'Halt and Catch Fire' season 3 episodes 9, 10 spoilers, plot news: Season finale offers more conflicts?

"Halt and Catch Fire" is heading off to its final stretch and it seems unwilling to let up on its forthright depiction of the complexities of human relations. AMC's period drama may be billed as a fictional depiction of the 1980s technological revolution, but at its core, the show is really more about the characters' successes, failures and the emotional consequences of each.

This week's episode titled "You Are Not Safe" saw the aftershocks of last week's shakeups before eventually dealing its own shocking conclusion. In an attempt to help his protégé Ryan Ray (Manish Dayal) make the best decision about his case with the FBI, Joe McMillan (Lee Pace) may have inadvertently pushed the young and talented coder to take the most conclusive decision of all: take his own life by jumping off the balcony of Joe's apartment.

Meanwhile, Donna Clark's (Kerry Bishé) plan to take Mutiny failed, Joe had given up on his technological ambitions and left the NSFNET project in Gordon Clark's (Scoot McNairy) hands, and husband and wife Tom Rendon (Mark O'Brien) and Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis) were about to move to Tokyo, Japan.

Everything seems to have fallen apart in this one episode, which perfectly sets up the stage for next week's two-hour season finale. How will everybody pick up the pieces after this week's devastations? Has Joe really given up or will it only be a matter of time before something or someone turns him back around? After Cameron blatantly brushed Donna off at the grocery store, will the two former business partners ever be able to be friends again?

The preview for "Halt and Catch Fire" season 3 episode 9 titled "NIM," does not offer a sneak peek into the finale episodes, but instead features a montage of this season's major conflicts. Joe's foreboding statement at the end, "Nothing lasts in this place," seems to hint that things may only get worse from here on out.

Brief episode synopses on TV Guide reveal that in episode 9, Donna may come up with a plan for their next big project. However, discussions about it may not end favorably for everyone. In episode 10 titled "NeXT," she tries to once again get everyone together at Comdex while Gordon deals with their eldest daughter's rebellion.

The "Halt and Catch Fire' season 3 finale will run for two hours on Tuesday, Oct. 11 starting at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC. The period drama has yet to be renewed for a fourth season.