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Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber just ended its season with a great finale, after a season of chronicling the lives and methods of brash yet brilliant Travis Kalanick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the founder of Uber. It is no secret that the tech company's owner and founder had a majestic downfall, resigning in 2017 after changing the scenario of ride-sharing cabs.
The seven-episode series depicted the company's transformation from a scrappy start-up idea, slowly building on with added investors and finally becoming the giant they are today. All this while, the show painted a vivid portrait of the man behind it all and the man in front of all the crisis.
The finale culminated in a Joseph Gordon-Levitt monologue, breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly. The finale aired on April 10, 2022.
"It's about how our larger business world works" - Joseph Gordon Levitt on the monologue from Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
The Showtime drama Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber shared remarkably similar traits to Billions, which had its finale just a day before. The entire process of building a company played a huge part in the limited series about Uber. It all resulted in a conclusion that was, of course, predictable and followed the real-life story of the founder and ideator.
After looking at his story and reaching the predicted ending, the only thing that is done differently is Kalanick's speech to the audience. This is not a very commonly done thing. In his bid to explain himself, Kalanick opened up about many things, including the ability to be a bad guy to achieve something.
Almost all the big companies are built on this, except for the discipline that Kalanick lacked. Speaking about the final monologue to USA Today, Joseph Gordon-Levitt commented:
"Breaking that fourth wall with the audience is not something I get to do often. It's a flat-out monologue to explain himself and also not let the audience off the hook. They can't just sit there and wag their fingers at this character. Maybe they need to think about the world we're living in."
He further continued:
"To me, "Super Pumped" is more than a story about Travis or Uber. It's about how our larger business world works. Why are we rewarding people and companies who step on others, abuse people, or sell bad things in the 21st century? It's happening on a grand scale. So when Travis says something like, "Yeah, I'm a (jerk). That's what it takes," we should be asking ourselves, "Why does it take that?" Because he's not wrong. And it shouldn't be that way."
Gordon-Levitt's explanation makes perfect sense as he takes on the many facets of the industry and comments about something unsaid in the industry. The show will return with a second season, but it will focus on some other companies and founders.
The episodes of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber are now streaming on Showtime.
