S04.E06: A Connection is Made

[CanadaPhil]

My original topic title: 

"Episode 6 Bookmark"

Where are you?

;P

 

EDIT.. Ok, I'll make it...

"Donna makes a play for a heavy hitter; Gordon confronts his daughter about an issue at school"

and Philly Phil mucks around on his  iPhone!

.... discuss...

PS: That plot synopsis above is official! I did not make it up... well, except for the Phil part.

;P

[cinles]

4 hours ago, CanadaPhil said:

My original topic title: 

"Episode 6 Bookmark"

Where are you?

;P

 

EDIT.. Ok, I'll make it...

"Donna makes a play for a heavy hitter; Gordon confronts his daughter about an issue at school"

and Philly Phil mucks around on his  iPhone!

.... discuss...

PS: That plot synopsis above is official! I did not make it up... well, except for the Phil part.

;P

I'm still on last week. Have we figured out yet what last week's title meant?

[CanadaPhil]

Re: "Nowhere Man"...

My personal take...

It's a reference to ALL of the dude's in the last episode... they were all seemingly lost and wallowing in denial, self-loathing and self-pity....

and this made me sad.

:(

The only one who is deserving of that moniker is that smug Tom. I wanted to see him get back on his "stupid bike" and peddle away into oblivion.

;)

Edited September 22, 2017 by CanadaPhil

[cinles]

56 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

Re: "Nowhere Man"...

My personal take...

It's a reference to ALL of the dude's in the last episode... they were all seemingly lost and wallowing in denial, self-loathing and self-pity....

and this made me sad.

:(

The only one who is deserving of that moniker is that smug Tom. I wanted to see him get back on his "stupid bike" and peddle away into oblivion.

;)

I guess that's a good interpretation as any - it's actually the only one I've seen. ahahaha But, really it does make sense, especially given that last awesome scene.

[CanadaPhil]

!????

The opening scene of Breakfast at Green Acres was sort of surreal. I first took it to be a flashback... nope.

[cinles]

What would have started WWIII at any other time in this show is now nothing - I mean Cameron helping Rover. What the heck?

I posted on the last episode's page that the teaser sounded like Haley might be gay which I didn't think, but from this scene with Joe at the diner, I'd say yes. At least one person on Twitter thinks she's gay. I got a huge gif saying 'SHE'S GAY'. Plus I'd like to say mea culpa to the poster who thought Haley was gay. Good call!

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[CanadaPhil]

I don't know... sometimes this show just throws me for a loop. (the Cameron thing I mean)

On another note... a Cowboy Junkies tune and a Kids in the Hall reference. Its CANADA Night! on Halt.

hahahahaha.

:) 

And Donna's dude played a pycho, baby killing, cannibal on The Walking Dead!.... completely took me OUT of those scenes. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by CanadaPhil

[cinles]

14 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

I don't know... sometimes this show just throws me for a loop. (the Cameron thing I mean)

On another note... a Cowboy Junkies tune and a Kids in the Hall reference. Its CANADA Night! on Halt.

hahahahaha.

:) 

As usual, I miss at least half the references which is why I relied on IMDb & now Twitter & of course you Phil.

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[CanadaPhil]

Hahahahaha...

The more Gordon wiped, the dirtier the office window got!?

and...

Donna got quite the smackdown from Diane. Ouch!

Edited September 24, 2017 by CanadaPhil

[cinles]

On 9/23/2017 at 8:47 PM, CanadaPhil said:

Hahahahaha...

The more Gordon wiped, the dirtier the office window got!?

That was harsh. Why was he taking it out on Joe?

Who's the drunky now? Back to the beginning... Edit: Gordon is now driving.

[ketose]

13 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

Hahahahaha...

The more Gordon wiped, the dirtier the office window got!?

and...

Donna got quite the smackdown from Diane. Ouch!

I know. Was Haley drinking straight motor oil? That window should have been clean in 10 seconds.

So, Gordon can still drive? Has he driven yet this season until now?

Edited September 24, 2017 by ketose

[CanadaPhil]

Lots happening tonight. Wow.

After last weeks sometimes almost cringe worthy dialogue the Chris-is-is-izizs gave Joe, some great moments... Glad he and Bos have had their first good talk in years.

Still a little baffled about how the Cameron thing has played out... but... whatevs. 

[cinles]

2 minutes ago, ketose said:

I know. Was Haley drinking straight motor oil? That window should have been clean in 10 seconds.

