Halt and Catch Fire

Previously on AMC's Halt and Catch Fire...

They didn't give money, they shut me out.

You think... I should be the Boss?

I think someone should be.

- Maybe - Why?

Because I love you.

Jesus, Were all so coked out of our

mind trying to hit those deadlines, who knows.

If your so good at dealing with it, then why don't

you keep being the savor we supposedly need so much.

Because I don't want to be the mom here.

Something's coming.

Its going to be big.

And it wont include this place,

It certainly wont include you.

Heli-skiing in Bulgaria.

The chalet I stayed at had beds like a Soviet prison.

But the snow... oh, my God.

- Was your first job in oil? - Hell, no.

My parents ran a carpet store.

Worked there into my 20s.

Oil was just a stain to me.

Well, not to mention that his main ambition

was bringing girls there after hours.

Remind me to kill my brother for ever telling you that story.

What derailed those big plans?

Well, there comes a time when a man's gotta strike out on his own.

- Store burned down. - Okay, that, too.

So, at 26, unskilled,

I set out to eat the world for breakfast.

The only job I could find was managing the sludge

from a rubber plant just outside of Cleveland.

My boss had me cut some corners and the river caught fire.

- Cuyahoga River? - 'Course I got fired anyway,

even though I just worked for the guy

who was working for the guy.

- The point being... - It's always better to be the guy.

That's my usual joke, sweetheart,

but just to show I can surprise you,

the point being

we all have to take our lumps before we come into our own.

Makes getting there all the more sweet.

So, you're in love with my daughter, huh?

- Dad. - What, you don't want to know the answer?

Okay, he's impossible. Just ignore him.

And she's an apple from the tree.

Okay, I'm gonna go say hello to Graham,

spare myself the torture.

Get him to do some work for a change.

He's supposed to be fixing my Jeep.

I love your daughter very much

because, among other things, she's skeptical, like you.

Then you won't mind me asking you how you intend to support her.

She won't accept any help from me,

at least not while I'm alive.

And the money she makes from writing

is gonna be spread pretty thin for two.

Don't worry, I'm considering several options.

What about oil?

Oil's all about digging in the past.

I've never been that interested.

Powering the world isn't interesting enough for you?

With a glut on the horizon,

innovation's bound to be slow.

If I were you, I would be looking to diversify.

Into what?

Something forward-looking

with the potential to change everything.

For me, that's still tech

and will be until proven otherwise.

Here's what I think, Joe.

I think with your checkered work history...

and that's the nice way of putting all the things I've heard...

you don't have a whole lot of options right now,

in tech or anywhere else.

With your abysmal references,

I think you'd have a tough time getting a job selling waffle irons.

You'd really want to put yourself through all that?

- Whatever it takes. - I'm just stating cold facts.

You won't easily get a new job.

If I haven't made myself clear, I'm offering you one.

I don't know who you think I am,

but I'm not looking for charity.

And I'm not looking to give it.

Today... today is dream lab day.

I'm gonna really set 'er up, you know.

No more talking, just action.

You know, I may even teach myself C.

Who says I'm only hardware?

Oh, in my spare time, I really want to learn to cook.

Like, you know, really cook,

you know, for all for us.

Any special requests tonight, dear wife?

Huh? Duck à l'orange?

Yeah, what?

Did you find the crunchy...

- Hey, you okay? - Yeah.

I mean, sort of.

I went to the bank yesterday to try and increase Mutiny's credit limit.

The guy there just laughed at me.

Well, uh, how much you need?

Ha-ha, you couldn't afford it.

Well, that's what schmancy VCs are for.

Yeah, well, if we can close him.

I'm afraid without longer term data

- he'll balk at our projected growth. - Hey, hey, hey.

Look, you always killed your presentations at TI. This is gonna be no different.

You just go in there, you tell a good story with confidence.

Daddy!

Oh, you know, you'd think the house was on fire.

Flying in, babe!

It has to be re-entrant, recursive.

I mean, you never need to branch

except to sequence, select, or iterate.

- I don't... - I'm trying to help the graphics.

What, even if it makes the network crash?

Do another rev in blocks, and do it by tonight.

- Cameron, it's up. - Fine.

What? Why is this sequence not done?

Cameron, we're live.

What?

Stand-alone messaging, no game.

We're calling it Mutiny Community,

but we're open to something snappier.

How many hours did this take you?

Not too many.

Donna, we talked about this.

You can try this, but we're falling behind on games.

Wait, wait, shut up, shut up. Look, our first user.

"No game, just chat.

Hi, how are you?"

Okay, can you please go finish your game code now,

like what we actually do at this company?

Oh, God.

I didn't expect a ticker tape, but I could use a chair.

Oh, God.

Whoo, Jesus.

The first prison riot, I broke both my ankles.

I shattered them. They got me with the water cannon.

They blasted me off a second-story catwalk.

Pow! Right on the concrete.

God dang, are you guys buying any of that?

Jesus, what's wrong with you?

How you doing, Bosworth? Arki, meet a legend.

- Yeah, sure, sure. - When'd you get out, Boz?

Well, I tunneled out a couple days ago, by God,

but, uh, just had to find me a shower.

I'm ready to go. Come on, let's get the party started.

- Where do I sit? - Wait, you're working here now?

Awesome!

Yes, sir. Just signed on as employee number 17.

Did you learn how to type while you were in prison?

You son of a bitch.

It's good here? I'll sit there, for God's sake.

You have nosebleeds before?

No, not since Garrett Faloona

used to punch me on the playground.

You have any other symptoms...

headache, nausea, soreness of the joints, anything?

No, no, not really.

I mean, I, um...

Back when we were chasing deadlines on this computer we were building,

mm, I used cocaine for a brief spurt.

Okay. How brief and how much?

Two, three months.

And, I don't know, whenever we needed it.

We were under the gun, so...

Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid that can burn your nasal membranes

if you don't die from a heart attack or a stroke first.

N-n-no, I stopped cold three months ago. I'm...

Good. I'd hate to see your daughters grow up fatherless.

That would be sad.

Well...

no, I'm not one of those people

that gets addicted to stuff easily.

I can promise you that.

You could've at least told me.

What? We're both sick of playing boss.

I mean, as soon as he gets up to speed,

he can take stuff off our plates.

- He ran Cardiff for 22 years. - I know.

Mutiny is not Cardiff. That's the whole point.

- I know. - Cameron, he's an ex-convict,

which is not exactly the smartest hire

when we're in the market for more funding.

And when we're this strapped for cash,

you're gonna waste it on somebody

that doesn't know a bitmap from a baud rate?

Don't do this. Don't threaten what we're building here

out of guilt or feeling sorry for him.

Donna, he stays.

We talked about being in this together.

We talked about communication being key.

This... this isn't what we talked about.

Ah.

What?

I was just thinking about...

your father offering me that job.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm still mad at him.