04x03 - Miscellaneous

[bunniefuu]

They're gonna delay my game.

Indefinitely.

[Knock on door]

Previously on AMC's
"Halt and Catch Fire"...

Rover isn't developing a browser.

It's indexing the web.

I need to borrow some money.

You don't know what it's
like being retired.

This can't be my last thing.

Could we drill down
on leadership experience?

If that's what Rover needs,
I have the perfect person.

- What is this?
- Well, markup language is pretty easy.

Not like it's C++.

Joe: Imagine a website of websites

that takes you wherever you want to go.

[Water dripping]

♪♪

[Horns honking]

[Water dripping]

♪♪

♪♪

[Crying] It wasn't about him.

[Sniffles]

I was sad.

And I needed to pour that
sadness into something,

and he...

happened to be there.

I was in the same room as him.

♪♪

I just keep thinking about
everything he said to me.

[Sighs deeply]

You took his side.

You love him.

That's not true.

♪♪

Why should I believe you?

♪♪

Because...

there's no loving Joe.

♪♪

He's impossible to love.

♪♪

He's empty and...

he just becomes

whatever circumstance needs him to be.

♪♪

Who are you?

♪♪

[Knock on door]

Gordon: Joe!

Oh.

Wow. This is perfect.

Didn't waste any time, did you?

Is he here?

At the office!

You're not hearing me.

No, this is an opportunity for you.

Mm-hmm.

We are willing to
restructure the deal, Jon.

Listen, just give me five
minutes of your time.

Uh-huh.

[Sighs]

[Indistinct conversations]

[Telephone rings]

Gordon, I'm sorry.

I had no idea what was going on.

Just got off the phone with Volpi.

Of course you can get him on the line.

He's not budging!

I'm trying PacBell.

There's nothing there. You're too late.

The only play we have left now

is to sell while we're
still worth something.

Don't say that.
We can still figure something...

Oh, spare me the theatrics, Joe.

If you've been on the phone
for five minutes, then you know!

That is not what I want
to hear from you right now.

How's Cameron?

Yeah, I stopped by your
place this morning.

She looked, uh... comfortable.

You know, you can imagine my surprise.

You disappear,
I think you're upset with me,

and then turns out you've been
holed up with a married woman.

She's divorced.

Almost.

[Laughs] Almost divorced!

- Th-That's beautiful.
- Why are we talking about Cameron?

Because I know you two!

And it's like... it's like...

it's like you're a train
and she's a train,

and you think, "Oh, we're both trains.

We should get along great"!

But then both the trains
are on the same track,

and they're both headed
right for each other,

and guess what...

both the trains are carrying dynamite.

Look, I've seen this a thousand times.

I know how it ends.

- Okay. It's gonna explode!
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It's not...
- We're bad for each other,

- and it's going to be disastrous.
- Yes!

What is this?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Cameron: Mm.

[Microwave beeps, humming]

[Dishes clattering]

Hey! I made you breakfast.

♪♪

It's cheese egg.

Cheese egg!

Mm-hmm.

Um...

I, uh...

wish I could come today.

We're putting the final
details on the sale,

and Gordon's a little...
heartbroken, I think.

Honestly, it's just fine.

It's such a non-thing.

I'm gonna do my little
obedient-robot routine,

and that's it.

You should swing by after.

♪♪

Gordon'll get over himself.

[Microwave beeps, humming]

It's fine anyways, 'cause I have to...

excuse me.

Um, I'm having a sit-down with Atari

after the panel deal

to talk next steps on Pilgrim, so...

Oh, that should go smoothly.

Yeah, I think they're
gonna come around.

I, uh... I got a present for you.

Me?

Mm-hmm.

For your video games.

♪♪

Oh.

Well, that's...

passive-aggressive.

Really? Is it?

'Cause I was... I was aiming for blunt,

- uncompromising clarity.
- Oh. You missed the mark.

You're loud.

Everything you do is loud...

- and messy.
- Sorry.

Which reminds me,

you should unpack the boxes today.

♪♪

I'm so sorry for interrupting

your perfect catalogue
existence little life.

