In the midst of all the tests and homework I had to do for school, I managed to finished the 1st season of Halt and Catch Fire! It took me long enough though, around a week, considering it only has 10 episodes.
For those of you who don't know anything about this show, or never heard anything about it, this show sets in the 1980s, in Texas, during the personal computer revolution. IBM already made a debut of personal computer, and now they're competing in the personal computer market.
What draw me to this show initially is Lee Pace. We all know Thranduil is fabulous, and I can't wait to see more of Lee Pace. But the plot itself isn't dissapointing, I really enjoyed it! I know nothing about the history of personal computer, but watching this show give me atleast an idea how personal computer was born. Even though it's basically fictional, it also features real famous historical PC like the IBM Personal Computer and Macintosh 128 K.
Joe Macmillan is... I don't know how to describe him. He's really complex. He's ambitious, and would do anything to get what he wants. He would create crisis just to get publicity. But he's really smart and know how to get his way. He is emotionally distant, and I'm surprised to find him actually in love with Cameron. I still don't understand his goals coming to Cardiff in the first place, and doing everything he does. He's deeplu affected with a certain past event, thus making him distant with his parents. Lee Pace does a great job in potraying this characters. Charismatic, a bit sociopath and definitely complex.
Cameron Howe is a rebellious teenage girl with an attitude. She's really good with software coding, she's a prodigy, but she has no interest in creating a machine. From the beginning, we see her playing games at the arcade and created a game. She wants a machine to interact with, instead of dull, fast machine Joe envisioned about. I actually understand Cameron decision at the end of decision, if I were her I would feel hurt too. She's amazing with computer, but not-so amazing in her relationship with other human being. Her relationship with Joe is more like have-sex-when-I-need-you, and sometimes she doesn't take her job seriously. But at the end of the season, she warmed up to the others and more coorperative. Mackenzie Davis really fits this part, and she plays it well.At the beginning of the season, we see Gordon Clark as this depressed, lost all his will to live, just -going-through-the-motion-life-needed-to-feed-his-family sales engineer. He built a computer once, but it failed, and so he just work to feed his family and he's miserable. He can't afford to let his family down again. But by the end of season he could stand up for himself, make his own decision, and just really passionate about the things he do. He's the one who get Joe and Cameron back on track when they almost given up. He might seems soft at times, but he's actually pretty driven. Scoot McNairy does a really great job capturing Gordon's transition and his feelings.
The plot has so many drama, but they're totally relevant to the plot. It's all about competing with other company and how to built a better machine. Of course, it also have drama about life, like Gordon strained relationship with his wife, Donna. But it also strained because of the computer. The character development is just amazing. Joe becomes more human, Cameron more mature, and Gordon takes his life into his own hands.
Overall it was a really good season and I can't wait to start season 2 (after all the exams of course!). The acting is amazing, the plot is addictive, and of course, Lee Pace. If you haven't see this show, you totally should give it a go!
- 8:00 PM
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