Mike Judge’s first season of the computer-tech comedy series was not a fluke. Unveiling today on HBO DVD and Blu-Ray is the second, equally hilarious season, that follows Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) and his Pied Piper team, as they continue to work on their compression algorithms, elude lawsuits, try to find funding and chase down that elusive dream of making millions in Silicon Valley.
It continues to be incredibly funny, walking the line from base to high brow comedy, as Richard’s life takes some very unexpected twists and turns through the ten episodes of the season.
The supporting cast, especially Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) and Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) get some great moments, but these two are hilarious together and definitely need more scenes. There is also T.J. Miller as Elrich who is loud, bawdy and the mouth of the Pied Piper company, whether Richard wants him to be or not.
Richard’s nemesis, Gavin (Matt Ross) is trying to get his hands on the Pied Piper IP and there are court battles, betrayals, goofs, and wins, and by the end of the season it seems Richard is well on his way to finally get his comeuppance. But will Pied Piper finally be under control or is there another game in the offing.
These characters are fantastic together, and it’s the throwaway lines that are truly entertaining as each of the cast get to fire off some wickedly written dialogue as they take shots at one another, or their competitors.
Over the course of ten episodes we see the team come together, improvise, steal, adapt, and wow each other and their enemies, and it’s a delight to watch this talented cast do its thing.
From the very first episode of the first season, this world was fully realized, and as such, when the second season begins, they could hit the ground running, and advance the characters and story in a rapid and engaging way. The second season lifts the level of the game that the first series did, especially as it comes to its climax, and bit of a cliffhanger ending. Happily season 3 gets underway on April 24th, so not so long until we learn how things play out for these tech geniuses.
The Blu-Ray includes a number of commentaries by series creator Judge, as well as a brief featurette about the series and the tech science behind it. The picture, itself, looks amazing in high-def, and as always, HBO makes sure the product they put on the shelf is the best possible one they can. It looks and sounds great, and brings the laughs.
If you haven’t seen the series yet, now’s a prime time to catch up and work your way through the two seasons. I mean, it’s only 20 episodes of about 25ish minutes each, check them out, and get ready to laugh!
Silicon Valley: Season 2 is available from HBO today.