Episode Title: "Buzzed"
Writer: Ally Musika
Director: Tucker Gates
Previously on "Entourage":
Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) was in the middle of shooting an action movie, when his director, Nick Cassavetes (playing himself) asked him to perform a dangerous driving stunt. Vince then asked his manager/best friend Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly) and super agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) to help him get out of it without making him look bad in front of Cassavetes .
Meanwhile, Turtle's (Jerry Ferrara) new driving service was hampered by an inept driver named Alex (Dania Ramirez), who quit when Turtle finally hit on her. Vince's brother Johnny "Drama" (Kevin Dillon) had his own problems while trying to find a TV series to star in before his deal with the network expired. Vince also felt constant pressure from Cassavetes and seemed hurt that none of his friends believed that he could do the stunt. Feeling defiant, Vince agreed to do it.
On the day of the stunt, something went wrong with the car and it crashed on the set. Vince emerged without any injuries and seemed to welcome another chance to put himself in danger.
Story:
Following his near-injury experience, Vince seems restless and decides to get rid of his famous haircut. He also inadvertently disses his new movie during an interview with Maria Menounos. His publicist Shauna (Debi Mazar) freaks out and enlists Eric and Ari's help in defusing the situation. Meanwhile, Ari is distracted by the impending arrival of Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, who agrees to meet with Ari about the renewal of the NFL TV rights.
Elsewhere, Turtle discovers that his company credit card has a $10,000 charge on it, leading to an embarrassing moment in front of Drama and Eric. He learns that the charge came from Tiffany's and he initially blames and confronts Alex over it. He is later humiliated again when he discovers that Tiffany's made a mistake and Alex dismisses him coldly.
Ari reluctantly enlists the help of junior agent Lizzie Grant (Autumn Reeser), who impresses both Jones and Ari with her football knowledge. While Jones later tells Ari that the NFL will continue to negotiate the TV rights internally, Jones offers to give him a potential chance to become the owner of a new NFL expansion team in LA. Ari's impromptu celebration with Lizzie also lands him in hot water with Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves).
Eric and Vince agree to read through scripts to help Drama find a project. Bored from the tediousness of the task at hand, Eric's co-worker Scott (Scott Caan) talks Vince into leaving the office to go sky-diving with him. Ari then receives a phone call from Cassavetes, who is furious that Vince cut his hair before checking to see if reshoots were needed for his new film. While on a three-way call with Eric and Ari, Vince essentially blows them off to jump out of an airplane.
Breakdown:
The thing that most people tend to forget about "Entourage" is that it's a comedy that isn't necessarily funny all of the time.
This episode in particular was fairly light on actual humor. Unsurprisingly, Ari Gold dominated the narrative again. The NFL storyline is interesting and Ari's pursuit of a team in LA would be fun to watch. But I highly doubt that he'd finally get a team back in Los Angeles. More likely, I can see Ari's new super agent status ultimately costing him his marriage. Ari literally owes "Mrs. Ari" everything, but he especially owes her for keeping him afloat when he lost his job back in seasons 2 and 3. At some point, I think she's going to call him out on not spending any more time with his family.
Weirdly enough, this season has been especially light on story material for Eric, who is basically the main character of the series. There's definitely comedic potential for Eric as Drama's new manager, but seeing Drama in a constant state of panic is getting pretty old.
Turtle's storyline isn't really working either. Dania Ramirez just doesn't play off Jerry Ferrara with any kind of convincing spark. And she definitely makes me appreciate what Jamie-Lynn Sigler brought to the show last year.
Earlier this week, someone said "Vince decides to add hair to the list of things he’s short on, like brains and an actual personality," which was a lot funnier than anything that was in the actual episode. It's also true: Vince is the ultimate cipher. He hasn't shown any real personality since the second season, so his new found thirst for excitement is already wearing thin. If it gives us some classic freakouts by Ari and Eric, I may change my mind. However, it definitely feels like they're running out of stories here.
But seeing as this is most likely the beginning of the end of the series, I'll stick around. And I'll let everyone know when "Entourage" starts being funny again.
Crave Online Rating: 7 out of 10.
