“Fiduciary Duties” went a long way towards explaining one of Silicon Valley‘s best characters – and one of its biggest mysteries. That would be Erlich Bachman, who made so much money selling Aviato that he can afford to turn his house into a Hacker Hostel where programmers live rent-free. TJ Miller is great in the role, but the last few episodes haven’t shown us what it is that makes Erlich so valuable to Pied Piper. “Fiduciary Duties” attempts to fix that.
The episode opens with a toga party thrown by a hilariously awkward Peter Gregory (he finishes his toast thusly: “There is a second bar in back where the line is much smaller. Thank you, I’m finished”). Richard gets hammered, and as one will do in such a state, wakes up the next day having made a bad decision. In this case, it’s drunkenly naming Erlich to Pied Piper’s board of directors, which as Dinesh rightly points out, puts Erlich and Peter in a position where they could potentially vote Richard out of his own company.
Of course, all this immediately goes to Erlich’s head, as he starts wearing Steve Jobs-style turtlenecks and proclaiming that he’s “iconoclasting,” which I’m going to start saying too. Richard, visibly uncomfortable, rescinds his offer right as they’re taking a company photo, leading to the great sight gag of Erlich, mouth agape, quickly switching to a smile for the photo.
One thing Silicon Valley did completely right with Richard’s character is make him so awkward and unsure. He doesn’t possess the charisma of Steve Jobs, or the single-mindedness of Mark Zuckerberg, so he needs to surround himself with people who do. And that’s what Erlich has: charisma. He meets with Richard, who is mid-panic attack, right before a “big picture” meeting with Peter Gregory. They go in together, and Erlich just absolutely kills it. He even coaxes a laugh out of the only man more awkward than Richard Hendrix. Boom, back on the board.
“Fiduciary Duties” accomplished a lot in a short time, namely showing Pied Piper’s growing pains, and demonstrating Erlich’s value to both the company and the show.
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