In a new (hopefully recurring) blog feature, I focus on shows that take time to grow into themselves. More and more I’ve been forced to give a lot of shows I love the qualifier, “Yeah, it’s not great at the start, but stick with it!” This requires a lot of faith and patience, and frankly risk. So I’d like to put some effort into quantifying that risk and patience for you all the best I can, because it often helps me to know what I’m getting myself into.

This edition focuses on a show that returns this Saturday on AMC for its fourth and final season, Halt and Catch Fire. It’s a choice that is convenient timing-wise, because it’s a tiny show (ratings-wise) that is getting the most exposure it is ever gonna get right now, and I’d like to pile one final piece on top. In addition, it is one of the most extreme examples of the shows this new segment is attempting to highlight. When it started, it was not very good. And now it is one of the most consistently excellent, thoughtful, and innovative shows on TV.

When it gets good: 1×08 – The 214s. And technically, not until the end of the episode. This is one of the things that makes it such a hard sell. That’s nearly 8 full episodes that just aren’t very good. But by the end of this one, the story lurches forward, and some really strong character turns make me root for the characters to succeed in the final stretch of the season.

When to give up if you’re not feeling it: 2×03 – The Way In. While the end of Season 1 provided some finally solid plot, Season 2 really was where they redefined the show into what it is today, and it was compelling right out of the gate. The show found the parts that really clicked in the first season, and put them front and center. And yes, that’d be the women.

What to look forward to (mild spoilers):

Initially, the show was largely considered an 80’s Mad Men, with a charismatic but flawed “idea man” at its center (Lee Pace), essentially conning people into building his out-there visions. His mark in Season 1 was put-upon sad sack Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy), who didn’t realize how much he was itching for the excitement and glory promised to him.

This dynamic, and the challenges of innovating a technology that is ubiquitous to us now, run stale quickly.

Interspersed throughout their masculine ego drama are a couple of comparatively minor female characters as well. The doe-eyed, punk-rock Cameron Howe is a brainy but gruff programming whiz, whose ability and autonomy is immediately undercut by her introduction as our protaganist’s (and her professor/future boss’s) sexual conquest. While she does get to succeed at doing her job well over the first handful of episodes, the character is not given much narrative meat or change to shine compared to her male counterparts.

Then there is Donna (Kerry Bishé), Gordon’s wife and homemaker. We are given the tidbit that she and Gordon used to work together in tech before they started a family, and we get hints that she misses those days, but aside from that, all she gets are the generic “you work too much and neglect your family” moments. Her role is as our male protagonist’s foil, a la Skyler White.

After the four of our characters finally get a hero team up to close the first season, the show goes one step further in Season 2. It makes Donna and Cameron the bosses. It deftly recognizes that charismatic Joe (Lee Pace) is not the anti-hero, but the villain, and that Gordon’s issues around his own emasculation aren’t nearly as interesting as Donna’s journey to becoming the smart and talented breadwinner of the household, or Cameron learning to manage others as well as she can write code.

The narrative then revolves around the much more interesting human challenges involved in growing a business in a still-infant industry, rather than the logistical challenges in how to make your box smaller. Gordon and Joe are still important characters, but they are much more peripheral in the later seasons, and Donna and Cameron are both the central story, and the core relationship, and both actresses knock it out of the park. And as of this, the final season, they are finally getting paid as much as their male co-stars. I’d argue they should be paid more, but one step at a time, right?

I have to give big props to the show runners to recognize what worked and what didn’t in their first season, and be able to pivot so dramatically to the more compelling characters and stories. I can imagine anyone who had only seen the first episode of the show having trouble believing that it will become a nuanced, feminist, character-driven drama, but that’s what it’s been for two seasons now. A prominent (in certain circles) critic named it #2 show of 2016.

With the first 3 seasons currently available on Netflix, now’s the perfect time to catch up before the final season finishes.