Silicon Valley season 4 episode 3 review: Still swimming

Moving into Silicon Valley season 4 episode 3, it felt pretty clear that the entire landscape of the show had changed. For the first time since the first season, there really wasn’t much in the way of a Pied Piper for Richard and company to work on. PiperChat was sold, and Richard was off working on his new decentralized internet with the help of Jared and, to a certain extent, Monica.

During a conversation with her at the grocery store, Richard (who spent some of the episode wandering to the doctor and swimming wearing all of his clothes to help him think) learned that Peter Gregory was actually working on a decentralized internet prior to his death. She helped him find some of her old notes via his archives, and it ended up being the missing link to push him forward in some of his own efforts. It was a victory — a surprising victory, but one that could put Richard further towards what looks to be the endgame of the series. With Piped Piper gone, what else is there for him to work on?

Here is the problem that Richard is running into now — it turns out that his idea is patented. Not only that, but the person who has the patent is Gavin. More on how that is applicable later.

While Richard worked on this, the remainder of the cast had some of their own adventures. Erlich tried to sell some magic beans in the form of Jian Yang’s crazy octopus app (basically See Food), Dinesh bonded with a date over their mutual distaste for Gilfoyle, and Big Head tried to apply for Stanford … now knowing that Stanford actually hired him as a guest lecturer rather than allowing him to be a student. Big Head continually stumbling into things beyond his qualifications remains one of the funniest runners on the show.

The fall of Gavin Belson

This was the surprisingly sad component of the episode. After his mistake purchasing PiperChat and its young (too young, as in illegal) viewer base, Gavin found himself facing numerous FCC violations … and also his dismissal. Jack Barker forced him out with help of the Hooli board.

Where will Gavin go from here? We want to see him and Richard work together now, mostly because it’d be hilarious. Hey, with him owning the patent, they may be FORCED to work together in order to get this project off the ground. A meeting between the two parties seemed to be what the ending was suggesting.

Overall

A really funny episode — probably the funniest one of the entire season. Richard went further along with his career goals, while Dinesh eventually came to realize that his new girlfriend was a grade-A hacker who he will almost surely disappoint when she learns that his “takedown” of Gavin was a complete accident. Also, we died when we saw Richard kicking his foot through a door and it getting stuck there when he realized that Gavin owned the patent on his dream project. Grade: A-.

What did you think about Sunday night’s Silicon Valley episode? Be sure to sound off now in the comments! (Photo: HBO.)