COSTARS, from left: TJ Miller, Zach Woods, Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr
The HBO comedy series, “Silicon Valley,” returns for a third season, pointedly satirizing the goings-on in the tech biz anew with its collection of socially confused geniuses and their less-than-ideal business dealings involving their brainchild.
The series, populated by the tech hub’s ultracompetitive geeks and their über-wealthy rivals, centers on a brainiac, Richard Hendriks (Thomas Middleditch), whose business decisions aren’t always sound. It’s either that or his naiveté is taken advantage of by such competitors, who think of ways to profit from his work, a unique compression algorithm.
Following his victory in a copyright infringement lawsuit, Richard has been fired as CEO of his own company, and very reluctantly accepts the input of the new boss, Jack Barker (Stephen Tobolowsky), to focus on the technical nitty-gritties of his work as chief technology officer.
Two episodes in, it’s still a heady mix of highbrow and lowbrow humor—for every scene with near-incomprehensible tech-speak or science gobbledygook, there are genitalia jokes and bizarre imagery—like mating horses in a barn, for instance (Jack likes horses).
The early episodes of the new season show how Richard and Jack may be exceptional in their respective fields, but not all great minds think alike—they don’t see eye to eye on how the startup company should be run and advertised.
After the untimely demise of actor Christopher Evan Welch, who played eccentric investor Peter Gregory, Richard’s future, as well as that of his team of techsperts and smart alecks, was greatly affected in Season Two. But the show was able to integrate that loss into the storyline, and tap into various possibilities.
Richard, while still mostly the mild-mannered developer, gets to show other facets, mainly his rage and utter confusion at his new business ordeal. His “discoverer” Erlich Bachman (TJ Miller) is considerably less cocky, but remains a smart entrepreneur—and is still a hilarious foil to the protagonist.
The satire is relevant, an enlightening and mostly accessible skewering of not-so-wonderful things about the information age, while presenting universal conundrums mirthfully.
(“Silicon Valley” airs Mondays, 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., on HBO.)