That becomes clear in the transition between two scenes relatively early in the episode. Richard finds himself procrastinating instead of writing the code he’s supposed to put together to support Dinesh’s (Kumail Nanjiani) Piper Chat, the latest application of Richard’s breakthrough from the show’s first season. “I think we should be doing a little bit more with this revolutionary compression algorithm than passable video chat,” he grumbles in the living room of the grubby group house where he lives and work.

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Meanwhile, Richard’s former employer, Hooli chief Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) is sitting on a private jet, toasting Jack Barker (Stephen Tobolowsky), who wanted to turn Richard’s insight into yet another rack-mountable server. “Here’s to you, Jack,” Gavin declares. “And to your Hooli Endframe Box becoming the most successful American data storage device to ever be engineered in China.”

“Silicon Valley” doesn’t have to say so explicitly, but the message is clear: Is that it? Is this what accomplishment looks like? Is the only thing we can find to celebrate something that needs to be pared down by three separate qualifiers to count as unique? If this is what the people who claim to be radically transforming our world are doing, are we all just doomed?

The series has always picked out an extremely careful path between suggesting that the tech industry’s tendency to hype itself is just complete and utter nonsense, and arguing that truly transformative ideas can, in fact, come out of the Valley. Part of what’s so funny and effective about “Success Failure” is which characters recognize that Richard might genuinely be on to something remarkable.

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Monica (Amanda Crew), the sharp analyst at the venture capital firm Raviga who has been demoted because of her faith in Richard, has become skittish with anxiety; she’s reached a point where she would just like Richard to develop a successful project. Russ Hanneman (Chris Diamantopoulos), the filthy-mouthed, self-absorbed tycoon who made his pile in Internet radio and still fancies himself a visionary even though everyone sees him as a joke, turns out to have the ludicrous self-confidence necessary to see the radically decentralized Internet that Richard dreams of as a plausible and exciting idea.* Jared (Zach Woods), who left Hooli because he saw the early potential in Richard’s algorithm, doesn’t quite understand what Richard is up to, but is hurt when Richard encourages him to go work for Piper Chat, rather than bringing Jared in on Richard’s new endeavor. And Gavin Belson, who has for three seasons harassed Richard out of envy and spite, is now caught up in a feud with Jack to the point that he’s flying his head of security back and forth to China over and over to prove an obscure point about flight times.

Episodes such as this are why “Silicon Valley,” which is so brilliantly particular in its critique of this particular set of industries, also has such universal power. As Richard settles in with his cup of coffee and his mostly-blank whiteboard, we’re seeing the loneliness of genius, and also the extent to which that loneliness is more accident than necessity. Adventurers wouldn’t need to strike out boldly from the pack if the pack had the sense to support them — and if they had the sense to accept the help and support for the people who see them as the revolutionaries that they truly are.