While I’ve been feeling an enjoyable push to the end on Entourage over the last two episodes, I still find myself pausing to wonder where a lot of the current story lines are headed. The uncertainty of those destinations means that we still need be wary of cheering too enthusiastically.
I’m very into the return of Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro). Sure he’s been mostly drifting in and out, but what we’re getting from him is fantastic. Billy was hilarious when he was a mess, but now? Great idea for him to return reformed.
Drama could do worse than Dancing with the Stars (mentioned in passing at the beginning of the episode). I’m not suggesting we suffer through that — although it may be in Kevin Dillon’s future — but you’d think something would knock some sense of reality into that inflated self-worth he walks around with. He was the older brother on some middling network drama … get over it.
“Johnny’s Bananas,” on the other hand, could give him a career. And there’s a lot of longevity in a role that only calls for your voice. His continued anger over the suggestion is annoying, but I loved Eric yelling at Phil Yagoda (William Fichtner), reminding him just who owns the rights to the idea.
I also liked Eric yelling at Vince, something that happens too infrequently. It reminded me of the season five finale back in Queens, when Vince and Eric call it quits on their partnership. Eric’s the only guy who can knock some sense back into Vince … might Vince’s troubles date back to when Eric got engaged? It’s possible that they’re “meant to be together,” and so Eric committing himself in some way to another person threw off Vince’s balance, like when Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear got separated in Stuck on You.
Because it certainly hasn’t been sufficiently substantiated that something else caused Vince to nosedive. The near-death experience wasn’t made into a big enough deal, and Sasha’s more annoying than anything else. Are we really supposed to believe that he cares about her? We’ll see how he’s feeling after her next porno’s released … imagine that advertising: “See Vincent Chase’s girlfriend gang banged by a football team!”
I did enjoy his speech to Dana Gordon (Constance Zimmer) in her office, and I’m enjoying the fact that not only new (tons of new!) but also old stars are making a splash on the show while there’s still time. Are we really up for more Mr. James Cameron? He was annoyed enough at the prospect of Vince and Mandy Moore being an item … how do you think he’d react to his star being suspected of having a coke problem?
I fail to comprehend how Mrs. Ari feels embarrassed and humiliated by the reports that came out about Ari. Not only does she readily admit that she knew he was like that, but so did everybody else. Everyone who ever stepped foot in his office, let alone did business with him or worked for him, know exactly what and who Ari Gold is. The entire arc makes no sense whatsoever.
And then there’s Turtle. Looking to raise $5 million Turtle. Dragging along the girl who’s only interested in him for what he can help her attain Turtle. Very cool for Mark Cuban and his “business partner” Ken Austin (Bob Odenkirk) to drop by, but Turtle doesn’t deserve the coolness of that moment.
We did, though. And in addition to the Dallas Mavericks owner, we got an awesome drive-by from Jeffrey Tambor, who’s appeared multiple times to annoy Ari and delight us, as well as a vision of the monstrosity that is Kevin Love. The guy’s huge. Any chance he and Cuban struck up a chat on-set? Can you imagine Love suiting up alongside Dirk Nowitzki? Holy cow!
Does Mark Wahlberg get a cut for making that happen?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Aug 23, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
I was surprised the whole TMZ thing didn’t cause Vince more problems, especially after he popped that pill in the club. It would have been a bad publicity issue for Vince, and it would show that there are some consequences to Turtle trading off Vince’s name. Is the moral of his story that if you just wander around Hollywood long enough, someone will invest in your idea, no matter how generic?
Mrs. Ari has somehow gone from being supportive in the first six seasons to piling on this season. Also, I want to sat that I, as well as all the other fans of Entourage’s rich mythology, will be furious if her name is not revealed by the end of the season.
*POST AUTHOR*
TMZ was outside though, no? I don’t think their people were around to witness the pill (although anyone with a camera phone could have). I actually think the Turtle tequila story is heading for a Vince consequence ending. I think it’s going to end up exploding in his face, not Turtle’s.
Funny about Mrs. Ari – about five seasons in, my wife and I were talking and trying to refer to her by name, and I went to look it up on IMDb. I hadn’t even realized we didn’t know it! My guess is, if there’s a movie we’ll learn it then, if not we’ll get it in the series finale. Either way, it likely won’t be obvious … more like on a piece of mail that we get a quick cut of, or an e-mail shot the same, or in an answering machine message playing in the background.
