Silicon Valley is easily one of the top ten comedies on television today (if not higher). Their ability to take these characters who are all geniuses, tell their stories truthfully, and build everything upon itself week after week. After the season 3 premiere, which was arguably the funniest episode of the series yet, the challenge was going to be maintaining the comedy and the characters within the broad, bold new story. So far, they seem to be operating at the top of their game.
This week on Silicon Valley: New Pied Piper CEO Jack Barker begins making changes, some of which Richard is uncomfortable with, including letting the sales team decide what the platform should and shouldn’t include. Dinesh and Gilfoyle take a liking to all of the new perks the CEO has given them. Jared takes on a squatter in his condo. Erlich, desperate for new incubees, tries to evict Jian Yang. The guys at Hooli make a discovery while working on something for Gavin, right before their termination.
As you can see, this one was pretty eventful. After all the fallout from the end of last season, and this season’s previous episode, there was a lot of plot to get through. Sometimes, this show can make me uncomfortable, as Richard’s crises following one right after the other are just too much. The beginning of this episode made it seem like Richard might finally get a bit of a break. Alas, that is not the case. After the first couple of episodes, I’m certain that we will begin to see the fallout from all of this very soon, and that’s when the third season will really start to cook.
I really loved all of the Dinesh and Gilfoyle excitement about all of the new perks. Dinesh playing solitaire on a bunch of monitors was really funny. My particular favorite was the watermelon crust with watermelon jello inside. They were more excited than any human being should be, and it was hilarious. Kumail Nanjiani and Martin Starr are incredible, hilarious assets to this show.
If I had one complaint about this episode, it would be the separation of Erlich from the rest of the guys. T.J. Miller is incredible in that role, but he functions best near Richard and the gang. His story with Jian Yang was pretty hilarious, but less so that the other guys weren’t involved.
As I always do with comedies, here are some of my favorite quotes/moments from the episode:
- “I should’ve known you’d throw rock. That’s all you know in Pakistan. It’s in your blood. Don’t you guys call it rock, rock, rock?”- Gilfoyle
- “Why are we letting our own technology dredge up our painful past?”- Gavin Belson
- “They call me Jan the Man”- Jan the Man, who is on the sales team and decidedly not male
- “We can’t put all of our eggs in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow basket”- Jack Barker
- “I just imagine that my skeleton is my body, and my body is my house. That way, I’m always home.”- Jared
- Erlich and Jian Yang’s story was really funny.
- Dinesh’s picture on the promo video? Gold.
- “The f**k is that? A VCR?”
This episode was a strong second installment in what should be a game changer for this HBO comedy. Lucky for all of us, Silicon Valley has plenty of hilarious gas left in the tank. I’m excited about where things are going from here.
What did you guys think? Did you enjoy this episode? Let us know!
Silicon Valley airs Sundays at 10/9c on HBO.
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Visitor Rating: 5 Stars