S02.E10: Heaven Is A Place

[Tara Ariano]

In the Season 2 finale, Gordon aids Joe as the Clark family descends into crisis. Meanwhile, Cameron envisions a new future for Mutiny that may not include everyone.

[riverheightsnancy]

What? Season finale? Was last season this short? 

[dubbel zout]

The first season had 10 episodes, too.

Edited August 2, 2015 by dubbel zout

[riverheightsnancy]

This was 10 episodes? Wow, it sure didn't feel that way. Last season seemed like a lot more happened. There was a lot of build-up for the "Giant".

[riverheightsnancy]

Damn good episode. I really hope that we get another season. Yo-Yo is back! 

[Primetimer]

The Mutiny gang is moving to California and inexplicably taking Gordon with them. But will there sill be a show waiting for them by the time they land?

Read the story

[Yolapukka]

The episode really belonged to Donna and Kerry Bishe's wonderful, layered work.

 

Joe is back to being a full-on loon who "might" be evil, it seems. 

 

Much as I appreciated Tom and wish we'd got to know him better because he was very intriguing for such a seemingly milquetoast guy, I was glad to see Cameron get no happy ending.

 

Gordon is exhaustingly hapless. I don't think Joe screwed Gordon BTW, he tried to bring him in on the security company, Gordon shut down even discussing the possibility for many good reasons.

 

Yo-Yo!!!

 

I'll be sorry if this show is not renewed, I enjoy it. Although despite having a second season that was more consistent overall than it did the first season, I don't have quite the same sense of excitement as I did then. Mind you, last season there were parts I outright hated about the finale, like everything around Joe burning the fucking truck whereas this time, I'm more pleased with this episode overall.

Edited August 3, 2015 by yuggapukka

[Cramps]

I want another season!

Good season or series finale. Well done show!

[ketose]

Mutiny Invention of the week: Second Life. Plus, Gordon invents an anti-virus.

 

Lazy, lazy show. They already gave up on Texas. Then again, they never really have any scenery.

 

Joe is a temporary success again. I wonder when he burns that shit down.

 

Boz is back and he's going to CA. And now, the show is probably cancelled.

[Glade]

I don't care about the four main characters, I'm not any of their sides.  I do like Tom, but hate the way Cameron treated him, and I'm glad he didn't get on that plane (since after all, the way back wouldn't have been free.)  Though the showrunners talked of 'improvements,' I actually think season 1 was better, because the plot actually felt rewarding, like it was building up to something, like they were doing something worthwhile.  Not focusing on Cameron's stupid, emotionally immature little dictatorship that she likes to pretend is some sort of cooperative.  I don't see her growing and changing at all. 

 

Nor do I really want to see more wildly contrived reasons for these people to cross paths again.  I love Lee Pace, but would rather see him in either a new season of Pushing Dasies, or in his own Hobbit spinoff series centering around Thranduil and the mirkwood relm.  Much more exciting then anti-virus software...actually this show has made me not care about either it's place in history or the characters, so if this is a series finale, then fine.

[Dowel Jones]

Joe is back to being a full-on loon who "might" be evil, it seems.

 

He's always had that semi-creepy look to him, and that last scene almost seemed to be a carbon copy of Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate.  The problem with him is, he's always been the idea guy, never the company guy.  Will he be able to hire enough hotshot programmers to develop antivirus software that is competitive with both the hackers and the big companies?

 

Gordon; maybe the next time your girl goes missing, look all around the property first.  Big ol' playhouse out in the backyard, almost with a sign that says "I'm hiding in here."

[TC3200]

^ hee. I thought the same about that playhouse deal. Geeze Louise, writers.

[NorthstarATL]

He's always had that semi-creepy look to him, and that last scene almost seemed to be a carbon copy of Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate.  The problem with him is, he's always been the idea guy, never the company guy.  Will he be able to hire enough hotshot programmers to develop antivirus software that is competitive with both the hackers and the big companies?

