04x10 - Ten of Swords

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Halt and Catch Fire". Aired: June 2014 to October 2017.*
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Set in the early 1980s, "Halt and Catch Fire" dramatizes the personal computing boom through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time. Their personal and professional partnership will be challenged by greed and ego while charting the changing culture in Texas' Silicon Prairie.
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04x10 - Ten of Swords

Post by bunniefuu »

Everybody needs a
friend, even an old tree.

Okay, now, take our liner brush.

Paint thinner.

Want to thin it down.

Thin some brown down, very, very thin.

Very thin. A lot of paint thinner.

Let's put a little arm or two.

Maybe this old tree
don't have any leaves.

Maybe he's already retired
for the... for the year.

Hello?

Hey, it's me.

Hey. What's going on?

I-Is everything okay?

Can I just tell you something?

Uh, yeah, o-of course you can.

Okay, so there's this
German guy in the hostel

named Otto.

Oh, yeah? Is he cute?

Anyway...

he was telling me about
this ancient temple ruin.

Actually, he was going on and on about it

at 3:30 in the morning
while I was trying to sleep

and I wanted to bash his head in

with my "Lonely Planet" guide.

But it sounded kind of awesome.

This, uh... the temple ruin?

Yeah, it was b*rned to
the ground by raiders

like 100 years ago.

I asked Otto if I could go with him,

and he said yes.

This place was wild, empty.

It was a major shrine city.

Okay, anyway, Aat, our guide,

he brought us to this
tree, and it had this...

this sandstone head of the Buddha in it.

And the roots of the tree
had completely grown around it

and covered everything except its face.

And...

Aat had us get on our...
our hands and our knees

as we got closer to it

because you can't look
down at the Buddha.

You have to be respectful,

so we crawled up to it,

and, um, I reached out
and I-I touched the roots,

and Aat put his forehead to the ground...

so we did, too.

And it's not like we were
worshipping the Buddha

or the statue, you know?

It was, like...

more of the tree...

for what it was doing,

and... b*rned stones and grass.

Anyway, it, um, started to rain.

And when I put my forehead to the mud,

I thought about Dad...

...like he was still with me,

Just in, like, a different way.

Oh, honey, that's beautiful.

It's pretty cool.

I think maybe you and I,
we're actually pretty similar,

and maybe that's why
we fight all the time,

you know?

Yeah, yeah.

I do.

Oh, sh*t, my calling card is running out.

I love you, Mom! Bye!

There.

sh**t, I think with that,

we about have a finished painting.

Good luck.

- Good luck, Mikey.
- Thanks, Joe.

- Yeah.
- Thanks, Joe.

Thank you.

No, really.

Comet was... a miracle.

Wish we could've done it longer.

You made the right call.

Like you said,

it would've been a
bummer to sit around here

and watch the world swallow us up.

Thanks.

I like this place.

I know it doesn't feel like it now,

but this is the start of something.

Mmm.

- But now...
- Yeah! Now!

Oh, my goodness. I have get ready fast.

- Mm.
- Oh.

I'm sorry, are you... Are you open?

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Wait.

Osiris!

Turn down the tube, babe.

Well, sit down.

Please, have a seat.

Okay, so it's gonna be,
uh, $20 for a palm reading

and $30 for palm and cards.

Um...

Thank you.

May I see your palm, please?

Oh, yikes, I'm sorry.

Mm, but your salsa line
looks pretty good, huh?

Mm. Sorry.

Long life line.

Oh, um...

broken here and there.

Lot of challenges.

Changes.

Challenges and changes, huh?

Shocking.

What's that?

Mm.

Test for stubbornness.

Hmm. Sharp head line.

Smart.

Successful.

Little... selfish maybe?

Heart line seems to say...

some love.

Some loss.

Come on, Denise, enough softballs.

Why'd you come in here today?

Destiny.

Dessert now?

Dessert?

You just scarfed down those nachos!

- How many?
- Two.

Just two?

Okay. Have fun.