So, Gordon can still drive? Has he driven yet this season until now?

No, he hasn't driven this season.

Just now, CanadaPhil said:

Lots happening tonight. Wow.

After last weeks sometimes almost cringe worthy dialogue the Chris-is-is-izizs gave Joe, some great moments... Glad he and Bos have had their first good talk in years.

Still a little baffled about how the Cameron thing has played out... but... whatevs. 

As they say on CNN, there's a lot to unpack tonight. 

[CanadaPhil]

Oh.... classic AST Desktop pc.. and Compuserve! lol

Camerons's MCI setup would have been Hellah expensive in 1994!

...

and the lightbulb goes off for Gordon. 

[cinles]

3 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

Oh.... classic AST Desktop pc.. and Compuserve! lol

Camerons's MCI setup would have been Hellah expensive in 1994!

...

and the lightbulb goes off for Gordon. 

See, this is the kind of stuff I have to get by watching it online right in front of my eyeballs. Because as the MCI truck drove up, I thought, I can't deal with what Cameron is having delivered and Donna's attitude.

[CanadaPhil]

I'm rewatching again which is something I don't normally do. I missed a thing or two with Cameron and that webpage dedicated to her and her meeting with that "admirer"?

[ketose]

Donna really fell from her pedestal tonight. Fire your coder, get drunk and sleep with another one, lose your wallet, get drunk in front of your daughter so much she knows when you repeat yourself and then get caught drunk driving. Plus, get kicked off the account you pulled every dirty trick in the book to keep going.

[cinles]

2 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

I'm rewatching again which is something I don't normally do. I missed a thing or two with Cameron and that webpage dedicated to her and her meeting with that "admirer"?

Admirer? I thought investor/partner?

2 minutes ago, ketose said:

Donna really fell from her pedestal tonight. Fire your coder, get drunk and sleep with another one, lose your wallet, get drunk in front of your daughter so much she knows when you repeat yourself and then get caught drunk driving. Plus, get kicked off the account you pulled every dirty trick in the book to keep going.

Many people think Donna really changed, but I remember her killing that bird. ;d

[tennisgurl]

Lots happened tonight, but I think two things stood out to me the most:

I think Haley is a lesbian or bisexual or something, and Joe totally picked up on it when she was talking to the tattoo chick. I am pretty sure Joe was trying to tell Gordon, with his whole "Haley reminds me of me as a kid...Haley is like me...GET IT!?!" *wink wink* Only for the light bulb to go off in Gordon's head later. 

This episode made me really nostalgic for when I was a kid and we just got the internet (early 00s) and I had this book of websites for kids that I just LOVED and I had a ball exploring as many websites as I could. It felt like the coolest thing ever. 

[CanadaPhil]

Ok, I couldn't read some of the text in my first viewing but I get it now... Even though we have not seen Cameron and Haley have two words together this season, we see through Haley's dedication webpage she created at Comet that Cameron is basically her Hero! 

[cinles]

9 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

Ok, I couldn't read some of the text in my first viewing but I get it now... Even though we have not seen Cameron and Haley have two words together this season, we see through Haley's dedication webpage she created at Comet that Cameron is basically her Hero! 

You're right - it was Haley. Darn, I want emojis.

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[CanadaPhil]

25 minutes ago, cinles said:

.....

Many people think Donna really changed, but I remember her killing that bird. ;d

She will forever be killing that bird! 

:D

6 minutes ago, cinles said:

OK, now I thought that was the 'admirer' who did that. They were together shooting the rockets.

Hmmm... oh, maybe??

The actual link to the page was sent to Cameron from Haleys Comet email address. You could see it as the sender id on the Hotmail page.

And Hayley is quite the sketch artist. The stylised bird she painted on Gordon's rocket matched the tatoos on Diner-Girl's chest... resulting in light bulb moment for Gordon later.

Edited September 24, 2017 by CanadaPhil

[cinles]

13 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

She will forever be killing that bird! 

:D

Hmmm... oh, maybe??

The actual link to the page was sent to Cameron from Haleys Comet email address. You could see it as the sender id on the Hotmail page.

And Hayley is quite the sketch artist. The stylised bird she painted on Gordon's rocket matched the tatoos on Diner-Girl's chest... resulting in light bulb moment for Gordon later.

I already said you were right Phil - no need to rub it in. bwahahaha

[CanadaPhil]

That Diane-Donna exchange was better the second time around. Kerry Bische is really bringing it lately. 

