Five Things We Learned from the Halt and Catch Fire Series Finale

Season 4 was a great one for Halt and Catch Fire except for the fact that it was its final season. And, as it turns out, many of my predictions sadly didn’t come true. Gordon and Donna didn’t get back together because Gordon died very suddenly. It was very sad, especially for Gordon’s daughter, Hayley, who had been fighting with him on and off for awhile.

Comet vs. Yahoo!

Gordon and Joe’s search engine did not become the next big thing in the online world because their brilliant idea for it was preempted by Yahoo!, who got it on the web first and consequently not only did Comet not fly but the company went under. Again, very sad. Not only did Joe and Cameron not live happily ever after and build a beautiful ranch house on that perfect piece of property and fill it with a houseful of cute kids, but they actually broke up! Didn’t see that one coming. So, what will they do now?

Cameron & Donna Together Again

Well, Joe became a Professor of Humanities and looked happy, albeit maybe a bit lonely, in his new life. And, what about Cameron and Donna? Believe it or not, they end up becoming even closer friends than they were before their little rift a few seasons back. And, they even decide to work together again on a new idea that Donna comes up with that seems to involve a jukebox, people, and a cashier. In the end, they leave us guessing what the idea is. Hmmmmm. Could it be iTunes? Guess we’ll never know. But, all in all, it just goes to show you that some partnerships are just meant to be and the show basically ends up right back at the beginning with the two amazingly bright women again setting out to conquer the online world.

OK, so what are the 5 Things We Learned from the Halt and Catch Fire Series Finale?

1. No matter how good your idea is, there’s always somebody around the corner with a better one. Comet and the entire Joe/Cameron/Hayley/Gordon (as a ghost of course) company, could’ve been huge and maybe even turned out to be Google if Yahoo! hadn’t beaten them to the punch. Too bad.
2. Sometimes even the best of TV writers will miss a prime opportunity for a beautifully poignant moment. Case in point is when Donna finds a pic of Gordon and his girlfriend Katie while cleaning out Gordon’s house following his untimely death. Katie was played by Anna Chlumsky, who you may remember from a little film from years back (1991) called “My Girl” where, as a little girl, she starred with Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. Well, when Katie stops by to say “bye-bye” because she’s leaving town, it would’be been so sweet if Donna had given her the pic. We waited and waited and waited but, alas, it never happened. A Nice moment lost in time.
3. Sometimes the unlikeliest couple is the one to survive. Bos and Dianne are the only couple to live happily ever after. And, that’s even after a heart attack and Bos losing his beloved boat and a bunch of money and keeping it a secret from Dianne. He survived, she forgave him, and they’re still together at the end of the series. Good for them!
4. No success is forever and no good deed goes unpunished. Joe became a multi-millionaire earlier in the series by putting out the original ant-virus program which he made even bigger by giving it away for free. Still trying to figure out if it was, in reality, McAfee or Norton but my guess is that it was one of them. He did, in fact, originally get the idea from Gordon whom he later compensated for his contribution. That, of course, results in their later partnership but we know how that ends, with Gordon gone and Joe closing the company and becoming a professor.
5. If you’re walking past a swimming pool, be sure to watch where you’re going. In one of the final scenes of the series finale, Cameron falls in the pool while waving goodbye to Donna. Actually, it was a fortuitous thing since it kept her from leaving right away and gave them a chance to reconnect.

So, all good things must come to an end, and so has Halt and Catch Fire. We’ll miss all of those great characters, both the live and the dead, the happy and content, the lonely ones, and especially those who keep coming up with better and better ideas!