Entourage: Let's Blog It Out

At the spot. Drinkin' with the boys. Seeing the family. Rolling with old neighborhood friends at old neighborhood hangouts as if no time had passed.

Oh the joys of coming home again.

The Season 5 finale of "Entourage" nailed that sentiment, and at the perfect time of year. I've always been a huge proponent of the parallels between when a show airs for the first time and the actual time of year it is.

The first four seasons of "Entourage" aired during the summer and it completely enhanced the show's carefree, live-life-to-the-max attitude. When Season 5 was delayed because of the writer's strike, I wondered how that would affect the way we subliminally compute this season in our brains.

Continue reading "There's no place like home" »

No doubt this episode will be in the running for Best Episode when the Joshie Award nominees are announced next week.

Continue reading "Entourage 5/11: Best episode so far" »

Turtle, seriously, I know you pushed a certain button to get that super serve in Wii Tennis. Drama was right and I know it. It can't just be hitting the ball at its zenith or swinging your arm really hard. You were doing something extra. (Oh yeah, by the way, in regards to next week's coming attractions, DO NOT screw that up again!)

Hey, Drama, learn how to master using the frontcourt guy in Wii Tennis and you will be unstoppable. The superfast serve is easily returnable. It's all about the front guy. Trust me.

Man up, E! There comes a point where business isn't worth being turned into a chump by a squirrly little dweeb such as Seth Green (to clarify, we're talking only about Green's portrayal of himself as an over-the-top jerkface on the show, not him in real life). Salvage some of your manhood and tell him in not-so-polite fashion to have a threesome, just without anyone else in the room.

Keep fighting for yourself, Vince. It's good to see you stepping up to the plate to demand more for your role in "Smoke Jumpers." After all, this is your career we're talking about and it's about time you stop letting Ari and E handle it all. This isn't about doing an indie flick or buying a script. It's about not winding up in some "Whatever happened to . . . " photo gallery on Defamer, TMZ or E!

Did Ari Gold, the flesh-eating uber-agent, really follow the advice of his 15-year-old daughter, at least for the first half of the show? Really, Ari? Well, at least your impression of Barbara Miller was hilarious. Keep it up.

Nice work, Bow Wow, and we're not talking about punching Green in the face or quitting your job folding shirts in a retail shop.

P.S. Sloan, it's obvious you and E both still care about each other, so you might have to wear the pants here and make it happen.

(HBO Photo)

Turtle swiping Jason Patric's embroidered seatback. Johnny Drama "inflicting a little damage" on the bathroom in Patric's trailer.

Oh, the things we do to defend our friends against the tyranny of evil men . . . and rampaging d-bags.

Both moves were championship work from our favorite mischievous duo. All because Patric stole Vince's lines in a few scenes and was being a real butthead.

You'll notice that not even the high-strung E objected to these actions. That's because that's what friends do. They defend each other, especially when the victim can't fight back. It's pretty much the main reason for having an entourage.

Think back to those times when you did the same thing. We're not talking about jumping on a grenade here. That's easy. It's a given, not heroic.

We're talking about those things you'd never do otherwise. Those things that, due to the actions of a certain someone, you feel fully justified doing them.

Like, maybe, and we're just blogging hypothetically right now, running into your boy's ex-girlfriend in a bar and she pretends like everything is cool and then you "accidentally" rummage through her purse when she's not looking and swipe whatever cash you find. Sure, it's petty theft, but hey, she wronged your boy.

Or, maybe, just maybe, you're playing pool with a friend and there's an obnoxious guy harassing her. And maybe, just maybe, the pool table is rented under his name and ID and, oopsies, the next morning, you find a 6-ball in your coat pocket.

Or, you watched from afar as the ex-girl's new boyfriend corners your friend at a party and turns into a truly obnoxious muldoon and, voila, you're on the subway 20 minutes later with your friend and the muldoon's jacket and -- oopsies -- cell phone.

Again, this is just hypothetical bloggage.

Of course, there are good moves that can be done, like -- and again, purely hypothetical -- calling your friend's cell phone from the phone of the girl he likes but isn't allowed to flirt with because your other friends know your friend already is dating someone else but you wanted to make sure he had the number.

Once again, this is purely hypothetical. Let's hear your "stories."

Last week, we raved about the beauty of that final scene between Vince and Ari on the tarmac.

That set off a huge reaction among Entouragers about what Ari should do re: the studio job at Warner Bros. Entouragers were outspoken, some saying he needs to take the gig to advance the show while others took the diametrically opposite point of view.

After watching this week's episode and learning that Ari will remain an agent, here's why "Entourage" has not jumped the shark yet:

- He pulled off a slick move, slick even for him, in getting his enemy out of the way and his crony in the way.

