That end is made all the more fulfilling given how much of the episode was spent tracking a familiar path. The entire season is in the can before it airs, meaning any questions as to the show’s future not answered before filming concludes puts the writers in the position of having to provide some semblance of total closure, but not so much closure that the show can’t return.‘Fifty-One Percent’, then, delivers on both accounts, seeing Pied Piper snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, and in the process all but vanquish the increasingly antiquated monolithic empire and that is Hooli (or was, thanks to Jeff Bezos’ buyout), and the handing Richard's nemesis, Gavin Belson (Matt Ross), his biggest loss to date.
Some of that is, of course, due to how HBO’s series are made. The closing moments of the season feel distinctly different they’re unequivocally a win for Pied Piper and Richard, but there’s also a definitive quality to them that would have made ‘Fifty-One Percent’ a totally satisfying series finale as well. Whether or not that end will come with season 6 is not yet known but the season 5 finale, ‘Fifty-One Percent,’ is the show’s best attempt since the end of season 1 to throw a change-up.
More: Every Network TV Show Cancellation & Renewal Of 2018 (So Far)īut Silicon Valley is getting on in years, and despite recently being renewed for a sixth season, the series will have to break the loop its been in to bring the series to a satisfying close.
actually being funny, at a certain point, the evaluation of show’s cyclical nature eventually runs into the idea that, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So, given the show’s continued success when it comes to fulfilling its duties of, you know.
Mostly, though, Silicon Valley has concerned itself with the socially awkward bumblings of often-embattled Pied Piper CEO Richard Hendricks, who this season alone managed to vomit in front of a room full of new coders and also panic walk through a plate glass window, landing himself in the hospital as way of ensuring we all get our recommended allowance of Andy Daly as the show's resident doctor with the difficult bedside manner. Silicon Valley is always finding new ways to for Dinesh to humiliate himself in his ongoing (mostly) friendly rivalry with Gilfoyle, or in discovering new aspects of Jared’s seemingly tortured past, as delivered with shocking lack of formality by series MVP Woods.
In spite of the prescriptive ups and downs of a season, the series reliably delivers where it matters most: making people laugh. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory had become the series’ unofficial method of operation, meaning, despite making meager gains over the course of a seasons’ storyline, there would typically be at least one hitch in the plan that would inevitably end with the sensation that Richard (Thomas Middleditch), Jared (Zach Woods), Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) were collectively sliding backwards, thus giving them something to work toward - or to correct - in the following season.Īs criticisms go, the rinse and repeat method isn’t exactly a great crime against semi-serialized haf-hour television. That is to say, you could reliably time the rise and fall of Pied Piper by how many episodes were left in the season. Over the years, HBO’s Silicon Valley has received some criticism regarding the cyclical nature of its season-long arcs.