Halt and Catch Fire: Season 1, Episode 2 "FUD"

Halt and Catch Fire: Season 1, Episode 2 "FUD"

June 08, 2014


After creator Christopher Cantwell set the ball rolling with his excellent foundation-laying work in the series premiere, he gets to work here. “FUD” is a character-driven episode that features fine performances from Pace, McNairy, and Davis. Pace continues his secret, troublemaking ways. Boy, he knows how to deliver a tantrum-whether it was destroying Cameron’s basement office or the information we learn that he caused two   mjllion dollars worth of damage to IBM when he left. Or the ending! Davis continues getting into mischief as she shoplifts. Also, Gordon is still at the mercy of his wife, who seems to exhibit some professional jealousy. The wheels are turning, and we are getting more and more into our characters.

The episode starts with the IBM legal team hammering Cardiff to see if any of their secrets are being stolen. Joe makes them believe that all they are doing is creating a PC clone and Cameron was hired to write BIOS code. Joe’s mission becomes clear. He wants to create a supercomputer half the price, but twice the speed as an IBM computer. It turns out that Gordon and Cameron are not on the same page as Joe. Gordon believes that Joe’s idea is too much and would ultimately end Cardiff. Cameron views this as just another boring project but is worried she would be terminated after completing her portion. Unless their idea works, Cardiff could have some big copyright infringement problems on their hands.

This is a fun episode that flowed very well. There are times where I laughed. Cameron marking up a sleeping IBM lawyer’s face or John Bosworth’s deadpan is definitely worth the few chuckles. The mysterious shadows behind Joe lessen somewhat, but he remains a really fun character to interact with. Lee Pace was born for this kind of role.

My Grade: A-

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