“Entourage” recaps: “No More Drama”/”The Sorkin Notes”

Here are some quick-hit thoughts on the last two episodes of “Entourage”…

“No More Drama”…

*It was nice to see Vince actually have a storyline again. And it’s pretty interesting to boot. I think Vince having a stalker is a great wrinkle and it’ll be interesting to see if he or she is actually caught. *I was glad that Drama didn’t get fired from “Five Towns”. Given the title of the episode, it really could have gone either way. I loved how painfully obvious it was that he was trying to record his conversation with the studio exec Dan. He was right, it was right out of a bad cop show. I can’t wait to see just how Dan plans on torturing Johnny. And, where can I get one of those gift baskets? That thing was intense; three iPods??

*I enjoyed E’s “first day on the job” storyline as well. Ari’s pizza delivery bit was fantastic. “You’re no longer a pizza boy, you’re now a pizza man.” Eric’s retaliation wasn’t as good, maybe he should get some tips from Adam Davies. I hope the writer’s give Kate Mara more to do than just answer E’s phones. She’s such a talented actress. The highlight of E’s storyline though was Bob Saget’s cameo. He was great in the Season Two episode, “Neighbors,” but the took things to new heights in this one. I couldn’t believe he said he’s sign with Murray’s company if he could have sex in his office. And I really couldn’t believe Murray said it was fine, just as long as E had a cleaning crew come in afterwards. I also like the rivalry that looks to be brewing between E and co-worker Scotty Lavin.

*As much as I loved Saget, I laughed the hardest when one of the guns Drama brought over went off and blew out one of the windows, followed by Vince saying, “Maybe we should call Ari’s security guy.” Turtle’s Pesci in “Goodfellas” impression was pretty good, wasn’t it? The thought of those guys carrying guns was funny enough, but one actually going off was the perfect way to end the episode.

*Overall, I thought this episode was pretty good. I would have been nice to see a little more Ari, but I guess everyone has to take a backseat each week in a 30-minute show. He made his impact with the pizza bit anyway.

On to this past Sunday’s show, “The Sorkin Notes”…

*I thought Ari’s security team turning Vince’s house into Fort Knox was hilarious. I loved the line about how there was about $600,000 worth of cars in their driveway and they should think about putting that kind of investment in their protection. I also liked when team was running drills in the house. Watching Drama get hauled into the bathtub and he and Turtle pretending to be Vince and an, ahem, overnight guest was a riot. After finding the possible stalker’s driver’s license in the couch, I wonder if they’ll be able to track him down.

*It was depressing to see E dragged back into the Ashley-Sloan mess. I was hoping after last week, we’d get to see him concentrating more on his new job. Instead he spent the episode working with Vince’s security team and getting ready to meet Sloan for “friendly drinks.” Ugh, enough with the soap opera stuff already. I will say I was glad that E put Sloan in her place and said he was sick of the back and forth. I just wished he didn’t go back to Ashley. She’s like the neighborhood cat, she won’t go away. Hopefully her time will be up by the end of this season.

*As each week goes by, it looks more and more like Babs was right about Andrew. It was pretty horrifying that he slept in Ari’s office and woke up to a crowd of people while he was in his PJ’s. Although I enjoyed watching Andrew drive his car through his living room (for a minute, I thought he was going to run over his wife), I wasn’t a big fan of that scene. It went on for too long and while Jami Gertz was great when she went storming through the Miller Gold office a couple of episodes ago, her screaming was a little annoying this time to me. Like I said before, I’m more interested in how Andrew’s affair affects his relationship with Ari, rather than Marlo. Speaking of Andrew…

*I loved the Sorkin cameo. He was great. I loved that he wasn’t shy about his dislike for Ari and Babs. The highlight of the episode for me was that he was willing to go to see Andrew in jail to meet with him. His ideas sounded that interesting I guess. And how about the fact that Andrew was able to sign him and save his job? A pretty decent ending to an otherwise awful day for Mr. Kline.

*Overall, this episode was OK. E’s back-and-forth with Sloan and Ashley turned me off a bit, as did Andrew’s fight with his wife. I’m looking forward to seeing how if the stalker is caught in the next episode.

So, what did you think of these last two episodes? Will Vince’s stalker get caught? Will Andrew last even a year at Miller Gold? Will Sloan and E ever make it work? What exactly does Dan Coakley have in store for Drama? Comment below!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

“Entourage” recaps: “Fore!”/”Murphy’s Lie”

Hello Entourage fans! I apologize for the delay in posting my recaps. On the bright side, you get two for one this week. Let’s dive right into last week’s episode, “Fore!” I watched this one twice. During the initial viewing, I didn’t care much for this episode. It felt like a throwaway episode to me. The only thing that kept it entertaining was Jeffrey Tambor’s cameo. He was hilarious on the golf course. And the only interesting plot development was E getting a job offer at a talent management company.

