HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’ Set A New Tipping Point

‘s eighth episode of its third season remarks a new tipping point in the show’s history. “Bachman’s Earning’s Over-Ride” is one of the strongest episodes of Silicon Valley which brings every familiar detail or running gag together in the best possible way.

T.J. Miller as Erlich Bachman in Silicon Valley

[Spoilers ahead]
Richard is finally the CEO, Pied Piper is finally launched and everything is back on track. There’s only a problem: Erlich was forced to sell his shares of Pied Piper on the lowest point to pay his debts. He can’t tell this to Richard or anybody because the fact that he “sold out” is gonna have bad publicity for Pied Piper. This is the main situation in S3E08. The previous episode seeded a great cliffhanger covered by the Pied Piper launch which brings us to the critical point of Erlich and Richard’s relationship.

“The Jacket” is one of the most powerful jokes of the show so far | Gavin Belson gets fired from his own company, Hooli / Courtesy of HBO

Silicon Valley writers are known to create funny jokes based on serious or critical situations but in this particular episode, we are facing a real dramatic conflict between Richard and Erlich. It’s not funny anymore to watch Erlich’s ridiculous costume and hear him crying for help on his most vulnerable point. Erlich suddenly turns into the key character who is being the big man and do the right thing. He chooses to destroy himself in order to save the company’s future. For me personally, this was one of the saddest and happiest episodes of the show. The moment that Erlich’s smoking beside the pool is the gloomiest moment of the show even more than the second season’s harsh finale.

This episode surprisingly refers to some of the previous gags of the show and even brings back Russ Hanneman and Jack Barker. In a great scene, Jack meets Gavin which is clearly a sign of the storm. After defeating all the opponents including Endframe, Nucleus and Even Endframe joined with Hooli and all those tough times Pied Piper had to pass, now they’re in a great happy flow which begs for the next storm and I think that would be it. Silicon Valley used to be a show with tons of problems and new conflicts happening all the time. These two previous episodes are clearly the “calm before the storm”!