Home > Halt and Catch Fire

Working for the Clampdown

( clock ticking )

- ( high-frequency ringing ) - ( Gordon's voice echoing ) I spoke with a doctor.

And he's a really, really good doctor.

And he assured me this is not something to worry about.

( Gordon's voice ) This is not a death sentence.

I'm okay.

This is a complication, that's it.

Lord knows we've overcome our fair share of those, right?

Yeah. I can-- I can leave work.

I can quit and stay and make sure you're all right.

Donna, this cannot, will not derail anything.

Your work-- everything that you're doing.

That would break my heart. I feel fine.

Yes, my hands are a little weak, and, yes, there are small things, tiny things here and there, but I feel good, okay?

I'm gonna live my life.

I'm moving forward with the company.

Gordon, how?

My office is 23 steps from the bedroom.

There's no driving, no commute, my engineers are my most trusted friends.

And worst-case scenario, you're here.

We're gonna be okay, okay?

I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell me.

I was-- I was scared. I didn't know.

I'm here now, okay? I'm here.

Wait, wait. No, it's okay. Um, can we just, uh...

Yeah. Yeah.

Let's just...

Jacob: What do you think about 10,000 square feet of office space?

We'll do it gratis and off-site.

Nowhere near the stench of the oil business.

I think they'll love it.

- They'll never have to see a suit and tie. - ( both chuckle )

Do you have the zoning records on Mutiny's current address?

Just to take that further for a second, where they are now, east side, neighborhood's a little rough, house itself hasn't seen a coat of paint since the invention of the Model A, but the heart of the company is sewn up into its walls.

We could save some coin and embrace that motley spirit.

There's nothing stopping us from buying up the house, the entire block.

We could turn the place into a mini campus.

Let them design it, grow it as they see fit.

Change as little as possible.

Then they could pepper the place with foosball tables and arcade cabinets.

( chuckles ) That would certainly win more votes than our 401(k) and platinum dental.

Drop in a grid of IBM 4361 Superminis,

300 dedicated phone lines, give them direct admin access to the mainframe,

I think we got 'em.

That's brilliant.

Great work, Joe.

Give 'em a call. Let's get this thing done.

Three bucks and my Doctor Doom says red all the way.

I'll bet Kang on blue.

Kang? Dude, everyone has Kang.

I have five Kangs. Arki has 11 Kangs.

Kang is like the John Q. Public of action figures.

Fine, my black Spider-Man.

- Yeah! - Oh!

All: One, two, three.

( cheering )

Guys! Whoa, why is no one working?

- Is something wrong with the network? - Bodie: Not yet.

Unless Joe MacMillan's morning coffee tastes bad.

- ( scoffs ) - Okay, well, shh.

( music playing in background )

Hi, sorry about that.

Oh, please, I raised three rambunctious boys.

The place feels like home.

( chuckles )

What was Tom like as a kid?

- Oh, God. - I'll try not to embarrass him too much.

Oh, you say that 10 minutes after telling her about the time that I wet your bed.

But little Tommy was the golden child, even if he was more of an indoor boy than his brothers.

Every day after school, he got a cupcake and a Kayo just for keeping me company.

- Oh, spoiled. - Mother: Always.

Oh, I gotta get to the depot.

Yeah, okay.

Oh, yeah.

Cameron, thank you so much for lunch.

It was great meeting you.

No, it was great to meet you.

I haven't seen Tom this happy in a while.

Thank you for giving him such a wonderful opportunity here.

We're glad to have him.

This is a very, very special place.

And I know you're bound to have tremendous success.

Thanks.

- Bye, baby. - Okay, I'll see you at home.

- Bye. - All right. Okay.

Um, chicken parmesan, is that okay?

And he can cook, too.

- Can you beat that? - No.

Okay.

- Mother: Bye. - Bye.

( exhales )

Little Tommy.

Thank you.

I know she can be intense.

I liked meeting her.

( phone ringing )

Mutiny.