That... That's my grandson, Osiris.

Thanks for your time.

Wait, don't you want your card reading?

You paid for it.

Would you please put your
right hand on the deck?

Hmm.

Okay. Thank you.

Past.

Present.

Future.

What does that mean?

Well, you know, they really mean

whatever you want them to mean.

Well, you know...

destruction.

- Destruction?
- Yeah.

Commonly.

Agony, indecision, misery.

Christ.

So I lose again?

Okay, great.

No. Not necessarily.

Because, you see, this golden horizon

behind the storm clouds,

that could be something.

- Can I keep this?
- Sure.

I sell packs for another $20.

Jesus! You okay?

Joe MacMillan?

And like that,

we're getting k*lled in the PC business.

- Who'd have guessed, right?
- Me.

Of course.

Besides you.

Can I just say, Joe,

it's been a kick
watching you carve a path

all these years.

Always on the bleeding edge.

I mean, way out there.

More than a few of us

really grew to trust
your finger in the air.

Have the leaves changed yet?

- What?
- Back east.

Oh, uh, yeah.

Just started.

It's gorgeous.

All right, better get to SFO.

They got us flying business class now.

Believe it?

No, please, I got it.

Can't wait to see what you do next, Joe.

- Right now.
- Donna is on speed dial.

I think we're gonna have
you guys set up here.

Don't thank me.

- No, I'm gonna...
- No, I'm telling you, you got to...

- I'm trying to do that.
- Uh, that was John.

- Let me try.
- No, no, I want to...

- Let me just try it.
- Let me at least try.

Look, look, look.

Come and get 'em.

of one little gene, but this...

Are you all right?

Oh, yeah.

That nasal gel you gave me on the plane,

it feels like a slug crawled
into my nose and took a dump.

Well, you'll thank me
when you don't get sick.

How will I thank you

for something that doesn't happen?

It would be neat to hear you

thank somebody for something.

Two months abroad with top investors,

and we've got nothing to show for it.

Yeah, well, it's tough
for the work to translate

once we got north of Oslo.

Well, the point was to get you in good

- with some real European players.
- Players?

My God, I couldn't tell you
what any of those people did

save for go out to dinner
at fancy restaurants

and name drop.

How much did this trip even cost?

Well, it's my money, and I'm spending it

to help you bring your ideas to fruition.

- Okay.
- But if you're just gonna sit there

- and cut everyone down like some
sardonic assh*le... - I'm sorry.

I didn't perform well enough for you.

I'm not your monkey.

Look, I know that you're still dealing

with some personal issues.

Or... maybe...

you're just losing interest

because now's the part of the process

you actually have to do some work

and not just bullshit
about the possibilities.

Can you pull over here?

Cameron.

Cameron!

How did you even get home?

Oh, just walked a mile to the McDonald's,

used their phone to call
a cab, cab cost $200.

You should've called me at home.

I love me some McDonald's...
them little apple pies.

Mmm-Mmm-Mmm.

Delis-cous.

So, have you talked since?

- Two weeks. Just radio silence.
- Oh, no.

- So I think that's done.
- Yeah.

You know, there's this thing
in CompSci I remember...

recursion.

Where a specific function

calls upon itself
repeatedly within a program.

So in order to solve the big problem,

it uses the same small
problem over and over

as the solution to
increasingly complex issues.

And that, my friend,
is how my software runs.

Sorry about Joe, by the way.

Thanks.

I actually still have

some stuff of his to give back,

but I just can't bear the thought

of seeing him right now, you know?

Can I tell you something?

Yeah?

You got a lot of love in you.

More than anybody I ever met.

It's bursting out of you.

You're taking the world in
these... in these big gulps,

and you can't help but to let
yourself get drowned in it.

Overwhelms you, makes you live like

you're ready to explode at any minute.

They don't see it.

I do.

It's a burden you carry.

You don't think I'm
just running away again?

Oh, I... you might be.

I'm thinking about Florida.

Florida? What the hell's in Florida?

