Spoiler warning: this piece discusses the entirety of Silicon Valley.
When I started watching Silicon Valley, I wasn’t sure how I would be able to relate to the characters ― an almost completely male cast about coders and business majors in Silicon Valley didn’t seem like it would be my thing. At first glance, the characters didn’t resonate with me, but I still found myself identifying with them, and rooting for them, even when they weren’t very likeable.
The show focuses on Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), a man in his mid-twenties working at a big company by the name of Hooli in Silicon Valley. On the side, he creates a piece of software ― named Pied Piper ― that incorporates a compression algorithm that is faster and more accurate than anything created before. Richard and his friends Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr), Erlich (T.J. Miller), and Jared (Zach Woods) are faced with constant obstacles as they try to create a functioning company in Silicon Valley, which is rife with competition and less-than-ideal business practices. I feel like Silicon Valley is similar to what would happen if The Social Network and The Office had a lovechild.
It’s entertaining and funny, of course, but that’s not why I latched onto it. It was interesting to see the main character, Richard, try to be a “good guy” but still achieve his goals. In one of the first few episodes, Erlich tells Richard that he “has to be an asshole” in order to succeed in Silicon Valley. Richard doesn’t want to. He just wants to share his program with the world, and make some money while doing it. As the show goes on, and the audience sees how Richard changes, the show’s exploration of morality becomes more complex.
I have a complicated relationship with Richard as a character. He can be hard to like at times, especially when it comes to how he treats other people. That makes his character feel more genuine, and more human. The way morality is explored, specifically through Richard, adds layers of complexity to the show. His entitlement makes sense (he is a cisgender, straight-passing white man in his twenties, for starters), but it is still endlessly frustrating to witness. Richard fits into the category of men who aren’t outright mean, or toxic, but who cause a lot of pain to the people around them (with or without realizing it). He sees himself as a nerd and a coder who can’t really talk to women, so what harm could he cause? But the show goes on to prove that he is, in fact, capable of causing a great deal of harm.
Richard’s character arc is different from a lot of character arcs on sitcoms. Sometimes these shows can give characters a rut that they are stuck in for a long period of time; which causes their arcs to stagnate. Richard’s arc is a circle of sorts, with his character and actions in season one being the most morally sound. As the show continues, Richard makes more and more questionable decisions in the name of Pied Piper. He becomes morally bankrupt in his struggle for success, which is also conveyed in how he treats his friends, especially Jared. Then, in the series finale, we see Richard choose the safety of the world over the success of Pied Piper.
In one of the first episodes, titled “The Cap Table,” Jared finds that Richard’s friend Big Head isn’t contributing anything new to the company that the other characters aren’t already. Basically, Big Head is expendable. All the characters, including Big Head himself, pressure Richard to let Big Head go. Throughout the entire episode, Richard doesn’t know what to do. But he finally puts his foot down to say Big Head is his friend and he is staying on. Big Head had already gotten a promotion at his current job by that point, but I still think this is interesting to point out due to Richard’s actions. He knows the smart, sensible thing to do would be to kick Big Head out of Pied Piper, but doing that doesn’t sit right with him. He knows it could bring the company down, could make them slower, but ultimately he doesn’t care. This is one of the first grand gestures we see from Richard; an illustration of his character and beliefs. Richard is established as a person who wants to succeed, but still cares about people. This, however, isn’t always the case.
In season two, Richard ends up making a deal with a sleazy investor named Russ Hanneman. Everyone at the company questions Richard’s actions, and makes it clear that they aren’t comfortable with this choice of investor. As the characters are arguing, Richard says, “Maybe what I want to be is a self-centered asshole.” In about a year, Richard had already changed a great deal as a character. Russ Hanneman is almost a prediction of Richard’s future: a billionaire who no one really likes, who was maybe a good person at one point, but now people can barely stand him. Richard is visibly uncomfortable around Russ, and often makes fun of him, but deep down he is terrified of becoming him. Sometimes, Richard’s lust for the prosperity of Pied Piper wins over his fear of becoming a person he hates. I think Richard is very easily blinded by his need for success, to the point where it almost alters his personality. He operates with blinders on, and can only see the end goal he wants to achieve, and doesn’t notice (or doesn’t care) that he is leaving a metaphorical path of destruction in his wake. Richard has this ideal that after he succeeds, he can go and fix any problems he caused and he can always beg for forgiveness. He eventually has to learn that even if he is truly sorry, that doesn’t change the fact that he hurt people. He can be very selfish, even if he doesn’t mean to be. The underlying parallels between Richard and Russ may not be readily apparent at first glance, but when they are analyzed it becomes clear that even though Richard doesn’t want to become selfish, he is. It’s almost as if he has to actively work on not being selfish as the show goes on. I admire Richard’s drive and persistence, but I get a bad taste in my mouth whenever he makes another questionable decision. I wanted to scream at the television, to tell Richard how close he is to becoming the next Russ Hanneman.
Season two shows a lot of internal conflict within Richard. A running theme with Richard is that if he is hurting someone who already hurt him or the company, or if his morally questionable schemes end in success, he believes his behavior is justified. Seasons two and three depict Richard working in a morally gray area; sometimes refusing to do immoral deeds, and sometimes giving in to the need for achievement. Richard’s moral compass becomes increasingly jittery as he faces more and more obstacles. As the audience views what Richard does, they are forced to confront what they would do in that situation. Richard’s blood, sweat, and tears are being put into this app, and he is put in an almost sympathetic light a lot of the time, but the show is candid about what his actions do to other people, cutting no corners when it comes to the ripple effects he causes.
