Halt and Catch Fire S1E6 - "Landfall" Recap

Joe and Cameron are in bed together. She pushes to know about where his scars come from and he's not interested in sharing. He accuses her of trying to change their routine to play house and she tells him that his routine only works at attracting people, not keeping them around.

Cameron excitedly proclaims she's getting the computer to have a personality. She tells Gordon she needs added memory but he shoots her down. She says it needs to have a soul and be something people can fall in love with. He says that people need to know when to stop changing things and she says he's scared. She goes over his head and pitches her idea to Joe.

Gordon spends most of the episode stressing about trying to buy a cabbage patch doll for his children at the request of his wife. When Cameron's subordinates (she is a manager, after all) refuse to do what she says and disrespectfully ask about her sexual relationship with Joe, she blames Gordon for further gossiping about her. She approaches him in front of everyone, kisses him, telling him he was "great last night," to get revenge.

Joe is invited over to Gordon's for dinner but Gordon doesn't actually show up because he's too busy smashing a store window to get some cabbage patch dolls in the middle of a large storm. He ends up being surprisingly good with Gordon and Donna's daughters, building a fort with them using chairs, pillows, and blankets. He also goes outside to "fight off" the hurricane with some flashlights for the benefit of the girls.

Cameron meets with Joe's father and shares her story of how she got into computers. She was an antisocial girl in high school and accidentally ended up in the computer club and finally found something that she could connect to.

Gordon spots someone lying in the street after being electrocuted from a fallen power line and still drives off with the stolen Cabbage Patch dolls. He gets home late and Joe says he's going to head out. Gordon wants to talk to him but Joe says they can talk tomorrow. Joe heads to Cameron's place, with a renewed interest in pursuing a more meaningful relationship with her and asks to see her program. He interacts with the somewhat artificial intelligence before finally sharing how he got his scars. His mother used to take him up to the roof to look at the stars. She was wild and experimented with drugs. She let go of his hand and he fell three stories, landing on a fence. He spent most of the next two years in a hospital bed. Cameron comforts Joe, who seems happy to explore this new relationship.

Halt and Catch Fire airs on Sundays on AMC at 10PM.