Seeing as the gang is now homeless, this week’s episode of Entourage starts off with the entire crew staying together at a hotel, after being forced from their house because of a fire started from Turtle’s joint. Vince tells the guys that he had a creative moment and wrote an outline for the Romanian miner story that he was so interested in while still in rehab. He has Drama in mind for the lead character, and they all decide that Billy Walsh should help write the screenplay.
We immediately see that relationship problems are rampant in the Entourage universe with E and Sloan duking it out, Turtle feeling forgotten by his newly famous spokesperson girlfriend, and Ari finding out more about his wife’s new relationship.
Drama is finishing up his animated series Johnny Bananas with his co-star Andrew Dice Clay and they decide to test the show in front of an audience. When the feedback comes back positive, a nervous Dice tries to get Drama to walk from the show if they don’t get a better contract. Drama remains hesitant though and decides not to make any sudden moves.
In the episode’s best storyline, Ari makes his way to a restaurant called Flay’s, hot on the trail of his wife’s infidelities. While there, he comes to the conclusion that she is hooking up with a waiter who is auditioning for Mad Men. Furious, he storms out, determined to ruin the waiter’s life.
Eric gets caught snooping around at Sloan’s place when she comes home, but they’re able to finally talk and get some things settled. By settled, I mean they sleep together and leave without talking about it afterwards.
Billy takes a look at Vince’s outline, and although he says that some of it needs work, he also says that he can fix it and make it into a quality screenplay. The plan to make a network movie starring Drama seems to be well on its way.
Continuing his detective work, Ari goes to his wife’s sister and gets some information out of her, confirming the fact that Mrs. Ari is seeing someone at a restaurant. He’s both humiliated and angry and he orders Lloyd to sabotage the waiter’s audition.
The two bombshells of the episode come at the end when E and Ari’s significant others provide the two with major revelations. Ari and his wife have it out at his office with Mrs. Gold telling him that she is not seeing the waiter, but rather, she is seeing the chef, Bobby Flay. As for E, Sloan calls him after their awkward moment and lets him know that she quit her job and is moving to New York City.
This episode is the second of the season, so storylines are still being developed, but it’s primarily focusing on domestic/relationship problems. Honestly, this doesn’t make great entertainment in my opinion. I thought this show was about the relationship dynamics between the guys, not about each of them with their girlfriends or wives. Granted, it’s still early on and I’m hoping that the writers are just building the audience up for fireworks later in the season.
As for Vince, there was zero talk about his career, but it is cool that he is doing some writing. It’s funny to think that finally, in the last season, we see Vince doing something creative for the first time. Correct me if I’m wrong but this seems to be a first for our leading man. Another first is that Vince seems to have been reduced to a bench player for this season, so far. For once, the show doesn’t revolve around him and honestly, his storyline this season isn’t too exciting.
As for Johnny Drama, he had a good week, with two projects looking ripe for the picking. As for the whole Andrew Dice Clay cameo, it’s unappetizing. He’s rather annoying and doesn’t fit in at all with anything in the show. I’m hoping he makes a graceful exit in the near future.
I’m thinking that Johnny Bananas is going to face some headwinds because of Dice, but the miner movie looks like it will gain some steam. I think it’s safe to say that Drama will succeed in one or the other this season.
The Ari and E situations presented both an overly obvious story twist, and one straight out of left field. The obvious one is Sloan moving to New York City. This was easy to see coming and should end with her eventual return. But who knows, maybe the writers will have E move to NYC at the end of the season. I wouldn’t doubt it.
The hilariously unpredictable plot twist was Ari finding out that his wife is fooling around with the Iron Chef, Bobby Flay. I NEVER saw that one coming, and he better be on the show next week!
On a side note, big ups to Christian Slater for having a very funny cameo, showing some serious animosity towards Drama. I’m intrigued and want the back story on this one!
All in all, yet another weak entry, but I refuse to give up on the guys this early. Keep getting better. Please.