In the Big Eighties New Wave soundtrack wars, Joy Division is a weapon best used sparingly. Like a proto-Cobain, the heavily mythologized tragedy of lead singer Ian Curtiss suicide hangs heavy over every note, threatening to overwhelm the songs value as signifiers of either the time period or acharacters psychological state. So when a Raveonettes/Trentemller cover of the bands Shes Lost Control shuddered its way through the air as Cameron Howe crashed the system of the company that stole her lifes work, it time to sit up or in her case, lie down and take notice.
But has she lost control, really? Was Kali, tonights penultimate episode of Halt and Catch Fire Season Two, a portrait of a woman falling apart? If youll pardon the Clintonian doublespeak, it depends upon what the meaning of the word control is.
20 Best TV Shows of 2015 So Far'Halt and Catch Fire' Season Premiere Recap: Throne of Games100 Best Albums of the '90s18 Great Bruce Springsteen Collaborations
If it means using her intelligence and talent to shape her own future, Cameron has got that in spades. In the space of a few days, she devised a brand new business plan, successfully sold their most innovative game, designed the interface for Mutiny 2.0, and hacked Jacob Wheelers new network all under the worst professional circumstances shes ever faced. You can read it in her eyes, actor Mackenzie Davis most expressive asset, when she lies on the grass as her dirty deed goes down: She is in full command.
Shes also alone. After busting out his ice-to-an-eskimo sales skills one last time on her games behalf (his damn Im good chuckle at his own pitch is priceless), friend/father figure John Bosworth leaves for pastures that, if not greener, are at least not directly atop a faultline. Her boyfriend and close collaborator Tom Rendon takes off under far less cordial circumstances after she cuts their relationship loose to focus on righting the business ship. Thats enough to send her, temporarily at least, back into the arms of Joe MacMillan; when he cuts off their kiss, she leaves him with a Trojan horse as a wedding present, all but ensuring their continued estrangement.
The only person who remains firmly in her corner is Donna Clark, with whom she takes the cathartic early-morning gun-range excursion that opens the episode. Their partnership has been tempestuous, but by now Donnas loyalty seems beyond reproach. Its she who sits down for an excruciating meeting with Jesse Evans, the Westgroup hotshot who replaced Joe and ripped Mutiny off, making herself the face of any future litigation. And its she who makes the convincing case for Camerons beloved Extract and Defend to its eventual buyer, touting its claustrophobic tone and Cold War culture-jamming like a true believer. Shes so much a part of Mutiny that when she returns to the office and announces the sale while lounging resplendently in a desk chair (quick aside: Kerry Bish is lowkey the sexiest woman on TV), the coder monkeys carry her around like a conquering hero. Cam cant bring herself to share in the celebration, retreating instead to her office to keep plowing ahead. Maybe Isolation would have been a better Joy Division soundtrack selection for her.
Yet her continued ability to build and innovate her genius is all around us, as Joe puts it, and will be, I suspect, for years to come puts her solidly ahead of the other two members of Season Ones holy trinity. While shes busy figuring out a way forward, Gordon Clark essentially gets trapped in one of its labyrinthine levels IRL. The show brilliantly builds up a mounting sense of unease around his search for the people that stole his build-to-order idea: The door to the garage he parks in locks behind him. The company has cleaned out its office and gone out of business. His car apparently goes missing. A worker tells him the section he parked it in doesnt exist. Finally, he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his leg, trapping him in this netherworld for hours. Only after he sees that his car was there all along as hes being carted away to the hospital does the misery finally get the best of him; his ambulance breakdown is the characters most poignant scene yet.
Joes big moment hit harder still. Hes exonerated of any role in the theft of Mutiny just in time to be made the fall guy once again: Everyone, including his wife, blames him for Camerons hack. Im getting tired of being second-guessed and manipulated and distrusted when I have done absolutely nothing wrong, he declares a familiar sensation if youve ever felt like people want you to apologize simply for existing. In fact, thats kind of Saras point. Youre an accident, she tells him. Youre something that happens to people who deserve better. And as Sara points out, he talks about Cameron in a way that suggests shes the prize he really wants. Words finally fail him. After a shaky first season, Halt has gotten really good at writing fights, and this one was the most crushingly lopsided yet. With only one episode to go, seeing whether this deft drama repairs the breach will be must-watch stuff.
Previously: The Agony and the Ecstasy