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joandfriedrich · 4 years

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PBS Little Women Review

I finally got around to watching this miniseries and now I can give my opinions on it. Warning, spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it yet.

This is such a pretty production, incredibly aesthetically pleasing and, as someone who knows little of historical clothing, can say this looks accurate. I was pleasantly surprised by seeing people of color present and it seems tiny or even silly, but I loved that we saw the freckles that some of the actresses had, it really allowed their true beauty to shine, made them feel real. I love that they included so many moments from the novel that you don’t often see in adaptions, like Amy getting her foot caught in the plaster, the talks between Marmee and Jo, the visit to Aunt Carol and the jam incident with Meg.

I really like the cast! They all seem so well suited to their characters, you felt them being sisters, you saw them grow together, you saw them struggle together. Emily Watson is always a great actress and she certainly successes as Marmee, and I loved that they even mentioned how she had a temper, which doesn’t get mentioned often in adaptions. Mr. March doesn’t often get much screen time in many versions, but Dylan Baker helps to give him life, really makes him a real person rather than just a plot point. Seeing both Mr. and Mrs. March together was just a delight. Angela Lansberry was just perfect as Aunt March, as proud and stubborn as I had imagined, with a hint of tenderness. It was touching to see her going to the wedding to give Meg the pearls in person and her conversation with Jo after she had her stroke.

Kathryn Newton is good as Amy, even when she is “young” Amy, but credit does also have to go with the writing too. She acts childish, but she is not a child trapped in a grown woman’s body. I have a slight problem with the way they handled the book burning, because Jo wasn’t exactly being mean to Amy and Jo even got her candy to make it up, so it made Amy’s retaliation so much more mean spirited. Still, I maintain that Amy should be played by two actresses, a child and an adult.

I didn’t mind Laurie, he was alright, but not one of my favorites. I found at times his performance was a bit stiff, but I think as the show went on, he grew on me. His relationship with Jo and Amy are so well done. You can see why Jo and Laurie like each other, but you can also see why they wouldn’t work as a romantic relationship. Laurie and Amy’s relationship develops and grows even before they meet up in Europe. They way they share confidences, how comfortable they are, this miniseries really showed how much more suited they were for each other.

Annes Elwy made for a superb Beth, so much so that I must say she is my favorite Beth. Claire Danes was wonderful, no doubt, but Annes just made something of Beth that I hadn’t seen before. I really enjoyed Beth’s story line here, they really fleshed out her dealing with her timidness and how her relationship with Mr. Laurence grows. Michael Gambon was perfect for the grumpy Mr. Laurence, who grows tender under the father/daughter bond he develops with Beth. I even like the relationship with her and the English guy, they seemed like really good friends, and maybe in a different world, could have been married. Her scene at the Hummels was so terrible and sad to watch, but it really showed her selflessness. Her death was a tragic blow, and you could feel her absence, how much she meant to them all, and when hearing part of the poem Jo writes, it feels true, it feels as though it befits her.

Willa Fitzgerald was just delightful as Meg, showing off both Meg’s good qualities as well as her worse ones. She isn’t a perfect character, and I liked that they showed her flaws, and the way Willa displayed those trials made Meg so much more relatable then most others have. Meg and John were just too cute here, they had been a couple of whom I had liked but never really paid too much attention to. I love how it grew and how tender it was, the respect he has for her, the sweet awkwardness they share during the proposal scene and how he wants her to love him and if she doesn’t he will respect that wish. Her declaration of love was precious, they were just precious together.

Maya Hawkes just acts and looks so much of what I would imagine book Jo to be. Her temper was realistic and her growth by the end was so satisfying. I love that she remained herself but grows. When I first heard of Mark Stanley being cast as Friedrich, I was skeptical, but he was so good! He had a great German accent, one of the rare actors to look like how Friedrich is described in the book, and had heart eyes for Jo pretty much all the time. The New York bits were far too short for my taste, but when they are together, you can really tell they enjoy each other’s company. I like that instead of the opera he takes her to a symposium where they listen to philosophy, it just feels more like what they would do. Friedrich cutting out Jo’s poem for Beth was so tender and their reunion was heartwarming. God, it was so fucking romantic when he said that he kept her poem close to his heart which had been sore for her, and her hand falling on his chest where his heart is.

Yo rarely see a version where it ends with all of girls and their families meet up for the picnic, and it was just beautiful.

