Before we delve into last night’s episode, “Running on E”, I’d like to share a story:
Last week, I ventured west for a three-day adventure in Vegas with some friends. On our last day, I saw a guy who was the spitting image of Johnny Drama. Seriously, it was scary. And, it’s Vegas, so it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Kevin Dillon would just be hanging around there. I saw this individual not once, but twice. I cannot tell you how hard it was to avoid the temptation to scream “Victory!” at him at the top of my lungs. I refrained from doing so, because he probably gets it all the time.
Anyway, it’s oddly fitting that the ensuing Entourage episode would feature Drama finally getting to stretch his legs a bit in this sixth season. His character on “Five Towns” was getting a love interest, and Drama was in studio testing out would be kiss partners. Not a bad day of work for Kevin Dillon, I’d imagine. But Drama was unimpressed with the lot of wannabe-actress models the network trotted out for the scene. And, in true Drama fashion, was completely neurotic about the whole thing.
A solution was found when Turtle agreed to ask Jamie-Lynn, a real actress, to do the scene with Drama. In my opinion, that was damn big of him, and you know he wasn’t happy about it. But it just goes to show you that the show, through all its trials and tribulations, is still about friends looking out for each other in a world where friends are hard to come by.
Also a good friend last night was Ari, who was trying his best to steer Andrew back on track and coax him out of his affair with that fine junior agent, Lizzy. The fling did come to an end and all seemed to be well until Lizzy hit it off with David Schwimmer during a pitch meeting. If I can diverge for a second, I’d like to talk about celebrity cameos on Entourage.
There are ultimately two types: The first are the celebs that get reeled in for literally one scene for the “oh hey it’s so-and-so!” factor. Think Michael Phelps in last year’s finale and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson last week. This type is pretty indulgent and ultimately very unfunny. Then there’s the second group, of which Schwimmer was a part last night. It’s a celebrity with a common perception in the public eye coming onto the show and smashing it to pieces. Past members of this group include Richard Schiff and Jeffrey Tambor. Schwimmer seemed as tired of his awkward, doofus persona as the rest of us and was desperate to branch out from that, amid a flurry of F-bombs and off-color remarks. Call me immature, but I think David Schwimmer saying the F-word is funny. There, I said it.
So, The Schwim was digging on Lizzy, much to Andrew’s chagrin, which led to Ari’s buddy having a panic attack. After some quality” Think of your k ids”-type advice from Mr. Gold, Andrew took it so literally that he left his wife, and promptly alienated Ari from Mrs. Ari in the process.
The one part of the evening that really bugged me was E’s arc. The Murphy Group is floundering, even though it’s flagship client is not. I thought the whole point of depicting E with a real office with other clients last season was to gradually move him out of Vince’s shadow, and now we appear to be back to square one, in which E has Vince and not a whole lot else. On the bright side, we were treated to a pretty comical montage with E busying himself in his office in lieu of working. My favorite bit was when he was idly adjusting a plant in the corner. Entourage doesn’t do visual gags too often, so it’s nice to see them switch it up a bit.
The worst part of this whole thing was that we were treated to more Ashley stuff. Am I the only one who mind seeing this character stumble into some oncoming L.A. traffic? It’s the perfect confluence of badness. It’s a lousily written part, played by a lousy actress who has zero chemistry with Kevin Connolly. It’s pretty hard to watch. But it looks as though she’s here to stay. Anyway, E folded up shop and prepared to kick it with Vince during his hurricane-induced hiatus from the Ferrari picture.
And on that note, Vince’s boredom was a thing of pure beauty. The facebook exchange with he and E was priceless. You know you all have looked at someone’s pictures whom you haven’t spoken to in ages and thought. “Hey, they still look pretty good.” That said, Vince really better get something to do and fast. I’m a bit perturbed that the best they’ve come up with for a story arc is “Vince’s movie gets delayed, so he and Vince hang out.” Anyone else think that sounds pretty boring and counterproductive to the more mature tone the series has taken on this season?
There are so many little moments that make think “Yes, me and my friend do that”, that always hammers home the authenticity of a show that people like to call unbelievable. Like when E was stammering to list off all the things he was allegedly busy with and the guys responded with psuedo-bird sounds to ridicule him. So awesome and so real.
Line of the night goes to Ari, and it has to with a the nether regions of a certain High School Musical cast member. I had to pause the TV.
So that’s about the long and short of it. How did you all like the ep? And how are we feeling four episodes into season 6? Please feel free to share in the comments below or shoot me an email via the link up top. Stay classy.
