"Think inside the box."
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
One of the great consistencies of Silicon Valley is its "one step forward, two steps back" approach with Richard and the Pied Piper crew, and that was no better exemplified than in tonight's new episode. For starters, "Two in the Box" took a very big step by giving the guys new offices, which felt very "tech startup" -- trendy lighting fixtures, glass panels for walls, a stocked kitchen and lots and lots of beanbag chairs. I also thought the company's new, slicker logo change was a telling sign of Jack's sneakier side this week.
Of course, as is the norm for Richard, what goes up must come down, and that began with Jack Barker hiring an unintentionally hilarious sales team. Indeed, some of the funniest moments from this episode stemmed from the salespeople butting heads with Richard, while constantly reintroducing themselves before they spoke. ("Doug, I'm shadowing Keith. Yes, he did." "Definitely, I was there. Don again.")
Like I mentioned last week, I wasn't sure whether Jack was actually going to be a genuinely nice guy or pull the rug out from under Richard's feet. The answer, turns out, was a bit of both, which I appreciated. Rather than Jack revealing himself to be a jerk in disguise -- which has been the case for pretty much all of Richard's past consultants -- it seems like Jack really does have the company's best interest at heart, at least from his own business-minded perspective.
Which is a great foil for Richard, who can't exactly call Jack out for being a bad guy -- because he isn't a bad guy; he's just pragmatic to the point of annoyance for Richard, and that's a great dynamic -- made only more hysterical by the inclusion of a horse insemination scene this week, which was, well... pretty hysterical. (Also, who knew you could show an erect stallion penis on HBO? Not even the R-rated Clerks II could get away with that visual!)
Meanwhile, the other subplots this week planted the seeds for some potentially fun stories down the line, although many of them weren't that humorous on their own here. Jared moving back into his condo, for example, came with the oh-so Jared-tailored conundrum of having to deal with a stubborn tenant who won't leave -- but that alone was only mildly amusing. (Granted, I did laugh at Jared's skeleton/body "trick.") Then there was Erlich kicking Jian Yang out of the house -- or at least trying to -- but, again, these scenes were generic, especially by Erlich's standards.
Alas, we didn't see any more of Big Head this week (or his $20 million settlement), but we did see the Nucleus guys crack Richard's code, which could throw a major wrench in Pied Piper's plans, especially now that Jack and his sales team are creating an entirely different product than Richard's, which could mean the Nucleus guys will beat Richard to the punch on his original freemium model.
Speaking of which, I thought it was hilarious how the sales team took Richard's "rhetorical example of a bad idea" and turned it into the main selling point of the company -- an external hard drive, basically. No doubt, this will cause even more friction between Richard and Jack, and now between the engineers and salespeople.
The Verdict
This week's Silicon Valley stepped up the tension between Richard and Jack to good effect, as the two clashed over Pied Piper's end product. This brought about some very funny lines and scenes, including the horse insemination sequence, Jack's Google story and Richard's sales meetings. I also thought Richard's impassioned speech about delivering his product to people anywhere and everywhere was a key moment in this, and highlighted the main difference between him and Jack as creators. As for the other storylines, they pitched some funny ideas for Jared and Erlich in the future, though the storylines themselves weren't that hilarious this week. Overall, though, "Two in the Box" took some solid strides in shaking things up and building on the developments from the premiere.
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