 

Gordon; maybe the next time your girl goes missing, look all around the property first.  Big ol' playhouse out in the backyard, almost with a sign that says "I'm hiding in here."

I think that that is why Donna HAD to reconcile with him. The girls aren't really safe with Gordon, and she's in it for the long haul, whether she likes it or not.

 

Mutiny Invention of the week: Second Life. Plus, Gordon invents an anti-virus.

I don't see how you get around that with a show like this. Either they are all totally inept and never discover/invent anything, in which case, why have a show about them? Or they invent something that doesn't exist at all, in which case the show beocmes sci fi. It's a no-win scenario.

  I like the show in general, and will watch if it returns, but have no problem if it ends here.

[Bort]

I think that that is why Donna HAD to reconcile with him. The girls aren't really safe with Gordon, and she's in it for the long haul, whether she likes it or not.

Not to mention the financial strain leaving him would entail. Then there's the possible guilt complex the older kid would surely have about it. I'm sure she'd be convinced that her parents' divorce was all her fault, no matter what they told her. So yeah, what Donna came up with was really the best option for them all.

Although, really, Gordon? Your wife comes thisclose to leaving you and you think it's a good idea to throw out the "maybe one day we'll have another one" probability? How about taking it one day at a time, mmmkay? See if she'll actually stomach sleeping with you first.

[riverheightsnancy]

I don't see why Gordon couldn't at least, entertain Joe's offer. Just a sit down. Donna could have been there too. But, I do not think that Joe knows about Gordon's illness, that might have given him pause. Why does no one just tell the truth in the moment? Love seeing Bos. I hope we get a 3rd season to see where it all goes. I think that they wasted about 4 of these episodes with the stupid Sara stuff. I like Joe being evil. I want him to change due to finding out that he can get what he wants by being truthful and honest. Not because he is trying to be what Sara wants. 

[Yolapukka]

 

I want him to change due to finding out that he can get what he wants by being truthful and honest. Not because he is trying to be what Sara wants.

 

I tend to think he was being truthful and honest for the most part and he wound up worse off than when he had been the manipulative guy doing nasty things. I suspect being the kind of man he was with Sara was who he wanted to be at that time. She had a hard time with him reverting back to his business persona, which is fair enough, that's not the guy she's been involved with for the past year. Still I tend to think the biggest problem in their relationship was the dynamic with other people like the Clarks, Cameron and Jacob and how that chipped away at their loyalty to their relationship, once they were out of their bubble. I think they would have been in trouble even without Cameron's act of sabotage.

[RustbeltWriter]

Donna is the most mature character on this show so it's no surprise she found the strength to work on her marriage and finance Cameron's move to California. As much as a sadsack as Gordon is at least he owned his mistake and provided understandable reasons for why he had the affair. I think the Clark marriage may be rocky but a fresh start in CA where they have to cooperate may just do the trick.

 

As for Joe's new venture, at least he's making an honest effort at owning and producing something of his own. Whether he sinks or swims he has no one but himself to blame or congratulate.

[AlwaysWatching]

It may have been paint by the numbers, but I absolutely loved this show.  Last night I realized that Comcast and their DVR system were cutting off the very end of almost every episode of this season. I thought I had only been missing a few seconds, so I didn't bother to watch it on ON Demand.  Since last night's ep is probably the last ep, I did go to ON DEMAND and waited around for the ending.  I missed Boz coming on the plane, Tom NOT showing up and the whole Joe becomes a rich anti-virus guy.  Wouldn't that have been a bummer to think the show just ended with a side shot of Cameron sitting in her airline seat?

 

I really can't see how they can renew HACF.  The ratings suck.  Ugly, but to the point.  ::sniff:: I'll miss it.

[scowl]

As the season finale, this was supposed to make me want another season, right?

