4.4

Episode 4 of Wecrashed starts with big block writing across the screen. WeWork is losing 1.2 million dollars a day. At WeWork HQ though, Adam completely brushes this aside though, continuing to spin his charismatic wit and doing photoshoots and interviews for extra PR. At Benchmark Capital in New York, there are a lot of concerns that Adam and how recklessly WeWork are burning through money. Bruce tries to fight their corner, pointing out that Adam is the difference compared to other companies but obviously we know that’s not the whole truth. Despite financial problems, Adam wants to press forward with opening more locations – but it’s not going to happen. Javi tries to rationale with him but instead Adam belittles the guy until Javi speaks up and tells the truth, pointing out the awful working conditions, the terrible pay and how landlords aren’t seeing his vision. When Javi looks close to walking out, Adam decides to double his salary to keep him onboard. He encourages the workers to negotiate and either increase lease terms or the money offered to get them onboard. It’s a risky ploy and as we know, it’s going to go up in smoke. And if that wasn’t instrumental enough, those aforementioned losses are now up to nearly 2 million a year. WeWork are looking at layoffs because of this, with Adam deciding to try and offset that by cutting back on luxuries. He’s also looking for a new investment too. His fixation on WeWork means he completely disregards Rebekah, who’s left high and dry for a big event for their kids. Whilst there though, Rebekah gets talking to a woman named Elishia Kennedy, who happens to be a successful businesswoman. Rebekah decides to try and get closer to her. Given Rebekah is still living in Gwyneth’s shadow, she wants to try and expand out, intending to be known herself as Rebekah rather than just Gwyneth Paltrow’s family. With Rebekah away, Adam sorts out a meeting with Masayoshi Son at SoftBank. With Phil on the phone, he sets out to uncover everything he knows about the guy to help with this. Adam is bound for Startup India, a conference for bright business minds. Adam takes to the stage and points out why he believes WeWork works. He discusses his past, including moving around a lot and how that has channeled his current wave of working, delivering a “mission to end loneliness.” Given his dad is there too, Adam uses him as a prop for this story, intending to get close to Son. After the show, Son approaches and admits to Adam that he likes his presentation and agrees to come and see WeWork firsthand next time he’s in New York. Adam touches back down in the Big Apple, neglects his children (as does Rebekah, refusing to take her kids to work after getting what she needs from Elishia) and starts to pitch a new concept. SAAS. Space as a Service. Given Adam was sent out to India to bag an investment, instead he’s plunging the company further into debt hoping that Masa will buy into what they’re doing. The numbers are getting worse, there’s no getting away from this, and if they don’t change something soon, they’ll be completely out of business within months. There are two options for Adam – which Bruce pitches later that afternoon. Either close 12 locations immediately or shut down all nonessential operations which includes WeWork Labs. Richard is quick to hammer home the seriousness of this. But for Adam, he chooses a third option, and continues to march to the beat of his own drum. It has been four months since India and with no Masa in sight, Adam decides to start firing people. But it doesn’t stop the problems. Miguel doesn’t have a backbone and upon seeing how the company is going, this sinking ship is going down fast. Adam manages to convince Elishia to quit her company and jump aboard the WeWork train-crash too. He’s making her Chief Brand Officer but Rebekah is clearly not happy, believing he’s made this all about himself rather than helping Rebekah. While their rift continues, at work Masa suddenly shows up and Adam hastily begins showing him around. Masa is smart, although he eventually decides to invest in the company. Or, as Masa says “the founder”. He looks for individuals and that investment comes in the form of a massive 4.4 billion dollars.

The Episode Review

Wecrashed returns with another mediocre slice of biographical drama and while the visuals are good and the story itself interesting, I can’t help but feel this whole story could have been told across a mini-series of 4 episodes or even a movie. Why do we need 8 episodes of this? If this episode is anything to go by, we don’t. It’s something Apple are becoming increasingly bad at, with this story stretched out across an 8 hour run-time that’s really not needed. There’s only so much narcissism one can take from protagonists like this and given both Rebekah and Adam aren’t exactly likable, it makes the whole affair that much harder to watch. Would The Social Network have been as successful had it been stretched out over 8 episodes? I very much doubt it, and that’s something Wecrashed is currently facing.