They got alligators and
that dadgum Epcot Center?

What?

My mom.

Ah.

Man, I'm just tired of
saying goodbye, you know?

Recursion.

Exactly.

Maybe you ought to have
yourself a heart att*ck.

- Yeah?
- Yeah, yeah.

Sure.

You know, when I went down,

I did everything I could
to stay in the ring.

Fought like hell.

Had this mantra in my head.

"Just stay in it, stay
in it, stay in it."

But I was losing.

I knew at that moment
if I didn't give up,

that guy's gonna k*ll me.

I got nothing left to give up.

Oh...

I know it's... If you stay, it's hard.

If you leave, it's hard. It's all hard.

It's...

Sometimes it's not even
about what you want.

It's about what it wants for you.

All you can do is...

listen and see if you
can hear what it's saying.

It's saying goodbye.

But, yeah, hit the road, then.

I don't want to say goodbye to you.

Well, hell, sweetheart,
it better not be forever.

I fully expect you to come back

and shake me all up again.

Don't let me get old.

You my 11:30?

No.

Have a look around.

Vaulted ceilings,

crown molding, great neighborhood.

What happened to the previous tenant?

Not sure, but this has been on the market

something like 15 days now.

Are you sure it's okay out there?

Oh, uh, yeah.

- I mean, they'll go around.
- Okay.

So, I'm, uh, your last stop, huh?

You are.

I went by Joe's this morning.

He's totally gone.

Yeah, I didn't, uh...

the real estate agent told
me it'd been empty for weeks.

He didn't...

I'm sorry, I guess I just
thought he would call.

Oh, God, Joe.

Yeah, he, uh, came by here
and said he was leaving

and that he'd be in touch.

Uh, Haley got a letter
from him a couple days ago.

A letter?

Wow, well, I guess we're
both fond of rash departures.

Oh, hey, um, could you just
bring me one more of those,

- and I think we'll be fine.
- Donna, sorry,

- I'm gonna finish this.
- I didn't...

...mean to just burst in on
you and the thing you're doing.

- No. No, no, no.
- Please, it's not...

Hey, why don't you stay
for this thing tonight?

- I think you might really dig it.
- Yeah?

- Think I'm a little below dress code.
- Oh, come on.

You can just borrow something of mine.

No, thank you. I really appreciate it.

I just... I wanted to be in Carson City

come nightfall, so...

- Yeah, no, that makes sense, I guess.
- Sorry.

Hey.

Aah! God. Oh. Sorry.

I am sorry. No, no, it's fine.

It's hardwood.

Hey, look, I...

I wish we could've hung out more

these last couple months.

Yeah, I know. Me too.

It's just work has been crazy, and...

Well, you know,

probably we'll end up
seeing each other more

now that I'm gone, 'cause
I'll come into town,

and we'll really make a point of it.

Yeah, and you'll be back
seeing Alexa, I'm sure,

- and...
- No.

That's, uh... That's dead.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You know, some things
just aren't the right fit.

Hey, Mom.

- Hi.
- Hey.

Uh, this is my boyfriend, Kevin.

'Sup?

Oh.

Haley, uh, Cameron is moving, I guess.

What?

Yeah, I, uh... I'm going on a road trip,

and we'll see, uh, where I... I end up.

Cool.

So everyone's leaving now.

Bye, I guess.

Uh... Sorry, uh...

- Boyfriend?
- Yeah.

- You okay with the door closed?
- Oh, yeah, completely.

She just works on her computer,

and he does the hackey sack.

That sounds right.

You know, I get the sense

that she doesn't even really like him.

Yeah.

Oh, she's doing these
college-level C++ classes.

It's one night a week at Foothill,

and she's been just k*lling herself

over this project,

but she loves it.

Can you believe it?

I can believe it.

Okay, I'm gonna go, uh,
and throw this tomato out.

Oh, God, I'm sorry I didn't take that.

No, here, the trash is...

Where? Hey, I'm...

Drive safe, okay?

I'm, uh... I'm gonna miss you.

