Did you really think Donna and Cameron would be able to pull a fast one on Joe?

I’ll admit, with the help of Tom and the genius behind Mutiny, I actually thought they might be able to pull off their computer switcheroo. Too bad Joe really wanted to play chess.

That test was just one of many moments in Halt and Catch Fire Season 2 Episode 6 filled with tension in the tug of war between Joe and Mutiny over their deal to use the mainframes.

But with Sara gone, Joe seemed to fall back into his smooth-talking, hard-bargaining, manipulative ways to get the end result and victory that he wanted.

It's a tough task to pull one over on Joe.

I wasn’t surprised by Jacob’s willingness to drive the new deal, but I figured that Joe’s past with Cameron would mean he would give them that bottom rate.

So when he didn’t budge? That was a major curve ball knowing that he could negotiate. Even I was frustrated with Joe then.

And to have Donna flip out (I immediately thought of Cameron and was glad that John called her out about the situation and “looking in the mirror”) made the situation worse, but once again, we as the audience had more of understanding of what was going on in her personal life.

I really felt for Donna in this particular hour (and I have more so as this season has progressed) from watching her emotional speech to her mother to agreeing to whatever Joe’s benchmarks were to choosing to go to Planned Parenthood.

But what killed me watching both Donna's and Gordon’s stories was their total lack of communication and trying to deal with things all alone.

I get that Gordon was looking for some human connection and instead of talking to Donna about the brain damage, he went off and wound up sleeping with his brother’s girlfriend from high school.

I also get that Donna was feeling the pregnancy could possibly prevent her from working with Mutiny, but she should have at least spoken with Gordon before making any final decision.

These two should have talked. Even with a scene like Gordon calling Donna to help get their daughter to go to sleep showed how much easier it was to work together to solve a situation. The moment was made even more emotional by what we’d seen from those two characters earlier.

I’m curious as to how their relationship is going to be going forward and if (probably more like when) their major decisions for the hour will be revealed to each other.

I would have been OK with the episode ending on that moment on the phone, but the little add on of Joe telling Jacob to acquire Mutiny was an interesting little tease.

I enjoyed hearing him talk about Mutiny using broadband. I know it's a little silly sometimes that it seems like Mutiny is coming up with all these big ideas from chat rooms to first-person shooters, etc., but there’s something fun about seeing them come to life, especially because of what we know of technology today.

There also seemed to be a fair amount of technical dialogue, but it was relatively easy to follow what the characters were trying to do, and there was an energy and excitement behind the spoken words that made you feel like you were apart of their master plan to fool Joe.

Once again, another impressive episode for Halt and Catch Fire Season 2. This is definitely the upgrade the series needed.

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