S3E8 Bachman’s Earning’s Over-Ride
Source: Silicon Valley // HBO
The best workplace sitcoms show us the dignity in the mundane, and this episode shows us the dignity in doing the best with what we have. We are given that through Erlich. Over the top, big hearted, and sometimes smart, Erlich. This episode was all about Erlich. Erlich pretending trying to avoid telling Richard he sold his shares. Richard talking to what’s her name about Erlich’s shares. Monica getting mad at Erlich for not telling Richard he sold his shares. Richard getting mad at Erlich for selling his shares. Which shows how important these two guys are to each other. They are the Woz and Jobs, the John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and after Richard’s icky outburst with Monica, the Sid and Nancy. (Richard has some unresolved anger issues that are coming up, and they are not very becoming of the neutered geek type he portraying.) In this episode they show us that they are the two that push the narrative forward, while Dinesh and Gilfoyle make fun of things.
His Name Is Ronald Wayne?
The episode revolves around the PR events that Richard has to attend to, and being an awkward mess of a techie he needs the swagger of Erlich to save him from himself:
Source: Silicon Valley // HBO
This synergy falls a part after Richard finds out that someone has sold shares of Pied Piper. Which is apparently the worst thing to happen to a start-up. So Richard jumps to conclusions and assumes Monica did it, and he calls her up and is very Action Jack in the way he talks to her. I guess being CEO turns you into a monster. After listening to Richard’s petty nonsense, Monica tells him it was Erlich, and shit hits the fan.
Source: Silicon Valley // HBO
So Richard has to decide if he wants to ruin his Steve Jobs, and save his company, or save his friend. While he decides, Action Jack and Gavin Belson are becoming online chess buddies.
Source: Silicon Valley // HBO
They meet on a private runway, as they’re on their way to the same place in two separate private jets. Both of them have been embarrassed by their respective companies. Gavin has just been put on the roof at Hooli, and Action Jack has been licking his wounds from getting fired from Pied Piper. Them meeting is surely the meet-cute to their new relationship that will threaten Pied Piper. Until that comes to fruition, Dinesh and Gilfoyle and Jared make jokes. This time it’s about the terrible jacket that Jared ordered.
Source: Silicon Valley // HBO
This show is so good at the complex Silicon Valley satire that it feels like the humor from Dinesh and Gilfoyle are merely the whip cream to a hearty plate of a hearty pesca-pescaterian meal. (Seriously what was it that they served for that meal.) The show is a workplace sitcom that could have only been created in our current era of television. It’s less joke based than the iT Crowd, but more satirical than The Office. It’s a character driven drama that happens to be funny because it’s about a tech boom that is insane. There are people putting millions of dollars into potential, and they lose it often. Then they do it again. From what I understand about Silicon Valley (insane property rates, rich white dudes, beach?) it doesn’t take much to make the situation funny. The surprising thing about this show is that it does bring a humanity to the start up mythology (started in a garage now we here-riding Segways around the office). This time we see Erlich as a guy that is just trying to ride the tech wave, and do it like the mythology says. He starts an incubator, he gets a profitable start-up, he throws a huge party, he fails. Now he’s getting up, and yes just slight perspective will show that he’s not in that bad of a situation, but he is such an overconfident good hearted guy. He is the embodiment of this tech industry, and him getting a little humble was nice to see. It was also nice to see him get back in with Richard. As Jared reveals their app was approved for the Hooli app store, Richard gives Erlich the title of CEO (Chief Evangelist Officer) of Pied Piper. The real Ronald Wayne was never given a position at Apple after he sold his shares for eight hundred dollars. His most famous quote about selling is that he made the “best decision with the information available to me at the time,” which is all Erlich was doing.
Article Submitted by Kevin Cucolo
