More so than usual tonight, the goings-on of the Hacker Hostel serve as rough imitations of the truly corporate world Richard has recently become apart of, but the symmetry is stronger than ever now that we get to see Peter Gregory and Gavin Belson’s relationship in motion. Last week’s nod to their shared past immediately brought to mind the question of what caused these two industry giants to have a falling out, though what we’ve seen of them so far seems to offer an easy answer. Belson is a self-absorbed blowhard, better at putting on a friendly face for the public and grinding bones to make bread behind the scenes than actually creating. We would automatically be in Peter Gregory’s corner even if that weren’t the case, as his choice to back Richard and underdog appearance (at least compared to Gavin) makes him more sympathetic.
But Silicon Valley knows better than to paint their relationship black and white too quickly. Belson doesn’t do himself any favours in his first scene, appearing on his “Telehuman” device like a Sith Lord, cursing out his underlings when things go wrong (again, the rule of the threes: future tech, present tech, and past tech all fail him). When he “runs into” Peter Gregory at a restaurant, the two trade hyper-awkward pleasantries, before Belson not-so casually mentions he’ll be unveiling Nucleus at the TechCrunch event. Your instinct is to think of him as a bully, but think back to that earlier scene, and Gavin’s reaction to hearing about Pied Piper’s entry in the contest. He doesn’t respond to the news with mockery or malevolence, but with fear and paranoia. He’s driven to lash out at Peter Gregory not to pick on him, but because he thinks he’s acting in self-defense. There’s more to their story than we know just yet, and while Monica might just see two billionaires foolishly throwing millions out the window over a feud, your tax bracket doesn’t make feelings of betrayal and distrust any less impactful.
And through Monica we get a bridge back to our loveable losers over at Pied Piper, and the nucleus that unites them, Richard. It’s in the episode he has the least to do that his choice to not just take Belson’s money and run weighs heaviest. Boxed into entering the TechCrunch contest by Peter Gregory’s hubris, the real bomb dropped on Richard isn’t the suddenly shortened development window for Pied Piper, it’s Monica cutting through all the pipedream smoke, and making it clear how little he and the company really matter to Peter. These guys might one day change the world, but until that day comes, they’re just pawns in the great Belson-Peter Gregory pissing contest, and Monica knows this from first-hand experience.
But like Peter Gregory and Belson, this is Monica’s first episode to show she’s personally invested in the fate of Pied Piper. She’s maybe the only one who can see both sides of this story clearly, being a pawn in the machinations of billionaires herself and having seen startups like Pied Piper come and go by the dozen. Her lie by omission that convinced Richard to take Peter Gregory’s offer could have just provided Richard with a valuable lesson about knowing who to trust, but again, “Signaling Risk” does better by its characters, making sure to show how that choice affected Monica as well. She’s smart, funny, and calculating, but she’s also human, just as likely to get caught up in the excitement of closing a deal as she is to regret doing so later. There’s a sweet vagueness in her apology to Richard, and the reveal she’s invested 10% of her salary in Pied Piper: did she make that investment when they first met because she believed in Richard from the start, or only just now, because she wants to believe in Richard?
This episode gets so much right about the characters, and what the show wants to say about finding success in the business world, it almost doesn’t need the 8 x 7 foot pornographic elephant in the room that is the garage door. It’s better for it though: Erlich’s story may be the smallest, but it’s just as important as everyone else’s. As his bungling of the mural exposes the culture that defines him personally, and the other guys work to define Pied Piper’s own corporate culture, Silicon Valley defines its own self tonight as ridiculous, disgusting, hilarious, heartfelt, earnest, and many other great things a show can be when it’s based on relatable, human characters trying to achieve something. That’s the hallmark of a great show, and if Silicon Valley keeps making episodes like tonight’s, it’s going to be one very soon.
- Stray Thoughts
-This, unfortunately, is the last time we’ll be seeing Peter Gregory as played by Christopher Evan Welch, who passed away during filming of the first season. For what could have been a one-note character, Welch’s big scene in the restaurant covers plenty of comedic territory, from disdain (“I was never enjoying them”) to embarrassment (“if I scurry to the rest room…”), to cringe-worthy awkwardness. But it’s that buried sadness he and Matt Ross (as Gavin Belson) just barely hint at when they first see each other that I’m bummed to not see explored in full with this particular actor.
-As someone with experience as an office drone, Jared’s corporate-speak entertains me to no end. Naming work tasks as “stories,” and massaging the definition of a cubicle, is the exact sort of “work is fun!” corporate culture that’s more depressing than just a regular 9-to-5.
-Yes, Richard opening the garage door in front of cops to reveal Erlich’s grow-op raises questions of whether he’s ever actually been in the garage. No, I don’t care if it’s a slightly cheap joke because, good God, T. J. Miller plays the hell out of it. “Are those marijuanas?!”
-“Why would you stab a plumber?”