Halt and Catch Fire returned for a second season completely rejuvenated. The series pivoted a bit and removed Joe MacMillan from the spotlight to some degree, instead focusing on Cameron and Donna’s journey at Mutiny, an upstart game company turned online contender. The change proved positive, permanently rooting the series in the tech revolution feel that parts of the first season were missing. It also provided Lee Pace a stage on which to be more than simply out-of-control/crazy Joe, building him as a man struggling to come to terms with his inner nature and actively changing himself while the world around him simply won’t allow it.

Despite this shift in direction, the show’s weakest link remained: Gordon. The character’s freefall into bizarre behavior was semi-explained retroactively with a cocaine habit and a new diagnosis of degenerative brain damage, but unfortunately this did little to make the character compelling. Rife with paranoia and a questionable – albeit brief – affair storyline that mirrored Donna’s own infidelity last season, Gordon struggled to gain sympathy. While I enjoyed his renewed relationship with Joe over the course of the season, the show didn’t do much with it. Perhaps it’s the fact that Gordon was so removed from the events taking place – he’s on the outside looking in at Mutiny, whereas the other main characters are all actively engaged in the company.The addition of Tom to the dynamic of Mutiny was also a welcome one, giving Cameron the opportunity to fall in love with someone that isn’t toxic for her… and screwing it up anyway. Their dynamic added a little levity to the season, even tinkering with a John Hughes-style romance for an episode. I enjoyed the subversive ending to their relationship in the season finale, as well. It lets Cameron deal with the sting of her mistakes but also leaves the door open to a reconnection in a potential third season.Joe’s arc was particularly strong this season, with the writers course correcting his erratic behavior last season by confronting it head on. Here, Joe was a man on a path to redemption via his girlfriend/fiancé/wife Sara Wheeler, a woman who was totally aware of his past and had, seemingly, come to terms with it. As viewers, we saw Joe be nothing but honest with Sara when he easily could have lied. And yet, Joe seemed to suffer for this reason. Almost no one in the show except for Gordon seemed to be able to reconcile the two Joes. Having Sara fall into this category in particular was brutal, considering how well-adjusted she seemed to be from the get-go.Despite his personal struggles, Halt Season 2 gave us plenty of the badass, shark-like Joe. His advancement through the ranks of Westgroup was impressive and, most importantly, earned. His ideas were innovative (and, ironically, stolen) in a way that Season 1 Joe never could have accomplished for one reason or another. I found it interesting that his crowning achievement in the season finale – getting a $10 million investment for anti-virus – came only after the complete rejection of his new life and essentially stealing from a friend. It’s an interesting dynamic to be explored in a future season: can happy Joe ever co-exist with successful Joe?And then there’s Bosworth, who was entertaining despite being given a brief and rather hokey ex-convict arc. Even with the half-commitment to exploring these elements, Bosworth proved to be an intriguing piece of the puzzle. His old-school sales savvy proved to be essential to the Mutiny team despite being the “old man” of the crew, his endearing father-figure relationship to Cameron remained strong, and his failed exit back into the traditional corporate world was an interesting way to explore his post-prison mentality. There were bits and pieces of Bosworth’s arc that were on shaky ground – the stuff with his wife is a good example -- but overall Bosworth’s presence in the season was satisfying.