- Cameron, it's Joe. - Who is it?

Westgroup wants to buy you.

Is it him? Is he cutting us off?

I'm coming over with an official acquisition offer tomorrow.

Cameron?

Cameron, this is good news.

I swear.

( theme music playing )

( music playing in background )

( door opens, closes )

Hey.

Okay, Joe's gonna be here any minute.

So, I'm thinking that we'll listen to him, hear him out, and then act professional and then just let him down easy, right?

- I'm gonna need some time off. - Now?

Starting after the meeting, a few days, at least.

Is everything okay?

It's, uh--

( knock on door )

We ready to talk?

Jesus.

- So that's it, huh? - No.

Those are just the numbers.

Here are some others.

Inventory: 31 Commodore 64 machines, each with a 1541 peripheral floppy,

12 recently purchased ST-412 10-meg hard drives for backup,

22 employees burning on average 3,000 kilowatt hours per month,

1,284 paying subscribers, and one coffee machine using Maxwell filters.

My point is, you don't care about numbers.

You shouldn't.

What makes this place special is people sharing recipes, advice, human experiences, connection over the speed of a phone line.

Mutiny's killer app isn't games, it's people.

And when you sign with us, you won't have to worry about numbers anymore.

You can let us handle that part so you can focus on what you love, which is bringing people together.

- We're not interested in minimizing games. - Neither am I.

Games are the innovative lifeblood of this company.

Vital for technological breakthrough.

Essential for bringing users into the door.

But once they've arrived, connection trumps content.

Starting day one, Westgroup will begin

a global expansion of your network.

That means reaching thousands and thousands of isolated users all over the world and suddenly making them feel less alone.

Uh, just to talk specifics, what exactly would global expansion look like?

- We're not interested. - ( sighs )

I think-- I think we should take a minute with this.

- I have. - Donna: Maybe I'm crazy, but it sounds to me like Westgroup wants the exact same things that we do.

I'm not sold yet either, but I think we should hear this out.

Joe: Let's leave the past where it is and build something truly special together.

No, scratch that.

You build it.

I'll get out of the way this time.

You'll get out of the way?

Hey!

Everybody, listen up.

- Cameron, come on. - Here's what's going on.

Joe MacMillan and Westgroup Energy want to buy us up.

You hear that? Yeah.

We can all go work for a bunch of oil company suits downtown.

- How's that sound to you guys? - Boo.

Oh, what, does it sound like selling out?

- Yeah. - 'Cause that's what it sounds like to me.

Yeah, instead of building kick-ass games, they want to turn this into a place

- where housewives can share their recipes. - Coder: That's bullshit!

What? Oh, wait, you don't want to wear a tie to work?

You don't want to clock in and out?

- No. Hell, no. - So you'd rather be equal partners in a thing that you created with your own blood and sweat and tears than mindless stooges in a corporate food chain?

- Coders: Yeah! - ( clapping )

( chanting ) Mutiny! Mutiny! Mutiny!

- ( coders cheering ) - ( chanting continues )

( coders cheering )

( chanting continues )

- Coder: Great! All right. - Coder #2: Let's do it!

( chanting continues )

All right, first off, I wanna thank you guys for knocking off a few days' vacation time so we can try this thing out, all right?

I'm not asking for full buy-in now.

I believe the proof is in the pudding.

Once those days are up, if you want in, you're in.

- Yeah? - Tandy, EDS, General Dynamics, Sabre.

That's a lot of salary to walk away from after a couple weeks.

Yeah, yeah. I know it is.

And that's why tomorrow I want each of you to bring in your most recent pay stub so I can match 'em in good faith.

Look, I'm not handing out parking spaces and gold watches just yet because it's just us, okay?

100% fulfillment. Guys with screwdrivers and soldering irons sitting at these benches, doing what they do best.

Once we get going, I'm dropping ads in the biggest national computer magazines.

No more retail store middlemen, no more cubicles, no more bullshit, all right?

Just these and this.