I am changing my ranking, this one goes in my top three favorite Little Women adaptations. Please, if you love this story, watch it, you won’t regret it.

#little women 2017 #bbc little women

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poemsforcowboys · 5 years

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What a Feeling // Freddie Mercury

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Pairing: Freddie Mercury and Katy Newton (OC)

Summary: Before she moved from London to New York at the age of thirteen, Katy Newton had always been friends with Brian May. He was the only one she knew who encouraged her creative side, especially her designs for fashion and makeup. So much so, that Katy is hired as Queen’s newest stylist. But what she doesn’t expect is her knew found friend, Freddie Mercury. Will their casual flirts lead to anything of substance? Or will their relationship just become another lost love as they both make their journey towards self acceptance.

Warnings: there will be smut eventually but not in this chapter, bisexuality (?), feels, mentions of alcohol and drugs

CHAPTER FIVE

Katy woke up the next morning with a horrible headache and one of the worst hangovers she had ever had to endure. She was lying face down into her pillow, drool slowly dripping onto her pink sheets and her dark blue hair was sticking out in all different directions. Her makeup was obviously ruined and she had passed out in the shirt that Roger had ruined the night before. She was lucky she even made it to bed, her drunken stupor had been something of a sight to see, she must have tried to make herself some food when she had first returned because there was a bowl of uncooked pasta on her nightstand with what looked like was cheese on top, the explanation for this escaped her. Today was going to be a hard day, and this was not the cutest start to it. She was going to have to say goodbye to her family and one of her best friends, but she knew she had to. The prospect of leaving one family to find her own was scary but exciting, bitter sweet.

Just then, there was a gentle knock on her door. Before she could respond, and the chances of her doing so were slim, the door peaked open a little bit and then fully when her dog came trotting in and started to lick her hand, which was hanging off the right side of her bed. James came in slowly after, he didn’t want to bother her, but at the same time he wanted to see his older sister as much as he could before her departure.

He was carrying a tray and set it down on her nightstand, moving the weird attempt at mac and cheese farther away. He had tried to make Katy a “hangover cure” breakfast, one with eggs and orange juice and everything the tv used to tell him was important. He didn’t know what she had been up to last night, but he wasn’t too naive either.

Katy got up slowly, stretching and yawning loudly before finally turning to James, when she did, her eyes widened and she smiled. She couldn’t ask for a better little brother. Her older brother, Daniel, still wasn’t aware of Katy’s sudden change in plans, but she knew that the tour stopped Chicago where he and his fiancé lived she could stop by.

“Thank you, J! And thank you too, Rocky!” She patted her dogs head, she would really miss him, and of course hugged her brother. After eating her breakfast and catching up about everything with James, (how he should talk to a girl he fancied, how his classes were going, the typical problems of a thirteen year old boy), she shooed him away and got up to get dressed. She put on a dark green flowing dress that had small white flowers on it and braided her hair.

Walking down the stairs felt different this time, better than ever before. Guessing that her mother would be reading the newspaper at the kitchen table and knowing that she wasn’t looking for job for Katy anymore. As she made her way down, her bare feet sinking into the fuzz dark purple carpet, she heard some familiar voices chatting with her mother. She smiled, Jo was talking to Mrs. Newton about how amazing an opportunity this was for Katy and that she deserved to go, Katy felt her face flushing, could not have a better friend. Downstairs, Mrs. Newton was nodding her head, but in her heart she was unsure about letting her daughter go, worried for her safety and financial security. But no matter where, when, or why, Jo was always the voice of reason and Katy was unbelievably thankful for that. She was going to miss Jo more than anything and promised her that she would call every day, even if it started to annoy Jo.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Newton. You know me, I’ll be doing Dan’s job for him, Katy can be and already is the annoying little sister I never realized I needed” there was a second voice talking now other from Jo’s, Brian must have also decided to come see Katy say goodbye. In reality, the two of them had arrived at the Newton’s apartment fairly early, forty five minutes before Katy had even started to stirr. They both wanted to be the one to drive her to the tour site and when they saw each other’s cars driving towards her building in the opposite directions of each other, it was a site to see but they both in the end still wanted to be the one to drive Katy.