I feel like you, um...
you thought that was an insult.

You're a freak. You know that, right?

Unpack.

You're like if somebody
gave Howard Hughes...

- Unpack.. our boxes.
- ...a copy of "Siddhartha"

and he just led with it.

You're like three bottles of piss away

from building a perfect
antibacterial chamber.

See? God, these work great.

I can't hear a word you're saying.

[Laughing] You're so annoying.

[Telephone ringing]

[Chatter]

Your car will be here in 20.

The guys from StrongBox
are presenting at 10:00.

- Also...
- Do you have the proposal from MultiLink?

It's on your desk, but...

[Guitar strumming]

Good morning.

Hey.

Uh, the guys at TuneWorx
sent this in today

as a thank-you for the IPO.

They know I play. [Guitar strums]

Ah.

[Guitar strums]

I talked to the guys at Spyglass.

I thought they weren't taking VC.

If I'm reading it right,

they're going to license
the Mosaic code,

and if they take anyone's money,

it should be ours.

Few weeks ago, you weren't
interested in a browser play.

Yeah, well, you know,

the right browser could have legs.

[Guitar strumming]

Been taking lessons a couple years now.

[Strumming continues]

I mean, I'm a good player.

I'll never be a great player.

Oh, don't say that.

[Clears throat]

I'll keep you in the loop on Spyglass.

We could tag-team it.

[Guitar strumming]

Thanks.

Package came for Cameron.

Joe: Great.

More stuff.

It's from Tom.

Just a couple more.

You okay?

Our hands were tied.

We sold high.

Got twice what we thought we would.

Guess you can still
navigate the business world

when you're motivated.

We've got capital, blank canvas.

I liked this place.

I know it doesn't
feel like it now, but...

this is the start of something.

Our 11:00 will be here soon.

♪♪

♪ There's a dream they sell
you when you're young ♪

[Brakes squeal]

♪♪

♪ But they never tell
you when it comes ♪

♪♪

What's up?

Joe would like to talk
to you about the pro...

The index you made,

the... the... the guide,
the comet list thing.

I love it.

Thanks.

More importantly, other people love it.

The traffic is astonishing.

Yeah, honey, it's a really,
really good idea.

The idea, obviously,
was mine, the indexing.

I did that work by hand over years.

What your dad means to say

is that the execution of
that idea is wonderful,

and we want to buy it from you.

Oh, Joe, slow down.

Joe...

I want to build it and
make it into something...

real... no offense.

I would migrate it to its own
dedicated server immediately

so there is a seamless transition,

no interruption in service.

I would do that today.

I did it already.

You want to buy it?

Uh, what he... Joe's, uh...

Look, you... you did the work,

so it's only natural that
we would buy it from you.

That's... That's...
That's how these things work.

Okay. Buy it for how much?

We would begin...

I think a reasonable
sum would be $20,000.

[Stammering]

Can I talk to you real quick?

[Door opens, blinds clattering]

Look, I thought you were
gonna offer her, like,

a-a gift certificate to Blockbuster

or, like, a hundred bucks or something.

You want to low-ball your own daughter?

No, Joe.

You said a "nominal fee," okay?
She's 14 years old.

- You can't give a 14-year-old $20,000.
- This website has...

- I'm crushing your head.
- ...12,000 unique visitors in two weeks.

That's unbelievable.

Ckk, ckk, ckk, ckk, ckk.

Chh, chh!

- Chh!
- I don't give a sh*t.

She's 14 years old.

In 10 years, she'll be 24 years old,

and this idea could be
worth a billion dollars.

We're not giving her the money.

Okay? We can come up with another idea

or a trust fund or something,
but we're not giving a her...

Yes, that sounds great.

Yeah, we'll put $20,000
in a trust fund.

[Door opens, blinds clatter]

We talked.

And we think that $5,000...

I don't want money.

I want to work on it.

- Deal.
- What? Wh...

I want to be able to
come here and work on it

instead of going to
school for one period.

Well, we could...

- It can be my independent study.
- Mm.

No problem.
We'll wire that up right away.

