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"With only three episodes left in Halt and Catch Fire\u2019s freshman run on AMC, Sunday night\u2019s episode was a baptism of sorts, allowing characters in the Cardiff universe to finally come clean.\nThe trigger for the catharsis in \u201CThe 214s\u201D is an FBI raid at Cardiff Electric. As it turns out, those long nights of Cameron and Bosworth drinking and shooting the breeze led to a seriously criminal act: Cameron, with Bosworth behind her, hacked a national bank computer system in order to funnel money into Cardiff\u2019s PC fund. Their efforts to keep the program financially afloat crumble before their eyes as FBI arrive, seizing computers as evidence and arresting Bosworth.\nSEE ALSO: 'Halt and Catch Fire' Episode 7 Recap: What's Love Got to Do With It?\nThis happens at the most inopportune time for Joe and Gordon \u2014 revved up to present The Giant (Cardiff\u2019s portable PC) at COMDEX, a computer trade show, Joe and Gordon\u2019s dreams of killing it and selling their PC are dashed because of the raid. But Gordon, arguably the most passionate member of the Cardiff team when it comes to The Giant, refuses to give up. He steals The Giant from Cardiff even though it should be evidence for the FBI, and plans to go present at COMDEX despite the legal trouble his company faces. Come hell or high water or FBI investigations, he\u2019s selling this damn PC.\nGordon\u2019s intense drive continues to wear down Donna, who is still engaging in what could be the beginnings of an affair with Hunt, her superior at TI. Even Donna\u2019s mother supports Donna\u2019s interest in Hunt, noting that their connection was bound to happen, and that while she and Donna\u2019s father love Gordon because Donna loves Gordon, they still want to see Donna thrive \u2014 and it ain\u2019t happening in this marriage to a PC-crazed man.\nAs shit hits the fan at Cardiff, Joe\u2019s antics are exposed. During an argument about the bank hacking, Gordon calls out Joe for purposefully crashing Cameron\u2019s computer in order to drum up press for the company. Cameron is disturbed to learn that her boss (and lover) would do such a thing. \u201CYou didn\u2019t create anything,\u201D Cameron says to Joe, lashing out about his lack of real involvement in the Cardiff PC build. He snaps back, \u201CI created both of you,\u201D which leads to Cameron\u2019s fist making contact with Joe\u2019s jaw, actions always speaking louder than words.\nAmid the chaos, Joe also learns that IBM is also developing a portable PC, a huge blow to Cardiff\u2019s potential success in the market. Joe assumes this all is due to his father, that Joe Sr. somehow launched a portable PC venture at IBM as a way to crush his own son. Joe is so pissed, in fact, that he arrives unannounced at Joe Sr.\u2019s home, only to have his father inform him that the project has nothing to do with him, and that the \u201Cuniverse doesn\u2019t revolve\u201D around Joe Jr.\nThe tense conversation between MacMillan father and son continues as Joe Sr. asks Joe Jr. where he\u2019d been since leaving IBM. Joe Jr. says he traveled across the country to learn more about his mother \u2014 the mother who had a penchant for drugs and let Joe tumble off a roof when he was a young boy and she was high. Here the source of the pain emerges: we learn Joe Sr. told his son that his mother died, when in reality Joe Sr. had \u201Csent her away,\u201D 23 years before her actual death. Joe Jr. wonders how much of his mother he has in him \u2014 despite her mental instability, he saw her as a dreamer, which he admired (and, though he does not say it, sees in people like Gordon and Cameron).\n\nA scene from Episode 8 of AMC's \"Halt and Catch Fire.\"Image:  AMCWith Cardiff\u2019s standing as a company completely up in the air following the FBI raid, Joe enters survival mode and tells his father he wants to run IBM\u2019s portable PC program. Joe Sr. says he will do what he can to make that happen. When Joe informs Cameron and Gordon of his plan to jump ship, Gordon loses it, imploring Joe to stand up for his vision, lest he be a coward. Joe is impressed by the lengths Gordon and Cameron are willing to go for The Giant \u2014 Gordon\u2019s incognito PC theft mission makes him smile \u2014 and eventually agrees to the rogue COMDEX trip, even selling his sports car to help foot the bill.\nDonna, well on her way to leaving her husband, finds literally a diamond in the rough while packing her bags. It was Donna, we learn, who bought Gordon his first computer kit, pawning her engagement ring in order to buy it for him when they were young. She had said, back in that simpler time, that once they sold their first computer, he could buy a new engagement ring for her. Gordon, high off confidence when it comes to The Giant, preemptively made good on that promise before COMDEX, Donna realizes. She finds a ring box hidden in the garage, it bringing tears to her eyes. \nBosworth takes the bullet for Cameron when it comes to the arrest, acting as if he carried out the bank hacking solo. Joe is stripped of his sharky salesman mystique as he sells his shiny possessions in order to make it to COMDEX and sell his vision, his PC. And Donna has a change of heart \u2014 instead of packing her bags to leave her husband, she packs her bags to support him at COMDEX. The quartet cruises off to COMDEX in a beat up ride, all proclaiming at one point in the episode that they are \u201Ccrazy\u201D \u2014 crazy, perhaps, but at least now a little lighter, a little cleaner.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/07/21/halt-and-catch-fire-episode-8-recap/>