- Ari righted a wrong after screwing Dana Gordon out of her job at Warners a few seasons ago and then selling the Billy Walsh-Vincent Chase dream team that delivered "S.I.L.O." instead of "Clouds" last season.

- The scenes between Gordon and Gold are among the best back-and-forth dialogue this show has, and by keeping their relationship's dynamic intact, we're in store for more gems on Sunday nights.

- Ari remaining an agent gives Doug Ellin and his team of writers and producers great flexibility for future story arcs. If Ari took the job, there would be very few ways to further develop and explore the relationship between him, Vince and the guys.

- He is extremely dependent on Lloyd and cares about him, despite all the vitriol he spits at him each week. (This week was potentially his best work on Lloyd all season.) Lloyd's displeasure with the studio job suggests that he would not have followed Ari and that would have sapped the show of a key element. It took the show's execs a few seasons to find the perfect foil for Ari's assistant and we can't lose that just yet.

(HBO Photo)

Be it through a screensaver in the background or a marriage counseling scene with Mrs. Ari, the depth of Ari Gold's relationship with Vincent Chase has almost always been addressed in comedic overtones on "Entourage."

No complaints here as the show is, at its core, a comedy. Sure there have been a few touching moments between Ari and Vince -- at the Malibu house after Mandy Moore dumped Vince again in Season 2 and earlier this season when Ari tells Vince he needs a new start.

But in Episode 7 of Season 5, for the first time in "Entourage's" 61-show run thus far, we saw a true a emotional connection between Ari and Vince.

Ari is ready to fly off to Geneva for the night. Vince is ready to jet to Hawaii for a few days. Their worlds collide at Van Nuys Airport. Ari breaks the news to Vince that he's been offered the Warner Brothers studio head job.

"I think I want to finish what we started, but you gotta do what you gotta do," Vince said to Ari.

Ah, yes, it's been a long, strange trip from that first guest spot on "JAG," hasn't it?

In that moment inside the airplane hangar, Ari's expression is one of sadness and confusion. Ari loves Vince as a person aside from just a client, and he gives him that look like he just told Vince he lost his dog while the guys were on vacation. This is why Jeremy Piven wins Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.

Caught up in the whirlwind of a potentially new job as Warner Brothers studio head, a job with a phattie pay raise (no subprime mortage and 401(k) issues in the Gold household) and a sweet jet, Ari gets a dose of his decision's reality. He'd no longer be Vince's agent and couldn't have that same relationship with him.

It's going to make for an interesting five more episodes this season, because as we all know, nothing in "Entourage" land comes easily . . . except making fun of Johnny Drama and finding Vince a girl to sleep with.

Forgive me for a moment or two as I start tripping about this episode. I just made that drive on I-15 from Los Angeles to Las Vegas five days ago, and there were no porn stars flashing me and Joey Jitsu along the way.

In fact, the closest we got was some freestyle music and a state trooper who pulled me over for speeding on the way out to L.A. Oops, guess I can't plead not guilty to that ticket now. Oh well. At least it just became a business expense and a tax writeoff.

Here's what else didn't happen on the drive: Finding that damn Joshua tree. Oh sure, there are plenty of Joshua trees on the side of the road, but nothing we could see that resembled where the entourage set up shop with Eric Roberts. (P.S. Joey Jitsu does the best impersonation of Roberts in "Best of the Best.")

Of course, we also didn't research it too deeply. We were too busy making sure we got back to Vegas in time to lose money gambling before passing out. (I threw $5 on red at the roulette table, per "Entourage" rules. I lost.)

And that's about as close as I can relate to the mushroom trip. I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who can directly appreciate and relate to the trip. God bless. That was never my thing (and that's not just because of BPL rules). I'm a drinker first (and second, and third and so on).

The closest I ever got to that stuff was in college -- shocking! -- when I saw two dudes I knew sitting on a log in the middle of town with the dumbest looks on their faces as I dropped off my DJ equipment at 3 a.m.

However, I have had my share of nonchemically enhanced hallucinations. Freshman year in college. Finals week. Five tests in six days. Day 4: Wicket the Ewok from "Return of the Jedi" helped me study and pass my biology exam. No joke. I will swear to any god you want that Wicket was there. Crazy.

But I digress.

This week's episode was pretty strong, I thought. I enjoyed the "Am I still tripping or is this real?" ending with the firefighters. Just as Vince had decided to collect a $3-million paycheck to do "Benji," he saw himself in a firefighter's uniform fighting the blaze that was on the side of the road.

Nice touch by Doug Ellin and the show creators. And a good way to keep the storylines of struggle and not compromising artistic integrity for money going.

