The Heart Wants
This week, our Bay Buddies start back at the standoff on the streets of the Fillmore from the previous episode. As protesters block traffic trying to shame a local landlord for pushing out community businesses, a clash with commuters bubbles over. An incensed brolino in a Tesla gets out and pushes one of the female protesters away from his car, knocking her down to the ground. He’s quickly surrounded. Another group of protesters and neighbors try to calm things down but the confrontation only escalates. A scuffle breaks out with punches thrown and a lot of yelling about trying to protect the neighborhood from each other. It’s not clear who is who.
A young man throws a chair at a café window and cracks it as the protest devolves into a series of scrappy wrestling matches. Then the Tesla gets flipped upside down like the Giants just won the World Series. The cops are soon on the scene and the zip ties are out. While trying to play peace keeper, Carlo gets nabbed by the police and arrested among many others. It’s hard to fault their response as no one appeared in the right in midst of the melee.
Mathilde calls Jenya at home with bad news on top of worse news: a beat reporter in the neighborhood put up a story on Hoodline.com about the incident. While the story didn’t point fingers, it did underscore that the protest was organized with the Sherwood app and online chatter has already started. Uh oh. Hot takes incoming!
At an evening strategy session in the Sherwood office, Pascal, Jenya and Mathilde work on crafting the company’s response. Mathilde advocates not budging - no one ever said community organizing was going to be easy. Jenya clarifies they are not community organizers and warns Mathilde not to push her own agenda. Sherwood is an application that facilitates working on causes that matter and they’ve taken great strides to be impartial.
Mathilde bristles at the scolding and Pascal plays mediator. He points out that they have to thread the needle on their response as they could alienate their tenuous user base if they blame the protesters. Jenya maintains the corporate response must remain above the fray and that she is committed to working personally behind the scenes on damage control. First stop should be with the Policeman’s Benevolent Association, the city food pantry and some at risk outreach groups.
Duc brings them the cherry on top of the turd sundae with news that Carlo was arrested. Now the company can’t claim impartiality as one of their own was caught in the midst of the riot. More details emerge including damage to city and private property. A car was overturned and several neighborhood houses and business vandalized. The story is getting picked up on all the aggregator sites. Sherwood is officially news, no longer tucked away nicely in the glossy pages of Valley Swag or Bay Bytes. Mathilde implores Jenya to double down.
Mathilde: This is the perfect chance to show that we aren’t a faceless tech product used to shift capital. We actually have a mission with real social values.
Jenya: We can’t risk the entire company on an accident we had no part in. We need to be very effing careful.
Mathilde: You’re being handed the opportunity of a lifetime. Lean in.
Jenya: I’m trying to keep all our jobs here. What good can Sherwood do if we get closed down?
Showrunner Joe Cicchetti gives each corner its own air time. Whose side are we meant to be on? The clash between living your truth versus survival is a dilemma that drives nations, corporations and people’s daily lives. Some big questions are getting asked this season and the only thing that’s clear is that Cicchetti is a fan of Bakhtin and the polyphonic novel.
Down at the precinct, Amrita bails out The Count of MonteCarlo who’s had a rough couple of hours. He’s been hit with a disorderly conduct charge that he’ll have the opportunity to plead down. He says he’s lucky they didn’t charge him for resisting arrest as that would be harder to fight.
The two grab sandwiches at Tommy’s Joynt and Amrita gets the scoop on what went wrong. The Sherwood app’s urgent messaging functionality broke and the sub-groups couldn’t stay coordinated. Once the app was non-functional, they didn’t have a back-up plan and couldn’t tell friend from foe. It seems their over-reliance on the technology actually hindered coordination. (This commentary is waayyy too on the nose for me.) Carlo asks Amrita what happened to the fix they were supposed to deploy. She admits they’ve been behind in the last two dev sprints and haven’t caught up. “Duc’s release notes weren’t exactly accurate.”
Back at the office, Cabot shows up frazzled. He’s afraid of a lawsuit and getting on the wrong side of City Hall. But he’s found a brilliant fix: His friend on the charity board would be willing to buy the company for the user management IP for a million dollars as a personal favor to him. Pascal reminds him that this is far below their current valuation by a factor of 20 and is less than he’s invested to date. Cabot doesn’t care, he needs out to fund his other endeavors. When Pascal questions what other initiatives he’s working on, Cabot mumbles about a number of ‘incubations’ he’s caring for. Mathilde rolls her eyes and Jenya admonishes him:
“We’re not folding because you bet wrong in the commodities markets. You’ve wanted to sell since the first day we started. But we’re stuck with each other. Just stay out of the way and we’ll fix this in reality.”
Cabot doesn’t like her sass and threatens all manner of lawsuits before storming out.
The next morning, the bad news keeps coming. Jenya and Pascal are summoned to City Hall for an off the record meeting with a few members of the Mayor’s Team. Headed by Special Assistant to the Mayor Edmund Percy, Sherwood is put on notice. The winds have changed in the uncertain economic climate and businesses won’t be exempt from pressure from the Mayor. Sherwood will be made an example of when appropriate. Unless of course…
It seems The City would like to help steer the Sherwood ship and hand pick some new board members. It’s hinted that new private funding will follow. When Pascal alludes that he thought Cabot was their guy, Edmund laughs. “Everyone wants to be a somebody but that’s not how it works. Wanting isn’t enough.” Jenya says she needs time to consider the offer but it’s obvious her mind is made up.
Outside near Civic Center, Pascal lets her know he’d rather fold the company than hand over control to the city government. He makes it clear if this one doesn’t work out, the next one will and “the two of them will figure it out together.” They share a long moment and a longer look in each other’s eyes. Cue interruption phone call from long-term partner Kasia, Pascal’s face reddening with a little guilt. Jenya’s eyes flash and she asks for the phone, which he gives her reluctantly. “Hey Kasia, it’s Jenya. We need to talk.”
Is Alphas going Moonlighting on us?
Aimless Utterances
Amrita’s roommate situation is a problem. Five people in that rickety railroad apartment in the Haight is unlivable. That kitchen was a disaster. GTFO should be at the top of her chore list.
Duc working late in the wee hours at home with La Petite Loulou on his shoulder was adorbs. Any code serfs out there know if that was real ReactNative on screen? That didn’t look like a Sherwood project, did it?
This week’s homage to Do The Right Thing was as subtle as a Buggin’ Out monologue and I loved it. Boycott Sal’s!
Jenya stops by to see Grandma Zhao who looks rested and comfy in her new care facility. Grandma thinks Jenya needs to do something with all that hair in her face.
Beatfind confirmed that was Ronald Jenkees Stay Crunchy in the riot scene.
The biggest stretch of the entire show is that a start-up is turning down offers of a buyout, right? But I guess it takes a bigger appetite than mine to drive all this delicious disruption and inspired ideation.
I’ve been noticing a lot of Breton stripes on the Sherwood Gals this season. Did anyone else catch sustainable retailer Amour Vert in the credits? I’m on board with the classic flair.
I’m enjoying Edmund’s smugness, not to mention his Wilkes Bashford attire. He’s just so connected to everything that matters in The City and he knows it. I wouldn’t mind if he was brought into the Alpha fold somehow.
Chris Garneau’s Hands on the Radio was quite touching over the credits. Are these hard charging hearts softening?