Silicon Valley - Two in the Box - Review: "Richard and Jack"

Silicon Valley Season 3 Episode Guide
3.01 "Founder Friendly" - Review!
3.02 "Two in the Box" - Review!
3.03 "Meinertzhagen's Haversack" (Airs May 8)
3.04 "Maleant Data Systems Solutions" (Airs May 15)
3.05 "The Empty Chair" (Airs May 22)
3.06 "Bachmanity Insanity" (Airs May 29)

Silicon Valley S3.02 "Two in the Box""
Directed by Mike Judge & Written by Dan O'Keefe

Just like Veep, Silicon Valley returned with another consistent episode to continue its third season as strongly as the second left off. We pick up with the newly installed Jack Barker as CEO of Pied Piper where the organization is trying to get rid of many of its original ideas, and as a result this episode spends a lot of time looking at how accessible the new Pied Piper would be. It's an half hour that as a result allows for plenty of laughs, continuing to move the story forward. We got to see Jack's new hilarious sales team in action as they were constantly clashing heads with Richard, as he continued to find his place inside his own company that fired him (Sort of).

It's interesting to see that we learn a bit more about Jack who's quickly turning out to be a pretty well developed character. He could have been easily painted as the straight-up antagonist but he does actually put Pied Piper first, and believes in the company and wants it to succeed. This isn't just about screwing Richard over, and it'll be interesting to follow how these characters develop over the course of the season as a result of this, with a strong dynamic being established between the two now.

One of the major unexpected and hilarious factors that this episode provided was the horse scene, which was probably the most surprising scene to witness on HBO last Sunday, and that was an evening with Game of Thrones. The show went for shock value and it's instantly become one of the more memorable scenes of the season so far, and to think that we're only two episodes in. It'll be interesting to see what the writers will throw at us next.

Meanwhile, Jared moved back in and ran into a tenant who wouldn't actually leave. This allowed for a couple of laughs but along with the similar thread that involved Erlich and Jian Yang, these never quite hit the high marks that they needed to in order to work, which is kind of a shame, but on the whole, it still allowed for some amusing moments and kept the episode engaging.

We also got to see a new location for Pied Piper that turned into the dream of every person looking to make the next Google. There was no surprise to see it move out of Erlich's living room with new people in charge, but the well-catered workplace perk seemed like a pretty ideal choice for Richard and company, but at the same time, Richard is still not quite won over yet. He's been burned before, and from his point of view, if something is too good to be true, then it usually is.

And to make matters worse for Richard we saw the sales team mange to take Richard's ideas too literally and end up turning his rhetorical approach into a literal one in order to make it not just anything, but the main selling point of the new-look Pied Piper. And for all intents and purposes, they've essentially just created an external hard-drive.

So on the whole Silicon Valley delivered another mostly great episode that despite one or two setbacks continued the fine form of the premiere. It looks like Season 3 is going to be just as good as the previous two, and I can't wait to see what the show gives us tonight, in the latest episode at 10pm on HBO, right after Game of Thrones. And as usual, be sure to let me know what you think of the episode in the comments section below!

Overall Episode Verdict: A-
Positives:
+New-look Pied Piper.
+Horse Scene.
+Jack/Richard development.
Negatives:
-Erlich's storyline needs work...
-...As does Jared's.

About the Author - Milo MJ

Milo is an Arsenal FC supporter and loves TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Justified, The 100, The Americans and Person of Interest. He reviews Black Sails, Hell on Wheels, Murder in the First, Narcos, Preacher, The Shannara Chronicles, Silicon Valley and Veep for Spoiler TV as well as books, films and games for his own blog The Fictional Hangout and contributes to comic reviews on a weekly basis for All-Comic.

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