Silicon Valley Preview: “Terms of Service” 

WARNING: Silicon Valley Spoilers

On HBO’s Silicon Valley, Richard has quit the group to break out on his own.

A fortune based on a video chat app is beneath him. He kinda sorta has an idea for a new internet, one that doesn’t have all the baggage of the current model, which means no firewalls or government regulation and the information will be totally free. All that he needs now is to figure out how to make that happen. No big deal.

Last week, the boys easily hashed out all the particulars of the split. Richard gave up his equity in Piper Chat, which gave Erlich a way to protect his investment yet be able to dole out an equitable amount of shares to Gilfoyle and Dinesh. Dinesh — not Big Head — became Piper Chat’s new CEO. Meanwhile, Richard made an agreement with Dinesh that would enable him to license his compression algorithm for his new venture. What could go wrong?

Official HBO Synopsis for “Terms of Service”

Richard (Thomas Middleditch) butts heads with Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), whose new position goes to his head. Later, Richard discovers interesting data about PiperChat’s users.

Erlich (T.J. Miller) makes a play to be involved in Jian-Yang’s (Jimmy O. Yang) new app; Jared (Zach Woods) sets ground rules in his friendship with Richard; Gavin’s (Matt Ross) paranoia over Jack’s (Stephen Tobolowsky) enthusiasm causes him to make a rash decision.

Dinesh as CEO of Piper Chat

Life under Dinesh as CEO is pretty much what you’d expect. A mess. It’s everything Gilfoyle salivated over when his “friend” asked him if he could be CEO in the season four premiere. Gilfoyle said yes simply so he could sit back and watch the disaster unfold.

Let’s just say Gilfoyle doesn’t have to wait long. Dinesh’s cockiness factor is well over the legal limit of what should be allowed. He overcompensates in his on camera interviews. He’s wearing way too much product in his hair. He doesn’t let Erlich talk which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Unfortunately for him, a decision he made blows up in his face big time. But this time he’s the CEO, not Richard. It’s up to him to clean his own mess.

BelsonVBarker

Last week, it was all about Gavin’s rich man resentment and first world problems when Jack had their flight plan from China changed so it would drop him off in Jackson Hole first before making the planned stop in Moffett.

It showed just how out of touch and off the charts delusional these two are in a couple different ways.

For Gavin, this became an obsession. After all, he sent his henchman Hoover on multiple flights to figure out which location was closer. There was a half-hour difference. And in “Terms of Service,” said obsession goes well past exiling Jack to the dreaded basement.

On Jack Barker’s end of things, this guy is so delusional he doesn’t realize that what he did was rude considering he’s not the head of Hooli and it wasn’t his plane. It doesn’t even register that it even bothers Gavin as much as it has. In fact, it’s safe to say he hasn’t given this matter much thought at all since their shared flight back. It’s not a blip on his radar.

It’s maddening but also funny to see how these two operate. And in “Terms of Service,” Gavin lets his ego and narcissism rule causing him to do something supremely stupid.

The Quick Assessment

“Terms of Service” continues to make the business of tech exciting, mesmerizing and hilarious. Just wait until you find out what Jared thinks are appropriate topics of conversation now that he and Richard can’t talk about work. It’s worth the price of admission.

Silicon Valley airs Sunday nights at 10/9c on HBO.

Season 4 Opening