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By Coren Feldman
For the last few weeks, all anyone could talk about was The Queen's Gambit. And I really wanted to watch it quickly so I could throw it up on the site with a snappy review that would drive that sweet sweet traffic my way. I need those clicks to feed my kids.
But I couldn't watch it. Not because I don't have free time, because, let's face it, anyone running a TV show website with almost 130 listed shows has no life. No, I couldn't watch it because I was so helplessly glued to an incredible show no one is talking about, Halt and Catch Fire.
Halt and Catch Fire follows the lives of (primarily) four characters who play important parts in the computing revolution of the late 80s. These brilliant techies discover new ways to build computers and write code and have grand ideas about what the computerized world of tomorrow can look like. We follow them throughout the 80s to the 90s and see what parts they play in the rapidly shifting technological landscape and how their relationships change over time.
Following in AMC's proud tradition of prestige dramas that bring you characters you can't stop watching, Halt and Catch Fire walks a seemingly impossible line with their characters, giving you just enough insight to empathize and root for them, but keeping them just far enough from you that you're never fully aware of their inner workings, motives, or what they might do next.
These characters are not unlike the tech scene they inhabit: rapidly changing, unpredictable, brilliant and impossible to look away from. In series set in a volatile world of VCs, acquisitions and tech giants, you'd expect the plot to mainly be driven by external forces, but most of the twists and turns are usually due to the decisions the characters make.
In the course of the show we watch as these characters (brilliantly portrayed by Lee Pace, Mackenzie Davis, Kerry Bishé and Scoot McNairy) adapt and change to their surroundings, become defined by their successes and failures and never stop chasing bigger and better ideas. Every character is well crafted, every episode is transfixing. If you watch this show, you will likely not watch anything else for a while and it will be worth it.
Coren Feldman is the founder of CorenTV. Right now he has an itch at that annoying spot on his back that he can't quite reach and it's all he can think about.