REVIEW: Silicon Valley – Season One (2014)

The following is a quick review of the first season of HBO’s Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley follows Richard Hendricks (played by Thomas Middleditch), a shy and nervous programmer, who works at a huge company called Hooli. Meanwhile, he is also developing a project of his own, ‘Pied Piper’, in an incubator run by Erlich Bachman (played by T. J. Miller).

After Hendricks one day shares his work with some of his Hooli colleagues, he, and Pied Piper, soon become the object of a bidding war between Hooli’s CEO, Gavin Belson (played by Matt Ross), and the tech investor Peter Gregory (played by Christopher Evan Welch).

Silicon Valley is created by Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Krinsky. All three of the creators worked on Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, but I have a feeling this show will end up being the most praised. It is an inventive comedy that is rewatchable, memorable, and laugh-out-loud funny.

It has one of the most gifted comedic ensemble casts I’ve ever seen. The solid Thomas Middleditch and the hilarious T. J. Miller are the leaders of the Pied Piper-team, but Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, and Zach Wood are all excellent as well. And let’s not forget Christopher Evan Welch, who is wonderful as Peter Gregory.

The first season of Silicon Valley is really remarkable. It’s pretty strong from start to finish, and even the weakest episode of the season (“Signaling Risk”) is solid. The entire first season is really, really great, but in the final two episodes of the season (“Proof of Concept” and “Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency”) Silicon Valley really shines.

“If you’re not an asshole, this company dies.” – Erlich Bachman.

This first season is really about getting Richard Hendricks to be a more assertive leader of Pied Piper. The show sets up that he basically needs Erlich Bachman to be Pied Piper’s Steve Jobs, as Hendricks is too shy and awkward to really represent the company. As the season comes to an end, Hendricks’ smarts and talents are tested in a really exciting final episode (“Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency”).

A-

– I’m Jeffrey Rex