Silicon Valley: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray + Digital HD)

Blu-Ray Reviews | Sep 20th, 2017

Silicon Valley Season 4
Image used with permission for review purposes.

Starring: Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, Zach Woods, Josh Brener, Amanda Crew, Matt Ross, Suzanne Cryer
Created By: Mike Judge, John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky
Studio: HBO
Buy On Amazon.com

Silicon Valley started out as a great office space styled TV series but has turned into something different. I still like the show and find it funny, but it could be better.

The 4th season starts with Pied Piper guys trying to make their Piper chat App successful, while Richard (Thomas Middleditch) wants to use his algorithm for something better and steps down as CEO. Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) becomes the CEO of that but the team soon finds out that app is a disaster waiting to happen. Erlich (T.J Miller) is still trying to find the next big thing, Big Head (Josh Brener) becomes a college professor accidentally, Jared (Zach Wood) just wants to be along for the ride and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) can’t help but be amused at everything that is happening. Throughout the season, Richard teams up with Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) to create a new faster Internet with his algorithm. As you can imagine, not everything goes as planned.

When Silicon Valley first aired, I’d thought we get a funny look at more office jobs and technology. We do get that, but the show has just gone in a direction I wasn’t thinking. It’s more about the characters and what stupid crap they are getting into than just making fun of tech. I supposed if the show aired back in the 90s, it would just be Office Space in series form. Since technology can be created in some house or basement, the show demonstrates that well. The problem with the show is for a bunch of supposedly smart characters, they are pretty fucking dumb and continuously act dumb in various situations. It makes for some funny situations but it feels inconsistent with these characters that are supposed to be smart.

The cast is tight and a big reason why the show is as good as it is. It will be interesting to see how they deal with T.J. Miller leaving for next season. Honestly, as much as I liked his character to an extent, I always felt he was the weakest link in the cast as far as the character is concerned. Even with this season, Erlich just seems like a hanger-on and in the background. The focus seems to have shifted a bit to be about Richard, Dinesh, Gilfoyle and Jared. I liked how Richard threw his hands up and had no choice to work with Gavin this season. We saw a new dynamic we haven’t seen on the show yet. One of the things I like best about the show is Dinesh and Gilfoyle’s constant battle with each, and Gilfoyle always getting the upper hand. Having Jian-Yang tormenting Erlich is also pretty funny too. With all the positives above, I still feel like the show is missing something and could be better in storylines.

The Blu-Ray just contains some deleted scenes and a digital HD code. That’s about it. Of course the show looks great on Blu-Ray and I have no complaints with that stuff.

Silicon Valley isn’t the perfect show about tech but it’s more believable than The Big Bang Theory is with it. I just wish it was more about tech, apps, corporate office jobs and things like that than just these few characters we’ve gotten to know over the years. This season has it’s laughs for sure but it was the first time on the show I felt it was starting to lose it’s momentum. Let’s hope by T.J. Miller leaving in Season 5, things pick up and do something different and better!

Features
Deleted Scenes

Audio
English DTS-HD MA 5.1

Video
Widescreen 1.78:1 Color

Bottom Line: 4th Season has it’s moment but it could have been better
Running Time: 300 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

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