In my Season 2 review I praised Silicon Valley for building on a great first season. Season 2 heaped judgment on and castigated the politics and mentality of the tech industry while never losing track of the lovable fuckwits caught up in the shitstorm that is founding a new startup and turning it into a fully fledged company. Season 3 marks another step up in quality for the show, entertaining while never losing its strong satirical bite.
Synopsis:
After last season’s shocking ending, which found Pied Piper celebrating legal victory just as Richard (Thomas Middleditch) was ousted as CEO, Season 3 picks up where we left off, with Richard offered the diminished role of CTO and the rest of his team — Erlich (T.J. Miller), Jared (Zach Woods), Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) — facing the question of just how far their loyalty extends. With a new no-nonsense CEO hell-bent on transforming everything from Pied Piper’s offices to its business agenda, the guys must find a way to triumph in the war of Art vs. Commerce, maneuvering the many competing interests along the way.
Silicon Valley is a show where every victory is followed by some monumental fuckup. So winning a court case and ownership of his own company at the end of Season 2 was always going to be short lived. Season 3 deals with the fallout as the investors take steps to ensure the dollars flow, ousting Richard (Thomas Middleditch) as CEO and replacing him with an experienced pair of hands in Jack Barker (the brilliantly cast Stephen Tobolowsky). He changes the course of the company to try and ensure short term profits over the long term intended vision of its founder, much to his consternation.
Richard is still the core of the show, a noble but naive soul that Middleditch does well to imbue with a bumbling but not infuriating nature. You have to feel for the guy, you really do. There are plenty of other plot strands that play out around this, typically involving his co-founders/programming team. Ehrlich (T.J. Miller) pairs off with Big Head (Josh Brener) to create their own incubator project with the results you’d expect (the latter’s rise to the top of the Hooli food chain was one of the best side gags of last season, and his obliviousness continues here). Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) tries to ignite a love affair with a new video codec while Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) continues being a droll ass to everyone, especially Dinesh. Their rapport is one of the highlights of the show, a banter that you know will deliver every time they’re paired on screen. The show’s “villain” is still the crew’s former employer Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) and his tech behemoth Hooli. Belson is also in something of a death spiral this season, his failures drawing the ire of the company board, making for some delicious entertainment.
If you’re looking to get into the show and are put off by the tech setting, don’t fret. It’s a show not lost in the business or tech-jargon side of things, not for the lack of this content, but largely due to the writing and characters. Savants who through their own stupidity, arrogance, or just total ignorance, become both accessible and hilariously entertaining. The great cast has, with Judge’s writing, settled into a fantastic rhythm. They fire off barbs against each other as the plot hurtles forward, one which actually is rather interesting to see unfold; corporate intrigue and backstabbing abound. It’s just a gift that it’s paired with some damn fine comedy, notably something I shall refer to as the horse scene, which is the funniest thing I saw on TV last year and alone reason enough to buy this release.
The Package
The release comes in a slip case; inside are two discs, each containing 5 of the 10 episodes making up the season. Like the previous TV releases from HBO, the presentation is strong. Good colors and contrast, deep blacks, and impressive detail. For a sitcom set primarily in an office, it’s pretty flawless, frankly.
Special features are limited to deleted scenes for episodes one, four, and six. It’s a shame no commentaries are included like in the previous season’s release. There is also a UV code for a digital copy of the season. A full documentary on the conception and execution of the ‘horse scene’ was required here.
The Bottom Line
Despite a rather underwheming set of extras, it’s hard to not recommend Silicon Valley, with the show itself being one of the best comedies on TV (sorry…HBO) right now. Mike Judge, aided by a superb cast, has crafted a sharp satire that with another year under its belt, a season with an even more refined damning of the tech industry and the characters within it. Just brilliant comedy.
Silicon Valley Season 3 is available on Blu-ray now.