Donna, this is...

Haley?

What happened?

I can't open the work file.

I keep trying to open it,

and it says "Drive not ready."

Ugh, did you hit it with your sack?

- What?
- Hackey, Kev.

Uh, no, I've just been chilling here.

That's my semester project!

- Okay.
- Hang on.

All right, try it again.

It's the same error message.

Yeah, the platter's not spinning.

I hate these stupid things!

Breathe. Kevin, do you have any money?

I've got 20 bucks from delivering

Thanksgiving turkeys to old people.

Okay, great, could you do me a favor

and just take her to
a movie or something?

No, I have to do this. I know.

Generations" is out.

Okay, fine.

Okay.

Stop.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, the head's stuck to the platter.

If I can get it off and parked,

we'll have to check the data.

Well, as long as it boots,

I can go through the contents.

Sorry about this. I know
you wanted to get driving.

No. No,

It's not like I'm desperate
to see Carson City.

Oy, that didn't sound pretty.

But, hey, there we go.

Oh, God, I got to go get ready.

Can you keep going with this?

Yeah, yeah.

How's it going in here?

- Jesus.
- What?

No, you just... you...

you just do that so well.

Oh. Hey, yeah.

One of the benefits

of throwing a fancy cocktail thing.

So?

Well, the file's damaged.

I'm trying to figure out

if I can get a side way
in to recover the data.

Well, I hope we can save some of it.

So, what, do you just kick it?

Hmm?

Yeah, you just... just
kick it to yourself.

How do you win?

You just... just use
your knees and stuff.

I don't get it.

You know it really pisses me off,

that Joe would just leave like that.

Things fell apart, yeah,

but for him to just up and...

Whatever.

It didn't work.

Nothing here did, so...

And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you

I was leaving sooner.

I just...

I just wanted to make a decision

and not have somebody talk me out of it.

Hey, if it's what you want to do,

it's what you want to do.

Yeah, man.

If you do what you always did,

you're gonna get what you always got.

If the elevator's
broken, take the stairs.

It works if you work it.

Unless it's more and
more of what doesn't work.

Meetings?

Oh...

A few.

You?

My mom.

I might see her on this trip.

That's good.

Man, this might be toast.

You did copy the file

before you converted
it to rich text, right?

Yeah, but I skipped RTF

and went straight to the hex editor.

Rebuild the header, too,
and check the permissions.

Even if there's version control?

You want to recover data

or you want to make a
15-year-old cry again?

Okay.

Hey.

What if we worked together again?

Um...

What do you, um... Do you have an idea?

No, the idea can come later.

That's not what's important.

I'm sorry.

That, um... Oh, God, yeah.

- That... I...
- No. No, no, no, no, no.

- No, no, no. Please, forget I said it.
- I'm sorry.

I... I don't know what I was thinking.

Cameron.

Sorry.

Uh...

I'm gonna go check on the caterers.

I'll be back.

Okay, yeah, I'll keep working on this.

So, imagine there are five of us

crammed into this rented Land Rover,

- and Kimberly already has
morning sickness. - Oh.

And the Irish roads are built for,

I don't know, horse-drawn carriages.

John...

John stops and takes a picture

of every shamrock we see.

Every shamrock.

And more importantly,

what you have done with the firm

over the past three months...

- Mm.
- ...wow.

Thank you.

That really means a lot.


I thought she'd be halfway
across the country by now.

Yeah, me too. That was the plan.

But she, um...

She just floated the idea
of working with me again

just out of nowhere.

With one foot out the door

and the rest of her life
packed in a silver tube?

Yeah, well, that is her gift.

Thinking of impossible things.

Any luck?

Okay.

How was the movie?

It was weird.

Kirk was stuck in this, like,

frozen time ribbon thing

and he was repeatedly living

the happiest part of
his life for decades.

And then Picard comes and he's like,

"Dude, get out of the
ribbon. You got to help me."

And so Kirk is like, "Sure," and he does,

and he, like, immediately dies.

