S02.E02: Runaway Devaluation

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Richard and the team find it hard to find a backer as they face legal and financial difficulties.

 

Promo:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Clip:

[lucindabelle]

I don't understand how gavin lessons company can just be "out." Weren't papers signed?

Gee they were slow to figure out the brain rape.

First episode that didn't have me howling. Hope we leave this whole plot line behind soon,

[chocolatine]

Richard was a QA engineer at Hooli??? Either the writers didn't check with the tech consultants or that was supposed to tell us how much of a technical genius Richard really is. QA is not development, i.e. it has nothing to do with algorithms, and for Richard to go from that to developing the best compression algorithm ever sounds unlikely (though not impossible).

Other than that, I thought this episode had a lot of funny moments:

- "If you believe it, the jury will too";

- Laurie Bream telling Monica to deliver the bad news "with warmth and compassion";

- the VC meetings of shame;

- "Bros disclose";

- Erlich trying to take the whiteboard with him after the "brain rape";

- Richard waiting for the mariachi band to leave and finally giving up and eating a tortilla chip (in the meantime possibly changing his mind about Gavin Belson's offer?).

Also, Philz Coffee!!! I'm totally not a coffee drinker, but my boss at my last job got me hooked on their Morrocan Mint iced coffee, and since then I always get one when I'm in the Bay Area.

Edited April 20, 2015 by chocolatine

[dcalley]

 

- Erlich trying to take the whiteboard with him after the "brain rape"

I really hated that they called it that.

[missy jo]

Gee they were slow to figure out the brain rape.

 

 

As a consultant, that made me scream at the TV. You tell them *what* you're going to do, not *how* to do it!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved that Erlich wasn't offended that the VC guy put his balls on the table but that he didn't bother to shave them beforehand.

[lucindabelle]

As a consultant, that made me scream at the TV. You tell them *what* you're going to do, not *how* to do it!

Yeah for smart guys hey were pretty dumb. Even I would know better, not any kind of a techie, but it's like giving someone your recipe. Just no.

[Lila82]

Richard was a QA engineer at Hooli??? Either the writers didn't check with the tech consultants or that was supposed to tell us how much of a technical genius Richard really is. QA is not development, i.e. it has nothing to do with algorithms, and for Richard to go from that to developing the best compression algorithm ever sounds unlikely (though not impossible).

 

This seems right to me. At Hooli, we saw him doing a job he hated while developing Pied Piper on the side.  I'm guessing he took the job in QA to get an in at Hooli before moving onto something he actually enjoyed.  I know this isn't the usual trajectory, but I can buy it.

 

My favorite part of the episode was Denil listing all the reasons he's the "cool" cousin and Donald, I mean Jared, nodding along in total agreement.  On the other hand, I find Denil and Gilfoyle's rivalry to be tiring.  Mostly because I find Martin Starr tiring and rarely funny.

[Traveller519]

This episode seemed to need to set up the remainder of the season. Without a strong secondary plot (the Bro-App Kickstarter fell pretty flat for me) the laughs weren't there to support the plot advancement, until the Mariachi band showed up anyway. Also, I did enjoy the site gag of Gavin bringing his own mixed fruit tray to a Mexican Restaurant.

 

Ultimately, selling Pied Piper to Hooli likely makes the most sense for all the reasons Gavin laid out, not to mention that just about every episode of last season, seemed to hammer home how much being in charge was not Richard's strength and that it wore on him, and what he could be doing with Gavin's money.

 

I'm predicting that Laurie catches wind of Gavin's play and her competitive streak decides to re-back PP (which one is Ross and which is Rachel in this business deal?)

[chocolatine]

This seems right to me. At Hooli, we saw him doing a job he hated while developing Pied Piper on the side.  I'm guessing he took the job in QA to get an in at Hooli before moving onto something he actually enjoyed.  I know this isn't the usual trajectory, but I can buy it.

 

That would make sense only if development jobs were hard to get, but there's such a shortage of candidates that anyone who's halfway decent at algorithms and data structures and somewhat fluent in a programming language can get a dev job. And the whole premise of the show is that Richard is brilliant at algorithms.

[Shriekingeel]

I found the ep charming but not quite as funny. The biggest laugh for me was the sight gag of Monica in the beige outfit.

[DrSpaceman]

I thought the episode was hilarious.  Seeing them go back to every company they visited the week before and have to beg for the money was humorous.  Plus the one guy throwing his penis out there for them. 

 

I thought the Bro app was funny

 

One thing though is I agree they were slow to catch onto the one company brain raping them.  I can buy it though just because some people get so excited about thier discoveries that someone shows some genuine interest and they just can't wait to tell anyone who will listen

 

I honestly don't know what his response will be to the offer.  I would probably take it though

 

I thought the lawyer was hilarious

[JTMacc99]

I found the ep charming but not quite as funny. The biggest laugh for me was the sight gag of Monica in the beige outfit.

You are a true autumn.

[hoodooznoodooz]

I loved what "bro" supposedly meant in various languages.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Richard's lawyer looks so much like Chachi on Happy Days from certain angles.

[hoodooznoodooz]

17wheatthins: Our DVRs must look exactly alike!

That beige sweater was one of Monica's less attractive garments?! It was gorgeous. I need one now.

Richard was very funny when he protested, "I told you I don't need to go pee." He said it like a six-year-old.

[hincandenza]

I'm ready to tune this crapfest out.  It was so good in season 1, but this?  It's Bad Sitcom 101, where shitty writing and poor understanding of technology is overriding any coherent plot; this in turn makes the comedy dead and lifeless. 