- ( chuckles ) Paging Joe MacMillan. - ( all chuckle )

We'll standardize around the Intel 186 '87 processor running at 8 MHz.

10-meg hard drive, 5 1/4 floppy.

Eventually, we'll go to 12 MHz on the 286-based system, but for now I want to stick with the 186 so we can keep prices down.

How far down, you ask?

800 bucks per unit, give or take.

All depending on what options the customer chooses.

They want a standard Lincoln Town Car, boom.

They want a Ferrari? Hey, they got the money, honey, we got the time.

A nimble economy job, 500 out the door.

Prices are lower than retail brands across the board.

We're offering the customer unlimited self-assembly with the convenience of plugging it in and flipping a switch.

Open architecture, baby.

The destiny of every box we build lays in the hands of the user turning that mother on.

So, what do you say?

You guys want to slam one of these together or what?

It's not a death sentence, it's a complication.

And Lord knows the two of us have overcome our fair share of those.

What?

I'm sorry, honey. I'm still on "brain damage."

Microscopic. Some mild effects.

- Like what? - Like muscle weakness, some memory lapses.

He might seem a little off once in a while.

Like when he dug a hole in your yard in the middle of the night?

No, no, that was work, stress.

What about when Gordon flew out here all those years ago to ask your father's permission to marry you?

- What happened? - No, Mom-- now you're being ridiculous.

- What happened, Donna? - Mom.

He was so nervous that he got on the wrong plane.

Ended up in Salt Lake City.

Had to call your father, who ended up booking him a seat.

Even told the gate agent to make sure he got on the right flight.

That's not-- that's-- it's cute.

It's-- that's--

Jesus, Mom, that's one of my favorite stories about Gordon.

That has nothing to do with this.

What if he gets worse? What if one day he's in a wheelchair?

What then?

Well, then we will deal with it.

What if something happens when he's taking care of the girls, honey?

- Have you thought of that? - ( groans )

I know it's hard, but you have to.

Maybe what happened-- the baby--

was a blessing in disguise.

Hey, how's it going over here?

Whatever, whatever.

What, when are you gonna meet up with this guy?

- George, right? - I don't know.

We talked about doing something tomorrow, but maybe never.

- Lev, do it. Stop being such a wuss. - ( laughs )

Shut up. You still owe me a black Spider-Man.

- ( laughs ) - Hey.

I think I got it.

Coder: All right, let's go.

Where's how much it was for?

I haven't found it yet, but look.

Office space renovation and expansion,

- something-something-- - Cameron owns 90% of this place?

Founding entry-level employees entitled to a 64% increase of current salary and 1% of sale price.

( speaks Russian )

1% of what?

Well, we already said no, so it's 1% of jack shit.

Let's be clear.

You didn't bring me here. I elected to show up.

Everything you say in this room goes right back to Cameron.

And I have every expectation that Cameron knows you came to see me.

You know this is a good deal.

The terms are not insulting, yeah, but it ain't my company.

Can't fault the kid for being a little squirrely, either, can you?

Hell, Joe, you seemed like a pretty good deal to me back in the day.

I never asked you to embezzle that money, John.

- ( scoffs ) - If you hadn't taken matters into your own hands and instead just listened to me, you'd be a multimillionaire along with Nathan right now.

I know you see it. You always have.

You went to bat for the Giant because you believed in it.

You're at Mutiny because you believe in what they're doing now.

I'm at Mutiny because I'm a 55-year-old ex-con who can't get a job.

You're an extremely valuable asset.

Please, Joe.

I can't take such a large amount of sunshine up my ass.

It makes me itch.

We're going to need to pitch this program to nine different global subsidiaries.

That's gonna require serious sales acumen.

We want you on that team.

We?

Man, you're not pitching shit unless she miraculously changes her mind, and I work out of her kitchen until the day she says otherwise.

You belong in a corner office and we've got one waiting for you right here.

( sighs )

You have Cameron's ear.

