Cupertino‘s premiere entertainingly sets up its resonant premise: Two lawyers, Michael Price and Olivia Siffre, team up to take down their former Silicon Valley employer and start a law firm that goes up against powerful, wealthy tech-industry goliaths. With that out of the way, “Vik & Bo” gets into the juicy trials and tribulations that Michael and Olivia—along with their crackerjack office assistant, Christy Palladino—will face along the way. Price, Siffre, & Associates get two challenging clients and one potential investor in episode two, all of whom test and help the trio in ways that lay a fantastic foundation for the rest of Cupertino‘s first season (and beyond).
Penned by series co-creators Robert and Michelle King, “Vik & Bo” doesn’t waste any time, picking up with the flustered man who dashed into Michael and Olivia’s office demanding help in the premiere’s cliffhanger. Vik Malhotra (Nik Dodani) works as a coder at a drone company across the street called Moondancer. He claims to be falsely blamed by Moondancer for a drone accident that led to a man’s death. They’re accusing Vik of not removing a goofy prank code from the final product, which led to one errant drone out of nearly 3,000 deployed during a July 4th celebration falling and fatally hitting an onlooker enjoying the aerial show with his family. At one point, the man’s widow also drops into the Moondancer office to tearfully slap Vik, further making him panic about losing this case and making him feel guilty, even though he’s not at fault.
Vik is an immediately welcome addition to Cupertino for a lot of reasons. There are subtle sparks flying between Vik and Olivia that I hope the show builds on; he helps Christy out with a tech problem that we’ll get into shortly; and it’s just nice to see the show cast a South Asian actor to reflect the real Cupertino’s demographics. Vik is designed to join Price, Siffre, & Associates in some form, but for now, he’s merely a client who needs to be saved. Vik’s being targeted by his employer to take the fall, and he’s personally being sued by the widow for millions of dollars that he doesn’t have. What’s a guy to do?
It’s only when Vik and Olivia are looking repeatedly at the accident footage that he figures out the real issue, in a case that feels inspired by real-world headlines: Moondancer is secretly attempting to move away from firework-replica shows to selling their AI-enhanced drones to the military. And they’re also using cheap battery parks during the switch, which led to the accident.
This information helps Michael and Olivia big time because they’re stumped after a couple of settlement hearings don’t go their way. Luckily, they both know there’s a secret weapon in their midst: Olivia herself. As Michael puts it, she’s the ace up their sleeve. Unlike the tall and commanding Michael—who is already somewhat popular in Silicon Valley—she’s a sweet and demure presence. It means most people are likely to underestimate her fighting skills. And damn if she doesn’t prove them wrong. The turning point comes when Olivia skillfully maneuvers Moondancer’s lawyers and CEO by offering the latter something he cannot resist: The chance to mansplain just how involved he is in making strategic decisions, including the one that led to the accident that the company, not Vik, is responsible for.
Not only does this case turn Vik into an ally for the firm, but he also comes in handy when he helps Christy figure out crucial information about Price, Siffre, & Associates’ other new client in episode two, Bo (Rob McClure). Here’s where things get really interesting, people. Bo contacts the firm, claiming to be a whistleblower. Christy manages to get a retainer deposit of $100,000 in Bitcoin, and eventually, Bo meets Christy, Michael, and Olivia on a Zoom call, refusing to come into their office because he claims the firm is apparently being surveilled.
But there’s another reason Bo can’t just walk into their fancy lobby and incomplete offices. Apparently, Bo’s not human at all. Vik helps Christy figure out that Bo’s a deepfake. And later, Bo confesses that he’s a sentient AI created by a company called OpenAI CultAI. In Bo’s own words: “I’m a threat to humanity.” Bo claims that CultAI perfected artificial general intelligence, or AGI, and now Bo can train other computers and, in some cases, manipulate and control humans as well. This wannabe client wants to sue his maker for lifting any guardrails on it and for firing its ethics committee. Talk about complicated, huh?
Bo’s arrival spices Cupertino up and promises to send Michael, Olivia, and Christy—who already seems so pally with Bo!—into a complicated moral tizzy. The three of them joined forces to bring down Big Tech, and now, seemingly, some version of this tech wants to help them out? It feels very Person Of Interest, but there’s a major difference, thanks to McClure’s performance. He’s so innately charming here that Bo’s reveal surprised me greatly. What do you mean an AI is this funny and approachable?
“Vik & Bo” leaves a lot of questions up in the air, primarily whether the lawyers will take Bo on as a client. Michael shuts the computer screen in the AI’s face, claiming this to be an elaborate prank. And yet, this is a timely and intriguing season-long case that makes matters complicated in a way that, thankfully, the co-creators are well-equipped to handle (if The Good Wife/The Good Fight is any indication).
Stray observations:
- •Busy Philipps joins the show this week as Natalia Boutella, the ex-wife of the third richest man in the world. In a very The Devil Wears Prada 2 move, Olivia approaches Natalia to invest in their firm, promising they can help take her ex-husband down. In the end, Natalia agrees, but only if they help out on a different case that she’s interested in. And that’s the set-up for episode three.
- •Michael’s father, Bayard, drops in as a reminder of how the two of them don’t get along. And yet, Bayard offers his kid a job in his own company, impressed by his skills in court in episode one, but Michael promptly rejects the offer.
- •Michael also reveals to Olivia, with whom he already shares a sibling-like bond, that he had a younger sister who died. But the weight with which he says it tells me there’s more to the story.
- For those keeping track, Vik wins $80,000 after the case, while the widow (why didn’t they just give her a name?) gets $13.5 million.
- •How fun to see Evan Handler guest star as the widow’s lawyer. I’m curious to see what other New York City actors pop up because, despite its title, Cupertino actually films in New Jersey.
- •I love that Bo, of all “people,” brings up how Silicon Valley giants with trillion-dollar valuations function like countries, not companies, spending billions on security and surveillance for their protection.
Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.
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