She is imploding in front of us and you can see it in her face and feel it in her voice.  

I feel sorry for Donna.... wait... what!?? I can't believe I said that!

hahahahaha

;P

[cinles]

15 hours ago, CanadaPhil said:

That Diane-Donna exchange was better the second time around. Kerry Bische is really bringing it lately. 

She is imploding in front of us and you can see it in her face and feel it in her voice.  

I feel sorry for Donna.... wait... what!?? I can't believe I said that!

hahahahaha

;P

Donna was treating Diane like she was 'one of them' and as we recall from the very first time we met Diane, she is not 'one of them'. How the hell she is with Bos makes me crazy.

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[CanadaPhil]

Luv the Joe-Bos garage talk.

Nice to see a touch of "old" Bos again. 

Oh.... poor Drunky-Donna. That'll teach her for trying to rock out to Pat Benatar's "We Belong"... If it had been "Heartbreaker" or "You Better Run" the outcome may have been different!

;P

(I'm just bein a goof)

[crashdown]

I'm surprised that there's any debate about the fact that Haley is gay--of course she is.  Joe clearly picked up on it immediately, with his softly understanding "she seems cool" to Haley, and Haley's quick changing of the subject.  I loved Joe's interaction with Gordon about it, and Gordon's dawning understanding of his daughter as a human being completely apart from him was wonderful.

In fact, I loved just about everything about this episode.  I really can't believe how much emotional nuance all of the characters have now, considering that the show started out as a less-good knockoff of Mad Men with stock characters who were little more than caricatures.  This sort of thing doesn't usually happen, and when it does, it's a gift.

A few scenes really stand out for me:

* That rocket birthday party was beautiful.  That would have been my ideal way to spend my fourteenth birthday, shooting off rockets with cool adults on a beautiful day, far, far away from the petty world of high school,

* Joe *getting* Haley and becoming more and more certain that he wants to be a parent so he can course-correct the mistakes his own father made with him.

* Donna cracking into vulnerability, finally.  That scene in the car with Gordon was magical.  Yes, all of those versions ARE her, and I love how close the two of them still are, post-marriage.  I've always had the sense that Donna's drive to become a VC shark was in part because she was so gutted by what happened with Mutiny: she basically ruined her friendship with Cameron to push a poor decision that wrecked the company both of them had loved.  After spending years begging VCs for money, she wanted to be the one with the power, not the the one who could so easily be crushed.  She also wanted to punish Cameron by crushing the souls of all the little Camerons who come to her, begging for scraps. But I'm glad that Donna is still in there, somewhere.  She remains my favorite character.

* And speaking of Donna and Camerson, that Donna-and-Cameron scene was amazing!  She was *so close* to bursting into tears at Cameron's "are you ok?"--that Kerry Bishe is an amazing actress to be able to convey so much with her facial expressions.  (Her expression when Cameron told her that Joe already knows was curious--kind of rueful jealousy at the fact that Cam is out of the shark pool enough to be able to be honest, or maybe thinking about how Cameron always was the more honest of the two of them.)  There's enough of a setup that I'm now certain that we'll have a satisfying emotional reconciliation when the series ends.  I'm expecting Donna to end up working with Cameron on a new gaming company, stepping away from the VC partnership in favor of doing something fun again.  She's the one who gets Pilgrim, not the odd, brusque "partner" who approached Cameron.  When Cameron finds that out, game over!  (Take note, Good Wife: THIS is how you fix a broken friendship of strong women.  It certainly helps that the two actresses can film scenes with one another!)

Edited September 24, 2017 by crashdown

[Moxie Cat]

Was I the only one who sensed foreshadowing that something terrible is going to happen to Joanie?

And slang question: this is the second episode in which someone said "hella" whatever. I don't claim to be on top of teenspeak now, but I was in high school in the early '90s, and no one said "hella" anything. Were we just behind on our slang in the northeast?

[cinles]

3 hours ago, crashdown said:

I'm surprised that there's any debate about the fact that Haley is gay--of course she is.  Joe clearly picked up on it immediately, with his softly understanding "she seems cool" to Haley, and Haley's quick changing of the subject.  I loved Joe's interaction with Gordon about it, and Gordon's dawning understanding of his daughter as a human being completely apart from him was wonderful.

1

Very nice analysis, but the debate over Haley was last week. I think once the girl/waitress and Haley started talking, it was obvious.

