“Jesus Christ. He’s the CEO of the world, ever heard of him?”
Last season Silicon Valley became as much of a tech satire drama as it is a comedy. It delivered on big laughs, but by the end threw just as many gut punches. So, for the uninitiated, starting the third season of a raucous HBO comedy off with so much pure drama may seem bewildering, but for fans Richard and Co. pick up right where they left off. Which is to say, in the eye of a shitstorm.
In this manner, “Founder Friendly” is par for the course, with Richard in a fit of ‘trying so hard to be an asshole’ rage, Erlich getting stoned, and Jared cleaning up both their respective messes. The episode is aware that the humor and drama do not have to always occur in the same scene to coexist and push each other forward.
Silicon Valley’s humor has always been a double edged sword in terms of plot progression. Sometimes it quite literally slows it down, looking at you BamBot, and makes you consider the ridiculousness of the situation. And a show about this much failure needs that. But more often than not, it moves it forward. Dinesh and Gilfoyle’s hilarious RIGBY discussion necessitates that the C plot does not run alongside the A plot, but intersects it at the most infuriating time. It has a helluva pay off for both the parties involved and talked about. Jared’s bumbling compliments and admiration of Richard is as funny as ever, but him leads to the absurd offices of Flutterbeam (on brand with perfect fake startup names as always). There is a sense of wanting to get to the joke not for the sake of the joke, but for the sake of the next scene, and the joke that follows that. Even if the jokes in “Founder Friendly” weren’t Silicon Valley’s creme de le creme, they still serve more purpose than most dramedy fodder.
For all the outlandishness of forking and mustaches, one of the truly funniest parts of “Founder Friendly” was how Erlich was actually right. I guess after the “Homicide” experience with “Double A,” Erlich has started to seem like a pretty good judge of character, which may explain why he’s still sticking with Richard. It may seem on the surface that he’s fighting to give “Action” Jack Barker a chance because of his own ego, but his ego has once again conquered over the overbearing negatively of Richard’s own. So when it turns out Barker is a great guy, portrayed by an incomparable Stephen Toblowsky no less, we find ourselves once again questioning the brains behind Pied Piper and if it’s perhaps better with someone else in charge. Dinesh and Gilfoyle aren’t above it, why should we be?
“Founder Friendly” ended with a cliffhanger, but the at the bottom of the cliff is a stack of mattresses. It gets tiring to watch Richard succeed and be immediately faced with another monolithic obstacle, as was the case with most episode endings last season. So thankfully, at least for now, there is security. Pied Piper is headed towards something — together — and that’s a relief.
Tumblr’s gonna love: RIGBY
Best Tech Dig: Flutterbeam as a Snapchat stand-in was brilliant
Biggest Asshole: Gavin, for getting our hopes up with that announcement speech