 

We almost immediately see Cameron suppressing a personal freak-out with a coworker and then going full loony when she discovers that Mutiny is paying another company for their services, or in her words "being beholden to somebody else!"  God I can't stand her whining in her upper register about how she doesn't like something therefore everyone must make sacrifices to sooth her insecurities. Five minutes into this and I'm already screaming at Cameron for the love of everything professional to just shut up already and pay a damn bill so they don't go out of business again! I guess she'll be buying diesel generators when the power bill arrives. She really looked she was smoking crack with her paranoid manic expressions as if everyone was conspiring against her.

 

Then to bug me more, they screw up basic technical details, again. I've mentioned Telenet in other posts. This "dipshit's network" as Cameron described them was the first company to provide a national dialup network. They didn't provide timeshare computing services (as far as I know) so buying an IBM mainframe would not substitute for Telenet. You can't buy "networkable hardware" as Donna said and expect a national network to form around it.  If Telenet is raising prices (most likely because of Mutiny's increased network traffic) then they should have gotten a better contract or started talking to Tymnet, Telenet's rival competitor.

 

And what does Cameron propose just when Mutiny is finally having success? That's right.. "a fresh start." That's exactly the right time to push your company into the unknown!

 

I liked business guy calling Joe a psychopath in the "morbid curiosity" meeting because that's what he is. I was wondering why they didn't start laughing like I did when he dismissed a legitimate question with "Omaha is just a place on the map. I'm trying to make maps. Irrelevant!" A great way to persuade people is to talk down to them. 

 

I did like Joe discovering that even he could not steer a car with the power of his ego. I guess you have to learn these facts of life one way or another.

 

I'm not going to miss this show. All these characters except Donna grated on me in every episode.

[AllyB]

All I can say is that after having spent nearly all of their very substantial life savings on Cameron's hardware, that the Clarks now at least have at least a 50% stake in the company.

[dubbel zout]

I think I owned the skirt Donna wore in the first part of the episode. I definitely had cap-sleeve T-shirts like she was wearing. 

 

Paper tickets for airplanes!

 

Oh, Gordon. Donna didn't want a third child earlier; she's not going to change her mind now.

 

So I guess Joe is Peter Norton? That last shot of him was very Mad Men–esque.

[thuganomics85]

Joe's back to being the ruthless bastard who doesn't care who he screws over to get his way.  All is back to normal in the land of Halt & Catch Fire!

 

Figured Donna would end up taking back Gordon after finding out about the affair, but I love that she basically made him go to California with her and join Mutiny. She might be wiling to "move forward", but I'm guessing Gordon ain't going to be getting much leeway now.  Of course, their marriage really was in trouble since it look like Donna was hinting a bit about getting frisky before the fight happened, but Gordon just wanted to talk about Joe.  Classic Gordo!

 

Glad Tom didn't get on the plane, so at least this means Cameron can't win them all.  I'm still amazed though that Mutiny is still standing.  I just hope she knows that a lot of it was because of Donna and everyone else, and will mainly temper her ego a bit.  Nah, I kid myself.

 

Loved that everyone in Mutiny was happy to see John Bosworth joining them.  Bos is the best.

 

I guess this could work as a series finale, but I'm curious to see what AMC does.  It's ratings are horrid (pretty sure they are even lower then Low Winter Sun.  That's just bad!), so it shouldn't happen, but who knows?  Only outside shot I see is, with Mad Men gone and the critical reception better this season, AMC might keep it around in a desperate hope to have it be a potential Emmy contender.  Because, right now, all they have in that department is Better Call Saul.  The Walking Dead may have the ratings, but I don't see that happening for it.  And Turn is.... well, I'm not quite sure what Turn is, really.

[ganesh]

I don't quite get why Bos came back. He was talking about making money for his family and getting a steady paycheck. 

