'Silicon Valley' episode 2x05 review: 'Server Space'

With all the hassles and complications flung in Richard’s (Thomas Middleditch) direction in Silicon Valley, particularly this season, it’s a little surprising his stress was so disregarded until this week’s “Server Space.” Between money problems and schedule issues, not to mention lawsuit claims against them thanks to the big-bad Hooli, that the fidgety Pied Piper CEO would only be confound to “night sweats” seems like a submissive reaction for the man.

Sure enough, even his doctor (the always-great Andy Daly, finally back) thinks this is a precariously mild reaction and fears the worst is yet to come: bed-wetting. Richard assures him he doesn’t do such a thing and it won’t happen to him, but the doctor is not convinced such an embarrassing condition is out of the question. Nor does Richard’s work partner Jared (Zach Woods), who continuously asks him about his non-existent problem. Of course, this fear of stress only makes Richard worry more, and that’s before his location hassles come into fruition.

Secluded under Erlich's (T.J. Miller) house for the entire business run thus far, Pied Piper is ready to move out. They found a nice, spacious location for their work, and although money is tight, Jared assures Richard they can make it work. Plus, it’s located right underneath a model agency, which has Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) clipping his heels in excitement. Although such enthusiasm is cut short when Hooli restricts the low-level tech business from having a service space for their domain. As they sit puzzled and once again beaten, Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) believes this is more a blessing than a curse for their business.

He feels their company should not restrict themselves to such a big-time capitalistic effort and instead develop their own service space, a task he promises he can complete in a week’s time. Although the costs of this endeavor would mean they can’t afford their new work quarters, which comes as a great blow to Dinesh. Keeping Dinesh down further is how Gilfoyle refuses to let him work on his service space, although Pied Piper’s new engineer Carla (Alice Wetterlund) is more than welcome to help. Though how long they’re allowed to get their hands dirty on the project is up in the air when Elrich’s older, bearded and wheelchair-bound neighbor Noah (Frank Collison) threatens to shut down their business efforts as he discovers their illegal activities.

There’s always a laid-back charm to Silicon Valley, but “Server Space” feels a little too settled with itself. As there’s a lot of plot establishment in this episode, especially for events to come past this halfway point, the jokes are not as free-flowing, but what gags they do throw seem lowbrow to a fault. Although the series has balanced fluidity its mix of sophisticated comedy with one or two dick jokes, that two of this week’s biggest comedic beats rely on whether or not Richard pees himself — which never gets any real resolution — or watching a once-armless monkey first masturbate than throw his feces at glass with a robotic arm seems far too cheap for even the moderate standards this show sets.

It’s almost as though the writers exhausted themselves already, to the point where they feel they must go broader to keep viewers engaged. This, however, is the first time Sonny Lee is credited as the writer on this show. Is it possible this writer’s interests are not in line with the series? Perhaps, although his credits ran from Always Sunny to Outsourced, so it’s hard to tell. What is apparent, however, is “Server Space” has its merits, but it feels more dull and inactive than any other episode from the program this year.

This lull happened around the same time in the first season too, and it’s hard to believe Silicon Valley won’t pick itself up again as its rounds up to the finale. That doesn’t make it less disappointing, however. What’s more disheartening is how Monica (Amanda Crew), Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer) or Russ Hanneman (Chris Diamantopoulos) are nowhere to be found in this fifth episode. Even last week’s new all-star Carla doesn’t have much to do this week. While it’s nice to see the core group at the focus, it never seems like there’s much comedic bickering or crafty insults for them to throw at each other. They all have problems, and Lee’s teleplay unfortunately appears more interested in them solving problems than joking on each other’s expense.

While it’s nice to see Richard at the center here, the focus in general this week is clunker than normal. Conflicts are more bounced around, and in typical Silicon Valley fashion, the Gavin Benson (Matt Ross) moments with Big Head (Josh Brener) — still called “Baghead”— always feels awkwardly placed into the narrative. Even though Gilfoyle gets more screen time than normal, he is mostly subsided to exposition, and Elrich’s issues with Richard involving a kimono are the closest “Server Space” comes to capturing the show’s spark.

“Server Space” is not so much a bad episode of Silicon Valley as it’s an exceedingly mediocre one. Guest star Collison gets the episode’s best moments, and while it’s fun to learn about Jared’s German-speaking oddities this is another sidetrack that doesn’t serve much of a function into the episode’s overarching plot. That is all to say this is perhaps a little too spaced out, and that hopefully in the next couple episodes this Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky-created program creates can find a server more in line with what makes their program so engaging

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