Silicon Valley: The Patent Troll
June 5, 2017 5:41 AM - Season 4, Episode 7 - Subscribe

Richard decides to stand up to a patent troll, but his defiance comes back to haunt him; Gilfoyle goes to extremes to battle Jian-Yang's new smart fridge; Jared embraces multiple identities in an effort to reduce costs; Erlich mixes with a group of alpha males.
posted by noneuclidean (13 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
So the fridge becomes the attack vector through which Mia brings down the current iteration of Pied Piper and resets them back to the beginning for season 5, right?
posted by noneuclidean at 6:00 AM on June 5, 2017 [9 favorites]


Of all the things about this show, the way Jian-Yang treats Erlich is my favorite. He's the only one who basically tells Erlich to go fuck himself.

Where is Bighead? Bring back Bighead, please.

I agree with most others who complain about the show constantly resetting itself but I still enjoy the characters.

"Sometimes it a Wheat Thin." Poor Jared. What horrible things has that man been through.

I enjoyed Gilfoyle doing more than just shitting on Dinesh.

The show is flawed but it still makes me laugh.
posted by bondcliff at 7:22 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


I want a screenshot of the looks on Laurie and Monica's faces as Erlich mansplains to them, and I want to make it my desktop background on my work computer at my SF tech industry office.
posted by olinerd at 9:10 AM on June 5, 2017 [9 favorites]


Where is Bighead? Bring back Bighead, please.

Agreed. I miss that guy.

I agree with most others who complain about the show constantly resetting itself but I still enjoy the characters.

Agreed here too. I actually thought the plots were fairly weak from the beginning with some things dragging out impossibly long and others getting resolved magically. The show has never really had a strong consistent plot, though it's gotten much worse than early on. However, I just don't care. I could watch these characters tell completely unrelated setup/punch jokes one after another for an hour and I'd love it. I wouldn't even need them to pretend to have a storyline. I do still like the stories as one off episodes, but that's really only because I relate so well. I work with all of these people and a few people have told me I am pretty much Laurie even though I'm a giant, bald dude. At least one of them meant it as an insult, but I'm not sure why that's funny. She's pretty great. If I had to be any of them it'd be Laurie or maybe Jared.

I don't understand why Erlich has to feel relevant so much but won't really do any work to get there. The basketball and turning down money to get a job were nice takes on that. I've seen people negotiate in the wrong direction before, but never quite like that.

I want a screenshot of the looks on Laurie and Monica's faces as Erlich mansplains to them


Here are a few not-super-high resolution screencaps of that scene. As soon as the word 'mansplain' came out I knew what they were doing but it was still wonderful. The reactions were great and they didn't drag it out.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 10:24 AM on June 5, 2017 [5 favorites]


That mansplain scene was the best thing !!!
posted by Pendragon at 12:11 PM on June 5, 2017 [2 favorites]


They really like to lean into the women problem the show has.
posted by cardboard at 2:41 PM on June 5, 2017


ED CHAMBERS
posted by rhizome at 4:07 PM on June 5, 2017 [2 favorites]


Of all the things about this show, the way Jian-Yang treats Erlich is my favorite.

ED CHAMBERS

Jian-Yang's and Jared's bits continue to be the absolute high point of every episode.
posted by noneuclidean at 5:35 PM on June 5, 2017 [7 favorites]


For the record, I thought this episode indicated an evener keel than the last couple have, even though Ed Chen is being brought in from the margins. Maybe he's going to be the one who takes out Erlich for next season?
posted by rhizome at 6:02 PM on June 5, 2017


Jian-Yang's and Jared's bits continue to be the absolute high point of every episode.

Agreed. I think part of it is that the plot is so aimless, so that the characters whose primary purpose seems to be gags get the best bits.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:26 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


So the fridge becomes the attack vector through which Mia brings down the current iteration of Pied Piper and resets them back to the beginning for season 5, right?

Dang. Speaking of which, I can't get over how unfunny Dinesh turning her in to the FBI was.
posted by entropone at 6:48 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


In my fantasy world, Laurie, Monica, Jian-Yang, Bighead and Jared end up being the lone characters who escape unscathed when the patent troll comes back in full force after realizing Richard bluffed his way through that last negotiation.

But if that actually happened, I'd never get a chance to see what kind of chicks Gilfoyle flirts with at the Anton LaVey Satanic Temple in Los Angeles. (Surely he'll make a visit now that they've twice referenced Anton in-show???)

Also, one should never assume that all Satanists look the same. I'd love Gilfoyle paired with someone who looks like Taylor Swift and also goes balls-to-the-wall proselytizing for Satan up and down the Pacific Coast Highway.

Prediction: Erlich will accidentally brag to Ed Chen that Richard beat a patent troll by bluffing and put them back at square one next episode. Which of course then Richard will turn into the next Big Thing by integrating his music-searching algorithm into some Pied Piper meets Amazon Echo crossover technology? Maybe something like you yell out a couple of lyrics or hum the tune, then it tells you all available recordings similar to what it heard you doing and offers to create a customized playlist? (OK, now we're getting into Pandora territory, I better stop now.)
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 5:51 PM on June 6, 2017


Speaking of which, I can't get over how unfunny Dinesh turning her in to the FBI was.

That's kind of the point, isn't it? Dinesh gets cast in a pitiable light because of how much Gilfoyle shits on him endlessly, but Dinesh is also a tremendous asshole in his own right who is fairly deserving of a goodly portion of that berating. See also: the entire first arc of the season where he took over Piperchat.
posted by FatherDagon at 1:44 PM on June 9, 2017


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