S04.E10: Server Error

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SEASON FINALE!

Quote

Richard finds himself in a web of lies; Jared plans his exit; Jack bets big; Gavin plots a comeback.

Promo:

[riprock]

I'm not a huge fan of them pulling out a second deus ex machine in two episodes. First Hooli security guy bails them out at Hoolicon, then Anton's self-replicating onto the smart fridge network? Didn't Gilfoyle say he was going RAID 0? How does that not also disable the smart fridge network? Maybe I'm thinking too hard.

On the other hand this was a really solid finale. I loved the sight gag of "Jin Yang" on all the smart fridges in the store, Melcher finding out about his fiancée and Richard, getting confirmation that Jared screws around, the throwback to the Mexican restaurant, and most of all, Jack Barker talking through a window behind a fence at a Hooli plant. When Gilfoyle broke his glasses, that was excellent foreshadowing. 

Glad they didn't literally kill off Erlich. That would have seemed out of place.

Kind of nice of them to give Chris Diamantopaulos space in the credits when I think he made only passing appearances in two episodes. Wouldn't mind seeing more of the other "regulars" now that TJ Miller has departed. 

Props to Thomas Middleditch for really ratcheting up his manic and crazed side this episode. He was beyond watchable and beyond amusing--he was riveting. 

[chocolatine]

14 minutes ago, riprock said:

I'm not a huge fan of them pulling out a second deus ex machine in two episodes.

Yeah, that was way too much.

15 minutes ago, riprock said:

Glad they didn't literally kill off Erlich. That would have seemed out of place.

I hated the ending they gave him. His character deserved better than being left at a Tibetan opium den.

I liked Gavin's coup to get Hooli back, especially telling Jack that he would be dropped off at Jackson Hole, but I'm not looking forward to Richard vs Gavin, round 5000. It's like the writers have run out of ideas or something. ;)

There were a bunch of funny moments - my favorite was Dinesh's "do you put a condom on your tiny penis and fuck [Anton] in safe mode?" - but still not a great season finale IMO.

[Nordly Beaumont]

46 minutes ago, riprock said:

I loved the sight gag of "Jin Yang" on all the smart fridges in the store

That was hilarious!

Glad Erlich will be happy and high for the next five years! And I was happy to see Big Head.

I honestly didn't blame Richard for going off on Jared. I love Jared, but I think I would have done the same thing. And yeah, this guy fucks!

With a shaved head, Gavin looks like Elijah Wood to me.

RIP Anton. ("Anton died so we could live" "Like Jesus" "Oh fuck.")

Edited June 26, 2017 by Nordly Beaumont

[Glade]

For a second I thought they were making a joke about that stupid brad pitt film, but I see that would be 7 years (in tibet.) Earlier in the season, I thought he would wind up in Hawaii due to that running joke... this was a pretty thin exit.  But hopefully that really does mean the house is abandoned and the show moves on and changes in a real way.   I wish Richard had really failed or succeeded, but permanently with no reversal.

[riprock]

7 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I hated the ending they gave him. His character deserved better than being left at a Tibetan opium den.

TJ Miller gave an interview in which he said he didn't decide to leave the show until after reading the script for this episode. So I'm not entirely sure they ever meant for it to be his exit.

http://www.thewrap.com/silicon-valley-tj-miller-exit-cliffhanger/

[Adultosaurus]

Weird interview moments from TJ Miller in The Hollywood Reporter.  http://jezebel.com/these-are-some-things-t-j-miller-said-in-an-interview-1796413906

[JTMacc99]

I'm perfectly okay with the Smart Fridge story. It's clever.

[PinkRibbons]

Parts of this episode were just so hard to watch because I actually like Richard as a character and his floundering to try and save everything was so pathetic and sad. I knew there would be a Deus Ex Machina, but watching the lead-up was rough at times. However, I think that the scene where he chews out Dinesh and Guilfoyle was some of the strongest acting Middleditch has ever done, and said Deus Ex Machina actually took me by surprise (although, wouldn't the SmartFridge producers try to fix the fact that their products are displaying obscenity? Well, hopefully PP has enough time to get funded and onto servers before that happens.)

Does anyone else find it hilarious that Guilfoyle went as a cat for Halloween? That's genuinely adorable. The eye reveal was hysterical and perfect. I hope those lenses didn't bother Martin Starr too much.

