Entourage – Is Turtle working out of Vince’s house?

Some good and some bad on last night’s season seven premiere of Entourage. Certainly it was great having the boys back — what I enjoyed the most about the episode was just getting back into their lives.

Turtle has finally gotten his little business venture off the ground. I think it’s sad social commentary that his car service is probably more successful just because the drivers are fun to look at, but reality is what it is. That being said, I didn’t feel as if we got any perspective on how his business fits into the rest of Turtle’s life. How can he remain so plugged into Vince’s life if he has his own thing going?

And the plot with Alex (Dania Ramirez) the driver was just dull. And it didn’t go anywhere … unless Alex quit because she feels the same way about Turtle and wants to date him, but not if he’s her boss. That would have made sense. But the progression otherwise? Not so much.

Loved seeing Vince on-set. I mentioned in my preview that my hope for the season is that we get to see more of working Vince. Which isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy seeing him live his life. Actually, in watching all of season six in preparation for last night’s premiere, I saw the scene where Drama is in the hospital after his anxiety attack during his audition. After examining Drama, the doctor turns to Vince and tells him he did a great job in “Gatsby.” And Vince seems genuinely appreciative of the compliment … I also love that Vince, the one who’s so innocent and childlike in the face of his fans. Yes he then beds most of them, but I think he’s always been more confident in his looks than his talent (which I argue he has).

The stunt thing was okay; I wonder if this will be a turning point for Vince, where the legend grows as he starts to do that sort of thing. Just think of the caliber of actors who were mentioned as doing their own stunts — Robert De Niro, Will Smith, Tom Cruise — this might be setting Vince up for the top of the heap.

I actually enjoyed seeing where Drama is right now. His holding deal is about to expire, and he still has no project developed for him by the studio. I don’t want to see him go up and down for the rest of the series … instead, I think this rise up would be a good place to leave him, assuming he makes it. Drama the successful TV actor will take nothing away from Vince the movie star — the show makes that hierarchy clear — and it’ll be nice to see a guy who’s been struggling in the business for half of his life get an actual “big” break. And I loved when he asked Lloyd (and then Ari) for a team of his own.

Eric’s boring these days as a slave to the man. Okay, he’s not exactly working a traditional 9-5, but did we see him doing anything work-related last night? In fact, have we seen him do anything work-related since closing down The Murphy Group? I like a worrying, hustling, creative Eric. Engaged Eric who does something vague at some office somewhere is dull.

Unfortunately, the most disappointing thing about the episode was Ari. Apparently becoming the head of the biggest agency in the world (are Barbara and Andrew gone?) means he needs to repeat that a lot in order to explain why he won’t do certain things, or why he needs to do others himself. A season of “because I’m bigger than you” got old before it even began. I prefer an Ari with reason to resent the world for giving him the short straw. Hopefully he’ll get back there at some point.

A rocky start, but even a rocky Entourage is better than most anything else. Welcome back!

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 28, 2010 @ 14:00 EST5EDT