Silicon Valley Season 2 Review

But whereas the first season moved the characters through the various stages of a startup’s development, and let their personalities generate the hijinks, the early entries in Season 2 are more businesslike. Instead of spring-boarding off of where last year left off, the start of Season 2 feels like its playing catch-up. The early episodes lean heavily on financial minutia, as term sheets and round funding soak up a lot of space in the first two episodes. That being said, it’s still fun to watch the writers and actors approach a professional sphere from just about the most unprofessional avenues imaginable: a montage of Erlich and Richard “negging” (lowering your opposition’s self-worth to raise your own value) possible investors as a negotiation tactic is plenty funny, as is a separate montage that spawns of it the following week.

Unfortunately, the financial details of the plot never generate laughs as frequent or hearty as those found in simpler comic premises, like Dinesh trying to prevent his cousin’s Kickstarter from reaching its goal, thus saving him from having to pay a promised donation. The first season’s standout episode, “Signaling Risk,” was the one that best balanced the varied comic sensibilities and wide, talented cast Silicon Valley has at its disposal (and, incidentally, was the last episode to feature Welch). The first three episodes of Season 2 are so plot-driven that Thomas Middleditch’s Richard has to be involved in most scenes, with B-stories featuring other character getting crunched for time.

At its best, Silicon Valley is an ensemble comedy, and that original ensemble is still excellent when given the chance to shine. Amanda Crew does some very funny work with what could be a thankless role, Zach Woods continues to steal scenes left and right, and the combative chemistry between Kumail Nanjiani and Martin Starr is still the show’s most reliable pairing. It’s the new additions meant to fill the gap left by Welch that aren’t so encouraging as of yet. Suzanne Cryer plays Peter Gregory’s professional replacement, but the character borrows Welch’s delivery and affectations so closely that it borders on an imitation. The third episode introduces Chris Diamantopoulos as an obnoxious billionaire looking to back Pied Piper, and is fine as a one-note one-off character, but will need to develop some new beats fast to become any sort of a sustainable presence on the show.

Obviously, no one knows the difficulties Silicon Valley has faced better than the people making it, so it’s maybe no coincidence that part of the premiere involves Richard figuring out if an initial undervaluation of Pied Piper would be better for the company long-term. If it weren’t for the fantastic work from Welch in Season 1, or the fact that we know the show and its cast are capable of doing much more, the hobbled start to Season 2 would seem less disappointing. How long it will take Silicon Valley to return to peak efficiency is a concern, but hopefully the extended ten-episode season order will give it the time it needs to get back to being one of TV’s best comedies, instead of just a pretty good one.