Sorvino might remind you of Kyra Sedgwick in “The Closer”: Her NSA agent has a way of disarming everyone with small talk. “StartUp” is about a lot of things this season - technology’s untrustworthiness, government overreach and toxic work environments. A return to her old environment is fraught with more danger than she anticipated and she becomes a pawn in a dangerous struggle. She’s enjoying a life faraway but soon realizes her notoriety is like a shadow stalking her. Seems everyone would like to know where the tech wizard is. He can’t stay away from the friends he grew up with, only now they are running drugs and guns - right through Araknet. Ron (Edi Gathegi) has a wife and a daughter and the trappings of a middle-class life and it’s not enough. Oh, he’s a horrible boss - and part of the satisfaction of the season is seeing him get his comeuppance. It’s not hard to imagine him chaining his coders to their desks and flogging them every hour. Nick (Adam Brody) seems to have his personal life in order but is eager for Araknet to take over the world. It seems like a fool’s bet, but Wes takes it. They challenge him: If he can raise the number of visitors - currently at 60 million - to 100 million by the end of the quarter, they’ll invest.

They aren’t taking the bait, but they do enjoy making him beg for it. Evil’s” Tylor Labine and “Santa Clarita Diet’s” Zachary Knighton) into investing. Wes (Ron Perlman) is tired and cranky (more than usual, OK) of burning through money to fund the operation and is trying to woo two venture capitalist bros (“Tucker and Dale vs. More than ever, “StartUp” resembles the comic strip “Dilbert” or the sitcom “The Office” - if they were dramas, with millions at stake and lots of horrible people grasping for power. Not that the folks behind Araknet need any more help in self-destructing. She’s there to make hell for the tech lords who think they’ve created the perfect web platform. For its third season, “StartUp” gets an infusion of star power.Īcademy Award-winner Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”) joins the cast as NSA agent Rebecca Stroud.

Darkest hour crash on startup