 

Good for Donna for laying down the law with Gordon. I laughed when he said "You want me to work there?!!" Not like it was beneath him, but he was surprised Donna wants him around that much. Though, when they worked together pre-S1, they did actually build something. So maybe it's a good idea. Gordon's a weak man with not much character, for as smart as he is. Donna can't just dump him because it's clear the kids would be ruined. Taking control of the marriage is really the only thing she can do. 

 

I'll watch a next season, but I'd really like a more focused narrative like S1. Mutiny and Cameron was a mess, and TPTBs wasted a potential cool plot. All she did was yell and scream all season. 

 

I wouldn't necessarily say Joe stole Gordon's work. He did actually give it to him and say 'use it.' Joe is good at selling ideas. I felt bad for him a little because no one believed that he didn't have anything to do with WestGroupCorp, but on the other hand, don't burn a truck of PCs. 

[ketose]

Joe is so visionary that he sees the world of 2010 when no one else really did, mostly because people in the 80's weren't written by writers in 2014. The should end with a 65 year old Joe looking at everyone on their iPhones and setting off a nuke because that wasn't what he actually wanted.

 

Joe is all about having his vision implemented exactly as he wants it. When the Giant couldn't be sold with Cameron's expensive resource hog of an OS, time to burn the truck. When Westgroup goes from time sharing to vertical integration, time to blow up the servers. This show is all about Joe halting and catching stuff on fire.

[scrb]

Seems like the show runners want to revisit every tech business and have the characters adopt these business model every few episodes.

Second World never made much money so it's not going to catch fire.

Security software business was a bunch of small companies merging, getting bought out, not some venture capital thing.

So it'll catch fire for a little while.

[butterly17]

Cameron is just so unlikeable. She just comes across as a unshowered 12 year old throwing a fit every episode.

Lee Pace has such screen presence that I feel compelled to watch Joe's story, even if I don't understand Joe at all.

Gordon is just such a sad sack. The show would be better if he would just die.

[HyacinthBucket]

I don't quite get why Bos came back. He was talking about making money for his family and getting a steady paycheck. 

 

 I believe that Bos' face as he watched and listened to the execs in that last meeting said it all, much like the distaste and nausea that I would feel after watching a few vacuous seconds of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.  The conversation felt forced and smarmy.  As much as I dislike Cameron's whining and obstinance, at least she is honest - for the most part, anyway.  

Edited August 4, 2015 by HyacinthBucket

[ganesh]

I get that. I'm saying that it's a big risk for him and I'm surprised he just upped to CA.

[dubbel zout]

Bos does have genuine affection for Cameron and what she's trying to do, so I see him realizing that maybe the unknown is better than going back to the same old thing. He needed to try both to know which was the devil he'd rather play with. (Sorry for the horrible metaphor.) And now that he's divorced and his son is married, it's not as if he has too much to risk as far as family goes, so why not? He's a genius sales guy, and I think he'll always be able to get a job.

 

I loved the guys on the plane cheering when they saw him. If Cam doesn't quite appreciate (maybe not the right word) what Bos does, everyone else at Mutiny does.

[apgold]

Happy that Bos came back - I know we were supposed to think it was Tom boarding the plane, but would all the Mutiny guys really applaud him? Tom was treated like crap by Cameron so I'm glad he passed on her offer.

Not sure what to think about Joe as a character after 2 seasons - he definitely has sociopathic tendencies but then they try to show he's got some decency underneath.

 

Felt bad for Donna - but she is the most grown up character, as someone mentioned.  I'm not sure if her tears at the end were b/c she was thinking about her abortion after Gordon brought up having #3 or that she is now resigned to a life with a husband she's not sure she wants to be with?

This episode was directed by Phil Abraham, who worked on Mad Men.  I thought the final shot of Joe in the office staring out the window at the SF skyline was very Mad Men-esque, when Sterling Cooper & Partners were expanding to another floor in the Time Life Building and they had a similar shot of all five principals looking out the window.

 

I would watch a season 3, there is something compelling about this show and it really does get the mid 80s right IMO.

