Halt and Catch Fire: New Coke
June 8, 2015 6:04 AM - Season 2, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Cameron and Donna struggle with financing and with each other management styles, Gordon unpacks his new toys to the sound of Art of Noise and Joe gets a job offer.
The makeshift origins of Mutiny start to show as the company struggles with growth, a top user (Mark O’Brien) gives new headaches before providing what might be the answers they were looking for, and a new user (SexyBeard, you figure out who he is) has an idea to improve what's already offered.
Meanwhile, Joe gets a job offer from Sara's father (James Cromwell), but it isn't all that he expected... or is it?
The makeshift origins of Mutiny start to show as the company struggles with growth, a top user (Mark O’Brien) gives new headaches before providing what might be the answers they were looking for, and a new user (SexyBeard, you figure out who he is) has an idea to improve what's already offered.
Meanwhile, Joe gets a job offer from Sara's father (James Cromwell), but it isn't all that he expected... or is it?
Some things I liked in this episode
Joe, 80s man. It seems the writers are being a bit more consistent with him than the Man of Mystery in S01. Great job of Pace as Joe slowly realized he was not getting a big job, but a crappy desk job in a basement.
Gordon was great in this episode. From the montage of him assembling a C64 and a Atari ST to Art of Noise and then getting coked off his mind out of frustration with lack of brilliant ideas (that bit was just perfection), deciding to log in to Mutiny and QA'ing Tank Wars while thinking it was a good idea to get his co-worker get their daughters (and buy them some snacks, because, yeah, great line of thinking there, Gordon, next up, go get them in the windowless van he brought the computers home?), and then bribing the office with pizza.
Shame about Boz leaving so soon, although it's understandable: I mean, his world got turned inside out, and to help, the world he worked in and has struggled to keep up with at Cardiff changed to the point it might no longer be his own.
I'm yet to see what happens with Tom Rendon. I hope this doesn't turn to another cheap office romance plot with Cameron.
And of course, Kerry Bishé is turning into the star of the show. She's playing every situation (idiot investors, coked up husband excited about HAVING TWO PHONE LINES, dealing with Cameron's impulses and being an unwilling house mother to Mutiny) effortlessly.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:46 PM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Joe, 80s man. It seems the writers are being a bit more consistent with him than the Man of Mystery in S01. Great job of Pace as Joe slowly realized he was not getting a big job, but a crappy desk job in a basement.
Gordon was great in this episode. From the montage of him assembling a C64 and a Atari ST to Art of Noise and then getting coked off his mind out of frustration with lack of brilliant ideas (that bit was just perfection), deciding to log in to Mutiny and QA'ing Tank Wars while thinking it was a good idea to get his co-worker get their daughters (and buy them some snacks, because, yeah, great line of thinking there, Gordon, next up, go get them in the windowless van he brought the computers home?), and then bribing the office with pizza.
Shame about Boz leaving so soon, although it's understandable: I mean, his world got turned inside out, and to help, the world he worked in and has struggled to keep up with at Cardiff changed to the point it might no longer be his own.
I'm yet to see what happens with Tom Rendon. I hope this doesn't turn to another cheap office romance plot with Cameron.
And of course, Kerry Bishé is turning into the star of the show. She's playing every situation (idiot investors, coked up husband excited about HAVING TWO PHONE LINES, dealing with Cameron's impulses and being an unwilling house mother to Mutiny) effortlessly.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:46 PM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'll be watching this show now. The first ep of this season was good so I'll just pretend it started here. The dynamic between the two leads (at Mutiny) is facinating. I want more competence porn dammit-show me people kicking ass at something other than literally kicking ass!
Also, so far no guns murders or rapes. Goooooooo AMC!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:40 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, so far no guns murders or rapes. Goooooooo AMC!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:40 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Was going to ditch this at the end of last season but some favourable comments made me check out the first ep of this one and hey yeah the new direction kept me interested. The arrival of the almighty James Cromwell will def keep me watching. Awesome soundtrack this ep (ie it includes songs I love) with Art of Noise and Wire
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:48 AM on June 9, 2015
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:48 AM on June 9, 2015
The first ep of this season was good so I'll just pretend it started here.
There are definitely good things about the first season but it's pretty uneven. I finished watching it a few days after a promo clip of S2 got put up (it's just the first 5 minutes or so in the Mutiny house). I immediately thought, "Yes. I will definitely watch this show." At least in these first two, they've done a good job of rejiggering things to solve a lot of problems and increase the prominence of the women, who were the best thing in S1.
posted by sparkletone at 1:53 AM on June 9, 2015
There are definitely good things about the first season but it's pretty uneven. I finished watching it a few days after a promo clip of S2 got put up (it's just the first 5 minutes or so in the Mutiny house). I immediately thought, "Yes. I will definitely watch this show." At least in these first two, they've done a good job of rejiggering things to solve a lot of problems and increase the prominence of the women, who were the best thing in S1.
posted by sparkletone at 1:53 AM on June 9, 2015
I love James Cromwell, and the best thing about him is that a generation of kids grew up seeing him as Kindly Farmer Hoggett from Babe, when basically every other role he has ever played in his entire life was Bastardly Bastard With Side Of Bastard Sauce.
posted by Etrigan at 6:37 AM on June 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 6:37 AM on June 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
Kerry Bishé is excellent, and the dynamic developing between her and Mackenzie Davis as Cameron is such compelling TV. That brilliantly uncomfortable sequence with the VC, as they both come to the realisation that nothing they say will bring the moneymen to the table because they don't have adam's apples (as Cameron puts it later) had me and lady7 howling at the telly "Give 'em the money you bastards, they're twice the men you'll ever be!" and such.
This season has really turned the dynamic on its head - the men have the difficult emotional subplots, the shit jobs, the aimless home lives, while the women are kicking heads. And the soundtrack is just shatteringly good - the music editor must be having a ball.
Speaking of which, was the Italo-sounding track when Joe starts his first day at the office an original cut for the series or something from the period? Trentemøller's original stuff is great, sure, but if that's a period track I MUST HAVE IT MY PRECIOUS YES.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:42 AM on June 10, 2015
This season has really turned the dynamic on its head - the men have the difficult emotional subplots, the shit jobs, the aimless home lives, while the women are kicking heads. And the soundtrack is just shatteringly good - the music editor must be having a ball.
Speaking of which, was the Italo-sounding track when Joe starts his first day at the office an original cut for the series or something from the period? Trentemøller's original stuff is great, sure, but if that's a period track I MUST HAVE IT MY PRECIOUS YES.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:42 AM on June 10, 2015
Props to Joe2.0 sticking around at the new job. He still thinks drudge work is beneath him and he's just doing it because he thinks it's a test, but it's progress.
posted by cardboard at 4:22 PM on June 10, 2015
posted by cardboard at 4:22 PM on June 10, 2015
I didn't recognize it, prismatic7, but these guys might be delighted to tell you. Giving it a shot now.
And yes, they seem to be having a blast with the music. Very non-obvious. Quite a few playlists on Spotify, too.
posted by lmfsilva at 8:20 PM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
And yes, they seem to be having a blast with the music. Very non-obvious. Quite a few playlists on Spotify, too.
posted by lmfsilva at 8:20 PM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by drezdn at 6:50 AM on June 8, 2015