 

Sure, I laughed at a few jokes, but the imbecilic plot is so obviously forced to set up those jokes.  Yes, it is mildly amusing for Dinesh to try to sabotage his cousin's app, but... why?  It clearly was heading to be some kind of success, enough that his cousin wouldn't really need the $5K or could pay it back.  They're family, he'd understand "Hey, PP has some legal issues", it's his cousin whom apparently likes and respects Dinesh a great deal.

 

Also, at worst, they have these things called credit cards, where you can pay down in small amounts over time: a mid-to-late 20's software professional would have a credit limit of $5K or better on his card.

 

 

Riviga or whatever it's called wouldn't just abandon this play so quickly; Belson is full of hot air and everyone involved knows it.  You don't throw in the towel at the first sign of legal trouble on a billion dollar idea; when someone like Gavin Belson sues you in reaction to being publicly humiliated at TechCrunch, everyone- including those VCs- knows that PP must truly have something great.  If they were going to throw $15-20M, and the legal costs are $2.5M, it's still not a bad play.  We didn't see it on-screen, but surely in these past weeks and months the Riviga team would have done some kind of due diligence: patenting the original tech, or at least having reams of documents to prove it originated long before Hooli had it, since it was the entire second half of last season that they were in some epic "TechCrunch" battle where Hooli had stolen their idea: so why didn't they sue Hooli then?!?  Or at least, for example, the very day after TechCrunch, having the algorithm patented or documented thoroughly; it's an idea worth billions, these VC sharks aren't stoners who say "Eh, we'll get around to the legal mumbo-jumbo sometime after we get back from Burning Man".

 

And again, Hooli publicly and visibly, to at least 800 people in the room as well as reams of media and Internet commentators, demonstrated a Weismann score of 2.89 which Gavin Belson explicitly said himself was the "theoretical maximum"... and then Richard walked out and doubled that.  So what's Hooli's case exactly, that Richard stole their idea months earlier, and so they... decided to go with a much poorer version, prior to even knowing that Richard had a vastly better algorithm? Ha ha, no; open and shut case.  As John Oliver told us, patent trolls only work if you're willing to settle, they don't want a legal battle on the merits.  And the merits are very good.

 

Speaking of which, while I wouldn't have even suspected this in season 1, it's frankly really coincidental that this episode of "Silicon Valley" and the "Last Week Tonight" both dealt with patent trolls. Synergy, HBO- Synergy!!!

 

 

Now, as for that last VC, I mean fucking REALLY?  Erlich and Jared had to go out and have a 3 minute conversation, then pull out Richard and have another long conversation, before they realized there was intellectual theft going on? And not one of the 5 people had even an inkling that it was theft before they started writing extremely detailed and complex algorithms on the board?  You don't tell them shit until you get signed paperwork, idiots.  Stop it immediately before Richard jots anything down, don't have a long hallway conversation while the keys to the kingdom are given away!  THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE, EVER!

 

Erlich is many things but stupid and naive are not one, so why not shut it down when they are obviously trying to steal your ideas?  I get that Richard isn't super savvy, but we're supposed to believe he too is so dumb that they will yet again just give away their entire idea?!?!  Or that people go into VC meetings like this without a scrap of legal protection for just this sort of thing?  I guess in decades of Silicon Valley's rise and the surely thousands of startups that are funded each year, no one ever thought to consider legal protections of theft when having sensitive financial meetings with prospective partners.  Who knew?!?

 

Christ, if they're that stupid, they should just take Gavin Belson's money and call it quits.  Whoever we watched in season 1 got replaced by some kind of pod people clones.

 

 

Lastly- well, at least of the countless continuity errors and bad writing I feel like ranting about for now- why do they have a burn-down rate to worry about?  They have no costs!  There's no product, nothing to build, they all have $10K to cover food and minor expenses for a few months, and are all living in Erlich's incubator effectively rent free!  Erlich presumably owns his house outright and has his own cash on hand, plus has zero incentive to kick them out: he knows they're sitting on a gold mine!

 

Fuck this show, and fuck the writing staff for season 2, and fuck Mike Judge.  One of the best new shows in ages in season 1 turned into a steaming pile of shit overnight.  This is exactly what I said I was so worried about, and here we are.  The first season played out all over again, but far less funny and far more stale and limp.

[Should Be Working]

I agree with every point. Thus far, Season 2 disappoints on almost every level. Gone is the all the spontaneity, freshness, and sly humor from Season 1, replaced by boring and unbelievable plot lines and terrible character development. I might expect this sort of rapid decline after four or five seasons, but so soon? Mike Judge had quite a few months to adjust to the loss of the terrific Peter Gregory character and this is the best he and his team can come up with? 

 

I've rewatched watched every episode from Season 1 numerous times and enjoyed it. Haven't had the slightest compulsion to re-watch either one of the first two Season 2 episodes. This is becoming as painful to view as Startups: Silicon Valley. And almost as insipid.

[lucindabelle]

I'm hoping for more because I loved Season One sooo so much. I think I've watched the finale 10 times. I tend to watch it on demand when I need a laugh after a hard day.

 

I loved Richard in Season One. He was shy, sweet, a little awkward.

 

Now they've made him full-on weird. He even looks less handsome-- somehow his eyes look buggier! (longer bangs? how are they doing this?) That said I did laugh a lot at his lame attempts to be outrageous in one meeting. That seemed true to character.

 

I had no trouble understanding why Monica would be a little sweet on him in Season One. He was a sweetie. He was even manly when he stood up for Big Head. I don't appreciate turning him into a caricature.

[APSimpson]

Love this show, been watching since season 1. Only 30 minutes but at least no commercial breaks and you get a full 30 minutes of show.

 

The scene that cracked me up the most in this recent episode was when Erlich called out Monica on her dressing down to soften the blow. LOL

 

Can't wait for tonight's episode!