I laughed so hard I cried at Melcher attacking Richard and Jared trying to help fend him off.

Back to Richard -- while I think it would make the most sense to close out the series on Richard essentially having been corrupted into being the new Gavin, I like that for now at least he still retains a conscience. I loved his going to Jared just to apologize. I also like seeing his growth in the way he stands up to Gavin at the end, even though he can't completely pull off being threatening no matter how hard he tries.

Also in that conversation with Gavin, he really should have brought up something like, "Yeah, we were partners and that was great until you fucked off and took your funding with you, so why would I risk that again?" Because Gavin could have remained an ally if he had had the teeniest pair of brain cells to rub together (and a teeny dot of empathy) to realize that he could have personally left Pied Piper without pulling his frikkin' funding! He'd still have a piece of it if he hadn't done that, and the only reason he did do it was because he was literally that much of a pathological narcissist that he never even gave a thought to what would happen to anyone else as a result of his actions.

[Traveller519]

That does have to be one of the most literal Dues Ex Machina's ever...

 

But all these smart fridges, with their "Suck It, Jin Yang" messages are going to get firmware update, or be completely stripped and reinstalled in the not to distant future, right? I'm sure Samsung, or Whirlpool, or LG, or whomever, isn't going to be happy with that message floating around and essentially the rest of the software not working. Isn't the data still in peril. Or are they able to quickly leverage the Breem Hall funds into some server storage temporarily.

Either way, I did like the way they called back to something that seemed like a nice little one-off gag at the time.

 

2 hours ago, Adultosaurus said:

Weird interview moments from TJ Miller in The Hollywood Reporter.  http://jezebel.com/these-are-some-things-t-j-miller-said-in-an-interview-1796413906

If I hadn't just listened to TJ on the Nerdist Podcast. I would have read a lot more into this than I otherwise do. He's much more earnest about his motivations, schedule, and well... pretty much everything there. He's such a ball of alternative comedy, I think he feels the need to approach those questions overly sarcastically. Which is fine, but in print media, and perhaps the only source some people will read on these, will come off very heavy handed 

[Adultosaurus]

The Page Six story was worse - I think he was being a dick, not being sarcastic.  I will miss him on the show, though.

[mojoween]

I'm so glad there is still the possibility of TJ coming back.

"What happened there?"  "Arson."  Bwah!

Richard was insufferable to me but I still like to see him succeed.  I'm sure it won't last.  I have a quandary where I love Tom, but Richard drives me insane.

[lucindabelle]

Meh.

 

i will always watch the show but I loved it most the first season when Richard was seeet, brilliant, well meaning. I remember when ehrlich punched the kid who was mean to him. 

The Gavin partnership was just getting interesting when they ended it and now we're back to the rivalry again. 

I want a bigger win for the guys. Richard starts to become a dick- not a great story arc. 

[Miles]

On 26.6.2017 at 4:48 AM, riprock said:

I'm not a huge fan of them pulling out a second deus ex machine in two episodes. First Hooli security guy bails them out at Hoolicon, then Anton's self-replicating onto the smart fridge network?

It also made no sense. Again. Don't these writers have tech advisors? This is a tech centric show and there is so much bullshit all the time.

Even if the firdge firmware is super shoddy and updates aren't signed and the fridges distribute updates peer to peer to safe on server and bandwith cost which are really peanuts these days which would make it not worth the trouble, it's still not possible to accidentally push a firmware update to all the fridges. An installed firmware isn't the same thing as a firmware package meant for distribution and installing on multiple systems. Also how would the data have landed on the fridges? Gilfoyle used the framework (for some weird reason that isn't adequatly explained). Did he really not deactivate the data sharing and distributing part and even if he didn't how would it still work after he hacked that fridge malware together? I guess that part is possible, but man is it far fetched.

While we are at the writers not understanding technology. Phones don't just start burning because they are under load. If they are badly designed they might overheat and break, but they won't just start burning. The Samsung Notes 7 started burning because there was a physical defect with the batteries.

Also, the Hooli phones never actually ended up being replaced, did they? Because the workers in the factory did take Jack Barker hostage and go on strike. So the whole pied piper network should still be up, shouldn't it? This whole episode was bullshit, if you think about it.