Now, I understand you have
to get back to English,

so we're gonna talk about
this after school.

Gordon, we'll meet at your place?

Sure.

[Indistinct conversations]

Is their firewall
as strong as it sounds?

Donna: Third-generation,
application layer.

They're very talented.

Put on a good show, too.

Speaking of putting on a show...

Look at him.

For all his quirks,
it's good he's a partner.

He brings in deals.

He's trying to outflank
me on the browser front.

Few weeks ago,
he shits all over Millennium.

Now he's cozying up to Spyglass?

Well, he didn't mention anything to me.

Maybe he just wants to work with you.

Oh, there's Nina Klein.

I should go say hi.

You go ahead. I'm gonna...

Man: Hey, Donna, well-done.

Really good.

Grab a seat? Yeah, we should.

Well, uh, [Chuckles]
Joe Lieberman can blow me.

Hey, Doom is just the tip
of the iceberg, okay?

That's the future, full stop.

No. Sorry.

I'm not sure I totally agree.

Look, I haven't played Doom,

but it's not because it's so violent,

because to me, it seems boring.

[Scoffs]

You kidding me? It's addictive.

Yeah, it's a Skinner box...

a lot of these games are.

They're slot machines,
so they'll keep you coming back,

but they're not gonna
fulfill you in any way.

Look, all I'm saying is,

I think there's room in the future

for more than just gory,
first-person sh**t.

I think we have another...
another question.

Woman: This question's for Cameron.

Hi. I was wondering

if you could talk about
your new game, Pilgrim.

I saw the release date was changed.

Yeah, Atari has been
a really supportive partner

in collaborating on this game,

and they are just taking
a bit of extra time

to figure out the best strategy.

But, um, it's coming.

I'm excited about it.

I think you will be, too.

Do you have, like, a ballpark
time when it'll be done?

It's done now.

- [Audience murmuring]
- In terms of release,

that would be a question for Atari.

Cool thing about games you download,

in terms of release,
there's less overhead,

which means less interference,
meaning more blood.

[Cheers and applause]

Eugene: Do we have
any other questions...

Yeah, I mean...

Yeah, anytime you can
cut out a middle man,

it's a good thing, right?

Like I said, I have
a great relationship with Atari,

a lot of mutual respect,

but there have been times in my career

where my choices were not as respected.

W... Okay.

If there aren't, uh,
any more questions,

I think that about does it for us.

Uh, thank you all for coming.

- [Applause]
- Um, thanks to our guests, Tommy and...

I have a question for Ms. Howe.

Hello, Donna.

I was hoping you could talk a bit about

the relationship between
a creator, such as yourself,

and the business side of gaming.

You seemed to indicate earlier

that there was some difficulty
for you there,

and I was wondering if you felt

you had any culpability in that.

Well, it's inherently
a fraught relationship, right?

Huh. How so?

Well, in that we have the ability

to create something out of nothing,

and that can be threatening
to people on the business side

because... they can't.

Well, in my experience... and, granted,

I'm not the one up there onstage

at the Menlo Internet
Strategy Conference...

[Laughs]

...but in my experience,
someone on the business side

could help shepherd a project
that's meandering or...

headed off a cliff.

Could be an ally, no?

Seems like that relationship
should be symbiotic.

[Man coughs]

I would say it's parasitic.

There's little regard
for the well being of the host

because a parasite
can always scuttle away,

on to the next warm body.

[Audience murmuring]

♪♪

[Clears throat] Ok-Okay.

I think that does it. We are,
uh... We're out of time.

Thank you all for coming.

Thank you for your questions,

and I hope we get a chance
to meet some of you outside.

[Applause]

♪♪

Well, yes,
I'm going to make the monthly.

I-I'm at the mercy of
the pay schedule here.

It's a consultant position.

- Tanya: How was...
- Donna: Fine. It was fine.

- Yes.
- Do we have an update?

The algorithm is continuing
to pick up new pages.

It's effectively charting the web.

Okay.

We're only searching URLs
and page headings but...

Why can't we search
the body of the page?

Elliot: That's the
ultimate goal, of course.

