'Silicon Valley' Season 1 Finale Recap: Crazy Is Coming

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Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) chat with another person in the season 1 finale of 'Silicon Valley.'

By Anita Li2014-06-02 07:56:10 UTC

"Not unpleased" is Peter Gregory's high compliment (via Monica) on Pied Piper's triumphant win at startup competition TechCrunch Disrupt. It also happens to reflect how I feel about Silicon Valley's season 1 finale.

"Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency" picks up where previous episode "Proof of Concept" left off, following the team as they survive Hooli CEO Gavin Belson's seemingly bulletproof presentation, and go on to decimate the competition thanks to Richard's new and greatly improved compression engine. A Weissman score of 5.2! (The test, by the way, is fictional, developed for the show by engineers at Stanford University.) Despite its predictable plot and outcome, episode 8 ups the humor ante, ending the season on a strong note.

See also: 'Silicon Valley' Episode 7 Recap: Carnal Code

Based on Silicon Valley's past few episodes, and the fact that it has no plans to recast the role, we can probably look forward to more Peter Gregory on the show. Although Christopher Evan Welch, the actor who portrayed the eccentric investor, died last year of lung cancer at 48 (his final appearance was in episode 5, "Signaling Risk"), it looks like Peter could live on as a kind of faceless Charlie à la Charlie's Angels, leading Pied Piper through Monica (his Bosley).

While no one can replace Peter (and the genius of Christopher Evan Welch), Jared seems primed to take over as the resident oblivious oddball — one who unintentionally provides frequent laughs. Driven by his lack of sleep and abundance of stress, a wild-eyed Jared delivers some of episode 8's best lines (of which there are many). Here's a sampling:

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  "Or Chatroulette, okay, that was social media, and then they pivoted to become a playground for the sexually monstrous."

  
  


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  "I can follow your child anywhere and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Most missing children are never found."

  
  

Jared, whose earnest delivery elevates the hilarity of the lines, is also emerging as a distinct character. In Silicon Valley's early episodes, it was often hard to differentiate between his and Richard's insecure personalities. For the latter, it is satisfying to see Richard get out of his mopey, whiny shell after he is inspired to revamp Pied Piper's compression engine — reminding viewers why we rooted for him in the first place.

Erlich (T.J. Miller) and Richard (Thomas Middleditch) at TechCrunch Disrupt in Silicon Valley's season 1 finale.

On the other hand, it feels like the show's writers did not put much thought into developing Monica's character, which is disappointing considering they had an entire season to do so. Case in point: Where did Monica's sudden romantic interest in Richard come from? There was no buildup toward this whatsoever — nary an eye-batting, flirtatious remark or even underlying chemistry — so it felt artificially and haphazardly inserted into the plot, because love story. On a related note, we finally get to see capable women on Silicon Valley — for all of 14 seconds — in the form of Disrupt finalists Zenella (yay?). Another bonus point for the ladies: a cameo by Recode co-executive editor Kara Swisher.

Of course, the best part of episode 8 by far is the penis-algorithm scene ("We're gonna win even if I have to go into the auditorium and personally jerk off every guy in the audience," Erlich proclaims). The team's discussion of "mean jerk time" and phallic white-board equations provides a hilariously ingenious backdrop (and ultimately inspiration) for Richard's brainstorming. Side note: I really love Erlich's optimism and team-player attitude, here.

In terms of satire, Dinesh and Gilfoyle's interaction with the Kwerpy CEO reminds me of tech companies' tendency to present their business in the best possible light to attract investors, media and customers (although the founders of one company took the opposite approach and decided to be completely transparent about their troubles). Monica's comment that "People may take credit for your idea and try and sue you. How awesome is that?" also conjures up the many lawsuits going around the Valley that are too numerous to list here (the first on that comes to mind: Facebook).

She also foreshadows bigger problems coming in season 2, with this parting line: "I mean, if you thought it was crazy getting to this point, you're not gonna believe what it turns into from here."

We look forward to the crazy, Silicon Valley. See you next season.

Silicon Valley airs every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.

BONUS: 10 Mistakes Your Startup Is Making

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Topics: Entertainment, HBO, Silicon Valley, Television