They decided to talk for the first half hour, sitting on the hood of Brian’s car about how annoying Roger could be when he’s drunk. Brian eventually gave in to Jo’s stories about her friendship with Katy and agreed to let Katy ride with Jo and trail behind him as he lead them in his car to the studio. But that was forty five minutes ago, they had been taking turns trying to calm down Clara for the last fifteen.

When Katy peaked her head from around the banister, Brian smiled, extremely happy to see her, and Jo sighed, extremely happy to not have to make small talk with Mrs. Newton anymore, she had asked Jo a few times about any boys she was interested in. Jo had said “Never, well maybe Rog but” and Mrs. Newton just laughed, thinking Jo was shy.

“Morning Mum” Katy smiled and walked over, kissing her mother on the cheek and taking a seat next to her on the couch. She poured herself a cup of tea from the teapot on the coffee table and sipped slowly, noticing Brian had taken one as well.

“Morning Kathryn, or should I say afternoon” Mrs. Newton smiled softly, she fixed her graying brown hair and chuckled in an attempt to distract herself from her real emotions.

“When are you leaving?” her smile began to fade, as she took a look at the clock.

“Well, actually” Brian coughed a little awkwardly, not liking to be the bearer of bad news. “We’ve got to be leaving quite soon, we head out for Detroit tonight and we still have to get Katy’s paperwork sorted out.”

“How soon is soon?” Jo asked, turning her head to face Brian, she was sitting next to him. “We should head over to the studio, like” Brian checked his watch “five minutes ago, shit” he said. When he realized he had cursed, his hand flew to his mouth, remembering when he was little how Clara would yell at him for swearing. She just laughed and shook her head “you’re an adult now, Brian, it’s okay, and a rock star at that. And Kathryn, I don’t want to make you any more late than you already are on your first day. If you are going to do this job, you are going to do it well” her mother tried to hold it together, but by the end of her speech there were tears forming in her eyes. Katy gave her mother the biggest hug she had in awhile, and then headed upstairs to collect her things.

“Brian, I hope you know I’m staying with you guys until the second you leave for the airport” Jo whispered while the two of them waited for Katy to return with her luggage.

“Oh, I figured” he shrugged “Rog will be happy to see you”

“I’m sure he will”

Katy returned, struggling to carry her bright red square suitcase; Brian got up quickly to help her before she stumbled, and Mrs. Newton put her hands over her heart and looked at Jo, who just rolled her eyes.

“Thanks, Bri. I’d say I could handle it, but there are a LOT of heels in there” Katy laughed, shaking her hands that were now free of the heavy weight.

“Yeah, I got that” Brian grunted, struggling a little bit himself as he headed out the front door that Jo held open for him, following behind him as he walked downstairs to go wait in the car.

Katy said her goodbyes to her mother, and James. They were sad of course, but also full of a new hope for the future, one different from any she had felt before. Her father had passed a few years back from cancer, he was a strong lawyer like her mother but he had a softer more artistic side that her mother lacked. He would have been proud of her, Katy and her mother knew that, they cried in the doorway, arms holding each other tightly, not wanting to let go.

Finally, she did, she ruffled James’ hair and then hugged him too.

“Promise to call me if Suzie says something to you, okay?” she whispered in his ear, causing his face to turn red.

“James? Who is Suzie?” their mother asked, putting her hands on her hips. James shot her a look but at the end of the day, it had been the conversation point that ended her mother’s tears. She gave both of them one final hug goodbye and headed out the door, to see both Brian and Jo waiting in their cars but trying to talk to each other about directions by yelling from out their open windows. Katy just shook her head and laughed, running down her steps. She turned around and took one final look before hopping into Jo’s car, she could hear Rocky barking in the distance, and the sound of the tv turning on. She would miss them, she would miss New York, but she was beyond excited for her future.

During the car ride, Katy and Jo could not stop talking about everything.

“Who knows, you might even meet someone” Jo raised her eyebrows, she had just finished ranting about how beautiful Michelle had looked last night and realized it was making Katy quiet and look out the window.

“What about John, eh? You guys were talking a lot last night, or you know I’m sure you might run into the right type of girl more than once, who knows. Right?” Jo said haphazardly, her car following Brian’s slow one, he was unsure about driving in America and right now was really regretting it. He had hoped Katy would drive back. Katy’s face was red, she played with her hands. “I don’t know, I think John and I have a lot in common and I’d rather be his friend” Katy said, she chose to ignore the second part. For some reason she was unable to come to terms with her feelings and sexuality, it was confusing and she’d rather not think about it.