Picard's a jerk.

Where's the Kevinator?

Mm...

He's probably wolfing
down all the tuna tartare

like a dumb barracuda.

Did Joe write you a letter?

Yeah. Why?

Um, it was just to me.

Yeah, you're right. Sorry.

Did you love him?

Yeah.

I did.

Um, I'll just, like...
I'll just summarize.

Uh...

He said he, like, needs to start over,

and that he didn't air
the Comet commercial

because, you know, um...

He talked about UNC

putting their radio
station on the Internet.

What?

Oh, it's an inside joke.
You wouldn't get it.

Yeah.

Um, he said that my dad was proud of me

and that if he was ever in town,

he'd come and see us.

Um...

And he said not to forget him,

even when I'm running
all of Silicon Valley.

He's joking again.

Yeah, Armonk, where is that?

Um, it's where he's from.

It's where, uh, IBM is.

Mm.

Hey, I'm sorry that we
couldn't recover your data.

It's fine.

Like what Joe said.

What's that?

Fresh start.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Well...

Come find me in the time ribbon.

I will.

Yes, good.

If you'll excuse me one second.

I'm just gonna...

Uh, thank you.

Um, I just, uh...

I wanted to thank you guys
for coming out tonight.

"You guys."

See what we're up against?

When I graduated from Berkeley in '75

with a degree in computer science,

nobody batted an eye.

That's probably because back then,

coders were like
secretaries and engineers,

meaning little solder
soldiers on the assembly lines,

were kind of invisible.

And we're used to that.

But somewhere along the line,
these jobs became important.

And don't get me wrong,

I'm happy to hang out
with "you guys" any time

and eat good food,

but I hope that by the
time my daughters are my age

that they don't have to have
gatherings like this anymore

to remind themselves that
they're actually here.

I've been in tech for 18 years.

I've won.

And I've lost.

I am a woman

who voted her female partner
out of her own company,

the company she founded.

I am a woman who lost a marriage

to, among other things,

this line of work.

I can't sleep at night sometimes

worrying if I'm seeing my kids enough

or if I've been there enough for them

or if it's already too late.

But...

...I've done things.

That always comes with
a price, but I did them.

One of the many things I've learned

is that no matter what you do,

somebody is around the next corner

with a better version of it,

and if that person is a man,

it might not even be better.

It just might get more attention.

And sometimes, that person is you.

The you that's never satisfied
with what you just did

because you're obsessed
with whatever is next.

The one constant is this.

It's you, it's us.

The project gets us to the people.

Because it's people
that got me where I am,

people like Diane Gould.

People like my husband

and my first partner, Gordon Clark.

People like my last and
best partner, Cameron Howe.

And for all the rest of you,

I hope that tonight can be
the beginning of something,

something so that even
if we see each other

across the corporate
battle lines one day,

that you will know that
I am rooting for you.

I can't help but not.

Because I am a partner by trade

and a mother and a sister by design.

And I am...

I am so proud to be on
this journey with you.

Aah!

Oh, my God!

Oh!

No, this is good.

Now everyone knows
you were the crazy one.

Oh, good.

Well, I'm glad I could
be of some service.

So...

About working together.

I'm sorry.

It was a terrible idea.

I shouldn't have brought it up.

I can't tell you what it means to me

that you asked.

I think in some ways, I...

probably have been waiting
for years to hear that.

I meant it.

I know.

Of course, it is also the surest way

to screw up what we do have now.

What do we have now?

We're friends.

Maybe we should try that for a while.

You falling in that pool

was probably the funniest thing

I've ever seen in my entire life.

Hey, where's Kevin?

I dumped him.

Oh, that's... I'm sor... Are you okay?

Yeah.

You know, sometimes I think maybe...

Haley's gay?

- Yep.
- Yeah.

Oh, these girls, they're just... amazing.

Hey, what's happening with
the old Mutiny building?

I mean, I can't believe

they spent all this money redecorating

and didn't even change the stupid lock.

Whoa, carpet. Yeah.

