The End
“Holy shit. Jared, you just killed that guy.”
I nearly peed myself.
What a wonderfully weird episode. And what a great season so far. HBO’s Sunday night line-up from this to Veep to Game of Thrones is really firing on all cylinders this season.
-Tom
Yes those three shows got me to sign up for HBO for $10/month for 6 month. The first time in ages. Some of the new series also look promising.
With every passing week I find it more and more difficult to resist the urge to–upon meeting a new person at a work meeting–say “This guy fucks!”
I will crack eventually, but at this point I’m pretty sure it’s going to be worth it.
This is exactly how I feel some days…
I had successfully wiped Suzanne Cryer’s terrible character from my mind, so when I she appeared on-screen it was a total gut punch. I hate her, and she ruins every scene she’s in.
In fact, she comes close to ruining the whole series.
She has to go.
That is a really strong take for a character that appears for like 2-3 minutes an episode.
I thought it was great. I loved the “Boston Dynamics” deer robot scene. RIGBY, etc. So glad this show is back on the air.
It’s a shame about Evan Welch, he was absolutely fantastic in the role, (the ‘burger king’ scene never fails to crack me up) but I think Ms. Cryer totally nails the character and is a worthy replacement. To say she almost ruins the series is some serious fucking hyperbole dude.
Anyway, I remember not being thrilled with (last years?) season opener, but this episode knocked it out of the park. I’d binge the whole season straight through if I could, there isn’t a more consistently hilarious show available right now.
Totally agree with tryte about how great the opener was and I’d totally binge watch this thing if I could too. I cannot disagree more with Balasarius on Suzanne Cryer’s character. I think she is spot on in the role and I love the way she takes in the reactions to her actions as if she were Starman trying to figure out human behavior.
I had no idea what happened to Evan Welch. That absolutely sucks.
-xtien
“I specifically posted a note on the refrigerator that the more narrow spoons are to be reserved for the eating of Fage Yogurt…by me.”
Yeah, just horrible. What a tragedy, he was so good on the show too.
The deer robot and Richard’s jailed lawyer both cracked me up.
Good start, though I’m a bit surprised by Richard’s reaction about “simply” being CTO. Didn’t Ulrich get involved because Richard is good at being a CTO, bad at CEO?
Anyway, re: Suzanne Cryer, I don’t like her character, simply because I know that it’s an identical character to Evan Welch’s that they had to shoe-horn in when he died mid-series, and therefore I feel like she’s “copying” his “style” that he made up for the character, if that makes sense?
I don’t mind the Cryer character. I feel like she’s different enough from Welch’s to be acceptable. Having worked with a lot of really smart financial people over the years, I’ve seen both characters in real life. Welch’s character came off as an eccentric genius who was never intentionally mean to anyone, but simply so absorbed in his inner thoughts on investments and systems that it was like a form of financial Asperger’s. Cryer’s character in contrast is more focused and far more interactive with the people around her, she’s just completely socially inept and awkward. It’s funny in a different way. I do miss Welch though, the guy was a talented actor and really owned the part. Very sad to have lost him too soon.
I’m so glad this show is back. My son and I love watching it together. He’s very interested in a career in finance of some sort, and while the show does exaggerate a lot of the process for comedic effect, it’s still grounded in the reality of startups, finance and running a business, so it’s great for him to see how the process works while laughing and getting an education on how NOT to do things. =) We especially enjoyed the Hooli parts of the episode, like the boardroom scene “you mean 1 in 5 people in this company are completely useless” followed by the 5th guy at the end saying “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”. LOL. (Then in the next boardroom scene he was gone, there were only 4 board members). Big Head netting $20 million in severance for spending a year sitting on the roof with the other vesting guys was classic!
I liked how they played Action Jack, how he convinced Richard to see the wisdom of the situation. I also liked that for a change Erlich actually did the smart thing, seeing the value in Jack and trying to convince Richard to talk to him. It was another small way in which under all the ridiculousness this show actually hits remarkably close to home, sometimes it’s best to bring in someone skilled in running a business as a business so that the guys with the ideas and the talent can focus on the products or the process. I look forward to Pied Piper’s journey to become Hooli this season. (Speaking of which, it seemed really dumb for Hooli to let it’s entire compression engineering team go right when Pied Piper is going to be looking to hire dozens of people to ramp up quickly, it’s like they just handed the competition a win…)
All these posts and no kudos for Tobolowsky? For shame.
Also, Bighead continues to be a really fun plot line, as does the Hooli office politics.
I liked the 1 in 5 employees can be fired with no recourse or compensation discussion with 5 lawyers, and then the discussion later on there are 4 lawyers present.
I don’t mind the Cryer character. I feel like she’s different enough from Welch’s to be acceptable. Having worked with a lot of really smart financial people over the years, I’ve seen both characters in real life. Welch’s character came off as an eccentric genius who was never intentionally mean to anyone, but simply so absorbed in his inner thoughts on investments and systems that it was like a form of financial Asperger’s
It was meant to be actual Asperger’s, no?
Could be, I don’t recall them ever specifically referring to it as such, but the intent is certainly there.
I love that you brought this up. I forgot to mention him. I love that guy so much. He has done many things I really like, but this is my favorite. I’ve been watching outtake videos from that show and the other actors cannot keep it together during this scene because he’s so freaking funny.
-xtien
“You should have been born in August.”
Dry and logical and emotionless; her attempt at a smile after offering Richard the CTO position is brilliant. The corners of her mouth sort of struggle to turn upwards, twitch several times, then fall back into a half grimace. Her expression is totally hilarious. I love that she comes across as unlikable, it adds a lot to the character; besides, she’s an antagonist anyway, there’s no real need for her to be.
Also, Tobolowsky is awesome! The whole Aviato exchange was just as great on second viewing.