Looking into Halt And Catch Fire pt. 1

 What does it take to really create a show that becomes beloved? To be perfectly honest I'm not sure if I really have the answer to that question. Investing time in any major creative work on television can yield so many results. It can become a hit that can last for what feels like eons (The Simpsons is probably one of the best examples of this), a commercial flop that's still passively beloved by its audience, who cries that it never really got a fair chance, (Freaks and Geeks is definitely this). Or perhaps, you're something that screamed to quality from the absolute get-go, and yet was always in danger of getting canceled, and honestly, it's quite a miracle it even got here. And that, in a nutshell, is Halt and Catch Fire. To be perfectly honest there really is so much to say about the show, but what I'll be able to muster is simply this.

Halts and catch Fire was one of the few shows I'd ever seen where from the pilot, I knew it would catch my attention. A period piece about the beginning days of the PC revolution piece set in the 1980s, Halt and Catch fire that stands as a testament to evolution and not only do story that the show was originally trying to cultivate, but evolution in people. When previews of the show first appeared, audiences were quick to notice it's obvious similarities to its channel's fellow mainstay, Mad Men. Perhaps it didn't help that Lee Pace, admitted in crafting his character, Joe MacMillan, he took certain influence from Mad Men's Don Draper. And along with that, the shows other character, Gordon Clark could remind viewers of a season one era Walter White. But even with those browed elements it was always clear the show had a charm of its own. Whether it was fellow characters that were charming entities of their own such as the Punk rock genius coder Cameron Howe, and always rambunctious Jonathan Bosworth. Or it’s well done writing, that helped provide a strong handle on what made the characters and plot so unforgettable. It wasn't just that show revolved around people who toiled endless hours on attempting to plant their flag on the PC revolution, it was the fact that it delved into characters no different than us, folks who had suffered failure, have had to deal with the consequences of aiming so high and dreaming so big, and yet still saw something to fight for in trying to create their improvement to the world of Computer tech. For as Joe Macmillan said in the pilot, and summed up the show "Computers aren't the thing, they're the thing that helps gets us to the thing." And whether that thing was creating a new PC at expense of the Electric company whose hand was forced in by an overeager Joe McMillian, or Cameron Howes and Donna Clark’s  attempts at creating an interface more advanced than they knew what to do with. Or come the final season, where the goal in creating a web index platform becomes the destination in the journey of  "Computers guiding people to the thing." 

In the 10 year span of the shows story, the  characters evolution was not only well handled, but oddly poetic to the direction the show would find itself in. But, for all these attributes deeper details must be given, and I will in part 2 of my Halt and Catch Fire critique. Till then, let's just revel in how amazing it was to stand by the show when we could.