Halt and Catch Fire: The Complete Second Season

The second season of this cable drama about the first digital revolution—i.e., the creation of the initial PCs in the early 1980s—switches focus from the ambitious business dreams of Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), a kind of Don Draper for the ‘80s, and the engineering breakthroughs of Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy), to look at an independent computer startup. “Mutiny” is essentially a garage business built from the ground up by punk coding genius Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis) alongside engineering and business veteran Donna Clark (Kerry Bishé), and their struggle in a business culture dominated by major corporations becomes this season's central conflict. This is still set in the Silicon Desert of Texas—before California became the center of the tech world—but the focus on a business that is created and run by women adds new dimensions to the drama, from their fight to be taken seriously in the male-dominated industry, to Donna's frustration with her husband Gordon as her career overshadows his. Mutiny's efforts to develop a business built on a community connected through telephone lines and online communications presages an Internet driven more by the participants than the designers, who are surprised to find their chat rooms are more popular than their online games. Interesting history meets fine drama in this engaging show about ambition, idealism, and creativity bumping up against the practical challenges of making a profit and fending off competitors who have more money and less scruples. Compiling all 10 episodes from the 2015 sophomore season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a set tour with Pace and McNairy. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)