This is the first Season where TJ Miller isn't around to play Erlich Bachmann, and to be honest I was expecting the vibe to change considerably. Well, it did, but the Season is not significantly worse off for it.
Warning
It's crude, it's rude, it's Silicon Valley! But to be honest, without Erlich around, the uncouthness factor has gone down a whole lot. It's still pretty fucking profane, though.The Premise
After the events of last Season where they avoided a major legal and moral crisis, Pied Piper is making a little headway as they move into a new office and continue their partnership with Raviga. But Gavin Belson is back, and looking to sabotage their efforts by any means necessary.The Characters
Thomas Middleditch plays Richard Hendricks, CEO of Pied Piper. There's a quintessential Richard scene where he admits that he's no orator, then proceeds to inspire by example instead, i.e, coding himself into a coma. Richard's far from perfect though. While he seems to have overcome his moral myopia from last Season, he still has a bit of a mean streak. The last episode of the Season features him, at different points, doing a mocking jerky dance while chanting "kiss my piss"! It's awkward in a way only Middleditch seems to be able to pull off. Having seen Middleditch make a cameo appearance in Zombieland: Double Tap recently, more of that earnest geeky awkwardness is on display here.Zach Woods as Jared Dunn. As in last Season, he's the conscience of the team and this comes into play in the first few episodes where he handles an impending lawsuit like a pro, acting with a lot more maturity and humility than we've seen from the rest of the team combined. The moment where Richard promotes him to COO is a huge heartwarming moment. Couldn't happen to a greater guy.
Of course, Jared wouldn't be Jared if he didn't also come with a huge heaping of neuroses, and Zach Woods plays this to the hilt. Whether it's giving the team pep talks or breathing down the intern's neck, Jared is an integral part of the show's ensemble.
Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh Chugtai, awkward as ever and trying way too hard to be cool. His insecurities and immaturity are really played up this Season, to almost unrealistic levels. The Tesla subplot was one thing, but that little self-imposed code competition with Gilfolyle really ramped it up. He's become increasingly harder to like as a character.
Martin Starr plays snarky nihilistic Satanist Bertram Gilfoyle with the same deadpan awesomeness he's brought to the role from Day One. While Erlich is no longer around for Gilfoyle to mispronounce his name, I still get the kick out of hearing Gilfyle call Richard "Dick".
And while this Season he continues his longstanding feud with Dinesh, there's also a lot more for this character to do and he plays quite a significant part in the last few episodes.
Amanda Crew as Monica Hall. Monica plays the same role to the team as she has done the past several Seasons - as a voice of reason and support from upper Management. This role appears to have been ramped up in the absence of Erlich - no longer is she even partially defined by borderline sexual harassment from Erlich, there's a certain assertiveness about her I haven't seen before. She tells Gilfoyle to "sit the fuck down", and he does it. And just seconds later, when Gilfoyle delivers one of his snarky one-lines, she shuts him down with nothing more than a withering look. I mean, wow.
I get this feeling that she's gearing up to take Erlich's place in his absence, and I gotta say, they could do a lot worse!
Matt Ross as Gavin Belson, the scheming, ruthless CEO of Hooli. Overall, Gavin doesn't seem to have learned anything from his growth in last Season. He's still megalomaniacal and petty. If anything, he's relapsed and gotten worse. This makes me feel like the entirety of last Season's redemption arc for him was a huge waste of time.
Comedian Jimmy O. Yang as Jian Yang. Oh. My. God. Jimmy O.Yang outdoes himself this Season as he plays the conniving Chinaman with delicious craftiness. That baleful stare, that deadpan snark... there's a whole lot more of Jian Yang this Season and the show's better for it!
Suzanne Cryer has a fantastic Season playing Laurie Bream. Honestly, this is one hell of a capable woman who reveals new levels of human weakness while retaining the impersonal robotic ruthlessness that made her so badass as a character. Cryer really outdid herself here as she portrays Laurie in a new light - as an antagonist, but one who is still somehow likable.
Neil Casey as Colin, K-Hole boss. Comes across as an Erlich-lite - a brash and cocky boss, but very toned down from Erlich levels of hubris. Learns some humility after Laurie Bream ousts him from his own company.
Tzi Ma as Yao, China boss. A scheming business owner who's meant to portray the stereotypical ruthless China businessman.
Ben Feldman puts in a shift as Ron LaFlamme, Pied Piper's lawyer. What can I say, I love seeing this guy on-screen. His involvement this Season isn't quite as pervasive as it was the past couple Seasons, but he milks every moment he gets.