2 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Was I the only one who sensed foreshadowing that something terrible is going to happen to Joanie?

And slang question: this is the second episode in which someone said "hella" whatever. I don't claim to be on top of teenspeak now, but I was in high school in the early '90s, and no one said "hella" anything. Were we just behind on our slang in the northeast?

I was wrong about Haley, which I shouldn't have been, but they really don't have terrible things happen in this show, do they?

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[crashdown]

52 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

And slang question: this is the second episode in which someone said "hella" whatever. I don't claim to be on top of teenspeak now, but I was in high school in the early '90s, and no one said "hella" anything. Were we just behind on our slang in the northeast?

I went to high school in the mid-eighties, also in the northeast, and apparently we were.  Here's what Wikipedia has to say--I found it fascinating:

Quote

Hella has likely existed in California English since at least the mid-1970s. By 1993, Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, collated materials from an urban high school (Mount Eden High School) in the Bay Area and found that hella was "used among Bay Area youth of all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds and all genders." Hella remains part of the dialect of northern California, where it has grown in popularity/

Hearing it took me out of the moment, too--i was sure it was an anachronism.  But apparently, it's exactly right for the time and place.  Good work, writers!

[ganesh]

On 9/23/2017 at 9:16 PM, ketose said:

Donna really fell from her pedestal tonight. Fire your coder, get drunk and sleep with another one, lose your wallet, get drunk in front of your daughter so much she knows when you repeat yourself and then get caught drunk driving. Plus, get kicked off the account you pulled every dirty trick in the book to keep going.

I did feel bad for her, but when Annabeth Gish was like, "this is how we're going to do this"; yeah, unfortunately, Donna, you have to step aside. I really don't buy the drunk driving though scene though. For one, where was she going? She was home from work, and both her children were home from school. She can order food, so it's not like she needs to go out. There was no reason I could see why the police would have pulled her over. Look, I'm not proud, I got pulled over driving my friends car about 500 yards. I passed the tests. Unless Donna was a bottle and a half in

On 9/23/2017 at 10:11 PM, crashdown said:

I'm surprised that there's any debate about the fact that Haley is gay--of course she is.  Joe clearly picked up on it immediately, with his softly understanding "she seems cool" to Haley, and Haley's quick changing of the subject.  I loved Joe's interaction with Gordon about it, and Gordon's dawning understanding of his daughter as a human being completely apart from him was wonderful.

Clearly not. But the debate was why bring that plot into the middle of the final season. Also I would question that they laid that much foreshadowing on this that this episode was a payoff. This was clumsy at best. Gordon talked to Donna about how alive Hayley was at work. That character development makes sense withing the context of the show. I can see that being at Comet helped her learn more about herself. 

I can't see either of them really sweating that she's gay. They both were at Berkeley. The likelihood they had gay friends is about 100%. I think the show is trying to have their cake here. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by ganesh

[cinles]

Quote

But the debate was why bring that plot into the middle of the final season. 

My question has always been why do they feel it necessary to have a gay person in every season with an inorganic plot? geeesh

I know some people have commented on the way they're filming & I noticed that Joe no longer looks like a giant. When they were shooting the rockets they looked the same height and Anna Chlumsky and Haley are short. The other thing is, Donna's house is awesome. I hope that is a real house - It is so cool.

3 hours ago, CanadaPhil said:

That Diane-Donna exchange was better the second time around. Kerry Bische is really bringing it lately. 

She is imploding in front of us and you can see it in her face and feel it in her voice.  

I feel sorry for Donna.... wait... what!?? I can't believe I said that!

hahahahaha

;P

People always ask why HACF is never nominated for Emmy's and of course, the answer is no one watches the show, but I think Kerry Bishé's performance this season is Emmy worthy. She won't be nominated, but she should.

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[Rowsdower]

2 hours ago, crashdown said:

In fact, I loved just about everything about this episode.

It's my favorite episode of the series to date. I recall no previous instance in which I was so thoroughly engaged from start to finish.

Poor Haley. She wants nothing more than to belong (without having to pretend to be someone she isn't), and Comet was the one place where she felt like she did. I was rooting for her before, and now I feel more invested than ever.

Please, show, let this character make it out okay. If anyone deserves to go on to do great things, it's Haley. 

 

28 minutes ago, ganesh said:

 For one, where was she going? She was home from work, and both her children were home from school. She can order food, so it's not like she needs to go out.

