[yasr_overall_rating]
Change is afoot for Richard Hendricks and the rest of the Pied Piper gang as they bring in new staff, new digs, and new anxieties, while precariously teetering on the brink of success.
The men of Pied Piper are finally ready to get down to business now that they have the funding they need. If only the lead Piper could keep from tripping over his own feet as he attempts to take control. Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), CEO of Pied Piper and the brain behind the “new internet,” can’t seem to help but flounder repeatedly in a leadership position. His nervous disposition and flighty constitution will make the viewer itch with agitation. But luckily for him he has been surrounded by sound guides such as Monica Hall (Amanda Crew) and Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer), his ever-loyal friends Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) and Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), and Donald “Jared” Dunn (Zach Woods), whose innate talent as a business guru is the strange moral glue that holds everything together.
Pied Piper faces new challenges in lieu of their former funding struggles. The first of which is finding a workspace and to fill it with a strong crop of coders. It is a struggle helmed by their primordial foe: Gavin Belson (Matt Ross), the self-interested and morally ambivalent CEO and founder of Hooli. He is a man hell-bent on destroying Pied Piper. And in previous seasons it would have seemed that he’d be easily victorious. But the team of Pied Piper have proven themselves to be stouter than expected and are proof that the good guys can win, leaving Gavin Belson to stew in his slew of vindictive choices and be faced with the challenge of successfully bringing to market antiquated technology. As one could expect, he is an ever-present roadblock throughout the season.
But there are other thorns to be dealt with, such as Erlich Bachman’s (T.J. Miller), another incubator guest, Jian Yang (Jimmy O. Yang), who has taken it upon himself to unceremoniously evict the guys of Pied Piper given the absence of Erlich. While T.J. Miller added a sloppy comical arrogance to the series, Jimmy O. Yang takes it to a gangster level. Any doubts concerning the absence of Miller quickly dissipate, as it becomes obvious the series is just as smooth (if not smoother) without him. Yang is unabashedly devious and breathes new life into the series.
Other than Gavin Belson and Jian Yang, Richard Hendricks is the biggest hindrance to Pied Piper, by not knowing when to step up to the plate and make friends and not knowing when to curtail his newfound cutthroat attitude. He has a perpetual foot in his mouth. But by the very end of the season, he navigates a way to bring victory to Pied Piper in the most glorious way, so withstanding his prickling demeanor is worth it.
As with the previous seasons, Season 5 keeps the roll-with-the-punches style and is never boring. Jian Yang is elevated to wizard level with his antics, Gilfoyle and Dinesh continue their usual bantering, and Richard finally finds his backbone and is perfectly vicious. In between the main meat of the season, there’s an odd run-in with an AI company and their creation, an unexpected break within the Bream-Hall VC company, and Jared creates poetic and genius metaphors for the aim of the company, all the while eviscerating the soul of Richard’s new assistant. And for the first time, the series ends on a high note, nary a dark cloud in sight. Season 5 is easily the best season of the series so far.
Available On Digital Download June 11th
