On tonight’s finale of HBO comedy Silicon Valley’s fourth season, the riotous work of Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendricks really shines.
Richard is at his absolute emotional limits with his employees peeling away from him.
This episode is the last time we see T.J. Miller’s work on the series as well.
On the episode, Server Error, we see Richard — who has gone from unassuming genius programmer to hair-on-fire wanna-be entrepreneur and Silicon Valley VC darling — unraveled.
Middleditch’s excellent work this season has also been prominent in prior episodes The Blood Boy and The Patent Troll, which should also earn some award recognition for security engineer and architect Bertram Gilfoyle (Martin Starr).
The entire ensemble cast is one of the tightest and best in all of television.
The finale finds Richard trying to navigate the antipathy of his employees, with his erratic behavior executed perfectly by Middleditch through the excellent physical comedy he infuses into his put-upon Pied Piper chieftain.
Will his beloved company survive Jack Barker’s (Stephen Tobolowsky) sterile suit Hooli machinations?
Sadly this is also the final appearance of T.J. Miller, whose bombastic one-liner machine Erlich has been such a strong comedic character over the last four seasons but is being shunted quietly off the series.
We find him on a one-way ticket to a monastery in Asia to confer with self-exiled Gavin Belson (Matt Ross).
Silicon Valley Season 4 wraps tonight, Sunday, at 10pm ET on HBO.