Haven't we all been there? That place where we made a decision to do something we didn't really want to do, only to find inspiration from a random place that keeps up from doing it?

Sure you have. Just think about the last time your friends saved your drunken self from going home with that ugly girl or guy from the bar.

We love Johnny Drama's meltdowns. We laugh every time. We're supposed to do such things. That's how the show is designed.

And a drunken Drama teetering on the edge after his breakup with Jacqueline is altogether fantastic to watch unfold.

But at some point, you have to feel bad for Drama. We've all been there. We've all been crushed by a significant other at some point in life. It hurts. It stings. It sucks.

In honor of our love for the character that is Johnny Drama, I've decided to whip up a few ideas that may help Drama get over his pain:

1) Fly to France and sign Jacqueline's friend's cast, then get caught by Jacqueline making out with the friend on her couch.

2) Get absolutely loaded, then go to the nearest pet store and "Tweet-Chirp" his way through the store until security escorts him out.

3) Have Shauna strategically place a few outrageous sex scandal stories in the various celebrity tabloids and blogs.

4) Bring back Cassie!

5) Get Billy Walsh's phone number from Vince and place that call.

These are just a few quick thoughts as I wait for my plane to Vegas. While I'm betting $5 on red at the roulette table to start the trip, share your ideas of how to help Drama cope with the absence of Jacqueline.

(HBO Photo)

In the days following the season 5 premiere episode, the talk around the Let's Blog It Out offices (OK, so it's really the Newsday office, but whatever) centered around the short duration of a down-and-out Vince on the beach.

Joey Jitsu and I lamented how it didn't last the entire episode. Not because of the insanely hot women running around Vince's little Mexican beach hut (actually shot in Oahu). Rather, we wanted to see the hardship and struggle for the entire episode because of its unique plot twist.

Then along came Season 5, Episode 2.

What we saw here was a continuation of the movie star's fall from A-list to "movie jail," as Ari Gold put it. That's to be expected, since all we heard on the red carpet two weeks ago was how Vince is going to struggle this season.

But what we also saw was honesty and legitimate vulnerability. Ari Gold confessed his true feelings about Vince's future during a round of golf with Mark Wahlberg. He did the same with Vince in his office a few scenes later. Even Vince, the typically unflappable fella, questioned his own career worth (as opposed to his Season 2 Mandy Moore meltdown).

More importantly, we also finally saw Vincent Chase really man up. Gone was that "Dude, whatever happens happens and we'll go back to Queens and work at Sbarro if we have to if E and Ari can't figure something out" attitude.

Arriving was a "Hey, maybe I should man up and take control of my life and make something happen for myself" attitude. Vince claims he's ready "to play the game" that Hollywood is.

Honestly, it was extremely refreshing to see. I tend to view Vince as the shiny nickel in a handful of old dimes. It stands out more than the others in your hand because of its luster, but that dull dime has more value.

That's not to cheapen Vince at all. The premise of "Entourage" requires a movie star, but the other characters more often than not have better scenes and storylines. Granted, that's part of plot evolution.

This week, however, Vince made a statement. How it pans out career-wise, we'll find out as this season unfolds. In the meantime, this should be a very encouraging late Sunday night/early Monday morning for "Entourage" fans (you know, aside from that whole Lehman Brothers and the impending destruction of our financial institutions thing).

Everyone likes to call "Entourage" the male version of "Sex & the City." There is much truth in that.

Most people in tune with "Entourage" also understand that this show is deeply entrenched in the ideals of long-term male friendship. How guys can have real friendships with each other and how that means you can say anything to each other and it's all good.

That was the deal this past weekend and three of my friends I've known since 1993 and I sat at several blackjack tables for many hours. Just nonstop banter -- some of-the-moment and some old-school bombs -- and rooting for and/or against each other to win some money.

And the same thing was on display in the Season 5 premiere of "Entourage."

Once you put aside all the sweet pieces of patoot on screen and forget about the hot cars, clothes and houses, that's the essence of "Entourage" -- and what makes this show so successful among males 16 to 60.

This is shown perfectly in the penultimate scene of the premiere. Vince is still trying to figure out his way back after the "Medellin" nightmare and just got played by "Danger Beach" director Carl Ertz. The guys are back in their home and the back-and-forth dialogue is as natural as if it were you and your friends in some little shack of an apartment.

They take little potshots at each other for the "Medellin" flop and Vince's makeup (I still say he looked like Horatio Sanz trying out for a role in the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" video). Given the severity of this career-threatening bomb, they're still able to laugh at it, make fun of each other for it and still know they've all got each other's backs no matter what.

That's what true friendship is. That's what true "Entourage" is.