“You know,” Katy started, turning to Jo. “we’re doing a show in Milwaukee, maybe if you’re up for it” Jo started to grip the steering wheel a little. It was her turn to be uncomfortable. Jo had grown up in Milwaukee, where her family still was. Katy had first met her when she was kicked out of her house, she had a black eye and was trying to give herself stitches in the woman’s bathroom. The injuries were from her father, after during their family trip to New York City Jo had come out as lesbian. Her family left the city the next morning, but Jo had stayed there ever since.

“I don’t know, Katy. Maybe I’ll visit to see you but anything other than that is a different story. The flights there are always cheap” Jo sighed, and it had been years since she had seen anyone in her family.

“You don’t have to promise me anything, really I was just throwing it out there”

Jo just nodded.

They finally arrived at the tour site, it had all of the band’s trailers parked and because of the warm weather Katy was happy to be outside. She quickly spotted Freddie and Roger who were taking a smoke break, and John who was loading his luggage into the van. Freddie shot Katy a quick smile and wave, and Roger shot her a weaker one, still feeling bad about having ruined her shirt.

Jo parked and got out, running towards Roger to scare him from behind, it worked and he yelped before turning around to see her and slapping her on the shoulder. Katy headed over to Brian to help him move her stuff, although where she wanted to be was greeting Freddie.

“Newt, I just have to say it again, I couldn’t be happier that you’re coming with us” Brian smiled after they had successful packed the tour bus and were now standing inside of it feeling accomplished. The two of them hugged and let go just as the door swung open to reveal Freddie, John, their producer, and Roger and Jo trailing and bickering about something behind them. Freddie raised an eyebrow and looked at Brian, but Brian just scoffed “ew” he laughed, nudging Katy, who nudged him back harder, causing him to stumble and Freddie to burst into laughter.

“Katy Kat, I was disappointed I didn’t get a nicer greeting than just a wave” Freddie said, coming up and kissing her on the cheek. She turned red but quickly away, hoping Brian didn’t see (he did) and that he wasn’t annoyed (he stomped on Freddie’s foot when Katy wasn’t looking).

“Hi Fred” she smiled, turning back when her face had returned to its normal color. Jo shot her a confused look that quickly put two and two together, she kept her mouth quiet though.

“So your first name is Kathryn, but you go by Katy?” their manager finally spoke up, he had a contract out and was looking for a pen. “Yes, that’s Katy with a y” Katy said, she walked over to him and peaked over his shoulder, making sure it was spelt correctly.

“Why did you choose a y?” he asked out of curiosity more than anything else, handing her the pen, she took it and read the contract over.

“Y? Because she’s cute, that’s y” Freddie laughed, Jo did too but more out of amusement than anything else. Brian did not think that it was as funny as they did.

“Actually,” he said in a matter of fact tone “it’s because Kathryn is spelt with a y, but good try I guess” Roger dropped at Brian’s nonchalant manner, he just wanted to shut Freddie down, and Freddie didn’t know her at all.

“Okay Brian we get it” Jo said, she was also Katy’s best friend and not acting like this. But Brian knew the relationships that Freddie would have, and he knew how sensitive Katy was, he just was trying to look out for his best friend and prevent her heart from being broken, again. He had made the mistake of asking Katy about Harry, and after he found out the truth about him he had felt sorry for ever liking the prick. Katy hadn’t told many people, but when he left he confessed to having seen other girls before they broke up. She didn’t like the loneliness that distance made her feel and never wanted to endure it again, seldom speak about it.

After Katy signed the final papers, everyone cheered. She was officially a part of the team, and, it was time for them to start heading for JFK airport. Jo wanted to cry, but she held her tears back for the sake of her friend and her makeup. They hugged for a good five minutes before Roger finally and sadly had to pry Jo off of Katy, but they wouldn’t be able to handle it on their own.

“Promise me you’ll call?” Jo asked, her hands gripping Katy’s.

“Of course” Katy smiled and nodded her head aggressively, trying to convince Jo she would.

She sighed, as she watched from inside the van window as Jo finally got in her car sticking her hand out and waving it like a princess as she drove by.

Katy turned back to face everyone who were just chatting to each other again, this was the beginning of something new.

