Can Silicon Valley survive without Erhlich Bachman?

I already miss Bachmanity

Farewell, Ehrlich Bachman
(Image credit: John P. Johnson/HBO)

What will happen to Silicon Valley without Erhlich Bachman?

The HBO series ended its fourth season with a familiar reset that's by now become a pattern: Richard Hendricks emerges from a near-catastrophe flush with offers. He uses that narrow victory to declare war on Gavin Belson (who's just recovered from a catastrophe of his own). When these two prickly egomaniacs face off, Erhlich — long the greatest egomaniac on the show — becomes collateral damage. Richard asks whether Erhlich ever made it to Gavin's meditation retreat in Tibet. He did, but Gavin — who paid someone enough to keep Erhlich in an opium den for five years — says he didn't. Belson's petty revenge puts an end to T.J. Miller's tenure on the show. We don't even get a final shot of him.

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Lili Loofbourow

Lili Loofbourow is the culture critic at TheWeek.com. She's also a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Review of Books and an editor for Beyond Criticism, a Bloomsbury Academic series dedicated to formally experimental criticism. Her writing has appeared in a variety of venues including The Guardian, Salon, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Slate.