- We're just not quite there yet.
- It's too much data.

W-With... With current bandwidth,

everything just grinds to a halt.

How effectively can we search titles?

Vera: Very effectively,

but the title doesn't always correspond

with, um, what's on the site,

so the results are...

You keep giving me bad news
with a smile on your face.

Do you know that you're doing that?

[Scoffs]

You guys are invested in this, right?

Well, they have been
up all night working on it.

And what do you have to show for it?

Let's search "president."

[Keyboard clacking]

No Clinton.

Well...

What I see
are generic president results.

My guess is that somewhere
buried among them

are results about the current
leader of the free world,

which is what I assume
people are looking for

when they type in "president."

What we need is a sophisticated
rules engine in place.

What I see is no rules engine at all.

You do know I used to be
an engineer, right?

They don't know what's expected of them

unless you tell them.

I am counting on you to make it clear

just how little time they have
to get this right.

Okay?

Okay.

[Door slams]

[Mouse clicks]

Oh, yeah. Cool.

Okay. Pull it up, let's take a look.

[Door closes]

I changed the header.

Oh, yeah. I like that. It's Comet.

It sounds like vomit.

Don't listen to her.

It conveys speed, a sense of wonder.

- What is this?
- It's... Joe and Haley

are working on Haley's website project.

It's replacing my independent-study credit.
[Refrigerator door closes]

What? She gets to miss school for this?

I want to miss school.

You do miss school,

you just don't tell anyone about it.

Hardy-har-har.

Hey, you know,
I think it would be helpful

if, like, we started out
with a bunch of categories,

and then...

But we don't want to make it
seem dry, you know?

We don't want to make it feel like

anyone could have organized this.

Right. Yeah, it's a dumb idea.

No, no, what's so great
about what you've done

is its personal touch,

the feeling that there is
a person on the other side,

creating this experience for you.

- Haley: Yeah. That's what I meant...
- Mom know about this?

No, she does not yet,
but I will be the one

to give her that information,
thank you very much.

...like education or something.

Can I watch? [Chuckles]

...like informational sites...

Why don't we go, uh,

caving in upstate New York,
you know, spelunking?

You're literally shouting nonsense.

I got all this stuff, you know,

and... and I've got time now.

We should go on an adventure.

I don't want to go to a cave.

Well, look, Haley...

Um...

...spelunking?

You remember that project
you did about stalactites?

I'm cool with whatever you want, Dad.

Oh, that T-shirt.

That's wild,

I was listening to Ritual
on the way over here.

Mm.

Please don't try.

Wh-What about fly-fishing
in Jackson Hole?

Oh, hey! Someone just sent me
a new link to put in our index.

It's, um, Smuth-ut.

You know, Joanie, we could
actually use your input here.

What would make a website seem,
you know, cool to you?

Well, I think it's pretty cool

on "America's Funniest Home Videos"

when guys get hit in the nuts.

That's a great idea.

- [Mouse clicks]
- [Chuckles]

It's like some kind of
construction thing.

Gordon: We should do this.
The Appalachian Trail!

Next summer.

We can do the hundred-mile
wilderness of Maine!

- Oh, n...
- Oh, my God.

- Oh! - Oh! Whoa!
- Hey! Hey!

- Take down that...
- Sorry. I'm taking it down!

- Turn it off! Shut it down. Shut it...
- Whoa.

- Yeah!
- I'm sorry.

- Turn it off.
- Oh, there's another head!

- Take it off! - Ugh!
- Whoo!

- There's another head.
- Hide your eyes.

- I'm not looking!
- She's too precious, you guys.

Get off of me!

- God.
- [Laughter]

Gordon: Okay, look,
that is inappropriate.

- [Indistinct conversations]
- Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yes, uh...

Yeah, let's sit down next
week and talk about it.

I'll have Tanya

or... um, Ashley give
you a call with times.

Okay. You, too. Bye.

- [Receiver clicks]
- [Sighs]

What were you and, uh,
Richie Sambora talking about?

His summer vacation plans.

Oh, well, that must have been riveting.

Stop talking about Trip.

I don't want to talk
about Trip anymore.

