Halt and Catch Fire Episode 2.05 Extract and Defend

After a marathon lovemaking session, Joe and Sara lie in bed in the afterglow - a happily engaged couple. Sara gets up to make coffee and notices a piece of mail from her father's lawyer - a premarital agreement arranged by Jacob Wheeler. Joe overhears Sara as she yells at her father over the phone for interfering in her relationship. Curious, Joe opens the envelope, sees the agreement and quickly returns it to its envelope.

At Mutiny, post-coital as well, Cameron and Tom huddle under the covers and excitedly plan their first-person shooter game. Tom realizes he's late to work: "If I'm late, my boss'll have my ass," he jokes. Bosworth clocks Tom sneaking out of Cameron's window from the backyard.

Donna arrives home after an all-nighter at Mutiny. Gordon offers her some coffee, but she conspiratorially pours a beer into a coffee mug instead. Almost immediately, Donna spits out the beer remembering her pregnancy as Gordon tells Donna of his interest in pursuing his made-to-order computer business. Donna presses Gordon for direct contact with Mutiny's new network partner for the deal that Gordon had brokered so they can get their almost unbelievable rates in writing, forcing Gordon to admit that his contact for the network lease is... Joe.

Meanwhile, a passionate if annoying subscriber, Chet, stops by Mutiny to demand a refund after wasting his time on a seemingly unsolvable Parallax riddle. Cameron reminds him that he's delinquent on his payments but offers him a hint to solve the riddle.

At Westgroup, Gordon urges Joe to legitimize his timesharing business so that Mutiny can have a formal sit-down with someone from Westgroup as Donna requested. Joe worries that he hasn't collected enough data to present a convincing business plan to Wheeler, but Gordon insists "You're Joe MacMillan, you could talk him into jumping off a bridge if you wanted to".

Donna carefully breaks the news to Cameron that they've been leasing their network from Joe, explaining that Gordon was simply trying to make up for crashing their network. Cameron berates Donna for allowing Gordon to interfere with Mutiny yet again and angrily sends Donna away.

Gordon sits with his doctor, who tells him that he is suffering from chronic toxic encephalopathy (CTE), brain damage, as a result of exposure to lead solder and solvents. Dr. Semel warns that given how quickly Gordon's symptoms have escalated he probably hasn't "seen the worst", and admits that there's really no way to tell if it will get better or worse. Gordon, shocked, tries to take this in.

At Mutiny, Donna notices Lev flirting with a guy online and comes up with the idea to create a Personals room in the Community function, where users can meet others and "date" online. Intrigued, Bosworth calls himself old fashioned, "See I'm living in the past - taking a woman to dinner like we used to," alluding to his date that night.

Immediately following his doctor's appointment, Gordon calls Donna to tell her about the diagnosis, but changes his mind and simply suggests a date night. Donna puts him off, telling Gordon she'll be working late on her new idea for Community.

As the coders head home, Tom asks Lev why Cameron is holed up in her room. "Stuff with her ex," Lev says.

Bosworth stops by Cameron's room and encourages her to talk to him about her troubles while she pummels her broken chair.

Joe pitches his timesharing idea to Wheeler and admits he's already retrofitted the mainframe and sold the time to Mutiny. Wheeler calls Joe's unauthorized move "quite a gamble", but remains interested. He asks to personally meet with someone from Mutiny. Joe assures him that he can handle the clients. "I never go into business with anyone without looking them in the eye first," Wheeler states.

Cameron explains to Bosworth that she's afraid Mutiny is part of some master plan that Joe is plotting. Bosworth suggests she look Joe in the eye and judge him for herself: "Only one person I'd trust to get an accurate read on Joe MacMillan and that's you", he encourages.

Still digesting the news of his diagnosis, Gordon walks into a club and approaches the dance floor where he has a flashback to Donna, dancing in her younger carefree days. When a dancing woman breaks his reverie, shouting above the music for him to smile, Gordon takes advantage of the moment and screams what he's been afraid to say out loud, "I think I'm dying!" but to no reaction as the loud music drowns him out.

At home, Sara admonishes Joe for keeping the timesharing project a secret from her. Joe insists he didn't intend to keep it from her for long, he just wanted to impress her with the finished product.