AN: Hi guys! I’m sorry if this chapter wasn’t the best, but now that we’ve established this story it can really get going! I am so excited to continue writing and honestly get more done during the week than I do the weekend so I hope to see chapter 6 soon! Have a lovely day :) - June

Tagged: @come-with-me-and-imagine, @runawayxwithme, @feministsatanworshipper, @axxl-rose, @strawberry--harrington

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letshermeneutic · 4 years

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Thoughts on Netflix’s The Society

Overall Rating: 6/10

So today I want to briefly talk about the show The Society.

Now, honestly, this is something that I would have normally checked out as soon as Netflix dropped it but for some reason it avoided my detection until a month or two ago.

Now, I’m not really a big fan of “group isolation” shows, as they always wind up being the same somehow. It’s like once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

I was a big fan of CBS’s Under the Dome until it kind of went off the rails on its final season. I recall trying a few other similar premise shows, including Netflix’s Between (2016), (Even though apparently Netflix doesn’t agree on their similarity as I couldn’t find it in the “More Like This” list).

The problem with these shows is that they are always filled with ridiculous drama. I have not seen one of these shows do all the drama that occurs in the town well.

Even Under the Dome had the same problem. The concept was totally new to me then, so I was interested in watching the drama play out in the situation, but once it’s been done there’s only so much you can do differently.

That being said, you can always do something well, no matter how many times its been done. Just look at Harry Potter - the concept of a wizard, old and done a thousand times, but J.K. Rowling took it and made something completely new.

The Society is not an example of this.

It’s just a whole bunch of teenage drama. A lot of decisions made that don’t make any sense. I understand teenagers don’t need to make sense, but this was just too much.

For example, Allie Pressman, the main character, who is played by Kathryn Newton - she is crushing on her friend, Will (Jacques Colimon) who suddenly after many years is returning her feelings. At first, she’s like, “Wait no, I have too many responsibilities. I can’t do this.” And then I feel like an episode or two goes by and then she goes, “Yeah, nevermind, that was stupid.”

That sort of nonsensical decision-making (or story) plagued this series.

I really enjoyed Cassandra Pressman (Rachel Keller) and Gordie (Jose Julian) together onscreen. I really don’t know why, it was just always so cute and sweet. They were honestly what I found myself looking forward to, albeit short lived, sadly.

And can we talk about Gordie’s reaction to Cassandra’s death? For a show that really had drama for days, his reaction was really… lacking. I found it rather troubling to be honest. For a guy that seemed to be so in love with Cassandra, he sure picked himself back up quick. I really thought he was actually going to be annoying me for several episodes as he uselessly wailed around from her loss. I was hoping for an interesting unique and/or accurate depiction of grief from the perspective of a teenage boy but we didn’t get any of those things.

What we got was absolutely nothing, really.

It was super bizarre. I’m wondering if maybe his grieving scenes got cut or something?

I’m not saying that he needed to be crying more or wailing around - it could have even been that he appeared totally fine - so in all the relevant scenes when they needed him to do something or be somewhere, he could be doing that, but then we get extra scenes showing us when he’s alone, he’s grieving somehow.

I think it’s just because I was invested in their relationship that I noticed this.

Also, I’m not sure where I saw it, I tried to find it again for this post, but I believe it was on Google, but why on earth was this show listed as mystery? Especially when Netflix’s other show The Order was listed as a drama. If anything these should be reversed. Although I’d say The Order is more of a supernatural or fantasy drama. This show would just be a drama. One could argue that it could be a supernatural drama also, but bah. That brings me to my next point.

This show starts off with some serious intrigue. Something weird is afoot in the town. I think it’s in the very first scene, characters on screen are complaining about the smell returning.

So right away, we know, okay, this town has a weird smell problem. They had it before and now it’s back.

Then all the sudden, the kids wake up and they are still in their town, but all the areas leading out of the town are just sort of blocked off, (in some cases with tree branches and rumble) - Now I can’t exactly remember if the parents all were actually going somewhere and that’s why they were gone when this occurred or the parents are just all mysteriously gone. I can’t remember.

I THINK it was the former, but again not sure.

I think it was the former because I remember thinking to myself while watching it, “Why aren’t there any adults around?” Because again, it seemed like it was just the parents that left and not all the adults in the area. But maybe they explained this in the show and I just didn’t catch it.

