Silicon Valley Season 3 Episode 4, Maleant Data Systems Solutions, was certainly a plot-heavy episode, with many major changes taking place (especially right at the end). There’s a lot to talk about after what happened last night, so let’s dive right in.
SILICON VALLEY SPOILERS BELOW!
Let’s start off by addressing the elephant in the room: Jack Barker got fired! After all his talk about compromise and working together to create a better company, Barker started taking way too many liberties as CEO. This upset the financial backers at Raviga, and just like that, Barker was fired for claiming Laurie Bream can’t “do a goddamn thing about it.” She obviously can, Action Jack. And she did.
This leaves a massive hole in the Pied Piper team now. Who will be the new CEO? Bream already shot down the idea of putting Richard back in charge, and Erlich wasn’t even given a second consideration after jumping at the chance. We can probably expect the next episode to revolve around hiring a new CEO, seeing as how the title of Episode 5 is “The Empty Chair.”
Speaking of Erlich, he finally has a major plot for Season 3. Big Head has showed back up, accidentally creating a competing tech incubator in his massive mansion he now owns. Erlich got upset at the idea that one of his former tenants would pinch his business idea, so decided to “go into business” with Big Head. We’ll see how long it takes before Erlich tries to usurp everyone and claim ownership to the house.
Another major player in Episode 4 was Monica. She rolled over and voted Richard out as CEO at the end of Season 2, making a promise to stand up for a decision later down the road. She finally did, voting against Barker’s deal to sell server boxes. This backbone from Monica helped the guys with their push for making a platform, and was one of the final blows to Barker before he snapped.
Monica has already foreshadowed her own fate, guessing she will be replaced from Pied Piper’s board of directors for her bold actions. She hasn’t gotten the axe as fast as Barker, so maybe Bream admires the fact that Monica finally voiced her own thoughts and concerns instead of parroting what others say.
As for the fate of Barker, I highly doubt this is the last we’ve seen of the now-former CEO. Barker is a cunning businessman who will either create a new company to compete with Pied Piper, or try to manipulate the laws to get himself back in.
Things over at Hooli are looking up as well. After firing all of the Nucleus team, Gavin Belson had the genius idea of buying out the company Endframe. The same Endframe that all of the Nucleus team left to go work at. This move does kind of work in Pied Piper’s favor, as now there is one less competing company working with middle-out compression. Belson has also showed time and again he has no clue what he’s doing, so he could sink this new initiative like he did the last one.
The rest of the gang didn’t really have much to do this episode. Gilfoyle, Denesh and Jared all chime in with a few good jokes, but the plot stays off of them for the most part. Hopefully the guys shine more in future episodes.
So what do you think? Are you excited for what will happen in Episode 5? How do you think Season 3 of Silicon Valley has been so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