[LaveticusPrime]

seriously. this show is pretty good but the writing sometimes kills me. personally, I think Donna is the biggest b**ch of the show. she tried to have an affair with her ex-boss and it didn't happen only because HE didn't want it but now she's standing in complete judgement and setting "terms" like she's in a position to set terms? and even more, her terms are for Gordan to spend most of their money on CAMERON'S COMPANY???? Like that's the only way they can move to california. really? Cameron didn't even appreciate that Gordon was the reason why they had a great network connection in the first place-no matter if it was in connection with Joe or not. Cameron is like the biggest and most childish kid. Her and Donna schemed and played Joe like that even after he and Gordon tried to help them? No matter what you want to say about Joe, he never just outright did any of them dirty like Donna and Cameron did to him. Cameron hated Joe because he didn't side with her on a very logical business decision to sell the giant without her programs. Oh and big deal, he made her think she destroyed her own work earlier but all that did was make her become more careful in the future. she didn't have to really fix anything because Donna recovered over 90 percent anyway so that was not such a dirty move. It was inconsiderate but in the end, they did get the publicity they needed. Joe had nothing to do with them stealing mutiny's system and both Donna and Cameron both admitted that they believed him that he had nothing to do with it. However, both of those selfish b****es, conspired to plant the same virus that cameron obviously couldn't forgive Gordon for accidentally infecting their computers with. Oh, unless he's willing to spend a fortune on her company I guess. And not one time did Gordon mention to Donna that she basically cheated on him too and she wasn't dealing with news that she had brain damage and could die soon. Not saying that should be an excuse but it certainly is more understandable than Donna's reason for her attempted affair. Plus Donna's affair is what caused Cameron's additions to have to be scrapped from the Giant in the first place since she was stupid enough to get used but yeah, just pile it on the guy with a brain condition and let him feel like sh*t and that it's all his fault. Not to mention the abortion. I like a little mystery and surprise in my show but would like if the writers could make the characters have a little more common sense and act/react a little more realistic.

[Scott]

Paper tickets for airplanes!

 

Beyond all the actual show stuff, this got me excited.  The old ticket sleeves, United logos, and that cabin interior...they brought back memories of when flying may not have been glamorous, like the 60s, but at least it wasn't disgusting like today.

[ganesh]

I thought Donna's old boss bit on her not vice versa.

I think they really dropped the ball with the Bos/Cameron relationship. It started out very promising. Maybe with Cameron being humbled a bit from Tom not coming and everyone feeling the "starting over" vibe, she'll be more willing for his guidance.

Actually, with the big move to CA, the show can get a bit of a restart.

I got the feeling they didn't really know what to do with Joe either. I'd prefer they focus on building Mutiny.

Edited August 4, 2015 by ganesh

[LaveticusPrime]

She(Donna) kissed him and he acted surprised and said something like "i know coworkers sometimes have these feelings but i didn't think they acted on them" and then walked away. He was, as we find out later, kind of just using her but she was the one who kissed him and was ready for more. Which makes her a MAJOR hypocrite.

Edited August 4, 2015 by LaveticusPrime

[ganesh]

When? I don't remember this at all. I thought he kissed her in the hotel room at the conference.

[txwatcher]

Donna-centric S3 please.

[LaveticusPrime]

yeah.  she even admitted to gordon when they had the blow up after they found out that dude stole his idea that she kissed him. it was when they were at the conference and he brought something back to her room(i dont remember what), but she assumed he was coming to her room to get it on and she put one on him. then she went straight to the phone after getting rejected and reserved a rent-a-car(feeling guilty, of course, but still).

Edited August 5, 2015 by LaveticusPrime

[Yolapukka]

Love Donna, but I'm oddly glad that at least one person doesn't share the enthusiasm. BTW, as I recall (and I watched the episode more than once) it was definitely Donna who initiated the kiss when Hunt brought the documents that had "accidentally" been delivered to his room to her door. Prior to that Mr "Ah Luuuuuuuuve Peeeeeeeach Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" had been doing some heavy duty flirting and talking out of school about his marriage whether or not he was interested in more from her. He seemed like quite the gentleman in his reaction to the kiss. Then of course, we learned he wasn't.

