TV: Silicon Valley Pt 2

[b1e9a8r5s]

He's been pretty unlikeable for the duration of the entire series, IMO.

I disagree. At the beginning of the series, he was just awkward but likeable and you rooted for him. Now he's become totally unlikeable and while I think it's an intentional choice the writer's made, I do think it makes me enjoy the show less.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

I never liked Richard to begin with but he's definitely far and away the most unlikable character after this season.

The show's gonna miss TJ Miller. Gonna need more Russ Hanneman or something.

 

[Hivemind]

Richard was the awkward but likeable protagonist most of the first three seasons. Season four he was grating.

 

[Shareefruck]

I definitely think it's intentionally amped up for plot reasons in season 4, and in that sense I'm actually a little more accepting of it (you're not necessarily intended to root for him this season, I don't think). But while his unlikeability was less on the surface and direct in the first three seasons, during that time the show seemed to be pushing more for audiences to be on his side and like him, and feel that he was in the right, which, I felt magnified how annoying his unlikability generally was. Not sure if that makes sense.

Russ Hanneman would be a more frustrating character if the structure of the show expects you to feel sympathy for him, for example.

 

[seventieslord]

Russ Hanneman would be a more frustrating character if the structure of the show expects you to feel sympathy for him, for example.

Don't forget he's not a billionaire anymore.

And his car doors only go like this.

 

[McOilers97]

Don't forget he's not a billionaire anymore.

And his car doors only go like this.

"But you're still, basically, a billionaire."

"Not if you round down. If you round down, I have zero billion!"

 

[Patty Ice]

Check out a recent interview he did on Conan (maybe a month ago?) and you can totally see the difference between him and the Hendricks character.

 

[BonMorrison]

Loved that finale. Was laughing out loud when Barker was taken hostage.

 

[Leafsdude7]

I don't think TJ was actually shooting on Middleditch there. Read like a joke to me.

Read more like "he's the lead actor in this production" to me. Not in a bad way, either, just matter-of-fact.

 

[kingsholygrail]

What's sort of funny is the whole line about being with Pied Piper to the bitter end is sorta how I feel about the show fundamentally. Even if it's never as funny as it used to be, I want to see it through.

 

[Hackett]

Gotta love Jin Yang just tossing the luggage then peeling out to get out of there.

The loss of TJ Miller is bad enough, but it probably affects Jian Yang too. I don't know how that character will work if he cant be going against Erlich.

On another note, Gavin cracked me up a few seasons ago with "Baghead", now we got "Goldfoyle"

 

[CBJx614]

The loss of TJ Miller is bad enough, but it probably affects Jian Yang too. I don't know how that character will work if he cant be going against Erlich.

On another note, Gavin cracked me up a few seasons ago with "Baghead", now we got "Goldfoyle"

I think Jian Yang and Gilfoyle don't like each other very much

[spoil] although with the fridge finale that might change... ****ing smart fridges.. [/spoil]

 

[Hivemind]

Jian Yang fell pretty flat in a larger role this season. I hope he fades into the background with Ehrlich gone. Their interactions were terrific in earlier seasons as a running gag/bit part, but when put front and center with plot significance this season it just didn't work.

 

[Virtanen18]

I loved every second of Jian Yang.

 

[donkshow]

I loved every second of Jian Yang.

I agree. He was great.

 

[kook10]

I loved every second of Jian Yang.

He has money now too, so I suspect we will actually see more of him.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Just finished the season, pretty easily the worst season of the show yet. It's still entertaining obviously, but I would call the writing flat out bad this season. I hope they change up the formula next year; I think not having SV right after Game of Thrones exposed the writing. After the intensity of a GoT episode all I wanted to do was have a laugh at a Silicon Valley episode, absurdity of the plot or not.

The overanalyzation in this thread made me chuckle though. People talking about some type of dynamic between Erlich and Jin Yiang. It was literally just Jin Yiang pissing Erlich off and Erlich screaming his name in vengeance; there wasn't some insane character chemistry or anything. The writers will have plenty of opportunities to continue beating the dead horse with Jin Yiang even without Erlich, I wouldn't worry about that.

I did thoroughly enjoy how they wrote Erlich off the show though.

