Halt and Catch Fire Episode 2.08 Limbo

At Mutiny, Donna expresses her frustration to Cameron for ignoring everyone's wishes to sell the company and for listening to Joe "the one person you told the rest of us never to trust" instead. Though Cameron won't apologize for her decision, she agrees with Donna that Mutiny must get out of the Joe MacMillan business and find a new network as soon as possible.

Meanwhile at Westgroup, Joe and Sara tell Jacob Wheeler that they got married at City Hall that morning. Joe then gives his notice and offers to help find a replacement, but Jacob assures Joe his team can handle replacing Joe. The ease with which Jacob accepts the news seems to unsettle Joe. Before leaving Joe apologizes to Jacob for the Mutiny deal not closing. Jacob again responds with grace, and sends Joe off with his best wishes for a lovely honeymoon.

Later, in the middle of the night at the Clark house, Gordon sees Jules in his bedroom. He then wakes from his dream startled, rousing Donna, but he doesn't tell her what he saw.

Weeks later, the Mutiny staff prepare the backyard for a party for their avid users. Inside, Cameron and Tom put the finishing touches on their first-person shooter game. Tom bristles when Cameron shares that she plans to copy-protect the game, pointing out that he learned how to code by pulling apart other people's code, as did she. Copy-protection is counter to hacker ethos, and Tom objects stridently. Cameron tries to mollify Tom with a kiss as she seems to have no intention of heeding his concern.

A little later, Bosworth updates Donna and Cameron on the state of the company, noting that Mutiny is flourishing, thanks to Community. When Cameron asks for a status report on Games, he delicately tells her that it's not growing as quickly, but assures her those core users are loyal and there to stay.

At the Clark house, Gordon tells a somewhat overwhelmed Larry and Ed that they already have 250 orders for custom computers. When a returned machine surfaces, Gordon blames them for a broken serial port. Larry points out that Gordon was the one who assembled the computer. Then, Stan surprises the group with a visit, just back from Silicon Valley.

At Westgroup, Jacob Wheeler introduces Joe, freshly returned from his honeymoon, to Jesse Evans, a slick Silicon Valley transplant who will serve as his replacement. Joe tells Jesse that Gordon did the hardware work, and that he will walk him through the mainframe later that day. Jesse thanks him as he acknowledges hardware is not his area of expertise. Joe is surprised and a bit perturbed to learn that Jacob is replacing him with a "big picture guy."

Back at the Clark house, Ed and Larry quit Gordon's company on the grounds that the venture is too risky. Gordon angrily calls them cowards. Joe then calls Gordon and reminds him that he was supposed to be at Westgroup half an hour ago.

Donna welcomes the first Mutiny user guests to the party. Tom tries to get Cameron into the party spirit but she puts him off claiming she still has work to do.

In the Westgroup parking garage, Gordon has finally arrived. He hastily gives Joe a notebook and stack of drawings with instructions and tells Joe to have Jesse call him if he needs anything. Joe tells Gordon that he and Sara have gotten married and are leaving for California in a matter of days. The two shake hands acknowledging they may not see each other for a while.

At the party, Bosworth proudly greets his wary son, James, and introduces him to his Mutiny colleagues.

In Cameron's office, Tom registers his frustration that Cameron is moving forward with the copy-protection despite his objections. He also tells her that he's angry that she chose to listen to Joe, rather than him, about whether to sell the company. In the middle of his rant he inadvertently mentions that he loves her. "You love me?" she asks, smiling.

Back at the Clark house, while on the phone with his daughter from camp, Gordon browses through Byte magazine. "Son of a bitch," he yells when he notices an ad for JGL Custom Computers, a company that builds computers to order just like Clark Computers. He angrily rips the ad out, and storms out the door.

Joe gives Jesse Gordon's hardware instructions as they tour the mainframe room and offers to help with the transition. Jesse waves Joe off and assures him he can handle it himself.

Lev arrives at the Mutiny barbecue, bruised and on crutches, but to great fan fair. Cameron even emerges to welcome him. Donna then forces Cameron to address to the party guests. Cameron announces that they're about to release "Extract and Defend" and receives a smattering of applause, revealing how few gamers are in the audience.

As Joe and Sara pack, Joe shares his misgivings about Jesse. Sara assures him there will be projects more deserving of his attention in his future and suggests they take some MDMA to mark their last night in Dallas.

Gordon stops by Mutiny to tell Donna that he suspects Stan stole his business idea and that's why he's back in town. Donna advises him not to jump to conclusions. She further suggests he stay and enjoy the party for now, and that they can sort it out together tomorrow. Gordon declines telling Donna he should go home and get some rest.

Elsewhere at the party, a Mutiny user hugs Cameron and thanks her profusely for providing an online forum where she could talk about her troubled family life.

Joe and Sara arrive at Dallas hotspot, the Starck Club, high on MDMA, and committed to having a magical evening.

Gordon pulls up to a darkened residential garage that seems to have a number of computers hidden under a tarp. He breaks a window to gain entry.

Back at the Mutiny barbecue, a concerned James tells Bosworth about a job opening. "We can get you out of here", he says. Bosworth smiles and thanks James.

As the party winds down, Cameron calls Tom out for saying, "I love you". He admits it's true, and tries to coax her to return the sentiment. Instead, mired in stubbornness, she kisses him.

We find Gordon snooping around a garage with his flashlight. Stan then emerges from his house with a bat. Gordon accuses him of hiring Larry and Ed, stealing his business model, and sabotaging his company. Stan then shares with Gordon that he came back to Dallas because Silicon Valley was a young person's game, not because he wanted to steal Gordon's idea. He says Gordon has been acting "nuts", according to Larry and Ed, and mentions that Donna asked them to monitor his behavior. "You think she's trying to shut me down?" Gordon asks, paranoid. Police arrive, having been called by Stan earlier in response to the break-in. The police arrest a very agitated Gordon.

At the Starck club, Joe and Sara continue the party in a lounge area. In a drug-fueled admission, Joe tells Sara that he has a hard time expressing his true self, and then announces his vision for a future of shared information and consciousness existing online. Joe then says he has one more goodbye to give before they leave Dallas.

Back at Mutiny, the barbecue has finally waned. In a private conversation, Cameron admits to Donna that Mutiny is being sustained by Community, not games, and apologizes for standing in Donna's way. Cameron says she want to be a part of Community's success, and bring to it her skills as a coder. They excitedly start riffing about ways to further develop Community.

Joe and Sara make love in the mainframe room at Westgroup, but are interrupted by the arrival of Jesse's team in the adjacent room. Sara takes her leave as Joe mischievously spies on Jesse and his group. "To WestNet", Jesse toasts, congratulating his team. As Joe catches sight of the computer screen it lands on him that Westgroup has launched their own site that looks a lot like Mutiny.

Back at Mutiny, Carl interrupts Cameron and Donna's energized brainstorm with news that they've been locked out of the network. "There is no Mutiny. It's gone", Cameron says, staring at the screen.

As Sara sleeps in their limo on the way home, Joe tells their driver to make a last-minute stop.

The Mutiny team is in full panic mode after learning that Westgroup cloned their interface and slapped on a new name: WestNet. All of their users have been stolen as the network essentially looks and operates the same to them: "all of their friends are on WestNet now." Joe wanders in, disoriented from the MDMA, and insists to Cameron he played no role in the WestNet takeover. Bosworth orders him to leave.

On the other side of Dallas, an increasingly paranoid Gordon mutters Donna's name in the back of a police car, wondering aloud why she would betray him.

Donna asks Cameron if she believes Joe now. "Not for a second," Cameron says coldly pondering their next move.