I think Gordon's infidelity is just the cherry on top  when it comes to the big pile of trouble that has been plaguing their marriage for some time, It was clear from the first episode when she had to pick him up from the drunk tank in the middle of the night that they had some serious issues. Also, I wish it weren't true but a lot of people aren't up for staying with an ailing, difficult spouse, Donna gets credit from me for being willing to stick with Gordon despite myriad problems, even if she is insisting on her own terms.  Maybe she'll get the idea for an e-bay type service in order to sell off all those computer parts he bought for his fizzled business.

 

I also kind of feel having to work with Gordon is another sly bit of Karma for Cameron, who can not stand him and he returns the sentiment.

Edited August 5, 2015 by yuggapukka

[LaveticusPrime]

yeah, but in the end, not much karma for her. He is still saving her business and not for the first time and she probably still won't give him credit for it. Cameron has been rude, selfish, childish and ungrateful from the start. She is really my least favorite character. For example, she can't pay everyone's salary so she offers them shares(don't know what the heck she think that means) and they stay on and spend their time and effort and then she doesn't even notify them of the details of an offer to buy the company? They're share holders right? ...and then walks in and tells everyone "this is MY company and I'm not selling". Plus giving all of them shares(and there are a lot of them) and she still owns 90% of the company? not even Joe has done something so selfish. She takes zero resposibility when things go wrong - at least until something blows up in her face and she's feeling down, then she'll maybe give off that sympathy searching admission of guilt. Thought her personality was kind of cute at first but that got old really quick.

 

I understand what you mean about Gordon but marriage is marriage. You never know WHO in a relationship may get sick, injured, or disfigured. Still think her terms were out of line and hypocritcal. Even feeling the guilt of the abortion, and knowledge that you almost cheated and would have had he not stopped you, she can still spit out those terms in a basically chastising tone while he is in such a vulnerable state(having basically just lost track of their daughter), and tell him that he has to spend almost all of their money on Cameron's company? She didn't say lets move to California and start a company of our own, we have the money. No, he has to spend it on Cameron's company because what........she likes to work there? She just took full advantage of a situation. Not to mention that since they know he's sick, they may need that money to take care of medical bills on top of bills for them and their children and their education and whatnot. But no, we're gonna take a chance.....on someone else's company. Just makes absolutely no sense and, in my opinion, doesn't seem very realistic.

Edited August 5, 2015 by LaveticusPrime

[kieyra]

I think I owned the skirt Donna wore in the first part of the episode. I definitely had cap-sleeve T-shirts like she was wearing. 

 

Paper tickets for airplanes!

 

Oh, Gordon. Donna didn't want a third child earlier; she's not going to change her mind now.

 

So I guess Joe is Peter Norton? That last shot of him was very Mad Men–esque.

My first thought was, aha, he's McAfee and is basically going to lose his shit later in life:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee#Legal_issues

[Kel Varnsen]

Happy that Bos came back - I know we were supposed to think it was Tom boarding the plane, but would all the Mutiny guys really applaud him? Tom was treated like crap by Cameron so I'm glad he passed on her offer.

Not sure what to think about Joe as a character after 2 seasons - he definitely has sociopathic tendencies but then they try to show he's got some decency underneath.

This episode was directed by Phil Abraham, who worked on Mad Men.  I thought the final shot of Joe in the office staring out the window at the SF skyline was very Mad Men-esque, when Sterling Cooper & Partners were expanding to another floor in the Time Life Building and they had a similar shot of all five principals looking out the window.

 

It reminded me of that. It also reminded me of the end of Fight Club.

