Fifty-One Percent is the eighth and final episode of Season 5, and the forty sixth episode overall. It premiered on May 13, 2018.
Brief synopsis[]
The launch of PiperNet finds Monica suspicious of an early success, and the team must race against the clock as their future is threatened. Realizing he's made more enemies than friends, Richard makes a surprising move.
Plot summary[]
Richard's new Internet launches, but there aren't many users. Days later, a bunch of users sign up. Everyone celebrates, but something's off and Monica notices that the price of Piper Coin isn't going up. With help from Gilfoyle, she discovers that the new users are coming from phones manufactured in China by Yao's company.
Talking it over with Nelson Bighetti and Dinesh, both Dinesh and Gilfoyle realize that it's a 51% attack: if Yao (Tzi Ma) can get more than 50% of devices, he can take control of Richard's new Internet. The only way out seems to be for Richard to apologize to the Cakehole guy profusely and ask for his Gates of Galloo users to get on Richard's new Internet.
Meanwhile, at Hooli, the board is considering firing Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) yet again, after his failure to get the Gavin Belson Signature Box III manufactured. Only a few prototypes are in operation at the Maleant data center.
Learning of this, Richard goes to Belson's mansion to ask for his help. Belson wants to get back at the Hooli board, so he agrees to help Richard by having the Box III prototypes come online as new users. With Yao's threat neutralized, Laurie Bream (Suzanne Cryer) and Yao try to strike a deal with Belson, but Belson is hell-bent on revenge, and tries to get his boxes to 51%.
Once he has 51%, Belson plans to destroy the new Internet entirely. Richard pathetically pleads with the maniacal billionaire to not destroy the new Internet. Then, all of a sudden, the Galloo users come in and Belson falls far short of 51%. Richard reveals that he played Belson against Bream and Yao to get enough time for the Galloo users to join Pied Piper's side.
The price of Piper Coin starts going up, and Monica obtains new headquarters for Pied Piper: a building that used to belong to Hooli.