In this week’s episode of Silicon Valley season 4, Richard Hendricks and Gavin Belson officially became partners. That’s a beautiful gift of a development, but this episode didn’t play up the tension as much as it could’ve.
This has been the consistent problem with Silicon Valley season 4. It’s certainly an enjoyable, entertaining season. But, over and over again, they create situations full of tension and then brush over the obvious conflicts. In just the first act of this episode, Richard needs Gavin of all people to sign something in order for him to continue with his passion project. Plus, he has to return to the house after spending all night at Gavin’s. Those two events could’ve been a complete episode, full of organic drama, but the episode moves past both points fairly quickly.
The season keeps setting up conflicts that could easily carry a season, then quickly resolving them. Obviously, it’s an episode show that should have some sort of resolution in each episode. But, it’s lacking a clear thread to keep us invested. Sure, Richard is working on his “new Internet” but what’s the consistent obstacle? As the gang on It’s Always Sunny would put it, “who are we doing it versus?”
There’s Jack Barker, but Gavin seems to be the only one who feels strongly about that rivalry. Richard’s team very quickly fall into either aligning with him or declaring their neutrality. So, what exactly is the thread to keep us excited for next week?
The subplot of the episode with Erlich Bachman and Jian Yang’s SeeFood app was meandering, but had some good moments. I certainly enjoyed the pay off of Dinesh Chugtai realizing his job for the next year is looking at pictures of dicks– while Bertram Gilfoyle tauntingly ate a hot dog in front of him. I also agree with Gilfoyle’s assessment that Dinesh finally having a woman he’s seeing but not leaving the house for six days is “worth exploring.”
Recommended for you
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
