Being kicked out of your own company has happened to some of the industry’s most celebrated figures: Steve Jobs at Apple, Elon Musk at PayPal, Jack Dorsey at Twitter (and Evan Williams at Twitter… and Dick Costolo at Twitter). It’s an interesting new wrinkle, mostly because it’s an age-old story. Should he quit out of principle and work on holographic mustaches, or eat his pride and accept the offer to become Pied Piper’s chief technology officer? Making the decision harder is Reviga’s pick for CEO, the experienced and disarmingly polite 'Action' Jack Barker, who charms Richard out of hating him.

The season opener picks up right where the finale left off, and Richard spends the episode soul searching. Of course, the easiest and ripest theme in that vein is as old as the show’s namesake: the plight of the CEO.Īs season two wrapped, Richard discovered the head of venture capital firm Reviga had orchestrated his removal as chief exec of Pied Piper, his promising but mismanaged compression startup. So in search of new territory, creator Mike Judge is using his cozier relationship with the Bay Area to craft a narrative that draws upon infamous tech industry lore. But it also means the show is shifting its focus, inevitably moving the plot past its David versus Goliath beginning. It still serves as a great antidote for the Kool-Aid-drinking startup crowd in desperate need of some self-awareness.

'Silicon Valley' is embracing the tech industry's absurdity more than ever before

Now, Silicon Valley the series isn’t so much making fun of the real Silicon Valley as it is basking in how fictional (and laughable) the reality can look to outsiders. It’s a perfect encapsulation of the show’s humor - virtual facial hair is funny, sure but it's even funnier because someone out there is likely working on it right this very minute (and they probably work for Snapchat.)Īs the not-so-unrealistic show enters its third season, it’s embracing the tech industry’s absurdity more so than ever before. The recruiters from the tech startup - which is called Flutterbeam - want him for a secret project focused on 3D-holographic facial hair you can don during live-video chats. In the season three premiere of HBO’s Silicon Valley, former Pied Piper CEO Richard Hendricks finds himself courted by a mustache app.

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