After I watched it a second time, I enjoyed it more. It still felt like a throwaway episode, but I did enjoy it more. Tambor still stole the show, but I also realized that Mark Wahlberg was pretty funny and was Johnny’s mighty struggles on the golf course. I thought it was especially funny when he broke Tom Brady’s customized golf club and when he showed up wearing the same shirt as Lloyd. As for the rest of the show, I was intrigued by E getting a job offer. It could add a new wrinkle to the show if he accepted it. This was far and away the best part of the show, but unfortunately it was brought down by Sloan’s involvement. Watching these two bicker again was not fun. I was truly hoping when they agreed they wouldn’t be friends any more that we’d be spared from their will they or won’t they game. It looks like we’re back to square one again.

As a football fan, I was confused by Turtle’s rude treatment of Brady. Maybe I missed something, but I never thought Giants fans had ill will towards the Patriots. I could understand if the Pats beat the Giants in the Super Bowl two seasons ago, but they didn’t. I could even understand if Turtle was a Jets fan, since they’re division rivals, but he’s not. So any Giants fans out there, if there really is some sort of hatred towards the Pats in your fan base that I don’t know about, please let me know. It was funny to see Turtle change his tune when Brady said he and Jamie-Lynn should come over to the house to have dinner with him and Gisele.

My only other question about this episode was why Ari was sleeping on the couch. The Gold house is huge. There has to be more than three bedrooms in it, right?

Alright, let’s move on to a better, more interesting episode, this past Sunday’s, “Murphy’s Lie.” Vince and Turtle took the back seat this week, but Eric and Drama had plenty going on to make up for it.

 I was happy to see, but at the same time surprised that E took the job offer from Murray. He kind of had a good thing going as Vince’s manager. He was able to come and go as he wanted and now he’ll have to report to an office eight hours a day. On the other hand, Murray made a good point, if Vince were to fire him again, he’d be making nothing. At least he has a little security now.

If only E’s love life was as steady as his career is right now. Ashley finally found out that he saw Sloan at the golf tournament and that she’s the one that helped him get his new job. I loved when she referred to him as smooth and E’s reply was nobody calls him smooth. That was the only thing I liked about this side story. I hope that was the last we saw of Ashley. I never warmed up to her character. I enjoyed watching E play the field anyway.

Before we get to my man Drama, I have to applaud Jami Gertz’ fantastic performance when she burst into the Miller Gold office looking for Andrew’s “whore.” It was amazing. As for Andrew and Lizzie, Ari probably should have stuck to his guns and firing them both. It was bizarre to see Lizzie being the adult in their relationship, while Andrew melted down. Usually it’s the married guy breaking things off while the younger gal gets upset. Kudos to the writers for turning the tables there. I’m curious to see if Ari will eventually have to truly let his friend go and then have to deal with Babs telling him she told him so.

The most entertaining moments of the evening came from Johnny. I thought it was great that he was looking after Turtle when he did everything he could from letting that slimy network executive get his hooks into Jamie-Lynn. As much as these guys bust each other’s chops, they do care about one another. I loved Drama’s hoodie and sunglasses get-up when he was watching Jamie-Lynn and Dan having lunch. I definitely didn’t expect Drama to put his hand around Dan’s neck when he started taunting him about Jamie. I hope it doesn’t cost him his job on the “Five Towns.”

And this recap wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention how funny it was watching Turtle drive to school in a $250,000 car and Vince kill time by making time with a couple of co-eds. Vince didn’t have a lot going on this week, but it was funny watching him try to talk to Drama while in bed with a girl and trying to take the video camera out of her hands. Oh the trouble these guys get into.

So, what did you think of the episodes? Will E survive the 9 to 5 lifestyle? Are Johnny’s days on his show numbered? Comment below!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

“Entourage” recap: “Running on E”

Wow.

They sure packed a lot into that half hour didn’t they? On this week’s episode of “Entourage,” We saw Vince’s movie get delayed three months, Drama test drive love interests for his show, E shut down the Murphy Group, Turtle go back-to-school shopping, Andrew leave his wife and a hilarious David Schwimmer cameo. I needed to catch my breath after the show was over. That is a rarity for a 30-mintue show; especially this 30-minute show.

There was some good stuff in this episode, but like most “Entourage” episodes, there were some less than stellar material too. Let’s get the less-than-stellar things out of the way.