She can hate me all she wants, but don't let her cut off her nose to spite her face.

I know you're her go-to.

It ain't me, babe.

Is it Donna, then?

What can I say?

The kid's in love.

- ( knock on door ) - Oh, Jacob.

So glad you could swing by.

- John Bosworth. - Hey.

- I've been hearing about you in my circles for years. - Sure.

I'm really looking forward to having someone of your background and experience on this team.

I'm sure we both can learn a thing or two from each other, don't you think?

Oh, I think so. I think so.

- Thank you. - Look, I'm sorry to be in and out like this.

I have to be in Houston by 4:00, but when I heard that you were coming in,

- I just had to come over and introduce myself personally. - Oh, sure, sure.

- It's a real pleasure. - Pleasure's mine, Jacob, yeah.

( chuckles )

Joe.

You know... you're not gonna find a deal like this anywhere else.

You might be right.

But I won't be bought, Joe.

And if that's what Cameron wants, none of us will.

But we can offer an option for a micro 3 1/2.

- Single or double-sided? - ( generator whirring )

Offer both, but double costs more.

Hey, you don't have to hang out here all day, you know.

Look, you've been living with this for a while. I haven't.

But, look, it's more than that.

I've been gone too long. I've missed you.

I've missed you, too.

Hey.

- I know that's why you went to Henry's. - What?

You needed someone else because I wasn't there for you.

Well, you're here now.

- Hey, Gordon? - Yeah?

- Where do you keep the mugs? - Left of the sink.

Want me to make you a new pot?

Oh, it's actually for smaller screws.

Tiny, tiny stuff.

- How's everything going out there? - Great.

Laying out the prototype specs, digging in on mods.

How's Gordon handling everything?

He just bought 40 grand worth of CPU chips over the damn phone, so I'd say pretty good.

- $40,000? - Yeah.

Does that seem okay to you?

Why, is something wrong?

No, no, nothing.

Just, could you keep an eye on him and let me know if he seems... different, you know, or...

Sure, will do.

Larry, what's the holdup?

You puttin' the moves on my wife?

- ( chuckles ) - Uh, no, sir.

Gordon: We got work to do.

( elevator bell dings )

- You went to my house? - I thought I'd try you there.

You weren't home, so I left the--

The terms sheet, yeah. You knew I'd be at work.

Do you know who was at my house?

My mother.

Do you know she cried when she thought

I was getting this kind of a payout from the sale?

And then she cried again when I had to tell her that it wasn't true.

Do you-- do you understand the recklessness of telling those kinds of lies to someone like that?

Who's lying? These numbers are real.

That's the same acquisition offer tendered to Cameron and the senior staff.

The only new piece of accounting here is what you would personally stand to make.

- A bribe, you mean. - I just did the math for you.

You know, Tom, you could've told me all this over the phone.

And yet you're here.

You invaded my space, I figured I'd invade yours.

Mm.

You care about Cameron.

You should. She's special.

But you have to ask yourself if you're doing right by her if you let her make this decision from a place of pure emotion.

I'm not even gonna tell her that we spoke.

Okay.

( door opens, closes )

That's all that he told me.

Is that what you want?

( sighs )

( coders chatting )

( chatter continues )

How much do you think it was for?

I don't know.

It was five million.

But we already made our decision, so let's get back to work and just forget about it, okay?

No.

You made our decision.

What happened to democracy?

Maybe your memory's failing you, but we all shouted Joe out of this house.

Didn't we all make this call?

Yeah, honestly, we were just curious, that's all.

- Yeah, it's okay. Cool, so it's settled. - Carl: It's fine.

How come you never told us you own 90% of Mutiny?

You need to let this go right now.

How could anything be up to us at all?

And shouldn't this be different?

We didn't know the details of the deal or that we were turning our backs on $5 million.

What? What do you want?

A vote.

A real vote.

Fine.

Yes, fine. We'll have a vote.

For you, so that we can put this to bed. Everyone come in here.

I'll call your names. Raise your hands if you want to sell, okay?

