Courtesy of: Bob Mahoney/AMC
The beauty of Halt and Catch Fire always lies within the dialogue. Whether it’s a sparring session between Cameron and Donna, Joe and Gordon or all four at the same time, the details of their conversations outline a harmonious characterization.
Episode four “Tonya and Nancy” is no different. The burgeoning of the tech industry and pre-boom doesn’t seem like it would make for fabulous television but in the right writer’s hands, it does. It’s exciting and a new frontier and the grind the competing companies slog through is captivating. Seeing Joe and Gordon doing a deep dive to catalogue all the world’s websites leads them to hire Gordon’s coding savvy daughter, Haley.
Courtesy of Bob Mahoney/AMC
Along with Haley, come scores of other cataloguers and Dr. Katie Herman, Chief Ontologist (Anna Chlumsky). Blessed with a mind that is able to categorize any and everything, Dr. Herman gives Joe and Gordon’s Comet search engine a leg up on their competition.
And of course that competition (Rover) is led by Donna’s team.
Courtesy of Bob Mahoney/AMC
Donna and company are a bit behind the 8-ball in regard to their own search engine. Lacking a team of experts, the team seems a bit rudderless until assistance comes from the most unlikely person imaginable.
Cameron.
Having bought a piece of land in the middle of nowhere and living in an Airstream, Cam is the quintessential little lost bird. When her old friend, father figure and mentor Boz laments his financial woes-and lays a guilt trip the size of Montana on her-Cameron offers her expertise. And Boz takes that information right back to Donna and the Rover crew.
Courtesy of Bob Mahoney/AMC
To say the sh*t will hit the fan when Joe (her boyfriend) and Gordon (her buddy and former business partner) find out about her intellectual property theft…well that’s a recap for next week.
Halt and Catch Fire airs Saturdays at 9PM on AMC.