Towards the end of season four, Richard is desperate, and needs 123,000 new users to have their app successfully take off. To do this, Richard decides to hack the Pied Piper code into the Hooli app people use to connect to the wifi at an upcoming event called Hoolicon. Jared speaks up about his discomfort with this idea, saying: “Richard, not that long ago, you agonized over using a stolen log-in to get into a bake-off with End-Frame, a company that stole from us. But now, you’re, what, shrugging off large scale cyber-crimes against innocent civilians?…I cannot knowingly contribute to your moral decay.” This comment illustrates that the people who interact with Richard every day are seeing his lust for success change who is as a person. This also makes it apparent that the writers of the show are not trying to make Richard likeable. He’s being purposefully written as someone who is losing his values. Jared and Richard have a complicated relationship, often skirting on homoerotic. Jared is absolutely enamored with Richard, but even he points out that Richard is being a bad person. At the convention, Richard hacks into his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend’s computer and changes his screensaver name from “PeaceFare” to “PoopFare,” which prompts the whole venue to be searched. As a result, Richard’s plan is found out by the committee at Hoolicon. Richard then lies about being responsible to Gilfoyle and Dinesh.
When Jared finds out what Richard did, he blows up. He calls Richard a “reckless child.” Jared saying these words makes it more impactful, because of how devoted Jared is to him. Jared says multiple times in the series that he loves Richard, and wants him to succeed. With this scene, the person that loves Richard the most and knows him better than anyone else is pointing out his fatal flaw. Richard insists this is the last time he will do something like this. Later on, Pied Piper’s software causes 50 “Hooliphones” to explode, causing major injuries. Richard then says that he will not own up to it ― going back on his earlier promise. This is the last straw for Jared, and he quits the company. Richard pushes away the people who love him in favor of his company succeeding. This episode is hard to watch at times, especially when Richard has deluded himself into believing he is “the good guy.” The other characters notice that Richard can be entitled, immature and immoral, and point it out to him. This is an interesting characterization for every character, Richard included. At the highest point of Richard’s character arc; he is the farthest away from who he originally was.
By the end of the episode, Dinesh and Gilfoyle back out too; they refuse to participate in Richard’s actions. Richard develops a habit of steamrolling other characters ― and not out of love or kindness, such as Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation ― he does it for his own personal gain. Once Gilfoyle and Dinesh quit, however, Richard seems to have a wake up call. He goes to Jared’s condo, and apologizes. In seasons five and six, Richard doesn’t do anything awful, although he is still often in a morally gray area. This is Richard’s journey of realizing he became a person he doesn’t want to be, and finding himself again.
About halfway through the series, Richard realizes that he can use his compression algorithm to create a decentralized internet, which would make internet access available for everyone in the world. In the series finale, we learn that if this new internet (“PiperNet”) were to be released, it would eventually learn to crack every encryption thrown at it. This would mean everything from financial statements to nuclear launch codes would be public, thus a threat to global privacy and safety. They can’t prevent this from happening and still launch PiperNet, because it is a part of the way the code was written ― it was made to be as efficient as possible, which is why it is breaking encryptions. Richard then has to decide what he wants to do: sabotage Pied Piper’s success to potentially save the world, or release PiperNet anyway. Richard can’t imagine destroying Pied Piper; it’s his baby. He realizes he couldn’t live with himself if he released PiperNet knowing what may happen. The launch has to fail, because if they come clean about what they’ve created, other people will know it’s possible to create this network. The finale is filmed as a sort of documentary that shows the characters ten years down the line, discussing the failure of Pied Piper.
The audience learns just how greatly the failure of PiperNet affected the group, especially Richard. He couldn’t come clean about the real reason it failed, so it just looked like he dropped the ball. Richard’s whole life is thrown off course because of this. His reputation in Silicon Valley is spoiled forever. The Richard of the past definitely would have been bitter about this, but he isn’t anymore. He definitely does deserve success for his invention, but he thinks he is entitled to it, by any means necessary. At times, I almost feel bad for rooting for Richard. The audience gets a sense that he needs to be taken down a peg ― ultimately, there are more important things than the success of his company. In the thick of the plot, obviously, it is hard for Richard to realize this, but eventually he does.
Ten years into the future, when he talks about Pied Piper, he is quiet, but reverent. He is proud of himself, and his friends, and doesn’t need everyone to know how much of a “hero” he actually is. The sense of entitlement is gone in the finale. He puts the world’s safety ahead of his success. I think it is clear that Richard wouldn’t change what happened, and what he learned from the experience. He learns that it doesn’t matter if Pied Piper didn’t make him famous; loved by all. Richard’s happy. Ten years later, Richard is working as a professor of Ethics in Technology at Stanford. His values have changed drastically, and is now teaching young people in tech that becoming a “self-centered asshole” in the name of your invention isn’t what you want. In the last scene, a documentarian asks Richard, “you don’t feel bad that you never got to make the world a better place?” Richard smiles, and replies, “uh…I think we did okay.” This one line made me glad to have known Richard as a character. I felt privileged to have been able to watch him grow; lose himself and then find himself again, an even better person because of what he went through. Richard is proud of himself, not for creating Pied Piper, but for destroying it.
