Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.

Remembering Jian-Yang versus Erlich Bachman, a feud for the ages

This Sunday marks the conclusion of T.J. Miller’s star-making turn as Erlich Bachman on Silicon Valley, a departure that he says will make perfect sense when we see it but will still leave a huge gap in the show’s finely tuned sense of comedic interplay. Few relationships show the importance of Bachman’s self-important entrepreneur than his ongoing feud with Jimmy O. Yang’s Jian-Yang, the peripheral character who comes to occupy a much larger role in this most recent thanks in part to his Seefood app. As it grows more successful, his attempts to infuriate Bachman grow bolder, moving from simple prank calls to lavish wastes of money. Here they all are, courtesy of Super Deluxe, in glorious succession:

Advertisement

Maybe Bachman’s not leaving to find enlightenment, as the show posits, he’s just fleeing his tormentor Jian-Yang? It’d be hard to show your face in the same country as someone who had dropped so many brutal “your mom” jokes.