While everyone will be rightfully talking about last night’s amazing hour of Game of Thrones today, calling it one of the series’ very best episodes, the show following it on HBO, Silicon Valley, also delivered one of its greatest episodes ever last night, a fantastic half hour of comedy that yet again pushed the series in a new, different direction. There’s so much to unpack from “White Hat/Black Hat,” from its layered jokes to the way it moves the story forward, but the episode doesn’t ever feel overstuffed. No, this is an example of Silicon Valley firing on all cylinders, and man, it was sure fun to watch.
After stepping up and making some harder, more morally ambiguous choices in last week’s episode, Richard finds himself reverting back to his old ways in “White Hat/Black Hat,” as he continually reaches out speak with Seth Lee, who was fired by End Frame because they believed that Pied Piper had hacked into their system. Unlike Gilfoyle and Dinesh, who insist that Seth’s previous association with End Frame makes him a piece of crap and not someone worth their time, Richard cannot stand idly by and let Seth believe that it was his fault that Pied Piper was able to get the information that they did. However, both meetings he has in this episode with him end on a negative note, with Seth promising to hack into Pied Piper’s system, a threat that makes Richard even more stressed out than he usually is.
And all this stress and worry that Richard is feeling is important, and not simply because it leads to some hilarious exchanges between him and parents of some very young children (as Richard not only curses in front of these kids but also gives some of the parents the impression that he’s a pedophile). No, why the build-up of stress that Richard feels is so key to this week’s Silicon Valley is because it leads to something that’s been coming for a while: Richard blowing up on Russ, letting him know how he truly feels. It’s a great scene for both Thomas Middleditch and Chris Diamantopoulos, who makes you believe that Russ is truly sad and broken up about what Richard said, before the mega-millionaire (he’s no longer a part of the “three comma club” at the moment) enacts his revenge, “accidentally” placing the bottle of tequila that Richard refuses to drink with him on the delete key of one of Pied Piper’s laptops, erasing hours and hours of Intersite’s content.
Despite how in control he felt in last week’s episode, last night’s Silicon Valley yet again proves just how much Richard has to learn. Whether it’s his guilt about Seth or his rising anger towards Russ, Richard’s business decisions are constantly being influenced by his emotions, and just as he was responsible for the group’s huge victory, he’s also the reason they end “White Hat/Black Hat” in such a hilarious but terrible situation.
Where Pied Piper stands right now is the culmination of all of Richard’s choices, from getting into business with Russ to competing with End Frame for Intersite. These decisions were made out of necessity, actions taken by a guy that was desperate to not lose his company and everything he’s worked so hard to achieve. However, with two episodes left in Silicon Valley Season 2, Richard finds himself worse off than he ever was before, the possibility of Pied Piper crumbling into nothing only growing greater.
Other thoughts:
– The B-plot of this week’s Silicon Valley involves Erlich helping Jian Yang pitch his app to Monica. However, it all takes a turn when the two discover that Monica is a smoker, something Laurie thoroughly disapproves of. The way this story builds, with Erlich getting the idea for “Smocation”–a clever hybrid of smoke and location, as he tells Monica and Laurie–and how it ends, with Jian Yang smoking a celebratory cigarette inside of Raviga and in front of Laurie, was so, so good.
– The Erlcih/Jian Yang story is just one example of how great the comedy is in this episode of Silicon Valley. The way jokes recur throughout the half hour, such as the running gag about the transitive and reflexive properties (“Math aside…”), and the manner in which Richard’s face-to-face meetings progressively get worse (he sees Seth twice and gets stressed out, then yells at Russ, and then is told to get out by the head of Intersite) is incredible. This may be both the funniest and smartest Silicon Valley episode of the season.
– With Hooli in such bad shape when it comes to Nucleus and Pied Piper appearing to have no backing or business of any kind, may we soon Gavin Belson approaching Richard to team up again? I’m excited to see if that happens.
– If this is the last we ever see of Russ, then he could not have gone out on a better note, as he not only caused one final major issue for Pied Piper but also delivered, for me, the biggest laugh of the episode, as he went around the room reflecting on the time he shared with Gilfyole, Dinesh, and Jared. He points at each of them, almost whispering what he will remember them as: “This guy…Bin Laden….he f***s.”
– Silicon Valley and T.J. Miller both won their respective categories for Best Comedy and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at last night’s Critics’ Choice Television Awards. I’d say they deserved the wins, especially after this episode.
What did everyone else think of this week’s Silicon Valley? Do you agree with me that it was the best of the season?
[Photo via HBO]
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