 

 I believe that Bos' face as he watched and listened to the execs in that last meeting said it all, much like the distaste and nausea that I would feel after watching a few vacuous seconds of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.  The conversation felt forced and smarmy.  As much as I dislike Cameron's whining and obstinance, at least she is honest - for the most part, anyway.  

I thought the same. I think he was picturing 10 years hanging out with these old guys, sitting around telling the same bullshit stories, and didn't really have any interest in doing that. Plus when his son spoke it was pretty clear from what the boss guy said that Bos being there would be hurting his son's long term career. Because in the eyes of those other boss guys Bosworth Junior would always be John Bosworth's son.

[Bort]

It reminded me of that. It also reminded me of the end of Fight Club.

It reminded me of Dallas. So not the most original of camera shots. But it was still pretty.

[ganesh]

Because in the eyes of those other boss guys Bosworth Junior would always be John Bosworth's son.

 

That makes more sense to me in hindsight. It was a little jarring that Bos would through back into so much uncertainty after going on how he can't do that anymore. He'd do it for the son. 

[dubbel zout]

Didn't one of the guys make an off-color/racist joke, too? I thought that was what sealed the deal for Bos.

 

ETA after reading Kel Varnsen's post: I think it wasn't a joke as the realization Bos had heard the stories/jokes a million times before.

Edited August 6, 2015 by dubbel zout

[Kel Varnsen]

That makes more sense to me in hindsight. It was a little jarring that Bos would through back into so much uncertainty after going on how he can't do that anymore. He'd do it for the son. 

I thought part of it was the old guy saying he had told this story a million times but he was telling it again (and it wasn't that different from Boz's own story). With that he realized he went from working with young people doing new and interesting things, to old guys sitting around and telling the same old stories over and over again.

 

The other part was the boss guy saying that his son was only in that meeting because of his father. Boz seems like the kind of guy who would want his son to make something of himself because of his own skills, not by living in his father's shadow.

[hincandenza]

Okay, so first: I'd still welcome a season 3, although if it doesn't happen now this was a weird finale. I do think the show, the writing, and the acting have been getting better and better, and thank god Bos- and YoYo!- are back in the thick of it.

I'm with LaveticusPrime on Donna. She's actually been kind of awful lately, and those demands were absurd. She was the first to dabble in cheating, and in doing so nearly ruined their marriage and nearly destroyed Giant. Gordon needed his wife when he found out about his disease, and she was too busy ripping off computers from street thugs to pay attention. I still don't get her obsession with Mutiny, a company of which she has no actual ownership or investment, and why with two young girls and a sick husband she thinks it a good idea to take their family's once-in-a-lifetime windfall of nearly a million dollars and blow it all on a crazy psycho chick with all the business sense of a rock.

I feel bad for Gordon; he's a sad sack, but if he was a female sad sack we'd all feel pity for him, not wish him dead. Missing out on even more sweet, sweet cash because crazy Donna was freaking out sucks, although Joe knows he is still veru valuable, and they'll both be in SF, sooooo... Gordon was also right in his argument with Donna: Joe is not the problem, and has not been all season. Gordon's not perfect, but why I'm wishing for season 3 is that even with their flaws, these characters are all well developed. That goes for Cameron, Joe, and Donna along with the rest of the cast; this is a decent show even if the plot can meander at times.

I feel bad for Joe, as I don't think he's actually psychopath- although I liked the scene when the VC called him out- but he did try to change this year and it all fell apart. A pre-season promo picture had Cameron holding a bat... and truly, every bad thing this season came from her. If she wasn't a huge fuck up and emotionally unhinged nutjob, the Clarks would be having a better marriage; Joe would be either successfully helping Mutiny grow through Westnet and $5M in acquisition cash, or happily married to Sara off in California. Mutiny would be a far bigger success, the employees would be well paid and happy, and Donna would not take her professional frustrations with Cameron out on her own family.