Sell.

Yes, got it.

Arki.

Sell.

Carl?

Can I abstain?

Okay, not sell.

Wonderboy.

Not sell.

Bosworth.

( sighs )

Well?

Not sell.

( phone ringing )

Tom?

Bosworth: Mutiny.

Cameron: Tom?

Jesus.

Cameron. Cameron!

Lev's in the hospital.

- ( music playing in background ) - ( chatter )

What are you waiting for?

I know my father has this idea of me as some damaged little girl unable to keep a relationship.

I'm not exactly eager to prove him right.

- Then don't. - Oh, please, don't make this harder than it already is.

( sighs )

This is a scintillating conversation.

Dad, uh, Joe and I-- well, I haven't been exactly happy in Dallas.

It's been hard on me, on us, and last weekend I was in Austin and I was thinking that--

No, no, no, no, I understand.

Things here are new for both of you.

New job, new home, new city.

Is it perfect yet? No, but you're building a foundation.

- Well, that's not what I mean. - Well, what I mean is that you were never very good at sitting still for anything.

You know, you don't need to hit the reset button every time you feel the slightest bit of discomfort.

That's not what I do.

- And if you're referring to Peter-- - Oh, come on, Sara.

- It's exactly what you do. - ( scoffs ) Okay.

I do business in nine different countries, but compared to you, I feel like a thousand-year-old oak tree.

You've finally found a guy you can trust, someone who can help you heal those old wounds.

Frankly, I'm delighted that you're with Joe.

Even right now, you seem much more grounded to me.

Look, I hate to see both of you throw away everything you've been building here just because of some anxious whimsy on your part stemming from the mistakes you made with your ex-husband.

With all due respect, Jacob, I don't think you know what you're talking about.

- Ah. - Sara deserves a little more credit than that.

She sees the best in people.

That's not a weakness, it's her strength.

I'm sorry.

You think you know my daughter better than I do?

I think we can navigate our engagement without your input.

Does anybody want to know what I think?

- Gordon: Moment of truth. - Man: Moment of truth.

All right.

( powers up )

- Geronimo. - ( men laughing )

- Yeah! - ( slaps table )

The Giant took us a year.

The Pro took us half a year.

We got this sucker running in two days.

If nothing else, we're getting a lot faster.

I think pretty soon we're all gonna be a whole lot richer.

( all laugh )

You all right, Gordon?

You know, um... the hardest thing in life is to get knocked down and then get back up constantly.

But we do it because we love it and we know deep down that if it's the right idea, it could be bigger than all of us.

For a long time, I wondered if I was ever gonna find it.

The closest I've come is my kids.

Well...

I think I've finally found something that will allow me to say to them with confidence,

"You can do it. You can follow your dreams.

No matter how hard it is, you can do it."

Hear, hear.

- Man: Cheers... - To dreams, Gordon.

Just two weeks ago,

I was ready to walk into Joe's office and tell him that a portable under 15 pounds-- it couldn't be done.

And now the Giant is gonna be the lightest machine on the market.

And that is truly something to be proud of.

Joe as in Joe MacMillan?

Uh, what?

What about Joe?

Um, anyways, uh... great-- great work, guys.

( crickets chirping )

( powers down computer )

- ( sirens wailing ) - Woman on P.A.: ...S gurney to curtain 2.

- EMS gurney to curtain 2. - Hey.

Easy, easy. He's stable. It's fine.

He can't talk right now. He's asleep and they want him to rest.

What happened?

He was supposed to go out with George today from the network.

Did they get jumped?

There is no George.

It was just a bunch of guys pretending to be a person on Community so that they could lure him out and...

Did you give the police the subscriber info for the account?

- That should help them-- - No, the address is phony, so... of course the dumb pigs aren't even doing anything about it, especially--

Um, can I see him?

So, what?

Dinner here again next week? We tell him then?

You know, listening to the two of you talk in there, it all crystalized for me.