On 26.6.2017 at 5:11 AM, chocolatine said:

I liked Gavin's coup to get Hooli back, especially telling Jack that he would be dropped off at Jackson Hole, but I'm not looking forward to Richard vs Gavin, round 5000. It's like the writers have run out of ideas or something. ;)

These writers are deadly afraid of change. You'd think change killed their parents or something. It's like it's the 1990s again when the status quo was god in TV. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StatusQuoIsGod

Maybe somebody should give these writers a calender.

On 26.6.2017 at 7:28 AM, Glade said:

But hopefully that really does mean the house is abandoned and the show moves on and changes in a real way. 

I highly doubt it.

On 26.6.2017 at 5:03 PM, JTMacc99 said:

I'm perfectly okay with the Smart Fridge story. It's clever.

It was one of the dumbest things I've seen on this show and that's saying a lot.

On 26.6.2017 at 6:07 PM, Traveller519 said:

But all these smart fridges, with their "Suck It, Jin Yang" messages are going to get firmware update, or be completely stripped and reinstalled in the not to distant future, right? I'm sure Samsung, or Whirlpool, or LG, or whomever, isn't going to be happy with that message floating around and essentially the rest of the software not working. Isn't the data still in peril. Or are they able to quickly leverage the Breem Hall funds into some server storage temporarily.

In record time. It's not like this is a program that sneakily runs in the background. That could stay there forever. It prominently displays a mime sucking an invisible cock. But I guess you could argue that a few days was all they needed to show viability? maybe?

Edited June 29, 2017 by Miles

[JTMacc99]

[tennisgurl]

As far as quick and easy ways to bail the guys out of trouble, I'm alright with Anton and the refrigerators saving the day. Its maybe not the most logical thing ever, but it was foreshadowed at least.

Richard can be an asshole (and he was an asshole several times in this episode) but I did feel bad for him this week. He was just trying so hard to pull everything together, and it was clearly driving him to the breaking point. Granted, a lot of his problems are of his own making (pay you bills dude!), but at least he was trying.

On the one hand, I wanted Erlich to have a better, and more definitive ending if this is really the end of his time on the show, but on the other hand, getting high for five years in Tibet certainly sounds like something Erlich would be into, and it leaves an option of him coming back if TJ ever comes back. And its better than when I was convinced that he was going to set himself on fire.

Guilfoyle was a cat for Halloween? That's actually adorable.

[Thrifty]

I was able to accept the idea of Anton and the smart fridges getting all "Skynet" and broadcasting the altered program out to all the other smart fridges.  I can suspend disbelief enough.

But the problem is, this salvation of Pied Piper, and the insurance company's data, is essentially contained entirely within malware.  It's displaying a profane image on a bunch of smart fridges.  That's really bad PR for the company who makes them, and they're going to release a patch to fix it and erase the malware in a heartbeat.  Then where does that leave Pied Piper?

I didn't watch this show until a few weeks ago, when I started binge watching it on demand.  When you do it like that, you see how repetitive the show is.

 

1) Pied Piper has a revolutionary new piece of technology that is worth a fortune.

2) Pied Piper decides to refuse a buyout and try to make it on their own.

3) Things go from bad to worse.  A series of crises and financial crunches compound until it seems all hope is lost.

4) Some miracle happens to pull them out of the fire, and the Pied Piper team is back on the road to fame and fortune.

5) Return to step 1.

 

This "new Internet" thing isn't going anywhere.  Something will happen.  Funding will fall through.  It will all fall apart by the end of season 5, only for some new thing to be the next big hope.

[dabbrusc]

The "salvation" of the smart fridges basically sets up the conflict for the first part of next season: They now have a very short ticking clock before the fridges are patched to remove the code. I suppose it was implied that with Gavin back at the helm he'll just be patching the code that causes the Hooli phones to explode instead of recalling, so they still have the data and their malware on there as well. However, there's a ticking clock on there as well before Hooli finds out about it and broadcasts what they did. Remember, the head of security found out about the pineapples and didn't say anything because he wanted Jack out and Gavin back. There's no reason why he won't tell Gavin about the pineapples the first chance he gets.

 

Now that they have funding from Breem/Hall they have to get their electricity turned back on, pay their data storage cloud fees, and get a new Anton back up and running for when the fridges are Hooli phones are patched to handle the insurance company's data load all while trying to expand the adoption rate for their app legitimately.