 

[McOilers97]

Just finished the season, pretty easily the worst season of the show yet. It's still entertaining obviously, but I would call the writing flat out bad this season. I hope they change up the formula next year; I think not having SV right after Game of Thrones exposed the writing. After the intensity of a GoT episode all I wanted to do was have a laugh at a Silicon Valley episode, absurdity of the plot or not.

The overanalyzation in this thread made me chuckle though. People talking about some type of dynamic between Erlich and Jin Yiang. It was literally just Jin Yiang pissing Erlich off and Erlich screaming his name in vengeance; there wasn't some insane character chemistry or anything. The writers will have plenty of opportunities to continue beating the dead horse with Jin Yiang even without Erlich, I wouldn't worry about that.

I did thoroughly enjoy how they wrote Erlich off the show though.

I agree that the show took a step back in quality this year. I liked it, but not to the same degree as the first 3 seasons.

The Jin Yang and Erlich thing: I don't think anyone is over-analyzing it. The two of them do have chemistry together, and it's because of their personalities constantly clashing. No one else in the house has the kind of personality to clash with Jin Yang the way Erlich does. I think you're over-simplifying it a bit. I'm actually not sure if Jin Yang will be part of the show going forward.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

My favorite moment/line of the season:

Octopus?
It's a water animal

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

I agree that the show took a step back in quality this year. I liked it, but not to the same degree as the first 3 seasons.

The Jin Yang and Erlich thing: I don't think anyone is over-analyzing it. The two of them do have chemistry together, and it's because of their personalities constantly clashing. No one else in the house has the kind of personality to clash with Jin Yang the way Erlich does. I think you're over-simplifying it a bit. I'm actually not sure if Jin Yang will be part of the show going forward.

Fair enough, but I think the personality thing is where we disagree. Erlich doesn't have some unique trait that made him clash with Jin Yiang, and their interactions were hardly complex. Jin Yiang is an idiot and an *******, just like Erlich. Good news is Richard, Danesh and Gilfoyle are all idiots and *******s (especially Gilfoyle) as well, so that void shouldn't be difficult to fill.

This wasn't a Jim-Dwight relationship here. Erlich got frustrated when Jin Yiang did stupid things, and yelled his name (that was literally the extent of the backlash Jin Yiang got. He had more free roam of the house at the end of this season than he did in Season 1 somehow). And then the next scene proceeded and that was the extent of it.

Aaaand just as I accuse other people of over-analyzing.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

I agree that the show took a step back in quality this year. I liked it, but not to the same degree as the first 3 seasons.

The Jin Yang and Erlich thing: I don't think anyone is over-analyzing it. The two of them do have chemistry together, and it's because of their personalities constantly clashing. No one else in the house has the kind of personality to clash with Jin Yang the way Erlich does. I think you're over-simplifying it a bit. I'm actually not sure if Jin Yang will be part of the show going forward.

Someone needs to run the incubator.

 

[Leafsdude7]

Someone needs to run the incubator.

I'd assume Big Head is in line to do that...

 

[Saturated Fats]

My favorite moment/line of the season:

Octopus?
It's a water animal

1000% this.

One of those moments where I had to pause the show because I couldn't stop laughing.

Also, if you watch closely, you can see just how close Miller is to laughing:

 

[Lebowski]

I've been binge watching this show lately.

It really gets annoying how they never seem to build towards anything. Just failure after failures... After a while it becomes redundant.

I don't get why they didn't pivot back to being corporation oriented after the first consumer oriented version failed to gain traction, like... It's some kind of revolutionary technology that's been tailored by engineers, for engineers, and they can't manage to sell it to big corporations with the know-how on how to use the tech? Or am I missing something?

 

[donkshow]

I've been binge watching this show lately.

It really gets annoying how they never seem to build towards anything. Just failure after failures... After a while it becomes redundant.

I don't get why they didn't pivot back to being corporation oriented after the first consumer oriented version failed to gain traction, like... It's some kind of revolutionary technology that's been tailored by engineers, for engineers, and they can't manage to sell it to big corporations with the know-how on how to use the tech? Or am I missing something?

I agree, they need to take a step forward and finally see the company start to take off.

This whole "we're about to break out, no wait there was an issue and we have to go back to where we were, no way we caught a break and will explode again, no wait there was an issue and we're back to square one, no wait this time we're really going to take off" ... let's go. Move the story forward, and let's see Pied Piper start to finally grow.