Halt and Catch Fire Episode 4.09 Search

Donna celebrates a milestone with her closest allies; Cameron contemplates saying goodbye; Joe confronts an uncertain future.

In the Comet bullpen, Joe screens a Comet commercial in advance of the company's relaunch. The staff cheers. Joe announces that it's Cameron's last day and thanks her for leading the relaunch coding team. He gets choked up as he talks about Gordon.

Donna and Haley walk Joanie to the airport gate to see her off to Bangkok. Joanie gives Haley permission to use her car while she's on her backpacking trip. Donna cries as Joanie leaves.

Bosworth visits the doctor and receives a clean bill of health. Bosworth walks out of the office with a wide grin.

Joe tells Cameron about his hopes to integrate Comet into the infrastructure of Netscape, the dominant browser on the tech landscape. He asks Cameron to help him and gives her a full-sized Centipede arcade game as a bribe. Cameron reluctantly agrees and offers to make a call to obtain a working copy of Netscape, so that they can start pulling apart Netscape's code. They hear a beeping sound in the office. Joe explains that he can't find a key to Gordon's office to turn off Gordon's wrist watch, which had beeped to remind Gordon to take his medication.

Diane stops by Donna's house, where Donna has been on personal leave for four months. Diane asks Donna to decide soon whether she wants the managing partner position. She warns that some colleagues are worried that Donna is getting "soft."

Bosworth rummages through boxes in Diane's garage and discovers a broken Cardiff transistor radio. He tells Diane that he received a clean bill of health. She cries at the good news.

Alexa stops by the Comet office to give Cameron a secret copy of Netscape. She invites Cameron to Paris for a conference and mentions that people are interested in meeting her. Cameron declines. Alexa reminds Cameron to focus on her own future.

Cameron, Joe, Donna and Haley eat dinner at Joe's house. Haley sulks but lights up when she describes Joanie's travels. Joe brings Haley to the living room to show her the Comet advertisement.

Donna tells Cameron that she's unsure if she wants to become managing partner, which would remove her even further from the creative process. She laments that she hasn't had an original idea in a long time. Cameron insists that coming up with ideas is not the same as doing the work.

Haley attacks the Comet commercial and says that it's strange to see her dead father in it. She yells at Joe for using footage of her without her permission and for profiting from her idea for Comet. She yells at everyone to leave her alone.

Joe tells Cameron he's going to pull the ad. Cameron suggests he merely cut Haley out of the ad but he insists on pulling it entirely. Cameron leaves the room to work. When Joe asks what she's working on, she says she's working on projects for Alexa, whose work she sidelined during the Comet relaunch.

At home, Donna tells Haley that she gave Joe permission to use her image in the commercial. She offers to stay home longer, but Haley begs her to return to work. They laugh and share some Bagel Bites.

Donna fixes the Cardiff radio for Bosworth as he reminisces about working at Cardiff. Donna instructs Bosworth to tell Diane that she's ready to take the job.

Haley sits in her car outside Hound Dogz. She gathers her courage, strides inside and asks Vanessa out on a date. Vanessa pauses awkwardly. Haley returns to her car in tears.

Bosworth cleans out the garage and tells Diane that he's ready to start traveling the world together. They dance to music in the garage.

Cameron and Joe work late into the night at Comet. Joe anxiously runs his punch list by Cameron and chides her for checking her email rather than focusing on Comet. She grows irritated by his demands and opens her email. She finds a link, sent by Alexa, to the new Netscape beta version. Joe spots a button for Yahoo! in the Netscape toolbar and realizes that Yahoo! has already struck a deal with Netscape to become their net directory. Gordon's wrist watch beeps. Joe throws a chair at Gordon's door, shattering the glass, and shuts off the watch.

Joe and Cameron return home in silence. They get into bed and lie on opposite sides. Cameron looks at Joe. They kiss. She cries.

The next morning, Cameron tells Joe that she wanted their relationship to work. "The thing that gets you to the thing," Joe says, as Cameron looks at him quizzically. "It was you," he says. "It was always you."

Donna returns to AGGEK. Colleagues congratulate her on making partner. She walks into a conference room to lead a meeting.

Haley sits down at her computer and starts typing.

Cameron flies to Paris with Alexa.

At Comet, Joe plays Centipede as men repair Gordon's office door.

At the AGGEK meeting, Trip informs Donna that Yahoo! will be the default directory for Netscape. He declares that Comet is over and that AGGEK can offload Rover for parts. Donna asks Trip to repeat Yahoo's name, then instructs him to exclaim it. "Yahoo!" he says. Donna giggles hysterically as she yells, "Yahoo!"