And look at all this glass.

Yeah, this was Comet.

Uh, okay, so Gordon was in your office.

Oh, of course.

And Joe was in mine.

Um, oh.

Gordon rewired the Ethernet

so it patched down through the ceiling,

which was really genius.

What?

You remember when, uh, Lev and Yo-Yo

took the fish t*nk full of sea monkeys

- and they moved it over by the fridge?
- Oh, yeah,

and Carl reached over it

trying to get to the Better Cheddars

and he spilled it all over himself.

Yeah, and he ruined his pants.

He ruined his pants. So
he had to strip them off,

and he was wearing... what was that?

He was wearing that thing.
It was like a jock strap.

No, no, no, it was bikini briefs.

Oh, my God. It was like a French cut.

Didn't he sit, like, right here?

No, Carl, he was over here by Wonderboy.

Oh.

Hey, whatever happened to Annabelle?

The mannequin?

Yeah.

Um,

Well...

Bodie took mushrooms

and immolated her on the roof

during a lunar eclipse.

Those guys.

You know Bodie has four kids now, right?

Get out.

Yes.

And, uh, oh, Wonderboy teaches at NYU,

but he teaches, like, video art.

Oh, cool.

What about Carl?

p*rn.

Oh, of course, 'cause the mustache.

No, he...

he hosts it on a website and he charges.

He has a huge house out
in Arcadia or somewhere.

Yeah.

What would it be?

If we were to do it all over again?

I'm out of ideas.

Okay, then, how would we run it?

Well...

we'd call it, um...

I don't know.

Phoenix.

Oh, I like it.

Equal equity.

Co-founders.

- Equal say in everything.
- Mm-hmm.

And we'd just grow at
our own pace this time.

Like, really enjoy the ride.

What if we did 24 months of pure R&D?

Just focus on ideas way outside the box.

Yeah.

You remember our first week at Phoenix?

Just you, me, and that one guy we hired

out of Cal Poly.

I remember our Series A.

And then we went public.

Right.

We had to start making
some hard decisions,

maybe a partnership
with a bigger company,

and we had to sacrifice
some of the culture.

Yeah, but it worked for a while.

But eventually we had
to let some people go,

streamline some things.

And still we kept losing ground.

We started arguing about
the direction of the company.

I strategized a safe play
to keep things afloat.

And I dug my heels in.

We fought about it.

But it didn't destroy us this time.

No.

But still, we were at an impasse.

And then soon enough,

the decision got made for us.

And we walked away friends.

Hey.

It was a pleasure working
with you at Phoenix.

I loved every minute of it.

Now, how we doing?

Close your eyes.

Does anything feel weird?

'Cause that's what this is.

Feeling weird is...

is how you know you're still here.

All right, now, when
was the last time you ate

Because all a human needs
is food, water, and rest.

You got to remind yourself

that you're just 160 pounds of goo

in the middle of a very big universe.

So whatever's burning you up right now,

just know that it'll fade.

Every problem feels big in the moment,

but, Gordon, you know better.

So... focus on just being being.

And then try to look
up from your computer

every once in a while.

I want to try and see
you as much as I can,

but I should be through Tallahassee

in the next couple weeks, so...

you know, I thought I could, uh, come by.

Yeah.

Okay, well, then I'll see you then.

Yeah, I will, Mom.

Okay.

- Did you get her?
- Yeah.

- Good.
- Yeah.

So, it's a busy week for you?

Oh, yeah, sort of.

We got a 3-D imaging
company presenting at COMDEX,

so, you know, it's just COMDEX.

Yeah.

Oh, COMDEX.

Okay, well, let's do it.

What you tried to do 24 hours ago.

I'm glad I got waylaid.

Yeah, me, too.

Hey, I'll get breakfast.

Oh, no, no. Give me that.

No, no, no. Let's split it.

You're unemployed. Save your money.

Fair enough.

Meet you outside.

Thank you.

Cameron.

What is it?

I have an idea.

Let me start by asking a question.
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