Okay.

He is an asset and a
partner in this firm, Donna.

Yeah, I understand that.

I guess I was just trying to make sure

that someone had my back.

You know this office is a boys' club.

It is a boys' club,

and I made managing partner
without anyone holding my hand.

Does he have an advantage?
Of course he does.

But that has nothing to do with you.

Your success here is based on results,

and I don't think you kicking
the crap out of your team

is the way to get 'em.

I came in here to tell you

that your girl from the Rover team...

she was crying in the
stairwell just now.

You might want to consider
a lighter touch.

[Indistinct conversations]

[Sighs heavily]

[Telephone rings in distance]

[Indistinct conversations]

- [Door closes]
- Okay. Here we go...

- Okay.
- So...

Listen, I heard what you said

about strategy, and I...

I'm sorry, let me... [Chuckles]

I think we should go first here.

Unfortunately, we don't
know how this happened,

but someone at Electronic Gaming Monthly

got a hold of Pilgrim.

You're kidding.

A review came out today,

and we got our hands
on an advanced copy.

How is it?

It wasn't good, to be honest.

♪♪

We were all rooting for this game,

and you know how fond we are

of you and all the work
that you've done.

♪♪

Are you just gonna sit on it?

Releasing it in its current form

isn't a viable strategy at this point.

[Sighs] That's crazy.

♪♪

What did it say?

I'll let you read it.

[Briefcase unlocking]

♪♪

I promise,

our lawyers are gonna get
into it with the reviewer,

and whoever gave him the
game will be dealt with.

♪♪

I gave it to him.

♪♪

I want to spruce up the interface...

not too slick, but it should be,
like, clean and efficient.

And we should spread awareness
on the message boards.

Print ads, too, might be
worth a look down the road.

You seem really excited about this.

I mean, you should run with it.

Absolutely. I'm committed to this.

No, I mean, uh, you should take it.

Write Haley a check and... and take it.

Is this about Smut Hut? I'll make
my e-mail the contact for the site.

No, no. It's... It's not.

It's just, uh...

it's a lot of things, okay?

I'm not sure that I want this for her.

Oh, um... okay.

Uh... You know, Gordon...

...I want us to do this together.

[Stammers] You can't sit still
any more than I can.

- Joe, I haven't been sitting still.
- You know? [Chuckles]

I've been busting my ass,
working on things,

things that I care about,

and just to let you know,

I have been doing it without your help.

- And I'm sorry about that.
- Mm-hmm.

It's a big shift, you know,

and... and it happened fast and...

Nothing's shifted for you, Joe.

You've had your eyes locked on this,

on the web, the whole time.

You push people, Joe.

You did it at Cardiff.

You did it at WestGroup.

You do it all the time.

You decide what's right
for a company or a person

and you push them whether
they're ready for it or not,

and I can tell you right now,

Haley's not ready for it.

Oh, sh*t.

I should go.

- [Door opens]
- [Doorbell rings]

[Soft music playing]

[Gasps lightly]

- Oh, you didn't have to do that.
- [Chuckles]

Trip asked me to bring this to you.

Letter b*mb?

[Chuckles]

I'm gonna put this in the fridge.

Do you need me to do anything?

Uh, no, just, uh...

pour yourself something.

[Music continues]

♪♪

[Refrigerator door opens]

[Refrigerator door closes]

[Knock on door]

Bosworth: Knock, knock.

Hey, Bos, thanks for coming.

Well, sure, it should be fun.

I just felt bad.

I was such a... I had a crappy morning.

I figured...

a little unwinding
would be good for morale.

Oh, no, look, I get it.

The kids are gonna
get whiplash, though,

well, you laying 'em out one minute

and invitin' them to dinner the next.

But...[Chuckles]

Hey, um, you know you can
always come directly to me

if there's ever any
trouble with Rover, right?

♪♪

- Trouble?
- Elliot: Hello!

Hey! There they are!

- Hey.
- Come on in!

[Chuckles]

You can, uh, grab yourself
something to drink,

and there's... Oh, come here.

[Chuckles] Pizza's on the way.

