7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Partially inspired by Mike Judge's own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late 1980s, this comedy follows the lives of five software developers who try to develop a new software platform that will change the world, while living together in Silicon Valley.
Starring: Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach WoodsComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
There comes a time in virtually every parent’s life when he or she is suddenly gobsmacked to hear themselves channeling either their own
parents or perhaps even their grandparents as they inform their children of the changes that have occurred over the course of their lifetimes.
Like most kids, I used to roll my eyes when my folks or (especially) my grandmother would regale with me stories of ancient history like the
lack of indoor
plumbing or the advent of automatic transmissions. Who cares, right? It’s what’s happening now that matters! Well, lo and behold,
maybe it is, but at least for those of us who grew up in an era that predated the rise of the personal computer, internet and other high tech
accoutrements of modern life, there's still a sense of wonder that things have changed so much in a relatively short amount of time. I still
have regular bantering sessions (i.e., I begin channeling my parents) with both of my sons, neither of whom could get to any given
destination
without the aid of Google Maps, or whose answer to any “how do I [fill in the blank]?” query is to (of course) look up relevant information on
the
internet. It’s a strange new world, at least for us older curmudgeons who look around at the unbelievable wizardry that our kids have been
raised with, all of which either makes them the most advanced generation the planet has ever seen, or maybe (just maybe) the most
dependent on questionable technology. That technology has at least afforded Gen-Xers and Millennials the ability to reap some significant
rewards (my
own college aged coding son has already raked in significant moolah working as a paid intern at one of the nation’s most successful
app
developers), an aspect that informs Silicon Valley’s often slyly cheeky humor. While certain elements of the series may strike some
viewers—particularly curmudgeonly elders—as “inside baseball”, there’s an affable hangdog quality to many of the characters populating Mike
Judge’s creation that may help to overcome resistance from those who frankly pine for the days of the manual typewriter, or at worst (best?)
MS-DOS and/or Wang word processors.
(For those wanting to catch up on the wonky shenanigans of the story thus far, my colleague Ken Brown's assessment of the show's first
year can be found in his Silicon Valley: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review.)
Silicon Valley: The Complete Second Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. I'm not quite as enamored of the look of this series as Ken was with regard to the first season, which is not to suggest that there's anything wrong with this year's presentation. The imagery here is consistently sharp and well defined, with fine detail on textures like the series of sweaters that Richard wears typically very well resolved. As Ken mentioned in his review of the first season, there are once again occasional issues with murk if not outright crush in a number of dimly lit or dark scenes, but there are no outright artifacts marring the imagery. This is a series which "delights" in the very ordinary (despite the extraordinary talents of the programmers), and that tends to keep the visuals here decidedly on the mundane side of things a lot of the time. The high definition presentation is excellent, but it's simply not the sort of material that most viewers are going to utilize to impress their friends with a "wow" viewing experience.
Again, as with the video assessment, I'm perhaps a bit more reserved in my appreciation of Silicon Valley's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix than Ken was with regard to the first season. While there's decent immersion here, especially when there are noisy environments where directionality come into play, for the most part long swaths of this series play out in relatively tamer dialogue scenes where only incremental uses of things like ambient environmental sounds engage the side and rear channels. Fidelity is top notch and there are no problems of any kind to report on this enjoyable track.
Disc One
- Episode 1 "Sand Hill Shuffle" with Thomas Middleditch (Richard), Amanda Crew (Monica), Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh), Martin Starr (Gilfoyle) and Mike Judge (Creator/Executive Producer/Director)
- Episode 2 "Runaway Devaluation" with Thomas Middleditch (Richard), Suzanne Cryer (Laurie), Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh), T.J. Miller (Erlich) and Mike Judge (Creator/Executive Producer/Director)
- Episode 3 "Bad Money" with Thomas Middleditch (Richard), Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ), Zach Woods (Jared) and Alec Berg (Executive Producer/Director/Writer)
- Episode 8 "White Hat/Black Hat" with Thomas Middleditch (Richard), Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ), Zach Woods (Jared), Amanda Crew (Monica), Jimmy Yang (Jian-Yang) and Alec Berg (Executive Producer/Director/)
- Episode 9 "Binding Arbitration" with Matt McCoy (Pete), T.J. Miller (Erlich), Josh Brener (Big Head) and Mike Judge (Creator/Executive Producer/Director)
- Episode 10 "Two Days of the Condor" with Thomas Middleditch (Richard), Matt McCoy (Pete), Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh), Martin Starr (Gilfoyle) and Alec Berg (Executive Producer/Director/Writer)
There's an undeniable lovability to at least some of the Pied Piper team, something that helps the series traverse maybe one (or more) too many manufactured crises this season. Performances continue to be spot on, and the writing is often impeccably smart, if also a bit high-falutin' for those "elders" who look with consternation at their iPhones, wondering how to answer the damn thing. The series has an incredible following amongst up and coming young programmers (at least as evidenced by reports from both of my computer savvy sons), and that popularity will probably ensure the continuing adventures of Richard and his cohorts for several years to come. Technical merits are strong, several of the commentaries are quite enjoyable, and Silicon Valley: The Complete Second Season comes Recommended.
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Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
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