Perhaps you missed the scene in which she phoned the bar, confirmed that she'd left behind her wallet, and told the employee that she'd stop there that night to retrieve it.

 

22 minutes ago, ganesh said:

But the debate was why bring that plot into the middle of the final season. Also I would question that they laid that much foreshadowing on this that this episode was a payoff. This was clumsy at best. 

Huh? They've been building to it since the beginning of the season (also the beginning of the character's on-screen depiction as a teenager). The only question was what "it" was (i.e., what was troubling her).

Is your argument is that the writers needed to explicitly foreshadow a revelation about Haley's sexuality (instead of establishing she was experiencing emotional turmoil of indeterminate origin)? If so, why?

 

34 minutes ago, cinles said:

I know some people have commented on the way they're filming & I noticed that Joe no longer looks like a giant. When they were shooting the rockets they looked the same height and Anna Chlumsky and Haley are short.

Anna Chlumsky is 5' 2", but Susanna Skaggs is 5' 8" (the same height as Kerry Bishé and one inch shorter than Scoot McNairy).

[cinles]

Quote

Anna Chlumsky is 5' 2", but Susanna Skaggs is 5' 8" (the same height as Kerry Bishé and one inch shorter than Scoot McNairy).

Then they're doing a good job, making a tall girl look shorter to look younger - not that she needs that to look her age. I think she's 16 plus she's slender. She has an amazing face - she could play 12 or 25.

[Dowel Jones]

I so wanted one of the rockets to go awry and slam into Cameron's trailer.  I'm a horrible person. 

6 hours ago, CanadaPhil said:

Camerons's MCI setup would have been Hellah expensive in 1994!

After an acre (at least) of prime Bay Area land and an Airstream, what's a few hundred extra?

I wonder if Cameron's potential partner knew that Pilgrim continued on beyond the block.  I missed if it she did.  Also, when both Hayley and Joanie walked in to Donna's house, neither showed much interest in the game beyond the initial "what level is that?"  I thought that was interesting. 

[Rowsdower]

7 minutes ago, cinles said:

Then they're doing a good job, making a tall girl look shorter to look younger

I haven't noticed any efforts to make Haley look shorter, irrespective of her proximity to others. Standing near Joanie, she looks about three inches taller. (Kathryn Newton is 5' 5".) Facing Gordon, they're nearly eye-to-eye. When Donna appears taller, it's because she's wearing high-heeled shoes.

Girls typically reach their adult height around the character's age, so I don't know why this would even be an issue.

By the way, here's an AMC promotional still from the scene that you mentioned earlier:

The two characters in the shot who appear close in height are Gordon and Haley (because they are close in height).

[AllyB]

3 hours ago, Rowsdower said:

Poor Haley. She wants nothing more than to belong (without having to pretend to be someone she isn't), and Comet was the one place where she felt like she did. I was rooting for her before, and now I feel more invested than ever.

Please, show, let this character make it out okay. If anyone deserves to go on to do great things, it's Haley. 

For probably the first time ever, I'm in total agreement with Joe. Hayley is so happy and fulfilled at Comet. She's learning so much, she feels comfortable in her own skin in a way she doesn't in school or even at home. She clearly mostly taught herself to code from watching her parents and Cameron. She's a talented artist and has an interest and good grasp on maths and physics. If she was my child I'd take her out of school and let her learn through doing while encouraging her to take classes in subjects that would fill in the gaps in her education. She'd benefit from some business and economics classes far more than the biology and history that she's failing. I'm all for a person having a well rounded field of interests but there are better ways to pique her interests in those subjects than making her sit through classes she resents in an environment she hates while taking the thing she is passionate about away from her.
 

5 hours ago, crashdown said:

Hearing it took me out of the moment, too--i was sure it was an anachronism.  But apparently, it's exactly right for the time and place.  Good work, writers!

Me three. I remember "Hella" being huge around 2005 so it threw me so much that the first thing I did after the show was look it up, only to discover the writers were 100% on the money with it.

[CanadaPhil]

On 9/24/2017 at 1:27 AM, cinles said:

.....

People always ask why HACF is never nominated for Emmy's and of course, the answer is no one watches the show, but I think Kerry Bishé's performance this season is Emmy worthy. She won't be nominated, but she should.

Yes, her performance is really standing out for me so far this season.... and YOU know I have not been a Donna fan since S1!