Hi. Hi.

[Chuckles]

[Inhales sharply]

- Wow.
- [Exhales sharply]

- It's a really nice home.
- Look at that.

- Cab? Scotch?
- Vera: Oh, no, thank you.

[Exhales sharply]

Cameron: "A ponderous mess."

Oh.

"It's Howe's ego-encasing strategy

to put any understanding of the game

completely out of reach,

and then blame the user

when they are unable to grasp it.

Let me assure my readers,
you are not missing anything,

for this game simply isn't any fun."

Why did you send it to 'em?

I thought it was good.

It's just one review.

It's not. It's the review.

It's...

God, the focus-group testing...

even you didn't like it.

I haven't finished it yet.

What did they say,
what... what... what's...

They're gonna take the game,
take the code,

give it to some guy, retool it,

add... I don't know...
probably a big-titted mercenary

decapitating people or something.

Hey, hey, hey, look at me.

You are full of ideas,

and you are going to make
a lot of games that people love.

You need to put this behind you,

start fresh, and move on.

It's not that easy for me.

I need to, uh, take a breather,

just be by myself for a sec, okay?

[Clears throat]

[Liquid pouring]

[Soft music playing]

Well, here comes my famous salad.

[Chuckles]

There's candied walnuts in it.
That's the secret.

- [Door closes]
- Well, it's safe with me.

Hey, monkey.

Everything okay?

No. Dad's being a d*ck.

Can I stay here tonight?

Uh, yeah, sure.

Joanie, this is everyone.
Everyone, Joanie.

Do you want some pizza?

Oh.

She made her famous salad.

Did she call it her "famous salad"?

Bosworth: [Chuckles]

[Sighs]

[Music continues]

At work today, I found a website...

Guys, we don't have to talk about work.

This is fun. You're not on the clock.

Well, if we're not gonna
talk about work,

what we gonna talk about?

Okay. All right. I'm sorry.

Well, I have an update.

Uh, the problem we were having,

the... the president problem...

- Mm-hmm.
- ...Cecil came up with a fix.

A... A temporary solution.

Uh, Vera implemented
basic inference rules

that complement the Boolean logic,

so when you type "president"
without "Clinton,"

you get relevant results.

"Rock" will give you
climbing and music,

"chicken" will give you Parmesan.

It's a Band-Aid, but it works for now.

[Exhales sharply]

Well, what if we typed in
"dinner-table conversation"?

[Laughs]

[Light laughter]

Mm-hmm.

[Music continues]

Okay.

Okay.

All right, I didn't want
to have to do this,

but apparently, I do.

Oh. Look out. Look out.

Here come the big g*ns.

[Clears throat]

[Chuckling] Oh, sh*t.

[Gasps]

But we are going to relax.

We are gonna have fun.

[Liquid pouring]

We are all going to forget about

what a jerk I was this morning.

- Can I have one?
- Oh, yeah, right.

Uh, I'm okay, thanks.

No. Unh-unh. This is mandatory.

Unless you're pregnant,

I don't want to hear
another word about it.

[Gasps]

[Chuckles]

[Music continues]

Oh, my... Oh, my God.

- I'm... I'm so sorry.
- No. It's okay.

[Music continues]

Nice one, Mom.

[Bottle thuds]

Well, I guess, um...

We're pregnant. [Chuckles]

Bosworth: What?

[Laughter] Hey!

Well, congratulations, for God's sake.

- Thank you.
- Cecil: Salud!

Oh, my God. That was so rude.

It's completely okay, please.

Okay, well, let me at least
propose a toast, then,

after that horrible,
invasive, horribleness.

- [Light laughter]
- [Sighs deeply]

I remember when I was
pregnant with that one...

she loves it when I do this...
[Chuckles]

I was working at Radio Shack so
I could get a discount on parts,

Joanie's dad and I were
building our first computer,

and I was terrified that
my boss would find out.

So I went to a thrift store

and I bought just the biggest,
baggiest sweaters I could find.

Anyway, months go by,

and I think I've got this
guy completely fooled,

and then one day, he leans
over to me very casually,

and he says,

"Before you know it, they'll be grown.

