Several episodes into this first season I'm not 100% certain where "Halt and Catch Fire" is going and quite what it's about - but to a degree that feels all right. Most new TV shows take some time to get their full dose of oxygen and "HACF" is no different.
Is it a show about the building of one of the first IBM clones? Yes, but - to mix my metaphors - only peripherally.
Is it a show about the characters, their demons, desires, and inner motivations? Yes and I think this is its main thrust with the early PC revolution being merely its setting, a modern device that provides a backdrop for the drama.
Is it a show about business? To a degree, yes. We get a limited view into the world of business and how deals are struck (though with a bit of Hollywood writing glossed and slapped on). But, again, this serves principally as a backdrop for the drama.
Invariably any show worth its salt will live or die by its ability to convincingly portray drama - the writing, acting, and setting will compel the story forward by giving us interesting stories, characters, and plots.
Does "HACF" meet some or all of these criteria week after week? Mostly - but I'm not 100% convinced a large audience will find how they develop stories and characters interesting enough.
Lee Pace - a really superb actor who walks away with most of the episodes (though Toby Huss as Cardiff Electronics' CEO John Bosworth is a funny and shameless scene-stealer who makes it look rather effortless) - plays Joe McMillan and is arguably the best character on the show. Mysterious, charismatic, and vaguely poetic, we find in McMillan a born salesman who has turned his career into a high art form. On the flip side he appears erratic, a bit bizarre, and at times perhaps somewhat violent (to himself, at least).
The character that on the surface is supposed to be the diametric opposite of McMillan - Scoot McNairy's electronics genius Gordon Clark - turns out to have a very similar personality to McMillan in certain respects. Though he lacks the external eloquence and charisma of McMillan, Gordon is struggling at least as much with his inner demons. He feels in almost equal measures to be approaching running off the rails in his work and personal life.
The show develops McMillan's love interest and subordinate genius programmer Cameron Howe - the fairly game young actress MacKenzie Davis - but while an adequate foil for McMillan I'm not drawn into her character that deeply. I think there is great potential there but she's not hugely engaging yet.
Other tangential plots include Gordon's pretty wife who appears to be bent on straying into infidelity, eternal conflicts between Cameron+Joe and Gordon, a long-lost love interest of Joe's, and the perpetually precarious financial state of Cardiff Electronics whom they all work for and are trying to fund their own from-scratch PC clone. Yes, in a land far, far away there weren't thousands of PC electronics vendors yet.
As a product of the early PC revolution who was a teenager in the '80s and who got a "beige box" PC clone (10Mhz NEC V10 CPU chip, 640K of RAM, and 2x360K DSDD floppy drives) when I was 15, a big, nostalgic part of me wants "Halt and Catch Fire" to, well, catch fire. The backdrop of the PC revolution brings back a lot of memories for me. The confident "ka-thunk" of the old rock-solid power supply toggle switches and distinctive sound of a PC of that era booting up tickles long-buried memories hidden somewhere in my cerebral cortex. The floppy drives, monochrome screens, and decisive click of the old mechanical keyboards (now back in vogue, especially for gamers) that were built like tanks are all hallmarks of a bygone age of computing that us (relative) old-timers are deeply fond of.
Whether such an era plays with a wider audience is an open and answered question, even if such a setting is merely a means to an end. Writing compelling and interesting drama is a profound challenge and I have the deepest respect for those attempting it. "Halt and Catch Fire" has promise but my sense is it needs to find a way to keep its central story arc - the building of the PC clone - as engaging as the characters they've been developing. My feeling is everything interesting about the show will follow from that basic premise that they've already setup.
Is it a show about the building of one of the first IBM clones? Yes, but - to mix my metaphors - only peripherally.
Is it a show about the characters, their demons, desires, and inner motivations? Yes and I think this is its main thrust with the early PC revolution being merely its setting, a modern device that provides a backdrop for the drama.
Is it a show about business? To a degree, yes. We get a limited view into the world of business and how deals are struck (though with a bit of Hollywood writing glossed and slapped on). But, again, this serves principally as a backdrop for the drama.
Invariably any show worth its salt will live or die by its ability to convincingly portray drama - the writing, acting, and setting will compel the story forward by giving us interesting stories, characters, and plots.
Does "HACF" meet some or all of these criteria week after week? Mostly - but I'm not 100% convinced a large audience will find how they develop stories and characters interesting enough.
Lee Pace - a really superb actor who walks away with most of the episodes (though Toby Huss as Cardiff Electronics' CEO John Bosworth is a funny and shameless scene-stealer who makes it look rather effortless) - plays Joe McMillan and is arguably the best character on the show. Mysterious, charismatic, and vaguely poetic, we find in McMillan a born salesman who has turned his career into a high art form. On the flip side he appears erratic, a bit bizarre, and at times perhaps somewhat violent (to himself, at least).
The character that on the surface is supposed to be the diametric opposite of McMillan - Scoot McNairy's electronics genius Gordon Clark - turns out to have a very similar personality to McMillan in certain respects. Though he lacks the external eloquence and charisma of McMillan, Gordon is struggling at least as much with his inner demons. He feels in almost equal measures to be approaching running off the rails in his work and personal life.
The show develops McMillan's love interest and subordinate genius programmer Cameron Howe - the fairly game young actress MacKenzie Davis - but while an adequate foil for McMillan I'm not drawn into her character that deeply. I think there is great potential there but she's not hugely engaging yet.
Other tangential plots include Gordon's pretty wife who appears to be bent on straying into infidelity, eternal conflicts between Cameron+Joe and Gordon, a long-lost love interest of Joe's, and the perpetually precarious financial state of Cardiff Electronics whom they all work for and are trying to fund their own from-scratch PC clone. Yes, in a land far, far away there weren't thousands of PC electronics vendors yet.
As a product of the early PC revolution who was a teenager in the '80s and who got a "beige box" PC clone (10Mhz NEC V10 CPU chip, 640K of RAM, and 2x360K DSDD floppy drives) when I was 15, a big, nostalgic part of me wants "Halt and Catch Fire" to, well, catch fire. The backdrop of the PC revolution brings back a lot of memories for me. The confident "ka-thunk" of the old rock-solid power supply toggle switches and distinctive sound of a PC of that era booting up tickles long-buried memories hidden somewhere in my cerebral cortex. The floppy drives, monochrome screens, and decisive click of the old mechanical keyboards (now back in vogue, especially for gamers) that were built like tanks are all hallmarks of a bygone age of computing that us (relative) old-timers are deeply fond of.
Whether such an era plays with a wider audience is an open and answered question, even if such a setting is merely a means to an end. Writing compelling and interesting drama is a profound challenge and I have the deepest respect for those attempting it. "Halt and Catch Fire" has promise but my sense is it needs to find a way to keep its central story arc - the building of the PC clone - as engaging as the characters they've been developing. My feeling is everything interesting about the show will follow from that basic premise that they've already setup.