Halt and Catch Fire S2E3 - "The Way In" Recap

Joe is struggling to find the balance between thriving and not at his father-in-law's company. He determines some changes that could be made in order to improve the system, which prompts Jacob Wheeler to promote him but at the cost of firing many other people so Joe can start up a new department from the ground up.

He and Sara decide to throw a dinner party and invite Gordon and Donna, who agree to go in order to size up the new Joe and see just what type of woman he has gotten himself engaged to. They even form their own theories. Donna thinks it's an Upper East Side model type while Gordon thinks it will be a secretary-type to not challenge him the way Cameron did.

But Gordon's work on the network catalyses a whole lot of problems for Mutiny. Though Cameron and her new not-yet-beau Tom have been bickering over whether the concept or the tech of a game is the most important aspect to entice new players. Once Gordon uploads his Sonaris program to the server, absolute pandemonium ensues, forcing Cameron to make the call to shut down Mutiny's network (but not before having an awkward phone call reunion with Joe in which she doesn't utter a word because it's the last person whom she thought would answer the phone.

Donna and Gordon leave after they realise that Mutiny has been trying to get a hold of her. They've learned about how Joe was screwed out of his share of Cardiff's profit. Donna believes that Joe has Sara completely fooled into this new demeanour he's showing but Gordon seems impressed by both Sara and the new Joe.

Boz is shown to be getting back in touch with his old family again, and mending fences isn't so easy after his prison stint. His wife hooks up with him before announcing that their relationship is over and that she's taking the house. Boz has an easier time getting along with his son, who is getting married in the morning and invites Boz to come to the wedding, not caring if his mother doesn't approve. Boz doesn't want to create problems on his son's big day so he says they'll get together another time. Instead, he leaves his beloved Mustang to his son as a wedding gift and his son is overjoyed.

When Donna and Gordon arrive at Mutiny, Gordon learns that it was his program that wiped everything out and Donna is trapped in the middle while Cameron and Gordon exchange verbal hits. Cameron accuses Gordon of not being able to mind his own business and being jealous of the innovative work they're doing at Mutiny, while Gordon tells Cameron she and the rest of Mutiny would e nothing without Donna paying their bills and holding everything together. Donna sends Gordon home and tries to continue to fix things at Mutiny and with her even further damaged relationship with Cameron. She also wants to know why she kept secret her dinner with Joe. Cameron lashes out at Donna and tells her to leave, warning her not to secretly pay for Mutiny again or else she'll be fired. Talk about ungrateful. Donna keeps her distance but insists on staying at Mutiny to help work on building things. She doesn't head home until the morning.

Cameron starts to have a panic attack and Tom is there to talk her through it. He's able to calm her down by talking about Parallax and he even admits that he enjoyed the game, talking about a chapter where the player had to crack a dragon's egg on the fourth wizard's chest to make him human again.

Finally, Joe appears to have struck gold with a possible idea involving the machines in IT at work, that sit unused for the hours during which the employees themselves are not in the office. Could this be the big break Joe needs? We'll have to wait and see.

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