I know every character can’t have a compelling storyline every week, but it didn’t get much lower or less interesting than watching Jamie-Lynn and Turtle go shopping for school clothes for him. Couldn’t we have just had Drama mock Turtle about Jamie-Lynn taking him shopping like he did in the beginning of the episode and then seen Turtle walking out of the mall with shopping bags when Drama asked him for his favor (more on that later)? The audience would get the point that he went shopping without having to actually sit through it. Although, I did like the Chuck Bass reference Turtle made about one of his outfits. I just wonder how many “Entourage” fans watch “Gossip Girl” and got that joke.

The only other thing I didn’t like about the episode was Ashley. I’m not sure what E really sees in her. Sure she’s cute, but she isn’t very nice (Did she honestly refer to E’s receptionist Jane as a “fossil”?) and I thought E enjoyed playing the field. Ashley just seems like a bizarre choice to close the field with.

Speaking of closing, I was surprised and disappointed that E gave up the Murphy Group. One of the things I was most looking forward to was watching E continue to build that business and work with other clients beside Vince. It looked like he was on the right path with Charlie and the “Nine Brave Souls”/”Smoke Jumpers” screenwriters Nick and LB. If feels like he’s back at square one again.

As for the things I did like, I grow more and more interested in the Andrew/Ari saga as the weeks go by. I think partly because when Ari wanted to buy Andrew’s company, Babs warned him that Andrew was a loser. When Ari gave Andrew the advice to think about his kids and how they wouldn’t want a liar for a dad, I didn’t think he’d take that it to mean leave his wife. That seemed like a rash decision. And what’s worse, Andrew’s decision looks like it’s left Ari in Mrs. Ari’s doghouse. I can’t imagine that’s a fun place to be.

Of course what led to Andrew’s decision was my second favorite part of the episode. The hilarious David Schwimmer cameo. It looks like the alleged chemistry Andrew saw between the former “Friends” star and the object of his affection, Lizzie was too much for him to handle. Anyway, I thought Schwimmer was great. His reactions to the horrific sit-com ideas he was being pitched were fantastic. I’m not sure which one I liked better, his reaction to the family boating show (…or I could shoot myself in the f**king face) or the “Neurosis” pitch (“Do you guys validate?”). I didn’t have high expectations when I heard he was going to be on the show, but I thought he nailed it.

And finally, I loved seeing Johnny Drama back at the forefront on Sunday. I got a kick out of watching him try to find a love interest for his show and how upset he got when he found out they were all models and not actresses (“They could be outperformed by lint.”). But what made Drama’s storyline my favorite was his scene with Ed Burns. I couldn’t believe he thought they could get Natalie Portman or Rachel McAdams to do one scene on an NBC drama. It was great to see Burns put Johnny in his place and tell him he was living in a dream world.

Luckily Drama was able to find a name actress to do the scene with him—Jamie-Lynn. I hope we get to see these two on set together. I think it would be a great dynamic for the show to see Turtle reacting to Johnny kissing his girlfriend, acting or no acting. Putting two of the guys at odds would be a fresh path for the show to take, but my guess is the writers won’t go there. I hope I’m wrong.

What did you think of the episode? Did you enjoy Vince discovering Facebook? Where do you think E will land up? Will Turtle really be OK with Drama locking lips with Jaime-Lynn? How long will Ari pay for Andrew’s sins? Comment below!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

“Entourage” recap: “One Car, Two Car, Red Car, Blue Car”

Now that’s more like it.

I thought this week’s episode of “Entourage” was the strongest of the three. Yes the Chase Brothers took a back seat this week, but E and Turtle’s storylines had more than enough substance to carry the episode.

Let’s start with Turtle. I thought it was pretty funny that it took Turtle until his 30th birthday to realize maybe riding Vince’s coattails is no way to go through life. I was thrilled to see his mom, she is hilarious. She needs to pop up at least once as season.

Like Drama and Vince, I couldn’t help but chuckle when Jamie-Lynn pulled up with her birthday gift to Turtle, a Porsche, just after Vince had gotten him a $240,000 Ferrari. It sounds crazy, but I could totally understand why Turtle was a little bummed by receiving two expensive cars for his birthday. They probably felt more like pity gifts. Especially when 50 Cent poked fun at him about driving his “daddy’s” car. I thought that was a hilarious cameo.

