What I’m Watching: Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley: Season 2, Episode 6 “Homicide” (B+)

I liked the trajectory of this episode, which started out with Gavin taking a big hit that wasn’t related to Big Head’s incompetence and an opportunity presented to Pied Piper, one that seemed to be in jeopardy but ended up tanking for multiple reasons completely unrelated to that. There’s something incredible about Erlich being so oblivious to the significance of his Kool-Aid nickname yet so aware of the meaning behind AA’s Double Asshole moniker. That Richard chose that as the thing to finally say rather than let both AA and Erlich talk over him his whole thing was pretty tragic. I don’t think Russ’ fury over someone else having done the livestream with Pied Piper’s algorithm bodes well either, and that could have some seriously negative impact in the near future. I loved seeing Dinesh and Gilfoyle bond over a common cause, the knowledge of an important mathematical fact and their hatred of someone who had refused to even let them speak for a moment, and that they SWOTted the situation out in public so that their intended victim could read all of the pros and cons of letting him die. Jared’s attempt to encourage Monica and Carla to be friends simply because they’re female was typically uncomfortable and amusing. The person running the focus group saying each member’s name over and over was hilariously and fabulously awkward, truly in the spirit and tone of this show. Gavin’s definitely down, but Pied Piper failed miserably to steal the spotlight at just the moment that would have been most opportune.