Here we are this week after Richard throws the smackdown on creepy Ariel at Eklow. Laurie has stepped in as CEO there to control the damage, and Richard believes he can help her, but not really thinking about the possible ramifications of that maneuver. Gavin goes to China to push development on his box, only to find so much more. And as usual, Dinesh and Guilfoyle are up to their annoying-each-other antics.
When Richard sees that Laurie is struggling at Eklow, he graciously supplies her with computing power on their network. He’s hoping in return that she’ll sign off on his series B funding. However, Richard soon finds out that Laurie sold off the computing shares. Seems like a dick move at first, but from a business standpoint, Laurie is trying to liquidate and handle this company. Considering they don’t have funds to even pay their employees, she needs money. Selling those shares brings her money. It’s not personal, it’s business. Well, to Laurie it is business. To Richard, it’s personal. But in the end, she does come through with the series B, but based on the hints for next week, Richard may be in some hot water over Laurie’s move.
Richard is certainly getting better at being business savvy, but he still needs to be less personal. It’s great working with all your friends and working on something you’re passionate about, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes business has to be ruthless. Big companies certainly are, so little companies kind of have to adjust to that sometimes if they want to keep going. And so far, particularly with how he treated Slice Line and whatever that other company was, he threw down the gauntlet. Perhaps because Laurie is a little bit of a more positive relationship or he’s closer to her that he feels the need to do this nice gesture. But you gotta hedge your bets, Richie.
Meanwhile, Gavin goes to China to push his box production. Still can’t get over that logo. However, changes to labor standards aren’t very pleasing to Gavin. Well, sorry people deserve to be treated like human beings, Gavin. A chance encounter leads him to find Jian Yang who is working on his Pied Piper knockoff. Gavin happens to realize Jian Yang has worked his way around Richard’s patent, which he knows because he literally wrote it. As Gavin rushes to get Jian Yang 
to sell all of his stuff to him, he asks for help from his Chinese business acquaintance. Bad move Gavin. You got scooped. Perhaps you should have closed up shop and started an ice cream company. Frankly sounds far more fun anyway.
And of course, over at Pied Piper, Dinesh and Guilfoyle are up to their usual competition when their code gets analyzed. Supposedly private information as to who does better, one of the workers tells Dinesh it was him, leading to a series of insults. Guilfoyle makes it a competition with the other workers. But as he reveals in his victory, the workers reveal they had their own competition based on him. And I think that brings up a great point about this dynamic. Everyone is pretty much sick of the two of them acting like asshats to each other all the time. And while it provides humorous moments, they are adult men acting like utter children. ALL THE TIME. Get over it. Get over yourselves. Move on and just do your damn jobs. No one cares that you hate each other. Just leave it to yourselves.
Russ Hanneman is back. Oh dear god. So as I mentioned, Richard is clearly in hot water over his computing network shares. Over a million over his head actually. Russ pops back in and is sure to be the tornadic destructive power that we know him to be. Can’t wait to see how his visit back on the show plays out!