[DrSpaceman73]

I would just echo the comments that I get tired of them being such an ineptly run company that keeps getting lucky to keep them all from going bankrupt. 

Its a fun show, but it requires a large amount of suspension of disbelief. 

And I realize its TV, not real life.  There is some of that that always goes on.

But this reoccurring theme for the season enders of miracle unexpected saves for the company I just hope isn't used again. 

[hincandenza]

On 6/29/2017 at 1:33 AM, Miles said:

It also made no sense. Again. Don't these writers have tech advisors? This is a tech centric show and there is so much bullshit all the time.

Even if the firdge firmware is super shoddy and updates aren't signed and the fridges distribute updates peer to peer to safe on server and bandwith cost which are really peanuts these days which would make it not worth the trouble, it's still not possible to accidentally push a firmware update to all the fridges. An installed firmware isn't the same thing as a firmware package meant for distribution and installing on multiple systems. Also how would the data have landed on the fridges? Gilfoyle used the framework (for some weird reason that isn't adequatly explained). Did he really not deactivate the data sharing and distributing part and even if he didn't how would it still work after he hacked that fridge malware together? I guess that part is possible, but man is it far fetched.

While we are at the writers not understanding technology. Phones don't just start burning because they are under load. If they are badly designed they might overheat and break, but they won't just start burning. The Samsung Notes 7 started burning because there was a physical defect with the batteries.

Also, the Hooli phones never actually ended up being replaced, did they? Because the workers in the factory did take Jack Barker hostage and go on strike. So the whole pied piper network should still be up, shouldn't it? This whole episode was bullshit, if you think about it.

These writers are deadly afraid of change. You'd think change killed their parents or something. It's like it's the 1990s again when the status quo was god in TV. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StatusQuoIsGod

Maybe somebody should give these writers a calender.

I wish I could marry your comment!

I promised in these forums after last season that I wouldn't watch this show this year until the season was over, and only if people raved about it- and I kept to that, although I did comment a couple of times just reading the comments after a few episodes.  I figured if the show was good/return to season 1 form I'd give it a second chance and check it out, but if it was still the tech-ignorant, derivative 1980s sitcom, repetitive story that it had been in season 2 and 3, I was done.  Sure enough, from everything I can see the show is unchanged, and Mike Judge continues to waste time churning out mindless dreck while belligerently ignoring whatever tech advisors he's hired.  Odd coincidence, by the way: one of the tech advisors listed in season 1 was a software architect I worked with about 15 years ago when I was still at Microsoft (he left for Google in 2003, and presumably left to live in SV).  He was very smart, so that must be why he's only listed as a tech consultant in season 1. :)

Thank you for your post: it confirms that season 4 was just as bad as everything I'd been screaming about the previous two season- and totally agree on the tvtropes summary of the problem as Judge's outdated fear of character or plot evolution.  You've saved me from the frustration and anger of having watched season 4 myself, and I'm sorry for your suffering. :)

[DrSpaceman73]

Richard just needs to go and work for a tech firm, even a small one, and stop trying to run his own company 

Its obvious he sucks at it. 

[Camera One]

The episode was intense and had some excellent acting, but Richard was unbearable for most of the episode, making it tough to get through.  Treating everyone like crap after his idiotic behavior from last episode.

I'm also not looking forward for another redux of Pied Piper vs. Gavin and Hooli.  

[Tachi Rocinante]

On 7/17/2017 at 10:26 AM, Thrifty said:

I didn't watch this show until a few weeks ago, when I started binge watching it on demand.  When you do it like that, you see how repetitive the show is.

1) Pied Piper has a revolutionary new piece of technology that is worth a fortune.
2) Pied Piper decides to refuse a buyout and try to make it on their own.
3) Things go from bad to worse.  A series of crises and financial crunches compound until it seems all hope is lost.
4) Some miracle happens to pull them out of the fire, and the Pied Piper team is back on the road to fame and fortune.
5) Return to step 1.

This "new Internet" thing isn't going anywhere.  Something will happen.  Funding will fall through.  It will all fall apart by the end of season 5, only for some new thing to be the next big hope.

Me too.  But you forgot 2a - Richard acts like a gaping asshole because he can't read a room/ego/has no fucking business being anywhere near the CEO.