SILICON VALLEY – Live-action comedy developed by Mike Judge; rated TV-MA; airs Sundays on HBO; 30 minutes. Episode 2.1: “Sand Hill Shuffle” (original airdate, April 12, 2014). Directed by Mike Judge; written by Clay Tarver (7 out of 10)
The story so far: Richard Hendrix (Thomas Middleditch), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr), Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), Erlich Bachmann (T. J. Miller), and Jared Dunn (Zach Woods) are employees of a startup called Pied Piper. Richard has created a lossless algorithm that could change all digital media as we know it, allowing for quicker streaming and less space needed for storage. They receive mentoring and funding from angel investor Peter Gregory. Philanthropic rebel billionaire Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) and his company Hooli tried to reverse engineer Pied Piper, even going so far as stealing Richard’s best friend Big Head (Josh Brener) to head up “Project Nucleus.” Project Nucleus was every bit as good as Pied Piper, leading Richard to completely re-write the code in a single night, creating an unprecedentedly fast and superior product. After winning TechCrunch Disrupt, now everyone wants a piece of them.
In this episode:
Our team is getting wooed by the Bay Area’s finest venture capital firms, one of which takes them to a night at AT&T field. They are so overwhelmed and uncomfortable, especially since they’re very comfortable allowing Peter Gregory to continue funding them. But there’s a catch, as they learn that Gregory has tragically died while on safari in Africa.
With their funding possibly in jeopardy, they begin making the rounds at various firms. And we get a realistic view of investment and tech startup economics in 2015.
And at Peter Gregory’s funeral, we get even more insight into just how competitive and two-faced business can get.
Potent Quotables:
“I don’t know about you people, but I don’t want to live in a world where someone else makes the world a better place better than we do.”
“They were negging us!”
“Negging?”
“It’s a manipulative sex strategy used by lonely chauvinists.”
…
“If they want to negotiate using hostility and rudeness, well, they picked the wrong guy.”
Erlich being rude to investors
Richard being rude to investors
Final verdict: 7 out of 10
This was a good return to form for this show. We’ve got new stakes, a new ticking clock deadline (have to get a working beta version for CES), and in the immortal words of Biggie: mo’ money, mo’ problems.
But essentially, this was all setup for the rest of the season. It reminds us of the tensions and relationships and stakes, but also tells us where exactly we’re going.
Watch it because it’s Silicon Valley and it’s back. But it’s not quite as much of a return to form as the season finale. But, really, what could be?
CAST:
Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendrix, T. J. Miller as Erlich Bachmann, Zach Woods as Jared Dunn, Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh, Martin Starr as Gilfoyle, Amanda Crew as Monica