"We don't keep secrets," she insists as she forgives him for this trespass.

Joe stops by the Clark residence to ask Donna to meet with Wheeler as a representative of Mutiny. After excusing herself from the bathroom where she was vomiting, Donna calls Joe out for asking her when he knows it's Cameron's company. She insists Cameron attend the meeting instead. "I expect her to be professional," Joe says. "It's Mutiny's future on the line here, too."

Following Joe's departure, Gordon finds Donna in the kitchen getting coffee. He proposes lunch with Donna and the girls. Focused on solidifying a contract for Mutiny, and cleaning up another one of Gordon's messes, Donna tersely explains that she's too busy.

At Westgroup, Joe tries to speak privately with Cameron before the meeting with Wheeler, but she quickly brushes him off. In the meeting, Joe uses his tried and true salesman tactics to take control. Cameron bristles. Noticing a copy of Sports Illustrated on Wheeler's coffee table, Cameron impresses Wheeler with an analogy between coding and ice hockey's great, Wayne Gretzky.

In need of some human connection, Gordon picks up the girls from school and suggests they do something fun. Joanie asks to visit her grandparents' house so that they can play video games. Gordon reluctantly agrees. When they arrive at the house, Susan is surprised that Gordon accepts her invitation to come inside for a drink.

As the meeting wraps up, Wheeler asks Cameron if she can vouch for Joe based on their time together at Cardiff. "He's marrying my daughter," Wheeler shares. As Cameron puts the pieces together, that Joe is marrying into this company, she nods. "Helluva guy," she offers, and congratulates Joe.

Joe chases Cameron down to the parking garage where Cameron accuses Joe of making Wheeler his mark rather than her. Joe insists he's merely involving Wheeler in a worthwhile business endeavor. Sara arrives in the parking lot with a congratulatory bottle of champagne for Joe and witnesses this charged interaction between Joe and his ex.

Tipsy from the wine, Gordon thanks Susan for helping him and Donna when they first moved to Dallas. Awkwardness ensues as he realizes that Susan expects him to repay the money she and Gary laid out in the wake of the Symphonic's failure. Disappointed that this possibility for a connection has turned sour, Gordon writes a check for $23,000.

Elsewhere in Dallas, Bosworth has a pleasant old-fashioned dinner date, only to be confronted with the harsh fact that his credit card was declined. Despite his assurances that he will pay the restaurant back, Bosworth is forced to call Cameron to bail him out of this predicament.

Cameron arrives back at Mutiny following her meeting with Wheeler, and she learns that Bosworth kicked Chet off the network. Cameron is livid.

When Cameron brings Bosworth some money to pay his bill, Bosworth asks Cameron how she likes the new chair he bought her. She quickly changes the subject and asks him about dropping Chet. Bosworth points out that Chet was in arrears. Plus he heard her complaining about him. "We don't kick people out, it sends a message," Cameron says, adding, "I just want everyone to leave Mutiny alone. It's mine."

Back at home, Gordon calls his brother, Hank, who still lives in California. Gordon suggests that he bring the girls for a visit. "You really want me to come?" asks an emotional Gordon. Gordon hangs up, finally feeling the connection he had been looking for.

At Mutiny, Bosworth tells Donna that he found a pregnancy test in the trash and worries that Cameron might be pregnant. To Bosworth's surprise, Donna admits she's the one who is pregnant.

Inside, the coders gleefully watch The Terminator. Tom announces that he's leaving for a date. Hoots and hollers follow from all of the coders. Cameron looks at him inscrutably as he leaves.

At home, Joe shows Sara that he signed the premarital agreement, explaining that he's not interested in her money. She tells him things are moving too fast with their engagement and that she's moving back to Austin, alone.

Cameron collapses into tears in her bedroom - the weight of Joe coming back into her life, the guilt of having yelled at Bosworth, Tom's other date, and the feeling that the company is slipping from her control is too much. Just then, Tom sneaks into Cameron's bedroom through her window, explaining they probably fooled the coders enough. He is as surprised to find her in such a vulnerable state as she is to have him there. He moves to embrace her, and she gives into the comfort he provides.