“Two in the Box”
This week’s Silicon Valley was a lesson in self-preservation as the dudes learn to navigate a world in which they literally have no control. What starts as an exciting new part of their company’s history quickly turns to steaming hot garbage as the bells and whistles become just another roadblock. The most infuriating part is the ease in which the world takes over the reins; why the fuck can’t these guys (especially Richard) catch a break?
As Richard let’s go of what he perceives to be a comfortable amount of control over Pied Piper, he also loses a certain amount of self. This happens over and over in the episode, and it begs the question whether or not money is seen as a sort of villain in the lives of these engineers. Think about it, every time Pied Piper gets to the point where it’s on the verge of being successful there’s some sort of hindrance keeping it all in check.
First it was the death of Peter Gregory (which, admittedly, came from the real life death of Christopher Evan Welch) establishing a pattern of schadenfreude. After Gregory’s death came the lawsuit, followed by the funding of the project by Russ Hanneman, which would lead to absolute malarkey and later multiple fiascos, eventually leading to their acquisition by Laurie. Which of course, is where we see them now, figuring out how not to lose hold of the platform while simultaneously attempting to keep a hold of their now seemingly successful careers.
While it may seem vague, each of those points simply map out their journey. It’s everything in between that makes up the bulk of the series (and the infuriating moments that come from it) that showcase the problems they run into every time money comes into play. It reared its ugly head in their personal lives this episode, leading to the continued madness faced by Jared, and even Erlich.
As Jared attempts to move back into the condo he purchased using hard earned money during his time at Hooli, he’s thwarted by an angry Air BnB guest who invokes squatter’s rights, citing the financial burden of living in a tech bubble that is perpetuated by Jared’s working in the industry. Jared is literally the least deserving of this annoyance, and yet it’s when he has the money to live almost comfortably that he runs into this problem. Similarly, Erlich looks to evict Jian Yang who finds out about squatter’s rights from the horse’s mouth and aims to exploit it for all its worth. Yes, Erlich isn’t as invested in the company, but he has shares and a board seat putting him in danger of the wrath of wealth. It’s almost like they’re all cursed; success will always evade them in some aspect or another.
Of course this is all a part of moving the plot forward at the characters’ expense. But realistically how long can we continue in this circle? As funny and well written as the show is, there will come a point where it will become tiresome unless they figure out a (ironically enough) new algorithm that makes things work faster, and more efficiently for the overall plot.
There was a nice little moment where the show pokes fun at itself concerning the constant lack of female characters as they introduced Jan, or ‘Jan the Man’ as she prefers to be called. Even as a high powered, seemingly femme type, she prefers to identify with the “boys club” aspect of the tech world. Why wouldn’t she? It’s the men that are getting ahead in the business, and even on the marketing side of things there’s going to be a constant push back and lean towards the male centric business model that many of the real Silicon Valley businesses tend to employ.
Looking back to self-preservation, each character will now face their individual breaking points where self-preservation outweighs the pros of their newfound lives. Jared can’t play the nice guy forever, many of his traits are that of an unstable individual; this will be the season we see him snap. Erlich’s need to be needed will come into play as he fights Jian Yang over the room in his incubator. Richard will again need to navigate the possibility of cutting ties with Pied Piper in order to save his well-loved (and sought after) brain. Even Dinesh and Gilfoyle will hit a point where their work will be compromised enough that no amount of brand new monitors will tie them over. Well, maybe, those two are crazy selfish.
What’s certain is that, even with the problems that tend to permeate from the series as a whole, it’s still well-done enough that it will always have an audience. The humor is smart, yet coarse enough to remain joyfully blithe. For fuck’s sake they showed us two horses mating to lighten a tense scene. The characters are all fantastic and in their own ways lovable, and the plot literally keeps us so close to the edge of our seats that we tumble into the next episode without question. Whatever issue may arise will likely be addressed at one point, so for now there’s not much to do but speculate and enjoy wholeheartedly.
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