'Silicon Valley' Season 6 Episode 3 sees PiedPiper renounce morals to save itself from Reyes and buy Hooli
This article contains spoilers
Backstabbers and cutthroats — that’s what the tech industry is made up of and that’s what episode 3 of season 6 of ‘Silicon Valley’ is all about. In ‘Hooli Smokes’, PiedPiper is already in trouble.
After Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) refused a billion dollars (in return for a 10% holding) from Maximo Reyes (Arturo Castro), he had to explain the situation to Bertram Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) and Dinesh Chughtai (Kumail Nanjiani), neither of whom were happy about the move, no matter how idealistic the cause behind it.
Things only got worse when Reyes called to inform Richard not only had Colin (Neal Casey) left PiedPier to join Reyes, the Chilean businessman had also managed to buy 30 percent of the company’s shares. Without Colin and his game ‘Gates of Galloo’, PiedPiper had only one way to keep the cashflow up — selling shares; shares Reyes would buy immediately, gaining more and more control.
All seemed lost when Richard ran into Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) at a park. Both entrepreneurs sat defeated — one by Reyes and the other by the government (Hooli was unable to shift to a different country for cost-cutting because of security reasons).
It was while they were wallowing in sadness when Richard was struck by an ingenious idea: PiedPiper could buy Hooli’s app “Foxhole”, a dating app for men in the military. The purchase would not allow Reyes to acquire more of PiedPiper (in fact, he would have to sell his holdings) and it would free Hooli from the grasp of the government.
Belson, true to his nature, said: “f*ck no”. His rationalization was that he could not help a competitor, no matter how big a gain that would lead to. It went against his whole ethos. He, instead, decided to buy Gwart’s product — the one being mentored by Jared Dunn (Zach Woods).
In the previous episode, we saw Jared and Richard reaching the end of their years-long friendship. But Belson’s move might change that. When Belson acquired Gwart’s product, he accidentally let slip how much Hooli was worth.
It was Monica, with Jared’s input, who then suggested PiedPiper buy Hooli, a company no longer worth a fortune post Amazon’s takeover of its major parts. Dinesh then conned his now-millionaire cousin into partnering up with PiedPiper so they could finance Hooli’s purchase.
The catch, of course, was when PiedPiper acquired Hooli, Reyes would have to forego his 30 percent in PiedPiper, which would lead to a significant reduction in the share prices of the company. But, Dinesh, of course, is beyond having a conscience.
With much planning and a lot of difficulties — which involved making sure Belson was away while the deal took place, PiedPiper managed to get the company's board to be taken over by PiedPiper. Even Belson arriving at the last moment did not change things — his financiers were sick of him.
In the end, PiedPiper managed to save itself, but at what cost. They lost a billion dollars; Dinesh’s cousin would lose millions; a lot of Hooli staff may lose their jobs. But they lived to fight another day in a city of backstabbers and cutthroats.
New episodes of ‘Silicon Valley’ premiere Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO.
