Another solid episode, filled with all that great tech jargon. Cameron struggled with the prospect of selling her company and possibly her vision. Donna got hit with the bombshell that is Gordon’s brain damage. while Joe tried to figure out his life with his fiance. and last but not least Gordon built an open source computer with some buddies and has started what seems to be a tiny business. it’s good to see Gordan finally have some purpose or at least some connection to the tech side of this show. and his speech to his friends about what this could be and what it takes were great deep dives into the lingo that is engineers.
Clearly Donna is upset and worried about Gordon, and after talking to her mother she must think that the sky is falling. that woman didn’t help at all. she has taken a small trip to the backseat this week after having such an amazing episode last week. this week was more about Joe, Cameron, and Gordon. She has suddenly found herself at a horrible crossroads. leaving her job, that she loves and come home to take care of the girls and Gordon. –sadly that’s an inevitability more than a possibility– his brain damage is starting to take more and more noticeable effects staring off into space, misspeaking to his friends.
His demise seems to be a trajectory towards sadness more than a happy ending, but who knows. it is still odd that he isn’t at all tied to anyone else on the show technologically –besides his wife– something the show tends to do with certain characters every other episode. If I had to guess I would say that out of all the other characters Gordon has spent the least amount of time with the others. Joe, on the other hand has taken a straight dive into everything ‘Mutiny’ wanting to make this the best possible deal for both sides presumably. which is why it is sad to see him take himself out of it all at the end of the episode. Lee Pace is just so great in every scene it would be tragic to separate him from the others just so he can go marry his weird wife.
His wife sadly is one of the major detractors from this episode. and its not her fault its mostly the writing. during her dinner with her father and Joe. –what a horrible dinner to try to get a word in.– we got to see why she has such commitment issues because dear old dad decided to dump it all on us somewhat clunkily. and then we see Joe jump in to defend her but then when she says “would anyone like to hear what I have to say about it?!” rightfully so she’s pissed. but then we never hear her side of it! it’s a cut away to the next scene. and that’s the major problem with this character all year. I don’t know what she wants and the writers only tell us in some weird argumentative way. it really doesn’t feel like either one is right or wrong when they are arguing it’s just circular arguing to no end. and if that’s purposeful its a bit much at this point. and even weirder they seem to be getting married at the end all because he quit his job. –that he presumably liked.– I want to like this woman, clearly Joe loves this woman. he says so to Cameron essentially. so why don’t I feel that on her end?
Cameron and Tom’s relationship has become a surprisingly believable and much-needed part of the show and that characters life. watching her interact over the past couple weeks have shown a much bigger emotional growth than any side of Cameron we saw last year. Seeing her deny the other (non-paid) workers revolt to a small extent because they felt their voices weren’t being heard was a cool obstacle that she has never faced. Of course all her maturity was thrown out the window once she jumped up on the table and shouted down Joe McMillan.
You can’t imagine this will end well on anyone’s account. at least not in the long run. Cameron may have a labor problem on her hands in a few weeks. Joe is seemingly leaving his job, I’m sure his boss won’t be happy about that, and worst of all Gordon has Brain Damage. Another strong episode to hopefully start finishing strong for season two of Halt and Catch Fire.
