Halt and Catch Fire
Joe (Lee Pace) may be searching for extraterrestrial life in "Halt and Catch Fire" Season 2. AMC

“Halt and Catch Fire” left off in its Season 1 finale with a lot of big questions. Chief among them – would there even be a Season 2? Luckily, that question was answered when AMC announced it August 2014 that it would renew the show for a second season to premiere this summer. Fans have been waiting since that announcement to find out what the Cardiff crew’s follow up will be after the less-than-satisfying Giant. Now, recently released episode titles for Season 2 might hold some clues as to what’s next for Joe (Lee Pace) and the gang and, fair warning, it's a bit "out there."

The episode titles for the first three installments of “Halt and Catch Fire” Season 2 are as follows:

  • Episode 1 – “SETI”
  • Episode 2 – “Run Time”
  • Episode 3 – “The Way In”

“SETI” is a curious title for a show so prone to spoiler-filled titles – the Season 1 finale, for example, was named “1984” in reference to the release year and ad campaign for the real-life Macintosh computer that debuted in the episode.

SETI, or rather, the SETI Institute, is a real-world nonprofit corporation whose mission is “to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.” In layman’s terms, SETI, which stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence,” is out to find proof of life beyond earth – aliens!

In the Season 1 finale, Joe ditched Gordon (Scoot McNairy), Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna (Kerry Bishe), at least temporarily, and left Cardiff behind to go on a curious soul-searching road trip. When fans last saw the character he was in Colorado, headed for Fiske observatory in search of a mystery woman. Many at the time had speculated he was looking for his absent mother, but could there be more in store for Joe? Could his potential experience at the observatory lead to a hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence? We know his mother instilled in him a fascination with looking at the stars – which also caused his big accident. Could his trip to the observatory be the beginning of him starting a SETI-like program? Joe has always been in search of the next big idea and no idea could be bigger.

Adding to the interest around the “SETI” title, one of the biggest sponsors of the SETI Institute, among scientists like Carl Sagan and NASA, is computer company Hewlett Packard. Plus, the institute was founded in – you guessed it – 1984 – the year audiences last saw Joe and the Cardiff team.

As for the other titles, “Run Time,” a phrase for the duration of time a computer program is operating, echoes other computer lingo titles, such as “I/O” (input/output), as well as the show name. However, no discernable plot theories jump out from either “Run Time” or “The Way In.”

Will Joe be searching for extraterrestrial intelligence? Fans will have to wait to find out. Season 2 of “Halt and Catch Fire” will premiere this summer.

What do you make of the mysterious episode titles? Tweet your thoughts to @Ja9GarofaloTV.

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