You kiss that baby
every chance you get."

♪♪

[Chuckles]

Well, he was right.

[Chuckles]

♪♪

[Voice breaking]
Anyway, [Chuckles, sighs]

you don't have to wear
any giant sweaters around me...

[Chuckles] ...but...

♪♪

You kiss that baby
every chance you get.

♪♪

I'm so happy for you.

- [Chuckles] Cheers.
- Hey.

- Cheers. - Cheers.
- Cheers. - Cheers.

Here's to baby-smooching, then.

[Laughter]

- Elliot: To baby-smooching.
- [Chuckling] Sure!

- Tanya: Cheers.
- Salud.

- Vera: Cheers.
- [Sighs]

[Sighs]

[Door closes]

There you are, you little sh*t.

[g*nf*re]

[Keyboard clacking]

Ohh! Hey.

[Theme music playing]

Sorry, I just needed someplace to play.

I'll get out of your hair.

You playing Doom?

Yeah.

[Scoffs]

Yeah, I guess this is
where everything's going.

You just... k*ll everything.

It's pretty awesome, right?

Yeah.

You've played?

Yeah. Pretty good at it, too.

Deathmatch?

[Theme music intensifies]

- God!
- [Keyboards clacking]

[g*nf*re]

[Growling, groaning]

Gordon, move!

You do know the object of the game

is to not die, right?

Ugh! You bastard!

[Groans]

- [Sighs]
- [Theme music playing]

So, I, um...

I'm sorry about the divorce.

[Chuckles]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Chuckles]

There is something cathartic about it.

You bet your ass.

It's that you get to
be divorced afterwards.

I was talking about the game.

Oh, um, yeah, yeah.

[Chuckles]

So, how you dealing with all of it?

Good. [Chuckles]

You know,
for me and Donna, it was, uh...

you know, those last few months,

the process and just
getting everything untangled.

- It was...
- Oh, my God.

It was really hard.

Yeah, I can imagine, with kids.

For Tom and I, it's been, you know,

as good as it can be,
I guess, but still, it's...

That reminds me, um,
you got a package out there.

Joe forgot to take it with him.

Oh, I... Okay.

I'll take it on my way out.

[Pen scratching]

So, how's Joe?

Good.

I mean, you know, who knows,
but right now...

good.

Think you guys'll ever
work together again?

No.

That's a minefield.

Oh, he, uh, is really pumped

about this Comet thing, though.
He showed me.

It's really cool.

I just can't believe little Haley is...

Yeah, I told him to move on without us.

- [Pen clatters]
- Why?

I don't know, I...

Joanie says it's 'cause I'm jealous.

Is she right?

Maybe.

Maybe I'm just jealous
that they had a new idea.

I mean, I'm definitely jealous

that I'm not a kid anymore.

You know, all that time
you spend worrying about

wasting it on the wrong project,

or the... you know, the wrong person.

It's hard to think of a
better way to spend your time

than working with her on
something she cares about.

I wish my dad could have seen
me be good at something.

♪♪

Look, your teenage daughter
wants to hang out with you.

That doesn't happen.

Yeah, I know, but...

[Chuckles]

You don't have to worry about
her turning out like me.

She has two awesome parents
looking out for her.

You've even got a mug to prove it.

♪♪

[Crickets chirping]

- [Keys jingle]
- Gordon: Cameron!

- Oh. Sorry.
- Box.

Thank you.

[Horn honks]

[Breathing heavily]

♪♪

Hey, Cam?

Yeah?

It wouldn't be so bad if my
girls turned out like you.

I'd be proud of 'em if they did,

you know, as a dad.

[Horn honks]

Geez, Louise.

Haley's project's pretty cool, right?

It's very cool.

Yeah.

♪♪

[Car door opens, closes]

[Vehicle departs]

♪♪

[Thud]

Oh, sh*t!

♪♪

♪♪

[Vehicle approaching]

Hey!

No!

No!

No!

[Exhales sharply]

[Knock on door]

What's going on?

Can I come in?

Yeah.

