Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

Post by rkomorn » Wed, Feb 18, 2026, 10:21 AM UTC

snapetom wrote: post #193

rerdavies wrote: post #155

As someone who lived through that era, I couldn't watch it. A deep sense of uncanny valley. The 97% that they got completely right was ruined by the 3% that that they got wildly wrong. Often senslessly so. Stuff that a technical consultant would have caught in an instant. I did rather enjoy the way that they captured the manic energy of the generation of dirtbag sales and marketing people that drove the PC industry i…

I hear you. After the first season, the tech and industry was just a backdrop, and I couldn't get into because the rest of it was pretty weak. I had the same feeling but the opposite outcome with Silicon Valley. Growing up in Palo Alto, it took me a while to figure out if I was enjoying this show because it was genuinely funny or if it was just because it hit the absurdity of the time and place so well.

Post by mdemare » Wed, Feb 18, 2026, 10:38 AM UTC

raffael_de wrote: post #247

danielvaughn wrote: post #3

Lee Pace's performance in that show is one of my all time favorites. It's incredibly hard to play a charismatic marketing guru because in some sense, you're not acting. In a given scene, the character might be trying to convince people around him of some crazy idea, but if he hasn't convinced you, the viewer, then the entire illusion falls apart. So he really has to do in real life what he's pretending to do on scree…

I have Lee Pace on the radar since Singh's The Fall. Your assessment of movie magic is only partially correct. Obviously, a character has to be convincing by himself but the heavy lifting of the illusion is done by the peer characters acting as if they believe the role he plays. "The king is always played by the others" Not sure who is to credit for this quote but in my opinion it is one of the most important insight…

Post by telesilla » Wed, Feb 18, 2026, 10:42 AM UTC

raffael_de wrote: post #247

danielvaughn wrote: post #3

Lee Pace's performance in that show is one of my all time favorites. It's incredibly hard to play a charismatic marketing guru because in some sense, you're not acting. In a given scene, the character might be trying to convince people around him of some crazy idea, but if he hasn't convinced you, the viewer, then the entire illusion falls apart. So he really has to do in real life what he's pretending to do on scree…

I have Lee Pace on the radar since Singh's The Fall. Your assessment of movie magic is only partially correct. Obviously, a character has to be convincing by himself but the heavy lifting of the illusion is done by the peer characters acting as if they believe the role he plays. "The king is always played by the others" Not sure who is to credit for this quote but in my opinion it is one of the most important insight…

Post by raffael_de » Wed, Feb 18, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

mdemare wrote: post #253

raffael_de wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have Lee Pace on the radar since Singh's The Fall. Your assessment of movie magic is only partially correct. Obviously, a character has to be convincing by himself but the heavy lifting of the illusion is done by the peer characters acting as if they believe the role he plays. "The king is always played by the others" Not sure who is to credit for this quote but in my opinion it is one of the most important insight…

Often in movies you have the scrappy character that rises to the occasion by making a great speech, winning everybody over. I used to love those scenes. Now, I've realized, in real life they wouldn't have let them finish their first sentence.

Post by pythonbase » Wed, Feb 18, 2026, 10:50 AM UTC