Posted On June 5, 2014 By In Television

Silicon Valley Season One Review

 
 

HBO’s Silicon Valley ended it’s debut season with the episode, “Optimal Tip-To-Tip Efficiency.”

The guys at Pied Piper started the season with a simple algorithm for a compression company. What any of that means, not even main character Richard Hendricks knew until the very end of the season, and even then he changed the whole face of the company in the show’s final moments. Along the way, he had the help of a hilarious group of techies all incubating under the roof of Aviato founder, Erlich Bachman.

Hats off to comedian TJ Miller for crushing the role of Erlich Bachman. Even if the story behind the show hadn’t satisfied, I would have stayed just to hear TJ Miller speak.

The story did satisfy though. The brief 8 episode season left us wanting much much more.

Mike Judge, creator of Office Space, brought us the Office Space of the startup world. The show will gather a bigger following as it goes on. Main character Richard Hendricks unknowingly stumbles into greatness with his algorithm to compress data files. The pressure to turn his creation into a billion dollar company is so great that he is often found vomiting or having a panic attack. He is surrounded by characters who are smart and talented, but usually more interested in meaningless debates or getting inside each other’s heads.

Silicon Valley moved the plot along in a formulaic yet masterful way. The characters appear on the brink of blowing their startup multiple times, but collect themselves, rise to the occasion, and occasionally have to “pivot” the direction they’re heading as in the season finale.

The final episode left us speculating about a possible relationship between Richard and Monica. It also has us wondering how high the boys at Pied Piper will fly in season two. The show begins on the high point of a bidding war for Pied Piper and ends on a high point of the ingenuity of Pied Pier, while the middle of the season is filled with stress, chaos, and comedy.

We have a lot to look forward to with HBO’s Silicon Valley.

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Harry is a writer from Washington DC. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with both his B.A. & M.P.A. and is the author of The Poetry of Politics and Panic: One Man's Struggle with Anxiety. He enjoys anything that opens his mind to new experiences and world views. Baba Booey to all.