History YMMV / HaltAndCatchFire

* EarWorm: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD_kCKiSkoI intro]].

** In Season 2's "Play With Friends", while Cameron and Tom are in bed they talk about renting the then-new ''Film/{{Terminator}}'' movie and recite lines from the movie in Russian and German accents, in March 2018 it was revealed that Mackenzie Davis would star in ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate''.

* DyeHard: Originally a blonde in the first two season and half of Season 3, by the end of Season 3, Cameron is a brunette with long hair.

** In Season 2's "Play With Friends", while Cameron and Tom are in bed they talk about renting the then-new ''Film/{{Terminator}}'' movie and recite lines from the movie in Russian and German accents, in March 2018 it was revealed that Mackenzie Davis would star in the new ''Terminator'' movie.

** Donna Clark started out as Gordon's naggy wife, though she quickly came into her own and became the show's {{Deuteragonist}} alongside Cameron in Season 2. However, her actions in the Season 3 finale and Season 4 push her into BaseBreaker status at best and {{Scrappy}} status at worst.

** In the episode "The Threshold", during Cameron's belated wedding reception after Donna and everyone else votes to have Mutiny in the IPO, Cameron furiously rips into Donna about her collapsing marriage collapsing as a result of Donna working all hours to which Donna points out to Cameron that she's a newlywed and is in no position to judge her about her marriage failing, fast forward two episodes later, Donna is now divorced from Gordon.

* LikeBrotherAndSister: Cameron apparentally has this dynamic with Gordon and to a lesser extent with Ryan Ray.

** Donna Clark started out as Gordon's naggy wife, though she quickly came into her own and became the show's {{Deuteragonist}} alongside Cameron in Season 2. However, her actions in the Season 3 finale and Season 4 easily push her into BaseBreaker status.

** In the episode "The Threshold", during Cameron's belated wedding reception after Donna and everyone else votes to have Mutiny in the IPO, Cameron furiously rips into Donna about her marriage going up in flames to which Donna points out to Cameron that she's no position to tell her about her failing marriage, fast forward two episodes later, Donna is now divorced from Gordon.

* ValuesDissonance: In the season 1 episode "Adventure", when Cameron finds out that she's being demoted to remedial assignments Lev retorts by saying "Welcome to the short bus" [[note]] a dated term towards special education student [[/note]], this being the 1980s it was common to make such jokes. These days with people having more political correctness a person would be offended at remarks about remedial students.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler:Gordon's wake and funeral]] take place offscreen in "Goodwill." This would have been a great opportunity to have some of the old Cardiff/Mutiny code monkeys like Yo Yo, Lev, and Bodie make cameos in Season 4. Instead, they don't appear at all in the show's final season.

* HarsherInHindsight: In the third-season finale, Cameron accuses Donna of treating other people like they're disposable once they no longer serve a purpose to her. In season 4, it's revealed that Donna divorced Gordon in order to advance her career.

* PoisonOakEpilepticTrees: Some fans have speculated that Joe was behind Lev getting beaten up by homophobes, as part of a plan to get Mutiny to sell. Needless to say, this would be a massive KickTheDog moment, even by Joe's standards. And kind of unlikely given his own bisexuality.

** In "Landfall", Gordon fails to check a package to see if it contains a Franchise/CabbagePatchKids doll ''before'' giving $80 to a complete stranger.

** In season 3's "Rules of Honorable Play", while Donna and Cameron are looking at a new house for Cameron, the realtor makes an insinuated remark speculating that Donna and Cameron are lesbians, fast forward a month later guess what Mackenzie Davis plays on ''Series/BlackMirror''?

* CultClassic: The show has a devoted following, but with its niche subject matter, it doesn't draw the same numbers like AMC's previous efforts such as ''Series/MadMen'' and ''Series/BreakingBad''.

* GrowingTheBeard: Critical consensus is that the show has really improved in the second season.

** Donna Clark started out as Gordon's naggy wife, though she quickly came into her own and became the show's {{Deuteragonist}} alongside Cameron in Season 2. However, her actions in the Season 3 finale could easily push her into BaseBreaker status.

** Gordon is a self-centered {{Jerkass}}, but in season 2, he finds out he has brain damage.

* HoYay: Donna seems like she might like women, too. Her dynamic with Cameron feels almost like she's married to her, and she seems a bit more flustered than expected at seeing another woman changing in a washroom. It's also implied that she ExperimentedInCollege when she and Gordon jokingly type dirty messages into Cameron's Giant OS. The possibility gains even more traction with Donna's clear disappointment that Diane wants to take Bosworth out as a plus one, and her explicit statement to Cameron that a real estate agent thinks the two of them are a couple. Later when she housesits for Diane, she drapes herself in Diane's clothes, then strips completely naked and tries them on. And then later that night, in a fantasy brought on in part by drugs she was taking earlier, she imagines that she is lying next to Cameron on the grass and saying that the two of them need each other.

** In "Adventure", Gordon drunkenly talks shit about his father in-law's catalog company to the Japanese, ''especially'' when said father in-law was the one who brokered the meeting in the first place.

* DyeHard: Orignally a blonde in the first two season and half of Season 3, by the end of Season 3, Cameron is a brunette with long hair.

* Season 3 opens with a scene where Bosworth sings a Music/FrankSinatra song. In ''Series/{{Feud}}: Bette and Joan'', Toby Huss plays Frank Sinatra.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Donna Clark started out as Gordon's naggy wife, though she quickly came into her own and became the show's {{Deuteragonist}} alongside Cameron in Season 2.

** Yo-yo's Backgammon game is rejected because its size and color makes it more appropriate for a cartridge game. In "Kali", [[spoiler:Cameron sells the game "Extract and Defend" to a company making games for the soon-to-be-released UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem.]]

** Gordon is a self-centered {{Jerkass}}, but in season 2 [[spoiler: he finds out he has brain damage.]]

** From Cameron's view, [[spoiler:Donna]] crossed it in "Yebra Buena", when Cameron finds out the truth about Diane's decision to allow her to fire the [=SwapMeet=] founders. Cameron's trust in [[spoiler:Donna]] is definitively severed in "The Threshold" when the latter wants to move forward with Mutiny's IPO, while the former wanted to wait and improve.

* AcclaimedFlop: The series has been popular with critics (particularly the acclaimed second season), but has struggled with incredibly low ratings.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Lev is shown flirting with a guy in Mutiny, but a few episodes later [[spoiler:it turns out that it was just a bunch of homophobes luring him so they could attack him.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: Westgroup crossed it in "Limbo" [[spoiler:after they cloned Mutiny and hijacked their customer base]].

* PoisonOakEpilepticTrees: Some fans have speculated that [[spoiler:Joe was behind Lev getting beaten up by homophobes, as part of a plan to get Mutiny to sell.]] Needless to say, this would be a massive KickTheDog moment, even by Joe's standards. And kind of unlikely given his own [[spoiler:bisexuality.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Gordon in several instances.