Josh Brener appears once in a while as Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti. Dim-witted as always, his habit of failing at the most basic things turns out to help the team midway through the Season. But I kind of feel his dumbness is overplayed, and his presence kind of forced towards the end.
Tony Winters is Mayor Wilkins of Goldbriar. He does a fair job as the harried politician who accedes to Gavin's demands.
Keye Chen makes a short but welcome appearance as Dang the designer. There's nothing much to say as the actor kind of phones it in. To be fair, he doesn't have a whole lot to do.
Aaron Sanders as Holden the intern. Young, insecure, and utterly terrified of Jared. By the time the Season wraps up, he's been reduced to a quivering wreck.
A.D Miles as Dee Dee. He's this frazzled gay developer, and the twist is that he's not ashamed of his sexual orientation, but has to keep his religion under wraps. He and Thomas Middleditch play off each other's characters to hilarious effect.
Chris Diamantopoulos is in only one episode as Russ Hannemann, and what a welcome five minutes' worth of fresh air that is. His appearance, seemingly somewhat superfluous with the crassness quota already previously ably handled by Erlich, adds a much needed jab of levity.
Jeff Elam and Gita Reddy as Tom and Viola, bosses of smart refrigerator company Seppen. They're not very technically savvy and don't come across as greedy or vindictive. Even their lawsuit against Pied Piper didn't look like it was driven by malice. It was only Gavin Belson's idea. They see reason pretty quickly though... and mostly because of Gilfoyle's tech cunning and Jared's negotiation smarts.
Chris Aquino as Danny, Sliceline guy turned Pied Piper employee. Deadpan and... well, just deadpan.
Rachel Rosenbloom as Becky, Optimoji girl turned Pied Piper employee. Snarky and also deadpan.
Krishna Smitha as Priyanka, Tesla buyer Indian girl. She and Kumail Nanjiani do a decent back-and-forth at times.
Todd Louiso as Ariel Eklow, the creepy boss of Eklow Labs. Suzanne Lenz as the robot Fiona whom, according to Colin, he's "definitely fucking".
Armen Weitzman is Jeff Washburn the mole. Scruffy, unkempt and totally dazed most of the time.
Bernard White gets in halfway through the Season to play Denpok, Gavin's former spiritual advisor. It appears that his full name is Denpok Singh. Damn, he's supposed to be Indian?! I totally never caught that! Seriously though, unlike previous Seasons, his presence does very little for the show. Maybe he should have stayed gone.
Andy Daly as the unnamed doctor. Well, not so unnamed anymore. It took several Seasons, but now we know his name is Crawford. And this is also the first time he's actually gotten annoyed with Richard - usually he's the one doing the annoying. And it's satisfying as heck. And all it took was Richard's legendary pedant!
Dan Mintz as Dana, CEO of Quiver. Quiet, stiff and awkward. Gives off creepy vibes, but turns out to be pretty misunderstood.
Benjamin Koldyke as Ben Burkhardt, Dana's COO. A rugged, good-looking middle-aged guy who talks a good game (Radical Candor, Ruinous Empathy, etc) but turns out to be a douchebag. His first piece of advice during the Seppen crisis is to throw Gilfoyle under the bus.
Chloe Wepper as Kira Pickford, boss of Optimoji. Compassionate boss to her staff, but with a take-no-shit style of negotiation.
Andrew Leeds as Duncan, boss of Sliceline. Lame and dorky. Richard thinks he's an asshole, but there are striking similarities in the dork department!
Henry Philips as John the server guy. He only has one appearance in the final episode, but boy did I whoop when he came on!
Jill E. Alexander has one appearance as a returning Patrice, who promptly gets fired again. I laughed a bit too hard at that one.
The Mood
Things move pretty slowly the first few episodes, with Pied Piper adjusting to their new office and new crew, and dealing with all the little obstacles that Gavin Belson throws their way. The little subplots sometimes add to the bloated feeling, but towards the last two episodes, things pick up with terrifying speed. It's like all plot points are being crammed into that one last hour of TV. This serves as a shot of adrenaline to what's ultimately quite an exciting conclusion.What I liked
Richard introduces the guys to the new workspace and their horrified reaction is priceless. Even Gilfoyle is shaken. Gilfoyle! Special mention to Dinesh's histronics paired beside Gilfoyle's quiet snark. That's barely five minutes into the first episode and already Kumail Nanjiani and Martin Starr are showing great chemistry together.
