| High Plains Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Episode Information | |
| Air Date | June 15,2014 |
| Written by | Christopher Cantwell Christopher Rogers |
| Directed by | Juan Campanella |
| Chronology | |
| Previous | Next |
| FUD | Close to the Metal |
High Plains Hardware is the third episode of Halt and Catch Fire on AMC. It first aired on June 15, 2014. The episode begins with Gordon gently letting an employee go. Another employee barges in and demands that Gordon sign the reference letter that he wrote himself.
Cameron wakes up from still sleeping at Cardiff Electric. She types computer code but keeps getting stuck. Joe meets with an investor from out of town. Joe tries to get John Bosworth to play along and make a deal that will result in financing that Cardiff Electric badly needs. Joe is hesitant to let the investor bring his people in because they will move away from the old-school business practices even more. Gordon meets with a group of engineers who still work for Cardiff Electric. They discuss the various challenges they are facing. Every idea that appears to be a step forward causes steps back (hypothetically) because they realize counter-problems that will be caused by each idea if they try it all the way through. One engineer is quick to tell Gordon each thing that will go wrong if they do this or what will go wrong if they do that. He also convinces Gordon they have to tell Joe they can't engineer the machine.
Joe and John have dinner with Nathan Cardiff, founder of Cardiff Electric. Nathan tells Joe that he likes him trying to do things to succeed but that John is in charge, especially when it comes to money. Joe agrees to this and to go to a dinner with a local, wealthy woman who will provide the capital they need. The dinner does not go well because Joe perceives the woman as being hung up on herself and what her money can buy her. The deal falls through because of how Joe fails to play along.
Gordon's wife sees him working on the machine design at home. She has an idea that will help them have the space they need to make the machine work.
The pessimistic engineer tells Gordon once again why it won't work because there is no one who can mass produce it for them due to the machine design being completely different from everything else that's out there. Gordon is in a car riding with this engineer when they are in a fender bender. It scratches Gordon up some. He realizes he's had all he can take from the pessimistic engineer, fires him, gets out of the car, and walks away.
Featured Music
Gary Numan - “Are Friends Electric?” (1979)
Big Boys - “Advice” (1981)
X-Ray Spex - “Germ Free Adolescents” (1978)
The Boys - “First Time” (1977)
Big Boys - “We Got Your Money” (1981)