Jian-Yang!
Warning: Full spoilers for the Silicon Valley: Season 4 finale below.
There’s a certain destructive pathos that comes with the male-heavy tech culture of Silicon Valley. I’m talking about the actual place, not the Mike Judge-created series - at least for the moment. Over the past few weeks, we’ve bore witness to the fall of controversial Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and I mention this as a mere example of the sort of balls-to-the-wall hubris many think tanks, start-ups and the like, regularly fall victim to in the often oddball San Francisco tech world the HBO comedy series parodies so well.
As Silicon Valley ended its fourth season, it’s hard not to acknowledge the proverbial mirror the series has continually held up to real life. (Seriously, I used to work at MySpace back in the day -- I kind of feel like I’ve lived this story.) As Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) took a short-lived sabbatical from the story, followed by TJ Miller’s permanent exit -- taking fan favorite Erlich Bachman out of the equation -- it’s no surprise that Pied Piper’s awkward, reluctant leader, Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), finally took a dark turn and, dare I say, broke bad.
I don’t think Hendricks becoming the villain was something anyone really expected here, yet with the moral vacuum left by the exit of Belson and Bachman, the whole transformation feels pretty organic. Sure Jack Barker (Steven Tobolowsky) and Keenan Feldspar (Haley Joel Osment) may have stirred the pot a bit, but without a true overall bad guy at play, it seems Hendricks finally became everything he despised -- and he took the rest of his Pied Piper crew down with him in the process.
The Hooli-con hack was a flop: Richard’s attempt at uploading Pied Piper’s “new internet” software to a load of unsuspecting devices backfired -- literally -- causing random Hooli devices to spontaneously explode (Shots fired, Samsung!). It’s a secret screwup for Pied Piper and a very public travesty for Hooli CEO, Jack Barker, as he believes his team-up with VR genius Keenan Feldspar caused the whole dang mess.
“These are real people, with reach crotches … And they’re burning.” Leave it up to Jared (Zach Woods) to take the role of eternal conscience, once more. While he’s always been an outcast in the group, Jared’s undying loyalty has been something worth commending. Pied Piper and Richard would be nothing with him. I’d even say Jared is like the Commander Riker to Hendricks’s Captain Picard. And when Jared finally resigns from his post, it feels like the final nail in the coffin for Pied Piper. It almost is.
As Barker heads to China with the intention of having his factory workers take all 9-million Hooli phones off the market, Erlich has an odd reunion with Gavin -- who, at this point, seems to have fully embraced the whole Buddhist monk lifestyle. But it’s obvious his allegiances still lies with the company he helped build. As Barker is taken hostage by those disgruntled factory workers, Hooli turns to Belson for help. And suddenly Gavin Belson is back on top -- kicking Jack Barker to the curb while leaving Erlich to live out the next five years of his life smoking primo opium in Tibet.
Honestly, I was expecting a more dramatic exit for the creator of Aviato, but maybe this is the best way for T.J. Miller’s character to leave the story. Still, it’s hard to imagine a Silicon Valley without him ...
Richard’s last-ditch effort in salvaging Pied Piper’s data deal with Dan Melcher finds Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) -- cat contact lenses, and all -- covertly moving Anton, the company’s server, over to Stanford where Big Head’s (Josh Brener) run as guest professor hasn’t gone so swimmingly. They would’ve gotten the server back up and running by 9 am, too … If Anton didn’t up and fall out the back of that moving truck!
Cue the unraveling of Richard Hendricks in 3, 2, 1 …
Up to this point, Richard has lost Erlich and Jared, and as Dinesh and Gilfoyle give up and vacate the sinking ship that is Silicon Valley, Hendricks’ meltdown leads to a huge revelation: He’s really become quite the dick. As he fully admits, he was just “one blood boy away from being Gavin Belson.” The hubris of Silicon Valley almost claimed another victim.
Yet, instead of going down in a Walter White-style blaze of glory, Richard gives in and owns up to all his recent screw-ups. As reluctant and awkward as he is, in this moment, Richard Hendricks reveals himself as the real hero Silicon Valley needs.
And as a surprise to everyone, all it really took to keep Pied Piper running was a smart fridge. Remember the “Suck it, Jian-Yang” video Gilfoyle uploaded to the refrigerator earlier in the season? He added some Pied Piper libraries to the firmware to make that prank happen and a little bit of “course correcting” found a whole bunch of fridges following suit, updating their firmware to meet Gilfoyle’s little software tweak.
The idea of 30,000 smart fridges communicating with each other may be a bit unsettling, but it’s this unexpected turn of events that keeps Hendricks’ new internet concept from imploding for good. From the brink, Pied Piper heads back into the spotlight once more.
So where do we go from here? We’ve seen Hooli and Pied Piper come to blows in the past. But with the short-lived partnership Richard and Gavin enjoyed earlier in the season, it feels like the two tech leaders are now on even ground. Who do I root for? Richard Hendricks may be the real hero of the series, but Gavin Belson’s recent spiritual awakening makes me hoping for his success as well.
These conflicting loyalties are sure to play out once the show returns for Season 5. Just how will things all play out without Erlich Bachman in the mix? That remains to be seen. But Silicon Valley -- the real place and the HBO series -- seems to be rife with big personalities. I’m sure they’ll make due.
The Verdict
As Erlich Bachman leaves the series, Silicon Valley ends its fourth season on a high note. Both Richard and Gavin enjoyed their own personal redemption arcs and now that their struggles are behind them, renewed battle lines are forming. Silicon Valley has always been about the conflict between Hooli and Pied Piper. Now, with Richard’s “new internet” software a proven success, these two software companies may finally be on even ground -- which will make for one riveting battle when Season 5 begins next year.
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