"We're not dicking around," says Gilfoyle when he, Dinesh and Richard are discussing potential new hires. Cut to the above shot. Juvenile? Yes? Worth a chuckle? Also yes.
The graphic work for Sliceline and Optimoji is bitching! I like how the show producers put that kind of effort into the background.
Jian Yang's Chinese translation for "New Pied Piper" is actually "new Happy Internet"!
Well, if you can actually read Chinese, you're in for an interesting time.
That scene where the team confronts Jeff about being the mole. Jared is livid and drops F-bombs. Dinesh is sweetly naive and acts all betrayed. And Gilfoyle? Gilfoyle destroys his computer with a bolt gun, then calmly destroys his guitar just out of sheer spite.
Gavin Belson makes a throwaway remark and his team of sycophants assign it way more meaning than was ever intended. It leads to a sideplot which takes up screen time, but totally worth it in the end.
The entire subplot about Dee Dee being a Christian pokes delicious fun at the real Silicon Valley's liberal hangups. In fact, by extension, the entire show does. Ron LaFlamme and Jared express concern about Richard's possible racism and being gay is considered perfectly mainstream, but Christianity? Cue the hysteria.
Not only was the entire subplot about Gavin Belson's signature darn funny, this shot as he's unveiling the Gavin Belson Signature Box Three to the world... with his arms raised and his head bowed, he really looks like he's lifting up a gigantic penis and straining under the weight. Also, the subtext: Gavin Belson is a huge dick.
I don't know how much effort it must have taken to make Jian Yang's knockoff of Pied Piper to look this lame, but I love it!
The entire segment detailing Gavin's stay in China. He finds himself stonewalled by Jian Yang.
"If oil company wants to buy your house, there is oil underneath."
The final series of twists and double-crosses has to be seen to be believed. Richard wins by exploiting Gavin Belson's utterly predictable penchant for treachery. It's the final nail in Gavin's coffin for now as he loses, once again, to the same skinny geek as he's done for the past several Seasons, and as usual due to his own failings as a person.
That last parting pan-out shot that shows just how big Pied Piper is about to grow. This is their new office. It's a happy ending; well, happier than any ending they've ever had at Season end. This is an unambiguous victory. In fact, their triumph so mirrors the astounding success at the end of Season One that Richard does exactly what he did back then - puke his guts out.
What I didn't
Richard spending 19,000 dollars on vengeance is a little too close to Gavin Belson's Modus Operandi. Not that it wasn't clever or funny, but I thought he'd grown past that jerk phase... and even if he hadn't, it seemed just a little too early in the Season for stuff like that.
I felt like entirely too much time was spent on Dinesh and his Tesla. Yes, even with its relevance at the end of the Season. Gilfoyle's choice of ride was a little more interesting, but still didn't compensate adequately for the sheer banality of the subplot.
Richard acting like a blushing virgin when Ben proposes being his COO. Like, totally cringe-city.
I don't know if this is deliberate, but the Mandarin spoken by both Gavin Belson and Laurie Bream is painful. Mr Yao's English is actually better than their Mandarin. Fuck, Jian Yang's shitty English is better than their Mandarin!
Richard cosplaying as The Pied Piper. Oh sweet Jesus... why?
Holden screaming "lock them up" like a lunatic. Look, I'm all for mocking Donald Trump supporters (and the douchey Hillary Clinton supporters too, while I'm at it), but this smacks of pandering. Can we keep lame USA politics out of tech shows, please?
Gilfoyle and Monica seem like an unlikely pair, but they work very well together. What I don't like is springing their chemistry on the viewers on the last fucking episode of the Season. Come on!
Conclusion
Do I like this Season? That's a resounding yes. Not only do we get more of the same general tech-related hilarity, the team finally seems to be making strides after five entire Seasons of floundering. And when you consider that this Season is missing Erlich Bachmann, that's not a small thing. TJ Miller's absence was felt... but not that keenly.
This Season felt a lot more fast-paced because there were noticeably fewer tiny subplots to keep track of, and most of those subplots actually ended up, like in previous Seasons, contributing to the final outcome. Though I really could have done without the Telsa thing. What an absolute time-waster.
Looking forward to the further adventures of the Pied Piper team!
My Rating
9 / 10
Till the next Season arrives, Kiss My Piss!
T___T
T___T
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