The great thing about this show from the beginning is that ALL of the main cast are exceptional actors. It's obvious that these people come to work to do a job as best as they can and it really, really shows.

And Susanna Skaggs (Haley) is just amazing!! HACF appears to be her very first acting gig!.. Wow!!

Even the bit players over the years have added so much to the dynamic... Nathan Cardiff, Lulu, Donna's Mom,  sweet lil Debbie and on and on. (I miss Debbie. hahahaha)

I hope none of the actors involved in this show ever feel like they have failed because of the very low live viewership. When all is said and done, they can all feel very proud about the way they have brought these characters to life. 

When it really looked like this show was going to be cancelled years ago they all could have simply given up emotionally and just "phoned in" their performances.... but they didn't do that.  

They bring it every week!

Well, except maybe that "coder" Donna fired. He was just awful. 

;P

On 9/24/2017 at 1:27 AM, cinles said:

My question has always been why do they feel it necessary to have a gay person in every season with an inorganic plot? geeesh.

Well, I took a look at the next episodes title....

"WHO NEEDS A GUY"

It looks like the Chris-is-izizis are going to bash us over the head with it.

:D

Edited September 24, 2017 by CanadaPhil

[Moxie Cat]

30 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

I hope none of actors involved in this show ever feel like they have failed because of the very low live viewership. When all is said and done, they can all feel very proud about the way they have brought these characters to life. 

I totally agree. This is one of those shows that I could rewatch from the beginning and not be bored. I often watch each episode more than once. And much of that has to do with the acting.

I'm grateful and surprised that HACF even got four seasons and the opportunity to write a final season and finale. AMC obviously has a lot of tolerance for its ratings.

[CanadaPhil]

This has turned out to be an episode that really benefits from a rewatch. There were so many little details and nuances that I did not fully take in the first time.

While I was impressed with Kerry Bische's Donna meltdown, the real standouts for me were a combination of scenes revolving around Haley, Joe and Gordon.

The Diner scene is... well... amazing.

And a couple line's delivered by Haley are great in that with the benefit of hindsight, we know is NOT true at all.

In response to Joe's asking about what the internet means to Haley, she says something along the lines of... " Everyone's always pretending"((meaning in real life))... "that's why the web is so great... no one pretends.. you just put it out there...who you really are... and the people respond to it... that's great... but if not, well who cares... at least they saw you and not just some projection... you know"

Wow... that just totally blew my mind, because in in the year 2017 that has turned out to so NOT be the case!!

In 1994, perhaps Haley's thoughts may have been the naive wishful dream of those first experiencing the "web", but today, pretty much everyone is PROJECTING false images of who they are and spending more hours online crafting a bogus narrative of themselves (while ignoring those in their lives that they should truly care about!!) in a never ending quest searching for acceptabce from total strangers in cyber space. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by CanadaPhil

[crashdown]

22 minutes ago, CanadaPhil said:

Wow... that just totally blew my mind, because in in the year 2017 that has turned out to so NOT be the case!!

In 1994, perhaps Haley's thoughts may have been the naive wishful dream of those first experiencing the "web", but today, pretty much everyone is PROJECTING false images of who they are and spending more hours online crafting a bogus narrative of themselves (while ignoring those in their lives that they should truly care about!!) in a never ending quest searching for acceptabce from total strangers in cyber space. 

Quite.  One of the things that this season is doing is making me feel incredibly nostalgic for those early years of the Internet.  I put up my first web page in 1993, when I was in graduate school.  Everything about the web then was so exciting and new: it was just people (and not very many of us) putting up pages and talking to each other on listservs and news groups about our passions.  Being hooked into the Internet then was something unusual and special, and we all felt it.  There were very few sites that were monetized at all--basically, the deal was that you put information about your obsessions out there, and when you needed to look something up, you could count on the fact that someone else had an obsession about *that* to share.  The original TWoP site (called MightyBigTV then) came out of those days.  It was unsustainable, of course, but I miss it.  The Facebook era just can't compete.

[ketose]

13 hours ago, CanadaPhil said:

She will forever be killing that bird! 

:D

Hmmm... oh, maybe??

The actual link to the page was sent to Cameron from Haleys Comet email address. You could see it as the sender id on the Hotmail page.

And Hayley is quite the sketch artist. The stylised bird she painted on Gordon's rocket matched the tatoos on Diner-Girl's chest... resulting in light bulb moment for Gordon later.