 Of course my favorite part of Turtle’s storyline was his scene with Ari. I don’t think these two have ever had a one-on-one scene like that before, so it was a treat. First off, I loved that when Ari saw Turtle, he immediately thought something had happened to Vince. I’m not sure I buy Ari putting his meeting on hold to give Turtle career advice, even if it was his birthday, but that’s OK. The scene was excellent and Ari gave Turtle the kick in the pants he needed. And that kick is taking him to UCLA’s to take business courses. It will be interesting to see if Turtle follows through with this school thing, that’s for sure.

As for my man, E, it was great to see him in the business mode this week. Watching him fret over Sloan the last two episodes was painful. I could have lived without his play date, Ashley (she stayed at his house until 3 p.m.??), but she did serve her purpose in putting doubt in E’s mind about his client, Charlie.

Unfortunately, the focus group felt the same way about Charlie that Ashley did and E’s client was fired from the show he created. That was a bummer, but it did lead to the best scene in the whole episode. I loved the hilarious advice Ari gave about how to handle Charlie’s firing, “I’m gonna call the NAACP, Rev. Al Sharpton and my man the ghost of Malcolm X.” But even better was E actually going through with it. How great was it to watch him burst into Amy’s office in his suit and tie and give it to her and top it off by saying that she was racist? I thought it was especially funny when she asked E if he really thought Charlie was the network’s next superstar and he answered yes with no certainty on his face at all.

And I can’t leave out the great conversation between E and Ari after the dust had settled. Their civil conversations are few and far between, so Ari telling E that he was proud of him for going for it was pretty cool. It was very father-son like. Who would have thought Ari would be the guiding force for Eric and Turtle in the same episode?

Overall, this was a good episode. I liked it more than the first two. I am looking forward to watching the guys get out from under the “Vincent Chase shadow” this season. Even if the cloud continues to get bigger.

So what did you think of the episode? Will E be able to find Charlie a new gig? Is Turtle actually going to go back to school? Comment below!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

“Entourage” recap: “Drive”/”Amongst Friends”

Hello Entourage fans! After a seven-month hiatus, our favorite fictional A-list movie star and his crew are back! I have to apologize in the delay of posting my recaps. There’s no excuse other than I hadn’t gotten around to doing them. Hopefully for the rest of the season, I’ll have my thoughts up on Monday after the episode, or Tuesday at the latest. Since I’m two weeks behind, let’s just jump into the Season Six Premiere, “Drive.”

I thought “Entourage” got off to a good start with the new season. Not great, but pretty good. Oddly enough, the best part of the episode didn’t include Vince and the boys. That honor goes to the “Lloyd demanding a promotion” storyline. It gave us a chance to see Lloyd go toe-to-toe with Ari and to see Ari’s family’s hilarious reaction when they thought Ari might be firing Lloyd. And of course there was the capper of Ari making him sit outside in front of his house for 3.5 hours. I thought that was pretty funny. I am not sure what Ari is going to put Lloyd through for these next 100 days, but I can’t wait to find out.

As for the rest of the episode, eh. I did get a kick out of how dated this episode was. First a big deal was made out of Ari’s pal Andrew signing “My Name is Earl” creator Greg Garcia now that the show has been canceled. And of course, there was the oddity of Vince promoting his new film, “Gatsby” on “The Tonight Show with JAY LENO” even though Conan has had the gig since June. They went even as far to throw in a joke that Vince would save his more risqué behavior for Conan’s show. I know this episode was filmed when Leno was still the host, but it had been long announced that Conan was going to take over. I just felt like they could have made some sort of adjustment.

But what I think made this episode good rather than great was the Sloan-E stuff. I love Sloan, but I thought way too much time was dedicated to their subplot. I’d much rather watch E run the Murphy Group and deal with his clients. He and Sloan house hunting wasn’t a very good use of the half hour.

That storyline aside, the premiere was good, and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the season goes. Before I move on to the next episode, I guess it’s worth it to mention I loved that Vince was able to get his driver’s license by bribing his test administrator with premiere tickets. Only in Hollywood…

OK, on to episode two: “Amongst Friends” was on the same level as the season premiere: it was pretty good, but not great and my favorite storyline again didn’t involve the “Entourage.” I enjoyed watching Ari trying to convince Andrew that messing around with junior agent, Lizzie was a bad idea. Ari picking up what was going on during that meeting with the show runners was fantastic. And the follow up at the “Gatsby” premiere was even better. Like Ari told Lloyd in “The WeHo Ho” episode in Season Four, he loves liars, but he hates cheaters. I am very interested to see how this plays out.

My second favorite part of the episode was the red carpet scene. It was so well done, and I loved the use of Paul McCartney’s “Dance Tonight.” Jamie-Lynn introducing Turtle to the world as her boyfriend was great too. Although, I’m with Drama; I can’t believe he wore sneakers. Speaking of Drama, his date Kelly was a trip. The guys’ reaction to her, “The more the merrier” line was excellent. The look on Drama’s face was especially good. What was so funny about that was how sweet and innocent she seemed when the guys picked up their suits at the store.

