[Review] Silicon Valley Season 2
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“You were all brought here to generate moonshots. I need a moonshot now. If there's any greatness in any of you at all, now is the time to access it.” - Gavin Belson (S02E07)
As if Season 1 of the hit HBO television show, Silicon Valley, wasn’t a moonshot already, it definitely is now. Going into Season 2 with my expectations set high, creator Mike Judge did exactly what I thought he’d do - he exceeded them. Keeping audiences rooting for the little guys of Pied Piper to crush the compression competition around them, get more funding for their company to grow and to receive so many offers that it’d make Hooli’s head spin, Judge had other plans.
We start the season off with Pied Piper deciding on what offers to take (funding versus exponential growth, equity, evaluation, etc.) after winning Tech Crunch Disrupt. Having to re-iterate the unfortunate real life loss of Peter Gregory (Christopher Evan Welch), the show takes a lighthearted spin on replacing the odd-mannered CEO with a similar tempered woman, Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer). In case you were wondering, Peter Gregory had to run, for what may have been the first and definitely the last time of his life (yes, a heart attack from running once; it’s Palo Alto, go figure). During his funeral, in an attempt to buy Pied Piper out, Gavin Belson of Hooli ends up suing Pied Piper of copywright infringement saying Richard Hendricks created Pied Piper while working for Hooli. In Silicon Valley, this happens all the time when a company wants to squash the competition and knows the tech can’t pay up. Frantic, Hendricks tries to get funding from the companies who’ve since retracted their offers because of the lawsuit; except for one, very excentric former big-shot named Russ Hammeman (Chris Diamantopoulos) who earned his billions from the investments of the dot com boom (also, he brought the radio to the internet).
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Dealing with a fussy billionaire whenever the group needs money, Hendricks loses his patience at times and the group try numerous ideas to get funding while saving money: making their own servers to support their own cloud, providing 4k streaming capabilities to support a live event (‘Homicide’), hiring more people, hacking into the network of a company that “brain raped” Pied Piper during a fake interview to steal their contracts and last but not least, pissing off Belson to no end by any means necessary. The season is an uphill battle for PP, the obstacle course being Silicon Valley as a place to showcase their talents. What makes this season better than the first is that the audience sees just how great Pied Piper really is and how hard everyone tries to bring them down in an industry where every other company says they want to “make the world a better place,” no less. After each accomplishment, a tidal wave hits the group almost every episode. The finale proved that the guys of Pied Piper are here to stay, despite their constant uphill battles. Full of wittier banter that makes season one look like a sitcom, season two is flawless. The execution of each ending is almost enough to compare to the network’s dramas (they’re that good)... which may be exactly why I count down the hours after 10:30pm every Sunday until the next episode the following week; the underdogs generate the greatest moonshots.
WWE Money in the Bank 2015: Results and Match Reviews
The passing of Dusty Rhodes last week lent a tinge of sadness to WWE Money in the Bank 2015. In the pre-show, Renee Young was so moved by a tribute to Rhodes that she sobbed her way through the script. At the start of the event, the WWE roster assembled beneath the TitanTron as they tolled the bell 10 times for everyone's favorite common man.
The sincere emotion was one of the most memorable things about Money in the Bank 2015. It was a generally all right pay-per-view with one very good match and one potential Match of the Year. The solid in-ring work in two other bouts was marred by bad finishes. In fact, there was a stretch of three screwy finishes in a row, which no doubt disappointed the Columbus, Ohio crowd. (They were probably extra-sore when they heard about the NBA Finals during the main event.)
If anything, Money in the Bank 2015 was a better show than Elimination Chamber 2015 and Payback 2015, but still a kind of also-ran in the monthly pay per view slog. At least it wasn't a glorified episode of Raw.
Let's go through the Money in the Bank 2015 results before a computer takes your place, daddy.
[This Week In TV] Hannibal; Sense8; Community
With the TV season drawing to a close, This Week In TV is following it into a summer break. Reviewed in this final edition, Hannibal opens its third season with a gialli-inspired detour through Florentine high society, Sense8 proves that moving to Netflix has done nothing to dilute the Wachowskis' eclectic vision or ambition, and Community's first season on Yahoo comes to a close with an episode which could bow out the series for good.
[This Week In TV] Game Of Thrones; Outlander
With the TV season drawing to a close, This Week In TV is following it into a summer break. Reviewed in this penultimate edition, Game Of Thrones sees Jon Snow discover the true scale of the White Walker danger to Westeros and the Night's Watch, while Claire manages to rescue her beloved Jamie from a sadistic torturer in Outlander, but even her gifts as a healer struggle to deal with the psychological trauma he has endured.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2015: Results and Match Reviews
Rather than selling it as a traditional pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber 2015 played out as a WWE Network exclusive. This was likely an attempt to get people to sign up for the WWE Network at the end of May (which was free for new subscribers) in hopes that they would not have a chance to cancel before midnight. That's $10 from the online marks, plus the in-attendance gate from the people of Corpus Christi, Texas.
While Payback 2015 felt like a glorified episode of Monday Night Raw, Elimination Chamber 2015 surprisingly delivered for what it was (i.e., a $10 show with two great matches and one pretty enjoyable one). Leave it to a giant cage with pods to make an otherwise okay event feel semi-special for a tenner, at least at a superficial level.
If your junior prom lacks a theme, might I suggest it be held in an Elimination Chamber?
Also, the Spanish Announce Table was not harmed at all last night. That means for one night, the Spanish Announce Table was Kimmy flippin' Schmidt. (It's a miracle!)
Let's go through the card.
[This Week In TV] The Flash; Supergirl; Late Show With David Letterman
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week sees Barry Allen travel back in time to save his mother in the Flash finale; our review of CBS' leaked Supergirl pilot; and David Letterman's final appearance as host of the Late Show.
WWE Payback 2015: Results and Match Reviews
A day later than intended, but we're doing it—we're looking at WWE Payback 2015, AKA a decent but forgettable episode of Monday Night Raw or Smackdown. This didn't even feel like a $9.99 network commitment. Payback 2015 should have come with your basic cable package, and woe to anyone who shelled out the coin to buy this on actual pay per view.
Yes, Payback is the latest in a string of inconsequential pay per views on the road to SummerSlam, which may explain why the entire event was lackluster overall. The thin roster, repeated matches, and lack of decent storylines means that everyone was wrestling tonight for everyone's favorite reason: because wrestling.
The two bright spots in all this: The New Day and the Spanish announce table es muy fuerte!
Let's go through this flimsy card and hope for something better when Elimination Chamber closes out May and Money in the Bank starts to make the next few months interesting.
But for now, Payback 2015.
[This Week In TV] Mad Men; Arrow; Wayward Pines
This Week in TV is a weekly feature reviewing the best, worst and most interesting episodes of television from the past seven days. The plan is to cover a wide variety of shows, but not always the same ones each week, so let us know in the comments which ones you’d particularly like to read about. This week sees Don Draper and Oliver Queen find themselves just in time for the Mad Men series finale and the final episode of Arrow's third season respectively, while Wayward Pines gets underway with the closest thing we're likely to get to an M. Night Shyamalan return to form.