EndFrame’s End Game Ends Lame on ‘Silicon Valley’ (TV REVIEW)

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Picking up right where we left last week, the guys have nothing left to do but fight their way to the top. With Nucleus floundering and End Frame dominating the market, there’s going to be some choices to make and no one’s going to like it. Though we haven’t been talking about it much lately, there’s still a lawsuit in the works against Pied Piper. Hanneman still hasn’t fully funded their start up. And Richard is always one stressful evening away from wetting the bed. What’s it going to take to get a happy ending?

In an attempt to stand up to End Frame, Richard and the dudes head back to their offices to demand their algorithm back. Of course, this is never going to happen. When they “brain raped” Richard, he gave up information willingly. There’s no fighting that. To add insult to injury, the receptionist at the End Frame office mistakes Erlich for the CEO as Richard is…well, Richard. Even while attempting to get them to cease and desist, he can’t help but continue to help them (he’s stopped, thankfully) with their math as it’s just what he does. It becomes clear there’s no end in sight, and the End Frame guys show off their latest triumph; a huge sales team pitching End Frame all over the place.

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No one seems to be having a great week. As Hanneman stews in the failure that is his investment, his financial advisor gives him some bad news, he’s no longer a part of the three comma club. Over at Hooli, Gavin is doing his best to spin the Nucleus failure. Looking for an angle, he figures if he is able to add a feature to the platform that’s remarkable, it would explain the initial crash. Of course, he doesn’t have such a feature, and enlists Big Head and his team at [XYZ] to create a “game changer.” They promptly get to work, after lunch.

After an unsuccessful start to their comeback crusade, Richard and Erlich head to Hanneman’s to figure out the next step. Hanneman breaks the news to them. He’s now only almost a billionaire. This incites him to no end. As he gathers himself together to head to Vegas and gamble his problems away, he demands they change the model to be sales based so he can quickly generate revenue. This is a problem, Richard and the dudes don’t have the resources or the time to create that sort of business model. After hiring Carla they’ve now hired two additional engineers, putting them in a tight spot employee-wise.

While everything falls apart, Dinesh is still on a mission to get laid. His recent efforts have landed him in a weird situation where he’s doing everything in his power to seem interesting to an online girl who’s out of his league. He knows the likelihood of them working out is bleak, “She’s practically a different species.” But, he’s got to try.

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Richard goes to Hanneman to break the news that they don’t have the ability to take on a sales team. It’s just not plausible. Hanneman then twists it around on him. He’s figured out the solution to all their problems. As they head to lunch, he leads Richard into a room where the End Frame guys are waiting. Hanneman wants to “merge” Pied Piper with End Frame, ensuring a buy out and less of a headache for him. Of course, Richard refuses. Hanneman then throws a fit, showing Richard that his brand new BMW doesn’t have scissor doors, just regular doors. Because he’s no longer a millionaire. The enraged Hanneman then gets into the car and drives off shouting, “These are not the doors of a billionaire Richard! Fuck you…” He then circles back around, “Fuck you in the ass.”

At this point there’s literally nothing to be done. Pied Piper has hit every conceivable obstacle along the way, and it doesn’t look like things are going to clear up anytime soon. They’re not going to give up, and if something finally works out they have everything to gain. They just need a break, which, comes in the form of Gilfoyle’s cunning.

While they were stomping around End Frame, Gilfoyle came across a post it note with the CEO’s login information on it. While Richard and Hanneman have been hashing it out, Gilfoyle has been perusing classified emails containing the future for End Frame, and the answer to all their problems. End Frame is in works to strike a $15 million deal with the porn giant Intersite. Gilfoyle proposes that they shark the deal from End Frame, a move that will effectively save the company. A consensus is met, and Richard heads out to a porn industry convention to deal with the problem.

In one of the best scenes of the season, Molly (the head of Intersite) gives her speech at the front of a conference room while representatives from different porn subsects sit in the audience at attention. Name plates bearing titles such as Brutalized Asshole, Blackmailed into Gay, My Dirty Vagina, Let’s Try Fisting, (and my favorite) Non-consensual Santa fill the tables. Richard watches her speech, impressed and intimidated as she turns on a stage full of sex toys with a remote indicating the next step in porn magic. After the speech, Richard approaches her as awkwardly as humanly possible. At first she’s sketched out by the low functionality that are Richard’s social skills. But as he appeals to her the same way she did to the leaders in porn, she reconsiders.

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Dinesh’s love life is a mess. He’s unable to seal the deal with Karen as she’s apparently been to their house before (evidenced by her immediate connect to the wifi). Turns out, Karen is Erlich’s Karen. A girl he pined for after a brief bout of intercourse. When the two see one another, it’s all over for Dinesh. As he sits in the dark, Erlich and Karen go at it in the room over to slow adult contemporary jams.

Back at Hooli, Big Head delivers a proposal to Gavin that will change the face of technology forever. “Think it and it happens,” Big Head explains. You think up what you want your phone to do, and it does it. Gavin’s excitement and impressed feelings are short lived when he realizes it’s not something they have actually created, but rather an idea. Gavin is effectively screwed.

Over at Intersite the End Frame guys meet with Molly to discuss the final terms in their deal. Molly leads them to a conference room where the Pied Piper guys are waiting. She lays down the stakes, both teams will receive the same video library. Whoever delivers the best product will get the contract. Boom.

The addition of Molly to the show feels like a fix to the Laurie mistake. Laurie’s stock character status has yet to change and with the forward momentum of Pied Piper moving further away from its earlier ties it doesn’t seem like she’ll be back anytime soon. Obviously it’s great to see another strong female lead on screen, but Molly is more than that. As head of a porn based company she sits on a billion dollar industry and cannot afford to make rookie mistakes booking the wrong company to help save costs. The fact that she plays Pied Piper and End Frame against one another is inspired. She’s in a win-win situation able to get the best possible product because that’s what they have to offer her. Brilliant. As of now, things are looking better. But hey, End Frame screwed them over once, and there’s a 100% chance they’ll do it again if they have the opportunity.

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