Episode Title: “Motherf***er”
Writer: Ally Musika
Director: David Nutter
Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly) is generally the most level-headed character on “Entourage.” But on last night’s episode, E may have finally made one of the biggest mistakes in his life.
A few episodes back, Eric had what seemed to be his definitive breakup with Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) when she moved to New York. The initial disintegration of their relationship came when her father, Terrence (Malcolm McDowell) insisted that Eric sign a prenuptial agreement before marrying her. It was apparently a lesson that Terrence learned during his divorce from Melinda Clarke.
So when Melinda Clarke shows up at Eric’s agency looking for representation, he’s at least smart enough to realize that it could eventually cause problems for him if he ever wanted Sloan back in his life. But he takes her on as a client anyway and he slowly gets drunk with her at a bar. Soon enough, they’ve just had sex when Sloan calls to complain that Melinda was using Eric to get back at her father. I’ve never really appreciated Clarke’s comedic performances before, but her facial expressions were hilarious as Eric realized what he had done.
The reunion of Eric and Sloan seemed like a good note to end this series on, but it’s hard to see how the writers will be able to get them back together after this. What would Sloan have to do to even the score, sleep with Turtle (Jerry Ferrara)?
After peeing his way out of trouble last week, Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) has an unusually revealing interview with Sophia Lear (Alice Eve), a writer from Vanity Fair. Sophia is initially put off by Vince’s continuous attempts to flirt with her. But when Vince gets a second chance for a more serious interview, he actually unloads about how he feels about his absentee father, his ex-girlfriend Sasha Grey and life in Hollywood. If he’s being sincere, it’s the most depth that Vince has shown in a while. And yet, Sophia still won’t give in to his advances; which makes him want her even more.
Vince’s agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) has even less success on the romantic front. After Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) drops her kids off at the office for a trip to Disneyland, Ari inevitably lets them down by getting stuck at the office for the entire day. The kids also meet Ari’s ex (and current studio head), Dana Gordon (Constance Zimmer); who is mortified that Ari’s children know who she is and that their mother hates her. It’s tough to argue with Mrs. Ari when it comes to Ari’s love for his job being greater than his love for his family. But she’s clearly been planning the divorce for a while and this just gave her the excuse to finally pull the trigger.
Although it would have been hilarious to see Ari Gold spend a day at Disneyland with his kids and yell at the performers in Disney character costumes, the way it played out was completely believable for Ari. It’s nothing that he hasn’t done for years and his family is wise to his act. Even his young son tells Ari to quit before he makes more promises that he can’t keep. I don’t believe that Ari doesn’t care for his family. He clearly does, but he just doesn’t know how to give them priority over everything else. The qualities that made him a great agent have turned him into a terrible husband and father.
The one bright spot in Ari’s life is Dana Gordon, who is still willing to spend time with him romantically despite everything that’s passed between them. If the show concludes with Ari and Dana together, it wouldn’t be an entirely unhappy ending for him. But I doubt that’s what Ari really wants.
Johnny Drama’s (Kevin Dillon) Andrew Dice Clay storyline continues to drag the rest of the show down with his “Johnny’s Bananas” bullsh**. If the joke behind the scenes of this series is that “Johnny’s Bananas” is intentionally being badly written and still propped up as a surefire success, then mission accomplished. But Andrew Dice Clay has officially worn out his welcome on this show. He’s just not funny acting as himself. And his holdout for more money from an animated series that nobody has ever seen is not sympathetic. Drama at least makes a noble gesture to try to get Clay back on the show, but his decision to walk out with Clay shouldn’t work. If anything, the studio should get an imitation Drama in the studio to play his part.
This was a pretty decent episode of “Entourage,” but it didn’t feel like it belonged in the last batch of episodes. Aside from Ari, there’s no sense that any of these characters are heading for a major turning point in their lives. This doesn’t feel like a bridge to closure. Instead, it seems like the series is marking time before the end of the series when it should be giving us a strong jumping off point.
Crave Online Rating: 7 out of 10.
