opposed to disappearing for a few days without telling anyone where she’s gone. I think she has more of a soul than Joe, but that shot of him weeping was pretty bleak.
Margaux: I mean…I guess, but I’m largely unsympathetic, and dead inside, and thought Joe was overdue for a reality check. But Cameron did creep back to shithead territory this episode, and I’d forgotten how fucking petulant she could be until she turned it the hell up. She shat all over Bos WHO WAS DOING HER A FAVOR. Does Cameron even know why Cameron does what she does? Why did you drag yourself to Texas to allegedly reclaim your Dad’s motorcycle memento only to watch some overweight man drive off into the dusty sunset on it? WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT? More often than not, I don’t understand how she’s managed to learn ZERO lessons. Cameron is like that annoying friend you’ve known for years and you’ve kind of forgotten why you’re still friends because she’s constantly doing the same stupid shit she’s always done, like getting coffee with her ex or falling off the grid for a week and then calls you outta the blue as if she didn’t do that. What’s that called? OH YEAH, AN ASSHOLE.
Trevor: And weirdly enough, the show kind of mimicked her behavior – we didn’t know she was with Tom until she told Donna in a seemingly cast-off line. It wasn’t a huge deal, so why was it kept a secret? This show is a tight ship but that felt sloppy to me. Either show us Cameron with Tom, or make the revelation worth being kept a secret.
Margaux: To be honest, I figured she was with Tom the whole time because the last shot we saw of her in Texas was showing up on his doorstep. She probably kept it a “secret” because of Cameron reasons. I thought it was truly shocking she turned back up fucking married. Um…say what now? When those feelings develop? Is this a green card thing, is Tom Canadian?
Trevor: But let’s switch gears to talk about something surprisingly depressing: Gordon and Donna’s staycation. Man, Scoot McNairy and Kerry Bishe are so great that it’s a wise idea on HaCF’s part to make a whole subplot out of them hanging out. I loved seeing them so happy, which made it doubly devastating to see Gordon’s chilly reception the next day. These two still have a long way to go.
Margaux: When they started sex stuff on the kitchen counter, my knee jerk reaction was: BUT THE STEAKS, GUYS. Hashtag: Priorities. But, yeesh, is their marriage in trouble. It’s really hard to watch their them sort of swell in such a positive way, only to crash so dramatically, but I think this “who is Donna? Do I even know her” bug being planted in Gordon and Cameron’s ear will play out in an interesting-in-a-terrible-and-tragic way. Why Donna lied to Cameron in the first place was one of those genuine, “why would do that?!?!” moments. The Gordon “betrayal” was less severe than what she did to Cameron, in most relationships you’ll invariably do stuff you don’t love to do but it makes the other person happy so whatever, I thought Gordon basically taking away their brunch date was a touch over the top response. But I do get where he’s coming from, it’s not just this one incident, it’s a compilation of feeling inadequate.
Trevor: You can see it on his face – and Bos’s, too – when Donna dismisses everyone from the room so she and Cameron can talk. Were it not for Gordon, Donna wouldn’t even know Cameron, so you can tell how slighted he feels. But you articulated it well, there’s no reason for me to rehash anything.
Also, am I the only one who thinks that Ryan kind of looks like Joe? They have similar jawlines and brows. I don’t know, maybe I’m reaching, but I feel like that’s intentional.
Margaux: They’re both smart, semi-anti social weirdos with a douche streak, so yeah, I’d buy that. It’s hard to find Joe’s jawline under that beard.
Trevor: I spend a lot of time thinking about Lee Pace’s jawline.
Margaux: Sometimes in cramped spaces I think, would Lee Pace fit in here?
But geez, did Bos get it from all sides when all he really wanted to do was help. And what was that line from last week with Diane at the Heal the Bay fundraiser. He said he was done with ladies, smoking, and drinking? Was that some sort of illusion about not wanting to be some woman’s “fancy boy”?
Trevor: Fancy Boy is the name of my boat. I think Bos is as unmoored as everyone else. He has a purpose, of a kind, but I don’t think he fully understands it. He’s a grandfather who is not welcome in his grandson’s life, and a kind of father figure to Cameron, but still routinely ignored if not outright insulted.
Margaux: To be fair to Bos’s son, whose name I will never commit to memory, they have real familial issues. Cameron is just a brat that doesn’t know how to accept help or how to say thank you. Like, yeah, I get the Swapmeet guys aren’t who’d pick to work with, but stop acting so put upon. Also her baby routine about Mutiny being “hers” is practically insufferable to listen to, this how business works, watch a fuckin’ Jobs documentary.
Trevor: That stood out to me too. If it weren’t for Donna, Cameron would have run Mutiny into the fuckin ground ten times over by now. Not to mention Gordon and Bos. Like I said: massive ego. I think this is all going to implode, and I really don’t want it to, because I’m genuinely rooting for them, and probably the best part of Halt and Catch Fire’s last season was the birth of Mutiny.
Margaux: Well, I think more likely than not, especially after Cameron’s comment last week to Gordon, I don’t think Mutiny would “go” anywhere necessarily, but I do think Cameron will get hoisted on out like Steve Jobs circa 1985? Yes I do. Hell, CEOs get fired from their own company all the time, in real life and on Silicon Valley.
Trevor: That would be interesting, I wouldn’t mind that. You wanna talk stars?
Margaux: Before we do, I almost forgot to mention that Joe’s apartment sets unrealistic San Francisco apartment standards because it doesn’t exist in any real neighborhood. Oh views of Downtown, Embarcadero, AND THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE? Sure, Jan dot gif. It was just really distracting last night.
In terms of stars, I think HaCF has a big problem in Joe’s storyline because it isn’t the least bit compelling compared to what the characters have going on, and it became glaringly obvious in “Yerba Buena” which is why this episode was a solid 4 star for me.
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