Also, they finally put a dollar figure on the season 1 burned computers: $100K. This makes it even dumber that Joe didn't fight Cardiff: he was legally entitled, and even if Cardiff could somehow legally withhold the cost of the PCs 20 months later, that's still ~$500K left over. A pretty good nest egg in 1985 to carry off to CA with your fiancé... sigh.

But in spite of my griping, there's a difference between frustrating characters, and a frustrating show. Excepting some sloppy plot points, by and large the show is compelling human viewing, and I do believe that the Donna, Cameron, Joe, and Gordon characters are plausible, even when I hate their choices. I guess if we get season 3, I'd like to see some real victories and new tensions.

[dubbel zout]

Gordon needed his wife when he found out about his disease, and she was too busy ripping off computers from street thugs to pay attention.

Gordon didn't tell Donna right away about the tumor; it's unfair to ding her when she didn't know anything was wrong. 

[ganesh]

No, but when he was trying to pin her down she wasn't particularly available. Gordon needed to put his foot down and get her to pay attention. Running off to sex his brother's exgf wasn't quite the right option. 

[femmefan1946]

Tom has an interesting background, but it explains why he wouldn't go to CA with Cameron.

I would make YoYo a sandwich. Mayo or mustard.

Even if Donna is a believer in 'til death do us part' that's what? two years, tops? With no health insurance, less? for the girls a daddy who dies early is slightly better than a mommy who divorced daddy who then died alone.

Boz has better job prospects in CA, if Mutiny goes down the tubes. In TX everyone in the business knows he did jail time for embezzlement.

Cameron thinks people are abandoning her. Her father/parents. Joe. So she builds a coccoon and tries to be self-sufficient even when cooperation would lead to better results. Boz is some sort of stability for her.

Donna is a real rounded human being. She was frustrated in her marriage, and overlooked at work. She saved her husband's job/Cardiff and was not given much appreciation for it. Her boss rejects her sexually and steals from her.

Why should she tell anyone about that humiliation? Real people don't.

She saves Mutiny again and again. I understand why she doesn't have much financial investment in it. After all, her husband is a millionaire. ($800 000 frm Cardiff plus whatever net worth they built up as a professional working couple)

She does it because she likes Cameron as much as she is annoyed by her. She sees the bigger picture while Cameron is metaphorically hiding in her mother's basement eating cheetos. Her inability to understand why none of the customers at the Mutiny party were gamers was a big tell.

[Hanahope]

Boy, if the 4 characters good get over their emotional issues, they'd make a helluva company.  Gordon is great at tech, but completely useless at overall ideas, marketing, or interpersonal social skills.  Cameron is great at programing and some tech ideas, but otherwise sucks like Gordon in marketing and social skills.  Donna is good with tech, social ideas, management, and some marketing, but she doesn't always see the big picture.  Joe is great with big ideas and marketing, knows enough tech to get by, but not good with interpersonal and management. 

 

Donna couldn't get past Joe's tendency to be selfish and 'salesmanship/scheming' enough to see that he does come up with great ideas and can market them well, and her refusal to deal with Joe led to Gordon finally telling Joe good-bye and now they lost out on Gordon's anti-virus software.  Same with Cameron, she could never forgive Joe enough to realize he could be very useful for Mutiny.

 

"Let that be a lesson to the kids out there: you can be a complete monster, so long as you have a marketable idea."  Or be marketable, like Jared.

 

I agree that Donna has her flaws, but it was not her thinking her boss wanted to have an affair with her that led to her boss stealing Giant's idea.  He did that all on his own, and obviously made the decision to do so prior to her trying to kiss him (he saw the plans before she tried to kiss him, not after).

 

It all kindof annoys me that the show writers are placing a lot of Joe's/Mutiny's problems on the plot of Joe and Cameron are "soul mates" who can't live/love without each other.  Personally, I didn't see why Sara wanted to divorce him, when he wanted to 'do right' by Cameron/Mutiny.  That didn't automatically mean he was still in love with her.  And vice versa with Tom.