Anyway, so they are in this world that’s disconnected from the rest of the world. A committee at some point is formed to look into what the hell is happening.

And what does that committee find out? Well, about several episodes later (after they announce the committee) the committee announces a whole lot of nothing. I honestly can’t even remember what they said, but I remember being super disappointed.

The only reason why I continued watching was to find out what the hell was going on with the town situation. It became the same reason why I kept watching Under the Dome when I would’ve bailed otherwise. But you never get any answers with these type of shows.

At least with Under the Dome we got more answers than this.

I understand that the mystery regarding how or why this isolating of a group is occurring isn’t really what these shows are about. They’re really about how the characters are dealing with the situation. I understand that. At the same time you do need to keep some level of intrigue in your story, otherwise the whole thing feels pointless.

I do believe that shows that are about examining a group that’s been isolated from the rest of the world can be extremely interesting, but as I said before, none of the shows I’ve really watched have done it well with the exception of Under the Dome at least for the first season for sure.

I’m sure there are some others I haven’t seen. Honestly after Under the Dome I tend to avoid these type of shows.

The Society is the first time I’ve really invested some time into this type of show. I did watch Between, but I bailed after the first four or five episodes, so I don’t really count it.

Now I know all my criticism makes it sound like I completely hated this show and that’s not true. I enjoyed my time with it. I watched it in it’s entirety and that is saying a lot. I am not the kind of person that will finish something just because I started it. As soon as I am no longer receiving any value from it, I move on.

For one thing, I think the acting of the entire cast was really good. I don’t really feel like anyone was particularly weak, but that said, I don’t think anyone’s performance was particularly outstanding either. I would say it was better than average for a typical teen show for sure, (CW/Freeform/MTV I’m looking at you).

I guess the real question is, will I be tuning in for season two? And my answer is yes.

Like I said, I did enjoy my time with the show. I’m watching the second season with the hope that the writers have listened to some of the criticism regarding the lack of development with the whole supernatural town situation and we get a lot of that this upcoming season, so…

But if we get just another season of all drama and no solutions then I’m out.

#the society #netflix #review #tv #season one

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spynotebook · 7 years

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The term that inspired the name Halt and Catch Fire is defined in the show’s very first episode as “an early computer command that sent the machine into a race condition, forcing all instructions to compete for superiority at once,” which meant that, “control of the computer could not be regained.” In other words, the computer must be shut down and rebooted in order to work again.

That is essentially what the four principal characters did over four seasons on this glorious, dearly departed AMC drama, which ended on Saturday. They raced after the next big idea — whether it was a faster, more efficient PC, an online gaming and chat room experience, or a new Internet search engine — while often competing against outside forces and each other. Eventually each of them would hit their respective entrepreneurial walls, shut down, and then reboot so they could bolt forward with their next idea.

By the time Halt and Catch Fire reaches its conclusion, which lands near the end of 1994, Gordon (Scoot McNairy) has passed away and Joe (Lee Pace) has moved back to New York to become a professor, leaving Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna (Kerry Bishé) as the only ones still in California, chasing after the next potential gamechanger. But they’re also interested in mentoring other women to rise up in the tech world, and encouraging younger people — specifically Donna and Gordon’s daughters, Joanie (Kathryn Newton) and Haley (Susanna Skaggs), who are like nieces to Cameron and Joe — to fearlessly pursue their dreams, too.

After watching the finale, this idea of making room for the next generation emerges as central to the lasting message of the series. In the last scene, Joe once again stands in front of a classroom, as he did in the pilot, addressing students who may aspire to do what he’s done. “Let me start by asking a question,” he says, repeating the same words he utters in the very first episode. The difference is that back then, he was a guest speaker who arrogantly thought he knew all the answers. By the early 1990s, Joe seems to realize he might have something to learn from his students’ responses. In an understated way that matches Halt and Catch Fire’s understated sensibility, this moment and others strongly imply that the show is ultimately about a group of Baby Boomers slowly learning to pass the baton to — or at least share it with — Generation X. For several reasons, Halt and Catch Fire may actually be the most Gen X show on recent television.

