Silicon Valley Season 5 Episode 5: Facial Recognition Review

Keith NoakesApril 22, 2018n/a6 min

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

Synopsis: Overshadowed by Jared in an on-camera interview, Richard’s confidence wavers further when Laurie and Monica force him to work with Eklow, a new artificial-intelligence company. Gilfoyle worries about the prospect of introducing AI into Pied Piper. Dinesh makes Jared self-conscious ahead of a second interview. Gavin questions his future beyond Hooli. (HBO)

Writer: Graham Wagner

Director: Gillian Robespierre

Rating: TV-MA

Running Time: 30mins

Airs: Sundays at 10pm on HBO Canada (Canada)/HBO (United States)

Now we’re back on track as this episode dealt with jealousy and AI.

The episode started with Richard and Jared preparing for an interview. Richard was nervous about it but he did great while Jared did not or so it seemed. Jared had to cancel a speaking engagement in order to be there. Bream Hall gave Richard a call about an AI company that they forced him to work with named Eklow Labs. Gilfoyle had some concerns about AI and robots being part of their network.

Once Richard and Jared’s earlier interview aired, Richard was completely cut out while Jared’s seemingly bad answer was actually just the beginning of a greater answer. Suffice it to say that Richard was jealous of Jared for being overlooked. Meanwhile, Gavin saw the interview but seemed unaffected by it and then started to question what to do next.

Richard then visited Eklow Labs and met their creepy CEO and his even creepier AI robot named Fiona. Obviously Richard was uncomfortable with Fiona for whom the CEO had some impure thoughts about. He and Fiona had an awkward conversation where she got him to open up and he got her to reconsider her relationship.

Jared was worried about his appearance with the media taking a shining to him. While Jared was set to shoot a web series, Richard took his place at his speaking engagement. Unfortunately, the shoot wasn’t going to happen thanks to Jared’s comically large lips.  Also, the PiperNet was hit with a DOS attack from inside their network. Meanwhile, and Hoover approached Denpak about helping him with Gavin who seemed to help put Gavin back on track.

Richard figured out that the Eklow Labs CEO was responsible for the DOS attack and confronted him during a meeting with all the developers. He just wanted Fiona all to himself. Gavin finally made his box 3 presentation while Denpak noticed that his signature looked like a penis.

Overall, this was a great episode that put the season back on track by focusing on Richard’s insecurities with his jealousy of Jared while giving him a new adversary. Gilfoyle’s paranoia of AI was funny and so were Jared’s lips. The highlight of the episode has to be the scene between Richard and Fiona and Richard’s body language in trying to avoid her. This has been a fun season so far and it will be exciting to see where it goes next as the path is not yet clear.

Score: 9/10

If you liked this, please read my other reviews here and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, follow me on Instagram, and also like me on Facebook.

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