Haley probably spent a lot of time staring at the birds. Ba-da-dum

 

12 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Was I the only one who sensed foreshadowing that something terrible is going to happen to Joanie?

And slang question: this is the second episode in which someone said "hella" whatever. I don't claim to be on top of teenspeak now, but I was in high school in the early '90s, and no one said "hella" anything. Were we just behind on our slang in the northeast?

I remember a South Park in the early 2000s where Kyle told Cartman to stop saying hella.

 

10 hours ago, ganesh said:

I did feel bad for her, but when Annabeth Gish was like, "this is how we're going to do this"; yeah, unfortunately, Donna, you have to step aside. I really don't buy the drunk driving though scene though. For one, where was she going? She was home from work, and both her children were home from school. She can order food, so it's not like she needs to go out. There was no reason I could see why the police would have pulled her over. Look, I'm not proud, I got pulled over driving my friends car about 500 yards. I passed the tests. Unless Donna was a bottle and a half in

As Donna was driving, there was a quick cut to the wallet in her passenger seat, the implication being that she was coming back from the bar where she picked it up (and probably stayed for a couple).

 

1 hour ago, crashdown said:

Quite.  One of the things that this season is doing is making me feel incredibly nostalgic for those early years of the Internet.  I put up my first web page in 1993, when I was in graduate school.  Everything about the web then was so exciting and new: it was just people (and not very many of us) putting up pages and talking to each other on listservs and news groups about our passions.  Being hooked into the Internet then was something unusual and special, and we all felt it.  There were very few sites that were monetized at all--basically, the deal was that you put information about your obsessions out there, and when you needed to look something up, you could count on the fact that someone else had an obsession about *that* to share.  The original TWoP site (called MightyBigTV then) came out of those days.  It was unsustainable, of course, but I miss it.  The Facebook era just can't compete.

I had a web page on my college server in 1994 for 2-3 years. Then I had one on geocities until they folded. Back then you could have a list of favorite sites because it was a good way to find some good places to surf before search engines took all the fun out of it.

[Dowel Jones]

I think they're writing Haley as a younger version of Cameron, that is to say, a hotshot coder and computer whiz, but someone who will be, if she follows her current path, seriously lacking in any skills outside of the computer world.

[tennisgurl]

I really loved the episode, it might be my favorite episode of the season. Donna is falling apart, Cameron and Joe are moving forward, Haley wants to skip right to being an adult, and Gordon is trying to play catch up with his daughter. 

I think that Joe makes some sense when he says that Haley does better in her job than at school, where she feels alone and out of place, but I can see why Gordon wants her to keep up with school. She is still a 14 year old, she does need to get to school at some point. If nothing else, she needs a degree, especially if she wants to go to college and study computers one day. I get that she already has a job, but will she be there forever? I do like that she has found a place, and I hope she manages to find a balance. As for her being queer, it might be a bit of a "wait, what?!" moment for Donna and Gordon, but I think they'll be ok with it. 

Really loved the scene between Joe and Bos, it was the first real scene between them in quite awhile, and it was nice to catch up with them. 

Donna and Cameron reconnecting was just super affecting. I am honestly a bit surprised it happened relatively early, but I hope this means they team up again. 

[crashdown]

14 minutes ago, ketose said:

I had a web page on my college server in 1994 for 2-3 years. Then I had one on geocities until they folded. Back then you could have a list of favorite sites because it was a good way to find some good places to surf before search engines took all the fun out of it.

I wonder how many people remember that the real innovation of Google was that it ranked its search results by the number of people linking to a particular site.  For example, if I looked up "border collies" on Google, the first hit would be the border collie site that the most people linked to on their own sites.  In other words, it included the human element in its algorithm.  That was behind the conversation that Joe and Cameron had a couple of episodes ago, when Joe said that an algorithm couldn't include human judgment the way Comet (a la Yahoo) did, and Cameron said "not yet."  Cameron was right.

Edited September 24, 2017 by crashdown

[ketose]

As I was reliving mid 90's nostalgia, I think the title this week is a reference to the song "Connection" by Elastica. You could hear that a lot back in 1995.

[ganesh]

I forgot that Donna was going to pick up the wallet. However, was she even that drunk? I'm having a problem seeing how she was pulled over. They didn't show her swerving or anything. Further, if she had to take the drunk test, two glasses of wine doesn't necessarily mean she'd fail it. 