[Door creaks]

Do you want to work on Comet with Joe?

Yeah.

Then there are conditions.

One, you don't let him

or anyone else push you around.

Okay, if you have an idea, you say so.

If you don't like an
idea, you say so, okay?

Number two, this is fun, okay?

And the second that it stops being fun,

you say so, and we both walk away.

Okay.

- Promise?
- Promise.

Cross your heart, hope to die?

Yeah, all that stuff.

Okay.

Where are you going?

We should get started.

Sweetheart, it's midnight.

Well, we have work to do.

Okay.

All right.

Your idea about categorizing...

Uh-huh. ...it's smart.

So... let's start there.

Okay.

They had the crowd
eating out of their hand.

I mean, Diane was there.

They're slick. And Rover?

I had the whole team over last night

so we could open up
the lines of communication,

bat stuff around outside the office,

went really well.

Uh, what's the endgame with that site?

In what sense?

The finished product...

I'm just curious
how you're seeing that.

It's the first site you visit
every time you're online.

It's the page that gets you
where you wanna go...

- [Whispering indistinctly]
- I'm sorry, is there a problem?

No, sorry, I just wanted
to flag something for you,

but we can circle back to that later.

I'll swing by your office.

Oh, no. If you have something
to share, be my guest.

Benji sent me a link to a site

that feels like it might be operating

in a similar space.

Just wanted
to make sure you were aware.

Benji, do me a favor
and see who's behind Comet.

Maybe there's a play to be made there.

Benji: Sure.

[Indistinct conversations]

Thank you so much.

Oh, no. I can get that.

Okay.

Uh, I actually had one thing

I wanted to talk to
you about real quick.

Oh, good.

Uh, me, too, but you go first.

Someone at work showed me
the comet list or Comet?

Yeah. Yeah. What do you think?

- It's good.
- Yeah?

It's really good, I just...

we have something,
a play that looks like

it could be part of the
competitive landscape,

and I wanted to make sure you knew.

Part of the competitive landscape?

It's a search algorithm,

basically indexing the web,
making it searchable.

It started as a medical
indexing software,

and they shifted into web.

Oh. They shifted.

When?

A little while ago.

Mm.

Look, it's the idea the team came to.

I wanted to tell you as a courtesy.

Well, why didn't you
tell me as a courtesy

when I mentioned our
indexing project the first time?

Well, you told me that Joe
was writing down websites.

You didn't tell me you were
building a company out of it.

So you're competing with us?

Well, we don't have to be.

I'm sure I can talk the
partners into buying you out.

Buy us?

Why don't we buy you?

Oh, well, Gordon,
you can't compete with us.

You're not capitalized the way we are.

You don't have
the staying power, believe me.

It's Haley's website.

Uh, wait. What?

Haley's Comet... she made the thing.

We're building it together.

When were you gonna tell me this?

- Right now.
- Oh, over second dessert?

Oh, yeah, like you weren't holding out

on the news that you stole our idea.

Oh, please, I didn't steal anything.

You know everyone's
getting into this right now.

You can't keep things from
me about our daughter.

This just happened.

It just happened.

I'm telling you now. That's
what these dinners are for.

You want to have dinner
with me every night?

Well, no, not really.
I tried that for 15 years,

didn't exactly get all
the information then, either.

Oh, God. Yeah, we're really
playin' all the hits, aren't we?

This is not the kind of decision
you get to make on your own.

Listen to me... Haley built it, okay?

And we're helping her make
it into something more,

and she loves it, okay?

You want to crush that, go ahead.

But when you break the news to her,

make sure you to tell her why...
that Mommy's knock-off company

couldn't compete
with the one that she built.

Gordon, this is a bad idea,
I'm telling you.

Rover has the full weight
of the firm behind it,

it's got momentum,

and I couldn't stop it now if I tried.

Listen. We're building the site.

You do whatever you think is right.

[Indistinct conversations]

[Laughs]

[Mutters]

[Menu thudding, silverware clattering]

[Clattering]

[Grunts]

[Clattering continues]

[Cameron sighs]

What are you doing?

I'm unpacking.

[Grunts]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