S03.E03: Flipping The Switch

[ketose]

I found out HACF was back about 3 days ago (good marketing job, AMC) and got caught up this weekend.

I understand that Lee Pace is the star of the show and everything, but it seems like they keep trying to shoehorn Joe into a show about Mutiny. And frankly, the Mutiny story is pretty good right now. I mean, Cameron and Donna are up their own asses, but Gordon and Boz seem to have some skills. Gordon is still an ass, though. He keeps freaking out apart from his health issues.

I know coding is something of an art, but a lot of it is time and persistence. Why is Cameron basically (pun unintended) doing everything? Gordon has a point. The future of image compression is hardware, not software. Is every other coder monkey in Mutiny really less qualified than Ray? Maybe they need to clean house.

Welcome back.

[scrb]

They throw in a lot of references to tech history and then some color to show it's the '80s.

Joe hosts a party for the casting rejects from some hair-band video while he's channeling both Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison.

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

Tensions rise at the office, as Gordon and Donna's personal life spills into work. Meanwhile, Joe meets with the MacMillan board.

[Tara Ariano]

Apologies for the fact that we got a week ahead of the show editorially. A post on THIS episode is en route as soon as I can write it.

[Primetimer]

Ryan discovers that Joe may not be a great guy, while Diane discovers that Boz definitely is.

View the full article

[tvsoothesthespirit]

Did anyone else think the person Gordo was talking to over the radio wasn't actually real? 

I like Joe's character when he's not interacting with any of the main mutiny characters.  It's interesting to watch this amalgamation of Jobs, Ellison, and McAfee.  We'll see which route he actually goes.

I thought the music, as always, was great. The nods to the period are still good.

I really wish they had set it in Silicon Valley rather than San Francisco, though.  I keep thinking about how there weren't any tech startups or really any tech companies in San Francisco. The rent was too high, even in the late '80s. It's not like the City is really a character in the show at this point anyway. They could have easily been in San Mateo or Palo Alto. I know it's annoying when people from a particular place bring up inconsistencies in the setting of a story in that place -- maybe I can let it go now that I've had my say.

[attica]

I'm always happy to hear "Burning Down the House," so that musical cue was welcome, if anvilly. Joe is such a phoenix, y'all. Did you know that? Because Cam burnt him down, and he rose from those ashes! Geddit? Do you? Let David Byrne sing archly about fiery destruction and how it affects An Or-din-ar-y Guy!

I'm with Tara re: Bos and Diane. Bang, please, and soon!

[dubbel zout]

Oh, Ryan. Did you do no research at all on Joe? I can't believe all the press was only good. It's kind of fun to see the scales fall from his eyes, but it also makes me shake my head.

1 hour ago, attica said:

I'm with Tara re: Bos and Diane. Bang, please, and soon!

This.

[scowl]

So I guess it was time for them to screw up ham radio. How did Gordon build a radio that was built in Japan? Yaesu did not sell kits. His sad plea "CQ, is anyone using this frequency?" was hilarious. If you can't hear anyone then no one is using it! If you tune through the amateur bands and you don't hear anybody you're either tuning the wrong bands for that time of day or your antenna is busted. They were even more busy in the 80's. Gordon is once again the most pathetic person on television.

Mutiny and Joe are fighting over some guy that really doesn't seem like much of a catch. He starts every sentence with, "Um, like, uh, what I mean is..." Hey Ryan, you're going to march into your boss's office to give him a piece of you mind, perhaps you should think about what you're going to say before you open the door.

And Joe... I can't remember what he did to make him the new Einstein. Some virus software? The show is modeling him like Steve Jobs and his rich buddy Larry Ellison who was famous for applying Asian architecture and design where ever he wanted it even if it was impractical. Back the 80's everything Asian was hot and trendy and rich people were all over that shit.

On the good side I like Cameron a lot more this season since she hasn't done anything stupid yet. Her shocked facial expressions all through this episode cracked me up.

I give credit to the DP who is framing everything in strange ways like cramming the main character in the corner with tons of background everywhere else. Nice to see that someone is trying something new.

