Silicon Valley Season 4 Episode 5: The Blood Boy Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: Cracks in Richard’s latest partnership become more apparent when he’s forced to deal with an unexpected interloper. As things get more serious, Dinesh scrambles to find a way out of his new relationship. After learning of surprising developments afoot at Raviga, Monica has trouble deciding which horse to back. (HBO)

Writer: Adam Countee

Director: Tim Roche

Rating: TV-MA

Running Time: 29mins

Even though Belson is part of the team, they were not exactly equals. He had the money, the brains, and the celebrity. This episode introduced a new wrinkle into their dynamic with Belson’s blood boy Bryce (Graham Rogers). His purpose was so Belson can receive transfusions of his younger, healthier blood but he managed to cause a stir, especially with Jared who lashed out, when he convinced Belson to go against Richard’s plan of a stealth rollout for their app.

Richard and Bryce had a mini-rivalry throughout the episode with Bryce seeming like a misunderstood “dumb jock”. He then got the upper hand when he learned that the place where Bryce got his organic food was actually a weed dispensary which would go against Belson’s wishes.

Monica has been having quite the rough time as of late at Raviga, loosing favor with Laurie and losing the spotlight to Ed Chen. Chen and the other associated threw a baby shower for Laurie but Erlich convinced Monica that they were simply plotting to oust Laurie. He told her that he should join in while she still had the chance but she eventually learned that she may have joined the wrong side but Laurie sensed it coming as she had experienced this with her surprisingly three previous children. Laurie appreciated Monica’s loyalty for bringing this to her so she wanted Monica to come with her as she jumped ship from Raviga.

Mia was still around and was impressed of Dinesh by what he did to Belson but she didn’t know the truth. He’d been meaning to tell her, however, he was scared of her. She was obsessed with him and he was getting uncomfortable with it. He wanted to break up with her before her sister’s wedding that was coming up since that would take their relationship to their next level. He eventually told her the truth but she already knew from hacking him and wanted to wait until he trusted her enough to tell her. This was the wrong decision. Fortunately for Dinesh, he sent an anonymous tip to the FBI to get Mia arrested during her sister’s wedding.

Learning the truth about Bryce, Belson felt down and started to take a look at himself and later decided that he was done. Richard needed Belson so he made the call to all the tech outlets and announced their public rollout instead. With Dinesh free from Mia, he decided to join the rest of the guys. Belson read the article on Richard’s announcement and it meant a lot to him but he told Richard that he was leaving but before he left, he signed over his patent to him and sent them a photo of himself with Richard’s formula from a few episodes ago.

Overall, this was another great episode with plenty of hilarious moments with Richard and Bryce, Laurie, Jared, and Dinesh. I’m not sure how I feel about Belson being gone after Matt Ross’ excellent performance here but if he really is, I don’t think it will be for long.

Score: 9/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.