Without a doubt the saddest ever episode of Halt and Catch Fire.

Last season, when Ryan Ray committed suicide it was devastating. However, as I have said for several years now, Halt and Catch Fire is a show about a non-nuclear family of five people (Gordon, Donna, Cameron, Joe, and Bos) and this is the first time we have lost a member of that family.

Gordon was a sweetheart of a person. Even when he had bad moments, it was impossible to stay mad at him (even as a fan).

Here is what I wrote last week:

“I started to suggest in several discussions after last week’s episode, that Gordon burning his books might be a tip-off that he knows that he is dying.

If you look carefully at his face throughout “A Connection Is Made” you can see subtle makeup that suggests deterioration. I could be wrong, but I suspect this was what the El Gordo reference (it means “Handsome” - it actually means fat) was about.

This also explains his tense reaction to Haley when she fights back against him on catching up on her schoolwork before coming back to work and his brutal response to Joe’s beautifully tender attempt to let him know about Haley’s sexual orientation struggles (“you don’t give a shit about her <Haley>”...’”That’s why you are not a parent and never will be.’”

I can’t fully express how much I wish I had been wrong

Gordon made Joe a better person (and arguably saved him after Ryan died), he made Cameron a better person, and he loved Donna enough to let her go (despite still deeply loving her).