I also like the Kraftwerk-esque theme song.

Boy, I don't remember much from this episode. 

[thuganomics85]

Matthew Lillard is certainly a perfect choice as your typical, sleazy boardroom executive.  I'm glad he got a bit of a career resurgence after his role as Daniel on FX's the Bridge.

Honestly, I keep waiting for Joe to officially just change his name to Steve Jobs.  The show is just making it so obvious that he is some kind of stand-in for Jobs, with a bit of McAfee thrown in there.  I like Ryan, but I think Cameron is more or less right that Joe will do the same to him that he did to both Cameron and Gordon.  He's already letting Joe get into his head way too many times.

Gordon and Donna are just making me uncomfortable now, and neither one of them is really looking good.  Just end it, guys.

Bos and Diane "negotiating" with the other company was great.  And, yes, I totally think Diane was getting the hots for Bos at the end.  You've still got it, Bosworth!

It was fun seeing Cameron and Gordon actually be civil and even nice to one another, since they flat-out despised one another when the show first started.

Never oppose to using "Burning down the House" in an episode!

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Matthew Lillard is certainly a perfect choice as your typical, sleazy boardroom executive.  I'm glad he got a bit of a career resurgence after his role as Daniel on FX's the Bridge.

As soon as I saw him, I knew he'd be trouble. Hee. I hope he can make Joe squirm.

[attica]

Question: is it 'LILL-erd' or 'lill-ARD'?

[kieyra]

Between Lillard and Annabeth Gish, having flashbacks to The Bridge. 

Enjoying S3 so far. Liking the soundtrack. I was on Viewtron (the Knight Ridder service they mentioned) as a kid.

[dubbel zout]

9 hours ago, attica said:

Question: is it 'LILL-erd' or 'lill-ARD'?

The former, I'm pretty sure.

[ganesh]

On 8/30/2016 at 9:09 PM, ketose said:

I found out HACF was back about 3 days ago (good marketing job, AMC) and got caught up this weekend.

I only found out last week. I think I saw an ad in EW. 

On 8/31/2016 at 11:36 AM, tvsoothesthespirit said:

Did anyone else think the person Gordo was talking to over the radio wasn't actually real? 

For a minute, yes.

On 9/1/2016 at 10:00 AM, dubbel zout said:

Oh, Ryan. Did you do no research at all on Joe?

Since I've watch the episodes over a compressed time versus 3 weeks, I had agreed with the prior discussion about Ryan not actually coding anything. So I was glad to see that it was a deliberate story point. "Why did you hire me?" "Tell me what to do." Dude, you do NOT know Joe. 

I love Matthew Lillard hamming it up. 

I really liked the scene with Cameron and Gordon. It was just nice. I don't think Gordon is a actually a sad sack. He lacks purpose, though not all his fault. Taking the show in the context of the 80s, the husband taking the back seat to support his wife in business and a risky one at that (please tell me you got that) was rare. He has considerable talent in the business they are in. He needs to reinvent himself, but doesn't know how. 

Wow, I NEED to work people like Boz. I mean, he can talk about anything anytime. I've networked so hard over the last year and it is exhausting. 

Bos and Diane are the real life tv version of Hart to Hart. 

I liked when Joe Put His Hat On. 

You cannot have a tv show in the 80s without The Talking Heads.

Edited September 4, 2016 by ganesh

[dubbel zout]

11 hours ago, ganesh said:

Taking the show in the context of the 80s, the husband taking the back seat to support his wife in business and a risky one at that (please tell me you got that) was rare. He has considerable talent in the business they are in. He needs to reinvent himself, but doesn't know how. 

Taken in a vacuum, I have some sympathy for Gordon for these reasons, but otherwise I can't help getting exasperated with him—women's talents have been stymied since time immemorial. He and Donna shouldn't be working at Mutiny together, at least not as this point in the company, but neither seems to be able to separate the personal from the professional. I can only hope Gordon doesn't get desperate enough to get away from Mutiny to accept a position with Joe again. Gordon turned down Joe's offer at the deposition, but Gordon doesn't always do what's best for himself.