Silicon Valley Season 3 Episode Guide
3.01 "Founder Friendly" - Review!
3.02 "Two in the Box" - Review!
3.03 "Meinertzhagen's Haversack" - Review!
3.04 "Maleant Data Systems Solutions" - Review!
3.05 "The Empty Chair" - Review!
3.06 "Bachmanity Insanity" - Review!
3.07 "To Build a Better Beta" - Review!
3.08 "Bachman's Earning's Over-Ride" - Review!
3.09 "Daily Active Users" - Review!
3.10 "The Uptick" (Airs 26 June 2016)
Silicon Valley 3.09 "Daily Active Users" - Review:
Directed by Alec Berg & Written by Clay Tarver
We open the episode with a cocktail party that Laurie is hosting to celebrate the five hundred thousandth download of Pied Piper's platform but not all is as it seems in paradise, because Richard pulls Monica aside to reveal to her that whilst their downloads are high their number of people who are actually using it daily is very low, which is something that currently both only him and Jared know. Their success was only based on the fact that they showed it to people who actually knew how to use it, and now as a result of being exposed to a wider audience, things are starting to get a bit more complicated.
In order to make it more accesiable to users then Richard comes up with a plan to bring forward a series of seminars designed to help users better understand their product but this backfires when they are deemed too complicated as well. This means that all of the newly employed Pied Piper quit, and to make matters worse their customer service rep Douglas has headed to an interview at Hooli, where Gavin is able to interview him personally and as a result learn about the low number of daily active users. It was only a matter of time before everything came crashing down around Team Pied Piper, and now they have to scramble to deal with the fallout.
Hooli seems to be getting ever stronger as well, because not only is former CEO Jack Barker Endframe's New Director, they've also come up with a box that's pretty much exactly like Jack's original intentions for Pied Piper. This apparent success spells doom for Pied Piper and is enough for Gavin to get his position as CEO back, but Richard looks likely to dissolve the company for good, as he tells Jared that he'll do the following morning.
Jared has to come up with a backup plan fast, and goes behind the back of everyone at Pied Piper to come up with an idea to pay for a click farm in Bangladesh, which would provide the company with the daily active users that it needs to be successful. Surely such a move is only going to backfire on them in the future right? But it seems to be enough for now.
This was probably the best episode of the season so far and as a result one of the strongest episodes of the series to date, with this show joining Veep and Game of Thrones in upping their game for the ninth episode of their respective seasons, which have all been the best for their respective shows. Maybe it's a HBO thing?
I loved how the twists continued to come through with the reactions from having no negative feedback about Pied Piper's product before its launch coming back to haunt them, proving that actions do have consequences. Here it's a case of Pied Piper essentially being too clever for its own good and as a result they're left with relying on Jared's click farm, which will again lead to long term consequences.
Now I really can't wait to see how this show wraps up its third season which has been on excellent form so far, and it's pretty disappointing to see that there is only one half-hour of this season left. I'd love to see what you thought of the episode as well in the comments section below, and remember to check out the season finale on Sunday at 10pm on HBO.
Overall Episode Verdict: A
Positives:
+Unpredictable storyline.
+Actions have consequences.
+Hooli becoming more competitive.
+Jared's backup plan.
