What I’m Watching: Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley: Season 1, Episode 7 “Proof of Concept” (B)

This episode was a bit more grounded and on target than last week, but I still wasn’t enthralled by it, and find it hard to believe that there’s just one more episode before the end of the season. Though the show has already been renewed for a second season, I’d love to feel that this first sampling wasn’t just a directionless introduction, and more of a complete, self-sufficient arc. What we got in this episode is that some things haven’t gone too far – Big Head is content in his aimless life and can’t be seen interacting in a friendly manner with Richard – while others continue to be enormously destructive – Erlich sleeping with one of the judge’s second wife after trying to scope out whether he knew that he had slept with his first wife. It’s also hard to watch Jared be beat up on so much, even though it’s a role that Zach Woods has nailed many times in the past. For him to be thanked only because the object of Richard’s apparent obsession overheard him saying he was Richard’s partner and misinterpreted that he was gay is hardly any consolation. Dinesh being too distracted by Gilfoyle’s completely unintentional role in his attraction to the woman at the booth next to them to go the distance was somewhat amusing, but a sign of repetition and a failure to adequately give the two coders anything to do but fight over women, sex, and all things related. Let’s hope for a more focused finale.