It's hard to overstate just how good is the third season of "Halt & Catch Fire".

Take the scene where Cameron is writing code, punk music blaring into her headphones-- she's suddenly confronted in her office, has a heated exchange, is called a bitch, chases after the perpetrator forgetting that she's tethered to her stereo; she strides forward, the headphones rip out of the stereo, tripping the music out of the speakers. As she furiously stumbles to shut off the stereo, her phone rings just as the music stops: it's her mother. She forgets all about the argument-- it's written on her face.

What a masterfully crafted scene! It reminded me of the climax from the famous French film "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"; the character is taken through a quickfire sequence of dissonant jarring, with the viewer fully in tow. And this third season is filled with moments like the above.

I enjoyed the first two seasons, but they were "meh", time-wasting material. I wasn't expecting the show to morph into what it became. It's almost like its creators handed the show to brand new writers: "fix it for us please."