Silicon Valley is a comedy series on HBO from creator Mike Judge (Office Space) about a software startup company called Pied Piper who are put through the trials and tribulations of running a tech business. The series stars Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, Amanda Crew and Matt Ross.
In the wake of Christopher Evan Welch’s actual passing, Mike Judge was forced to write in his character’s death for Silicon Valley as well, which is a rough way to kick off one’s sophomore season. Peter Gregory was a standout supporting character in season one and replacing him was going to suck one way or the other. Kudos however for the hilarious scene where Monica (Crew) explains how Peter died – but never actually definitively explaining how he did. It was hilarious and it helped kickstart a second season full of one unfortunate circumstance after the other.
Pied Piper spends the majority of season two being sued, having their intellectual property stolen and having their management team hijacked by a madman. That madman is Russ Hanneman, an early pioneer of the internet who put radio on the internet and made a sweet B (that means billion by the way). Chris Diamantopoulos steals every scene this season portraying the egomaniacal Russ Hanneman. His debut where he drives up in that ridiculous sports car while Limp Bizkit blasts over the speakers was hysterical. He’s both despicable and loveable at once and I hope we see more of him in future episodes.
The villainous Gavin Belson unravels as his IT team at Hooli fails miserably time and time again at delivering a sustainable rival to Pied Piper. Seeing Matt Ross freak out during his board meetings is priceless but even better is his constant promoting of former Pied Piper employee “Big Head” for no reason whatsoever. The way Judge presents the tech industry is amazing and being somewhat familiar with it myself; shockingly factual in the way it’s presented on Silicon Valley. I don’t know whether that’s funny, sad or both.
The core of Silicon Valley is our main crew at Pied Piper and how the react and converse with one another in the innovation incubator. Every single performance is pitch perfect in the only way Judge knows how to convey in his films and shows. What I wasn’t ready for was how much shit was going to be thrown at Pied Piper this season – I mean that finale was just as brutal as the Game of Thrones Season Five shocker in the sense that this poor company seems destined to fail no matter what.
For a half hour comedy series, I was on the edge of my damn seat and having difficulty keeping pee in when Richard Hendricks is scrambling to get in touch with his team to prevent them from doing something horrible. And when the dust settles, it’s still not enough for Pied Piper. Judge has put this crew through the ringer and I’m hoping there’s some light at the end of the tunnel for our guys because holy shit – the tech world is loaded with dead-eyed savages who absolutely give no shits whatsoever.
Rating: [star rating=”4″]