Silicon Valley: “Signaling Risk” Review

Richard and Jared try to decide what the company’s work environment will be like, while Erlich tackles the cutthroat world of logo design.

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

This was a busy episode of “Silicon Valley,” but it managed to handle it all well, moving the overall plot forward while providing some hilarious moments along the way. This week’s proceedings focused on Richard and Jared trying to figure out how to make Pied Piper operate more like a business, considering they still have an app to build and need to finish it before their funding runs out. Dinesh and Gilfoyle naturally opposed making the company more like a “job,” and their arguments about why there shouldn’t be any workplace rules while constantly interrupting Richard and Jared’s meetings provided plenty of laughs (I loved Jared’s line, “You do realize that my suggestions would help you beat me in this argument.”) Meanwhile, Erlich, seeking to make Pied Piper “more than just another start up with lowercase font” hired an ex-con graffiti artist to make the company logo. Of course, when he creates something more… shall we say, graphic than Erlich wanted, he quickly has to find a way to change things before he was “gunned down for art.”

(Credit: HBO)

The highlights this week (as with most weeks so far) were the two scenes with Peter Gregory. After running into rival Gavin Belson at a restaurant, Peter is quick to order Richard to live demo the Pied Piper software at a convention in two months after hearing Gavin would unveil Nucleus at the event. This not only gave us some great Peter Gregory lines, but also the impetus which caused team Pied Piper to adopt its new timeline. With only two months until they need to present their barely-functional software, it’ll be interesting to see how the crew acts under pressure.

Finally, it was nice to see Monica (Amanda Crew) take on a larger role in the story, as she moved beyond merely being Peter’s assistant. As the (unfortunately) sole female presence on the show, it’s good for her to forge a more personal connection with the guys. She even appeared at the house to apologize for how Peter was treating them and eventually stayed to see the new logo unveiled. Hopefully this means we’ll be seeing more of her character going forward.

THE BREAKDOWN

Overall, five weeks in, and “Silicon Valley” continues to up the stakes and, most importantly, bring the funny. Dinesh and Gilfoyles’ rivalry continues to entertain, and Richard’s new goal adds an element of urgency to developing the company. Monica even began to get some much-needed development this week. If “Silicon Valley” keeps this trend up, it could become one of this season’s best new comedies.

Do you enjoy the raunchy comedy of “Silicon Valley?” Let us know in the comments below.