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

She is still a 14 year old, she does need to get to school at some point. If nothing else, she needs a degree, especially if she wants to go to college and study computers one day.

Given how successful she is at comet, could they just homeschool her and then have her take the GED? Or was that not as common in 1995? I would think between Donna's and Gordon's advanced engineering degrees that they would be capable of that. 

[CanadaPhil]

58 minutes ago, ketose said:

As I was reliving mid 90's nostalgia, I think the title this week is a reference to the song "Connection" by Elastica. You could hear that a lot back in 1995.

Ahhhhhhh yes, thanks!

I have not thought about Elastica in years. It would have been great to hear that last night.

You made me use "The Guggle" to look up their vids!

:D

[cinles]

Quote

I haven't noticed any efforts to make Haley look shorter, irrespective of her proximity to others. Standing near Joanie, she looks about three inches taller. (Kathryn Newton is 5' 5".) Facing Gordon, they're nearly eye-to-eye. When Donna appears taller, it's because she's wearing high-heeled shoes. Girls typically reach their adult height around the character's age, so I don't know why this would even be an issue.

I think they use Lee Pace's height to their advantage - if they want him to be mean and imposing, they show how tall he is - if they want him to be kind and cuddly, they show him sitting down or they use photo tricks. I don't remember that scene in the show - I was referring to an aerial view.  I looked up the stats of some of the actors & there's conflicting info. I question the www on this right now.

On 9/24/2017 at 0:48 PM, ganesh said:

I forgot that Donna was going to pick up the wallet. However, was she even that drunk? I'm having a problem seeing how she was pulled over. They didn't show her swerving or anything. Further, if she had to take the drunk test, two glasses of wine doesn't necessarily mean she'd fail it. 

Given how successful she is at comet, could they just homeschool her and then have her take the GED? Or was that not as common in 1995? I would think between Donna's and Gordon's advanced engineering degrees that they would be capable of that. 

Because Gordon & Donna are so educated, I doubt their kids really have a choice about education, don't you think?

Quote

 

The great thing about this show from the beginning is that ALL of the main cast are exceptional actors. It's obvious that these people come to work to do a job as best as they can and it really, really shows.

And Susanna Skaggs (Haley) is just amazing!! HACF appears to be her very first acting gig!.. Wow!!

 

When someone said Susanna Skaggs was 5' 8", I wanted to look up her other stats - not just physical. Look her up on YouTube. She also sings and she looks different. That's why I said, she has a real actor's look about her. I hope her career keeps going up. YES! All these actors are so good, it boggles my mind HACF never caught fire. ;d

On 9/24/2017 at 11:51 AM, ketose said:

As I was reliving mid 90's nostalgia, I think the title this week is a reference to the song "Connection" by Elastica. You could hear that a lot back in 1995.

I love hearing the theories of the titles - this is the first season where the titles are still confusing after the episode airs. 

On 9/24/2017 at 7:18 AM, CanadaPhil said:

Well, I took a look at the next episodes title....

"WHO NEEDS A GUY"

It looks like the Chris-is-izizis are going to bash us over the head with it.

:D

What tickled me last night is I looked at the episode again online & then listened to the post-mortem. Chris Rogers talks & Chris Cantwell just sits there. But on Twitter, Chris Rogers hardly ever tweets & Chris Cantwell tweets all the time. They reminded me of Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by cinles

[dubbel zout]

11 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

17 hours ago, CanadaPhil said:

Camerons's MCI setup would have been Hellah expensive in 1994!

After an acre (at least) of prime Bay Area land and an Airstream, what's a few hundred extra?

I assumed the woman Cameron was talking to arranged and paid for all that tech gear. (Side note: Was she one of the Rover people?) It cracks me up how no one on the show has to wait for their computers/screens to boot up. They hit a button and have instant accessibility! I know it's to save time, but just once I'd like to see someone turning on the computer and then going to make coffee or something while the computer does its thing.

Lots of audio flashbacks for me: the Cowboy Junkies' version of "Sweet Jane," Pat Benatar's "We Belong," the modem beep-boops. 

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Donna and Cameron reconnecting was just super affecting. I am honestly a bit surprised it happened relatively early, but I hope this means they team up again. 

(Diane basically forced Donna to go see Cameron, and if Donna wants Rover to keep going, she had to do it sooner rather than later.) I think Donna was surprised at how much she'd missed Cameron, and I loved her realization of that. They shared a lot, even if it blew up spectacularly.