Anyway, it is great to see Vince back at the top of his game. My favorite line came from Ari, “Let’s go re-introduce you to the world.” Here’s hoping he can avoid another career disaster; I know Ari’s good, but I don’t know if he could pull Vince out of the abyss twice.

Once again, the only thing that didn’t work for me was the Sloan and E storyline. It killed the momentum of the episode. At least last week, it was just the two of them dragging down the episode, but this time they added another lady (Ashley) to form a triangle, and it really didn’t make things more interesting in my opinion. I’m hoping Sloan and E’s decision to not be friends for a while will give us a break from their non-relationship woes. I say let E worry about his company and play the field.

To end on a positive note, I will say that I enjoyed Turtle’s obsession over how Seth Rogen was able to land Katherine Heigl in “Knocked Up.” I can’t help but wonder if his insecurities about his dating Jamie-Lynn are hidden in those wisecracks. So, what did you think? Is “Entourage” off to a good start? Are you happy that the show is more upbeat than last season? Comment below!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

Entourage Recap: “Return to Queens Blvd.”

Last night, we saw our favorite fictional movie star and his devoted crew wrap up the fifth season of “Entourage.” Fortunately for the boys, this season ended on a much, much happier note than Season Four. Vince finally bounced back with a lead role in a Martin Scorsese film, Eric has a promising talent management career ahead of him outside of Team Vince, Johnny is now the proud co-owner a bar with his name on it and Turtle has the love of the beautiful Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Not a bad way to close out what was an emotional roller coaster ride of a season.

 

Overall, I liked last night’s episode. However, I did have a beef with a couple of the stories. For starters, I felt it would have been much more interesting if Vince had fired Eric for more than a day. I think it would have been a great wrinkle at the start of next season to see these two working on their own for awhile. Tell me it wouldn’t have been a wonderful draw-dropping season ender if the final scene of the episode was Vince telling E it was time to make a change and E telling Vince, “eff you,” and they go their separate ways. Instead, they went with a happier, more conventional route, which was fine. I just would have liked it if the writers took a chance.

 

My second beef isn’t as much of a complaint as it is a question. I cheered when Scorsese offered Vince a role in his next film. I couldn’t help but think where does the show go from here? I’m not too worried about it because “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin says he’s got a few more years of material in reserve, so there’s definitely a plan in place. I just felt that Vince getting such a plum role would have been a great way to end the series. I mean, how much further can his star rise after being in a Scorsese movie? What other challenges will he face from this point? The show won’t be interesting if Vince is just on a successful career path for the rest of the series. But, I trust Ellin and Co., and I’m sure there will be other obstacles along the way for Mr. Chase.

 

My only other gripe with last night’s show is how the Scorsese scene played out. If felt like a carbon copy of the scene in “The Sundance Kids” episode when James Cameron offered Vince the title role in “Aquaman.” Lloyd had the Academy Award winning (it’s great to be able to finally put Scorsese in that category!) on hold until Vince was be able to be connected, and then each director gave him the good news. I won’t complain about this too much because it was a happy moment, but I couldn’t help but think, “Haven’t we seen this before?”

 

OK, enough complaining. Despite those couple of flaws, I did like the episode. It was great to see the boys back in their native Queens. Especially because it was so much fun to see Vince and Johnny and Turtle’s mothers treating them like they were kids. Turtle’s mom was fantastic. I was rolling when she broke up Turtle and Jamie-Lynn’s phone session. It was also great to see Johnny’s name in bright lights at his new bar. It made up for the “Welcome Home” sign that had Vince listed as an international movie star and Drama’s name in much smaller letters as a TV star.

 

My favorite scene was the showdown between Vince and Eric in the street after Vince was turned down for an audition for the Gus Van Sant movie. It was similar to their face off at the end of the Season One finale, “New York,” but this one was much more intense. I felt Vince was pretty unfair to Eric (thankfully he eventually saw the error in his ways and re-hired E) when he said he was in the spot he was in was because of everything Eric suggested since he became his manager. Especially when, in my opinion, Vince was in a bad spot because he got himself fired from the “Aquaman” franchise. Everything spiraled out of control from there. But, thanks to Eric’s good management, Vince got a (great) job, and all was well again.

 

So, Vince is back on top, and we’ll have to wait until next summer to see if he’ll be able to stay there this time. What did you think of this season finale? Where do you think the show will go from here?