Silicon Valley - season 2 (2015) - Critically deflated second run for beloved sitcom

♥♥

 

+ Worst Poster of the Year

 

Symptomatically for the second season of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley, its poster is much less poignant and funny than the preceding one

 

The second season of creators John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky (Blades of Glory (2007, both)) and Mike Judge's (Extract (2009)) Silicon Valley still focuses on the trials of San Francisco tech startup company Pied Piper upon winning an important industry prize at the conclusion of the first season.

The following episode run-through will contain SPOILERS:

1. Pied Piper's financier and CEO of Raviga Peter Gabriel dies a sudden death.

2. Things are going bad for Pied Piper, with their huge competitor Hooli suing them for copyright violation and their investor Raviga jumping ship. With none of the previously interested investors interested any longer, and facing a legal battle that could cost millions, Pied Piper's founder Richard (Thomas Middleditch (The Final Girls (2015))) decides to meet with Hooli CEO Gavin Belson (Matt Ross (The Aviator (2004))), who is interested in buying up Pied Piper.

3. Richard is about to accept the buy-up, when he is stopped by wealthy douche Russ (Chris Diamantopoulos (Empire State (2013))), who has another plan: To give Pied Piper a 5 mil. $ loan in exchange for a seat in its board. Richard agrees, and Belson finds his weapon against Richard; his past best friend and Pied Piper associate, 'Big Head' (Josh Brener (The Belko Experiment (2016))).

4. The company hires two additional programmers. One is hired with Ehrlich (T. J. Miller (Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014))), Pied Piper's loud-mouthed board member and 'incubator' (owner of the house they operate from) objecting, and that ends up disrupting it.

5. Richard suffers from severe night sweats, which he fears will develop into bedwetting, as moving the company has to be postponed, because Pied Piper needs its own servers, which fit into the garage. Jared (Zach Woods (The Good Wife (2013-16))), the peculiar company assistant, has his own strange sleep pattern; the guys' invalid neighbor becomes another problem for them; and at Hooli, Belson once again promotes unsuspecting 'Baghead'.

6. Hooli's attempt at live-streaming a wrestling match crashes, which inspires Pied Piper to try something similar, and succeed! But the energy drink Homicide turns out not to be the ideal partner for the venture. Another company called End Game turns out also (as Hooli) to have stolen Pied Piper's technology.

7. Our friends pursue End Game, who for the moment turn out to be more commercially minded than Pied Piper. Pied Piper's tough programmer Gilfoyle (Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks (1999-00))) locates a way forward: A porn client. Meanwhile the less aggressive programmer Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani (Goosebumps (2015))) still can't get a girl interested in him.

8. Richard is caught in a paranoid funk because of a vengeful bastard by the name of Seth, but it turns out to be irksome investor Russ who gets a piece of truth from him and as a result may leave Pied Piper. The company mistakenly deletes 9,000 hours of porn from their first client. - Ouch!

9. The copyrights trial becomes an arbitration trial instead, and Pied Piper hires a really funny, disbarred non-lawyer lawyer (Matt McCoy (The Newcomers (2000))), but the case boils down to whether or not Richard is willing to lie about having initially used a Hooli computer for his work on Pied Piper, - which he refuses to do.

10. While a falling accident and Manny Pacquiao suddenly make Pied Piper's 'condor-cam' spike in popularity, Richard wins the arbitration trial due to rotten contracts at Hooli, where Belson is targeted for firing, and 'Big Head' for another advancement... But the party for Pied Piper is over before it begins, as Raviga's new CEO, Laurie (Suzanne Cryer (Get the Gringo (2012))) buys Russ out of the company and removes Richard as its director.

The first episode of the second season is astoundingly bad, beginning with a severely unfunny opening at a baseball stadium. The sudden real-life death of Christopher Evan Welch (Our Idiot Brother (2011)), who portrayed Peter Gabriel, who is killed off in the season's beginning, obviously hangs over the production for its entire second run. It begins by being both written, acted and lit without much motivation and presence. The fun only returns slowly to Silicon Valley, especially through the performances of Woods and Nanjiani, but it remains miles from the heights of season 1. Miller, who plays the charismatic Ehrlich as a key part of the entire show's formula, attacks the part with less persuasion and spirit in season two but returns to form towards its end.

Of the new characters, Raviga's CEO is played by Cryer with an autistic routine that becomes old fast. Russ seems to have more potential, but is also an aggravating character. We get more of the show's racially stereotypically drawn, but not completely unfunny, Chinese character Jing-Yang (Jimmy O. Yang (Those Who Can't (2016, TV-series))).

The storylines go in circles in season 2, centering on money and the same few companies, - for some reason not dealing with such obvious elements as romance or actual sex, (the characters talk about it plenty though.) Season 2 of Silicon Valley is more nerdy, very rocky, but still with some fun, although despairingly less fun and poignant than in its towering first season.

 

Best episode:

 

9. Binding Arbitration - written by Dan O'Keefe (On the Lot (2007, TV-series), Altschuler, Krinsky and Judge, directed by Judge

The trial moves to arbitration, and Pied Piper hires an unorthodox lawyer. Miller as Ehrlich is finally seems to be back in top shape.

Related posts:

 

Mike Judge: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
 

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Silicon Valley - season 1 (2014) - Judge and Co. introduce a hilarious tech-centric satirical sitcom

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) or, Uhh, Where's the TV?

A still from the terrible baseball-stadium set opening of the second season of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley

Richard drinks tequila shots with Russ in season 2 of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley

Watch a promo for the second season here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: None - TV only

= Unknown

[Silicon Valley - season 2 was first broadcast on HBO from April 12 to June 14 and spans 10 28-30 minute episodes, totaling approximately 290 minutes. It was shot in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, California. The viewer ratings were up slightly from the first season: from 1.72 mil. to 1.8 mil. on average. The season was nominated for a Golden Globe and 6 Emmys, winning two. - Ironically, the show grew in audience and recognition for its much inferior second season. Silicon Valley - season 2 is fresh at 100 % with an 8.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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