This is what's wrong. You're in Dallas again, working at Westgroup, with a network that you set up in secret--

I think you didn't tell him 'cause you're not ready to give up on this.

No, when we came down from the observatory, we talked about moving forward, but the way you're acting now, where you're headed, you're backsliding, and I didn't sign up for that.

I don't know what you want me to do differently.

I want you to stop meddling in other people's companies and build your own.

Somewhere else, like we talked about.

- What are you afraid of? - I'm not afraid of anything.

You're the one who's afraid of your history, my history repeating.

It won't.

I see what I see.

( car approaches )

What was your vote gonna be?

She told you how I got a cupcake and a Kayo every day after school.

What my mom didn't tell you was that was my dinner.

That way, she could feed me for under a buck.

( sighs )

She was laid off two weeks ago.

But we already had lunch planned and she insisted on wearing her uniform and I begged her not to.

But she didn't want you to think...

I don't want you to think that this is about money.

'Cause it's not.

'Cause my mom will get by.

We always have.

This job means a lot to me.

And I hope it goes on for a long, long time.

But you also mean a lot to me.

And I want us to go on for a long, long time.

You gave me this job.

It's your company.

No.

This company belongs to everybody.

I'll call Joe.

I'll tell him we're selling.

First of many.

Step one, beef up support staff of the explosive Community functions.

Step two, prep a huge launch of the latest game,

"Extract & Defend."

Spectacular blitz. National TV spots, full-color ads.

Let's hold off on the games just for a minute.

Why would we do that?

Three letters-- C-E-S.

The Consumer Electronics Show is this month, and from what I hear, cartridge consoles still own the games business.

What about Atari? First company to lose a billion dollars in a year.

Nintendo.

This, uh, entertainment system thing is gonna hit the States just in time for Christmas, and the skinny is that's all she wrote.

Continuing with online games at this point

would just be throwing good money after bad.

You're right. We should proceed with caution, but games are the door.

They get users in.

They get them hooked on the network.

The better the games, the bigger the door.

No. Community.

That's the door.

And, in my opinion, that's everything.

That's what we'll grow.

A big part of my pitch to them was that they could maintain creative freedom.

Yeah.

That was smart.

( faint chatter )

What are you doing here?

I, um--

I went by the house.

They told me.

We don't know who did it.

You probably never will.

Sixth grade, first day of school.

Someone wrote "fag" on my locker.

I got some paper towels from the bathroom, wet them down, and scrubbed it off before anyone could see.

Next day, they wrote it 20 times in a permanent marker.

I never went back to my locker.

Carried seven textbooks in my backpack for the rest of the year.

I was only 11 years old, but I was already running from something.

I guess it made my legs stronger, my back stronger.

It's dangerous to try and really connect with someone.

It's so special when you find a person you can be yourself with.

You were that.

Sara is.

Don't sell.

He'll ruin it.

He won't mean to, but he will.

He'll make a ton of money, the company will be a juggernaut, but your vision will be corrupted and lost.

He'll start by pulling the plug on games.

( groans )

What-- what is this, Joe?

You fight so hard to get me to sign the dotted line--

It's not my business.

I'm not gonna bully you into this.

It's your company.

You should decide what happens to it.

Maybe you'll make it.

Maybe you won't.

But you'll live or die by who you really are.

And where do you fit into all this?

I don't.

I'm removing myself from the equation.

( sighs )

Donna: Gordon?

What is it?

What's wrong?

Our first order.

Clark Computers.

We're officially in business.

( laughs )

- ( door closes ) - ( footsteps )

I'm putting in my notice at Westgroup.

I do believe I'm the person you fell in love with.

If you want me to go, I'll go.

Just tell me what you want.

I want to get married.

( laughs )

( exhales ) That's what we'll do.

No, today.

And in two weeks, we're in California.

Okay.

Okay.

( laughs )

- ( door closes ) - ( coders chattering )

Let me just make one thing clear.

This is my company.

And I'm not selling it.

( music playing )