Alright, I’m going to harp on Turtle again. I get that this show is fictional, but Mark Cuban taking Turtle and his girl on his private jet after talking to him for 30 SECONDS? COME ON! Turtle must have a goddamn horseshoe up his ass with a garden of four-leaf clovers growing on it.
Oh man I totally agree. It’s really getting idiotic. The high (or better: low-) point for me was when turtle after talking to E said “Last year I had nothing but this year I have a plan AND THEY ARE GOING TO THANK ME FOR IT”
What the f—???
I mean seriously if the world was coming to an end I’d stand right next to Turtle because Aliens would pop up and take us away right that second. I’m waiting for the poor little turd to pull his shirt off to reveal a bright “S” on his beertits…
(Ferrara has lost a lot of weight BTW, he was on The Late Late show to promote Entourage about two months ago so this is kinda just about the show now and I know that ;-) )
I’m honestly trying to figure out what consequence Turtle should get that would please me. He tries hard, but he just needs to stick with what his skills can provide. He’s really only fit for a blue-collar job, which is probably what would make me finally nod in agreement.
He should understand that he has unearned privileges right now, and he’s offered NOTHING back for it to the group. NOTHING. He’s only taken. Like I said, he tries, but he needs to give up for the pie-in-the-sky and open a coffee shop or something, at most.
Yeah like I said a couple of times now – that autoshop girl was perfect for him and with that maybe his own bodyshop or something. But I guess then we’d think that she’s doing all the work because he can’t actually DO such a job. We think he’s only able to maybe flip burgers or brew coffee. I mean if you look at it we are really righteous ass****s because all the guy did is follow his friend to Hollywood and what we are mad at is that because of this he was unable to grow up like a normal guy. And that’s just speaking about the character.
Because of Entourage I actually put that addendum to my last comment just in case Ferrara reads this and thinks I’m a hater – which I’m not. I only hate how the writers are writing for Turtle not Ferrara, the real life actor. Although I kind of found it funny how much he wanted to hang out with Craig Ferguson. Maybe the show has rubbed off on him ;-)
Just because I’m speaking of Ferrara’s character doesn’t mean I’m getting on him personally at all. The writers are at fault. That scene with Mark Cuban was lazy. It was all of 30 seconds, and Cuban warms up to Turtle over some booze he’s trying to push? Bullshit.
I always thought his forray into the music world was a good fit for him. He’s always had the hook-up in the hip-hop world (which the body shop fits into as well), so why not use that?
@stan: yes kinda sorta but IMHO the guy who played the rapper was what sold that storyline, NOT Turtle. The Tequila doesn’t have any lines, instead the mexican hussy has them (again that’s directed towards how she’s written not that she’s from mexico or a woman or whatever). The way the rapper and his entourage were written was what sold that story to me, NOT the way Turtle handled it. As if the guy had any neck for music. It was just another thing that fell in his lap. Seriously I think Keith is right, we need the guy to get his hands dirty ON SCREEN. All of the guys on the show have showed us that they are able to put in hard work in some way or the other, EXCEPT Turtle. Even that management school he took looked silly becaus ehe got driven there in Ferraris, got his own supercar for finishing it, the girl left him, the “female student body” stole underwear because of his relation to Vinnie… I’m sorry, the poor guy still hasn’t proven himself to anybody and the writers pretend as if trying to get into your employees pants was some kind of epic effort. That’s all he did. Trying to get into the girl’s pants, make excuses for doing it, and then the storyline just went from one cloverfield to the next. Maybe manscaping and tonguework earned him the Tequila, who knows, but in the end it was AGAIN his connection to Vinnie that earned him the deal. And once he got it, the writers made him look like a fool again by getting ahead of himself. Now a couple of Mark Cuban’s millions fall in his lap – congratulations. I’m sorry but havingthe chuzpa to turn up at Arie’s firm – I was already sitting here full of glee because Arie was on a roll – I was waiting for the guy to tear Turtle a new one – or two. But not Turlte. He sits there with his mexican hussie and Mark Cuban looks like a total idiot for being interested AT ALL in the business idea of some friend of some movie-star.
The ironie all lies in Diddy pushing his “vitamin water” BS on us last week (or the week before). I mean stuff like this happens, sure – but not for a guy like Turtle. Diddy – sure. Turtle? No way. I don’t understand why the writers think they should try to sell us this BS.