Halt and Catch Fire: Season 1, Episode 1 "I/O"

Halt and Catch Fire: Season 1, Episode 1 "I/O"

June 01, 2014


Halt and Catch Fire’s premise does not light my mind with excitement. I mean, does anyone really care about The Computer Age in the 1980’s? It sounded like I would be bored to death with technical mumbo jumbo from the onset. Considering the rave reviews the series received from people I trust, I decided to give it a shot. After all, AMC did produce Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Yeah, after giving the series premiere, “I/O” a watch, I’m hooked. Yes, there is technical babble throughout, but the characterization and the performances are dynamite. The show is all about the mysterious Joe MacMillan, played spectacularly by Lee Pace. What is his endgame? What are his ultimate motives? Why does he want to work at Cardiff Electric of all places, especially with IBM on his resume? Many questions that hopefully will be answered as the season progresses. The character is a hothead, a driven man who does not really care about anyone. The opening scene, where he hits an armadillo with his Porsche, drives that notion home. The characterization of our main characters; Joe, Gordon Clark played by Scoot McNairy, and Cameron Howe with a strong performance by Mackenzie Davis is fantastic and I want to see more!

Joe McMillian, a former IBM sales executive, is hired by Cardiff Electric, a mid-level computer company. Unknowingly to anyone, he has a secret plan. He wants to take IBM down and compete against them by building his own computer. In order to do so, he needs a team. First, he finds Gordon Clark. Gordon is a lowly engineer at Cardiff hidden by job security. Back in the day, he had the drive and the ambition to lead his own company. Nowadays, he is just a family man along with his wife, Donna (Kerry Bishe) who reminds him of that. Joe wants to reignite that drive by having Gordon reverse engineer an IBM computer. Finally, there is Cameron. She is a brilliant student with her own quirky personality…and also gets in trouble a lot. An outsider is what she is. This is a risky endeavor considering they can lose their jobs and Gordon can lose his wife if they are caught. Cardiff Electric’s boss, the fiery John Bosworth (Toby Huss) will find out, as a worthy adversary, what they are up to.

On a show about computers, I do not get how I was hooked so easily. Properly-written and developed characters will do that, I guess. Not only that, but the show has its own unique look and I loved the 80’s soundtrack. Much in the veins of The Americans. The show is fast-paced and the technical side of things may bore some. Gordon’s wife, Donna appears to be a thankless character, but that is only my first impression and impressions do change. This episode is all about Joe MacMillan, who came back in the picture after spending time MIA. Who is this “perfect” guy? This episode is a solid start!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breaking Bad: Season 1, Episode 5, "Gray Matter"

Welcome back to another review for another solid episode of the fantastic series, Breaking Bad . This fifth episode is once again entertaining and very fun to watch, but we actually get a little historical background. We know Walt as the man who works as a teacher and at a car wash, but we get to delve deeper into his past and what kind of career he had going for him. It was all very insightful. Not only did I like learning about the past, I also like how Jesse is putting the drugs behind him and attempting to find a job. Is he successful? No, not really. But at least he tried. The episode features several fine comedic moments. Two scenes that stand out are 1. When Jesse is interviewing for a job, his buddy Badger runs across the street wearing an overlarge chicken suit. Damn funny it what is. 2. When Walt is at a dinner party at an old friend’s place, he and some people are talking about their careers. When Walt talks about moving into education, his peers ask about what college...
Read more

Breaking Bad: Season 1, Episode 7, "A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal" (2008)

Well, here we are! The season one finale of what is so far the greatest television series on this planet. This first season came to an abrupt end as there are only seven episodes. But these episodes are high-powered pieces of art, and this episode is no exception. This episode did not act like a finale and the high-charged megawatts were kept to a minimum. But this episode finely sets up the next season as we should expect bigger and badder things to come. There are many things I loved about the episode. But I liked the chances it gave Jesse and Skylar to shine. It has essentially been “The Walt Show” since day one so it was nice to see the producers shine a light on these characters. That being said, Walt remains an excellent character as he basks in his Heisenberg persona and Tuco remains to be a crazy villain who may have something up his sleeves. Lets get to it! After the events of the past episode where Walt and Jesse made a deal with Tuco to supply two pounds of meth the...
Read more

Unconquered (1947)

Unconquered (1947) Unconquered is one of those old, swash-buckling epics that came out during the era of epics during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Is it the greatest epic ever? Of course not, but all that matters to me was the entertainment factor of the movie. In that part, the movie succeeded. I had a fun time watching our main character, Chris Holden pick fights with the Natives, his fellow countrymen, and even the women. I’m not sure if this film is entirely historically accurate and some whitewashing may be prevalent, but does it really matter much? Especially in an older movie like this film? This film was filmed in technicolor , which of course added to the “expensive” budget, but it really gave definition to the epic as lighting and color techniques helped this film out. I find it rather fascinating what the film was based on. In  1862, the descendants of the Holdens of Virginia wrote a letter about similar events to the one Anny Hale gone through in the film. The basic ...
Read more