Silicon Valley season 4 finale review: Richard breaks bad, then good

Through most of Silicon Valley season 4, one of the big questions that we’ve wondered is whether or not this would be a breaking point for Richard Hendricks. He’s grown increasingly unlikable over the past few weeks, mostly because of his deteriorating company and also him getting more and more caught up in some shady dealings.

Over the finale Sunday night, we saw the fullest extent of Richard’s misdeeds. He lost Jared, and in the process also was willing to drive Anton the server all the way over to Stanford and to compromise Big Head’s job in the process. He also lost Dinesh and Gilfoyle in the process. He had slowly become Gavin Belson over season 4, and he ended up paying the piper for it. Everything fell apart, he lost the company, and he had nobody to blame for it but himself.

If there was one thing that Richard did have going for after everything, it was enough self-awareness to realize when he’d went too far. He was able to win Jared back, and after showing some contrition, Gilfoyle and Dinesh went with him so that they could be there for the end … only that it wasn’t the end. As it turned out, the last move from Anton the server was to spread smart-fridge technology to other smart fridges. The technology worked! Somehow, he went from zero to hero right when he realized that he was a terrible person.

Then, he got an offer … but more on that in a minute.

How Gavin got his groove back

As it turns out, he was in the right place at the right time in Tibet, since he was able to save Jack Barker from himself after he showed up to a Pied Piper plant in China. This was enough in order to further ensure that he was able to get his old job back. He returned to America after leaving Erlich overseas, and then from there proceeded to make Richard an offer on his technology. He didn’t want it, saying that he knew precisely what it was that he wanted from his company.

Final Verdict

What this finale really brought to the table above all else was a really great Thomas Middleditch performance, and also hopefully an opportunity in which we are going to see Pied Piper evolve. Also, Erlich is gone, even if it is in a rather disappointing way since it really didn’t feel like it made that much of an impact on the hour. Grade: B+.

What did you think about the Silicon Valley finale? Share in the comments below! Meanwhile, head over here to get some other news, when it comes to a preview