From a nostalgic point of view, Halt and Catch Fire aimed right for the Gen-X sweet spot, setting its action between 1983 and 1994, and fully capturing the vibe in its spot-on production design, costume design, and especially its music choices, which were often wonderfully surprising. Extremely obscure bands like Crippled Pilgrims were featured, as were deep-ish cuts from Peter Gabriel and A Tribe Called Quest, and well-known classics by the Clash or The Breeders. I especially loved how mainstream ‘80s music was dropped into the final season during moments of heightened emotion or nostalgia: The extended sequence in which the group cleans out the late Gordon’s house while “So Far Away” by Dire Straits spins on the turntable is just perfect. Halt and Catch Fire doesn’t just “get” the ‘80s and ‘90s, it immerses the viewer in those time periods.

The final season also makes a point of reminding us of the characters’ ages, which highlights the generational connections within the story it’s telling. In the first episode of season four, Gordon celebrates his 40th birthday, confirmation, in case we forgot, that he was born in the 1950s. The dialogue in the last couple of episodes also notes that Cameron is now 32, which puts her date of birth in 1961 or ‘62, the tail end of the baby boom.

While the show’s core quartet may be Boomers, their professional experiences — which usually involve getting very close to achieving something revolutionary, then getting beaten to the punch and/or receiving little credit for their work — are more emblematic of the stereotypical Gen X identity, one rooted in being dismissed because of the larger, louder generations that flank it. Gordon, Joe, Cameron, and Donna are intelligent, talented, and determined, and they all achieve their share of success. (By the end, with the exception of Cameron, they also all live in pretty sweet, seemingly pricey homes.) But they never quite get to the next level in terms of making their marks. They race, they lose control of the computer, and they have to reboot, over and over again.

The benefit of 21st-century hindsight enables us to understand just how close they come to inventing technology or platforms that will eventually become part of the fabric of our daily lives: Google, eBay, Facebook, even the internet itself. (Al Gore may not have invented the internet, but I am pretty convinced that Cameron, Donna, Gordon, and Joe did.) But they miss it by that much because of bad timing, rotten luck, and chips on their shoulders that hold them back. As an Xer myself, that all sounds pretty Gen X-ish to me.

Eventually in season four, Joe — the same guy who tried to engineer a supercomputer using the guts of an IBM PC in season one — starts looking to the future for inspiration. Which is why he recruits young Haley — who’s 15 years old in 1994, which means she was born in 1979, making her a bona fide Xer — to build the infrastructure that will become the Comet search engine. In classic child of the ‘70s fashion, she has zero patience with Joe basically transforming her hard work into his own creation. “You’ve taken this thing that I made and now it’s yours and all you want is to make money off of it,” she tells him in what could very easily be a line from Reality Bites.

Joe also convinces Cameron to get her hands on the code for this new-fangled thing called Netscape and preemptively make sure Comet can work within its interface. But yet again, he realizes someone else has already gotten to the default search engine finish line. “What the hell is Yahoo!?” Cameron asks as she and Joe stare at the beta version of Netscape, dumbfounded.

Halt and Catch Fire never specifically addresses what comes next in the story of the internet. But we know what does: Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, the iPhone, and Twitter, all creations either invented or partially developed by Generation Xers. (Okay, fine, Mark Zuckerberg may straddle the much-disputed line that divides Xers from millennials.) In the end, there’s a sense that the old guard is ceding territory to that unseen new one: Gordon is gone, Joe is in New York, and the now-retired Bos (bless the forever folksy Toby Huss) is out of the Silicon Valley picture. The finale also gives us a hopeful hint that the new guard may be more female, as evidenced by Donna’s and Cam’s interest in launching a venture together and inspiring younger women to do the same.

“One of the many things I’ve learned is that no matter what you do, somebody is around the next corner with a better version of it,” Donna tells a group that gathers for a “women in tech” party at her house. “And if that person is a man, it might not even be better. It just might get more attention. And sometimes that person is you, the you that’s never satisfied with what you just did because you’re obsessed with whatever is next.”

Halt and Catch Fire was always obsessed with what came next because its characters were energized by the same prospect. It highlighted something that, in retrospect, too few companies acknowledged in the early 1990s: You can’t move forward if the veterans don’t listen to the motivated young visionaries who could become future industry leaders. It was a thoughtfully directed, observant gem of a drama that was unjustly, completely ignored by the masses. Which, actually, makes perfect sense.

Being completely ignored is exactly right for a TV show that, in so many unexpected ways, understood Generation X.

The Making of Donna’s Big, Series-Ending Speech on Halt and Catch Fire

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