"Halt and Catch Fire" tells about the birth of the corporate world in America between the 80s and the 90s, when big companies started to raise and new business values came up.
Let's start with the strongest element: its characters. Their development is simply amazing, it is always possible to see a gradual and constant evolution of their psychology, their actions and way of thinking change through time, depending on their personal experiences. They are influenced by one another, and their relationships will alter: some bounds will become stronger, friendships will be ruined, there will be many conflicts. Nothing feels rushed or all over the place: there is always a balance with the main storyline. Some characters, that at the beginning of the first season are really likeable, at the end of the series are very much annoying, and vice versa. Donna and Joe are the most obvious examples. The series does this gradually, in a very subtle way, or suddenly after a specific important or traumatic event, that change completely their perspective about life. You really care about them, even when they are not at their best moment.
Donna and Cameron are the perfect example about how Hollywood should build empowered female roles. These two women really work hard to get where they are, and nothing is gifted to them. They will have many difficult moments that they manage to overcome, but with a big personal sacrifice. For them is even harder, as the business world was at the time populated by mostly men, and there were a lot of prejudices about it. This is what I call good writing.
Episodes are really smooth and I never felt bored once. Every season add always new elements to the story and nothing feel redundant. There was an attention to details, how times change progressively, while the technology evolves. How ideas of the time actually contributed to create the world of today. The only flaw that I could find is that sometimes the series predict just too much about the future, almost like characters already know what is going to happen in the 2010s, period when the show was aired. I can understand that this aspect was fictionalized for story purposes, however creators put so much effort into details, but unfortunately they missed this one.
The cast is always on point, I especially appreciated the interpretation of Kerry Bishé, Lee Pace, Scott McNairy and Mackenzie Davis. Demonstration that you don't need famous actors to pull something good. I wish I can see them more often around in movies and series, they are very talented. I was also extremely surprised by Alana Cavanaugh, that nailed it in the fourth season as Hailey Clark.
It is a real pity that not a lot of people know about "Halt and Catch Fire". I wouldn't say that this is a cult series such as Mad Man, aired as well by AMC, but is getting really close and for sure is the perfect example about how screenwriters should compose a believable story. I guess it is because of treated topics: unfortunately there is not a big audience interested in technology and Venture Capitalists. A real pity, because this series a lot to offer beyond this.
