'Silicon Valley' episode 2x02 review: 'Runaway Devaluation'

The Pied Piper team is never without their ups-and-downs, and boy are they down in this week’s “Runaway Devaluation.” Even the title of this Silicon Valley episode suggests the odds are not in their favor.

As seen last week, the big bad tech company Hooli just sued the low-level start-up company in their efforts to bring down their viable options and fully realize their copycat program, Nucleus. While their lawyer assures them they have nothing to worry about, a client drop from Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer) has the men crawling back to their former bidders — who, as you can imagine, weren’t a fan of their brash talk and lowbrow antics the first time. They constantly try to tell everyone “we’re really excited to be in business with you guys,” but that doesn’t persuade them from saying no or getting their revenge below the belt, literally in own choice case.

As Pied Piper’s business remains in a rut, so too does some of the individual financial stakes of the crew. Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) comes to process regretfully how he spent half of his won earnings on his cousin’s Kickstarter app Bro, which is essentially Yo but with the phrase bro instead. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang tries to either continue persuading investors into their company, or stop other tech-friendly companies in their efforts to “brain rape” Richard (Thomas Middleditch) and his crew of their app.

It’s always been clear Nanjiani stood out, based not only the actor’s performance throughout Silicon Valley in the past but also his line-up of work outside of the Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinksy’s show. “Runaway Devaluation,” however, is when we really get to see him play up to his potential. Not only do viewers get to know about his family history, but they also see Dinesh actually interact with people outside the Pied Piper gang, particularly Gilfoyle (Martin Starr).

As such, some of this episode’s funniest interactions come from him accidentally re-persuading his cousin to keep his app goals, and his attempts to stop the Kickstarter’s success by coming up with lurid things “bro” can mean in foreign languages, like “a baby’s erection” or “a dildo for a man.” This comes across as pure Judge gold, who directed "Runaway Devaluation" as he did last week's "Sand Hill Shuffle." It also really captures the high and lowbrow humor balance Silicon Valley aims to achieve.

Also standing out is Jared (Zach Woods), who has some of “Runaway Devaluation”’s best material especially when he starts to use the Bro app for himself and gets more in line with what the kids say today. Woods always seem thrown to the side in Silicon Valley, there primarily to give exposition and to keep the gang in check, while sometimes playing as the straight man to their antics. But he always makes an impression, and when he actually has funny stuff to do this week, the actor does a wonderful job keeping the nebbish side of him alive while still trying to seem cool.

This is the kind of counteraction that the writers should try to have Richard have more of, instead of just being the most awkward person ever. To the creators’ credits, however, their main character is much more down-to-Earth in this episode than he was last week. Of course, this could be because he is given less screen time, playing in the backside as much as he can.

"Runaway Devaluation" still has some of the problems “Sand Hill Shuffle” had, however. A lot of the characters still feel just like that: characters. Last week it was Richard who seemed too calculated in his nerdiness, and this week it’s unfortunately Cryer who comes across too broad. She was effective in her ability to seem robotic and still believable in the season premiere, but this week, although her appearance is ultimately brief, she comes across as what writers on TV often assume people with Asperger’s Syndrome are like. She’s meant to be nonhuman in approach, but her writing by Rob Weiner in this episode isn’t as rewarding as it was when Clay Tarver wrote her lines last week.

While “Runaway Devaluation” is not as consistently funny as the season two premiere, it’s a more consistent episode in terms of what it tries to strive for. It’s jumpier, to be sure, but the characters still are mostly rich, and thankfully we get to spend more time with those who don’t get as much love as they should. It’s also really nice to see the whole gang proactive this week, as last week was mostly Richard and Erlich’s (T.J. Miller) show. Silicon Valley is mostly about the gang, not the individuals, and its nice to see the fortunes shared more evenhandedly this time.

Image courtesy of ACE/INFphoto.com