One of the greatest things about Entourage’s glory days were moments when the guys could debate their lives and the human condition from the obscenely privileged position of a Hollywood A Lister’s flying carpet.
All of my thoughts about Entourage this season still stand, but I will say that this episode showed the most promise and momentum of the season. That is to say it felt a little more like the Entourage of old.
While it wasn’t necessarily a hilarious half hour, it was fun and loose and had a number of enjoyable moments, whereas the more “serious” elements of Vince (Adrian Grenier) going off the “reservation” and out of his mind, or Scott (Scott Caan) stealing Vince from E (Kevin Connolly) were on the backburner for the time being. While it’s obviously not for everyone, I was particularly charmed by an early scene where the boys debate the merits of, uh, a certain one-time taboo activity with the ladies (Drama, played by Kevin Dillon, ranks his favorite holes, if that gives a clue). As I mentioned in previous reviews, one of the greatest things about Entourage’s glory days were moments when the guys could debate their lives and the human condition from the obscenely privileged position of a Hollywood A Lister’s flying carpet.
It’s an aspirational fantasy for guys in that sense alone in terms of both an extension of a post-collegiate lifestyle intermixed with heaps of cash, gorgeous backdrops, and no end of beautiful people at that. But really it plays into the idealized notion of taking your best friends into the best possible life situation one could imagine and extending it into infinity. That’s a nice notion – even if it’s not cool to admit it (even to those same buddies) – and Entourage at its best expertly tapped into that.
And by episode’s end, there was a nice amount of plot points that were packed in as well, helped by a bevy of guest stars that included Mike Tyson (building on the enormous success of The Hangover), Jessica Simpson, Stan Lee, and Aaron Sorkin (caught in the ongoing war between Ari Gold and vengeance-seeking ex-employee Lizzie) as well as Bob Saget (who never fails to be funny on the show). It was particularly odd and fascinating to see relatively highbrow Sorkin telling Ari (Jeremy Piven) that he didn’t need help from him in getting laid, and then taking Simpson out for lunch.
Even though Turtle’s (Jerry Ferrara) storyline has been pretty dull thus far this season, I enjoyed seeing Vince and his new porn star-turned-legit actress girlfriend Sasha Grey get behind his tequila promotion efforts. However, rumblings about Vince acting “off” in his meeting with Stan Lee (his recognition of Grey from her “work” was one of the best moments of the episode) and an aside about his taking a Vicodin for his back injury perhaps portend a return to season’s form next week.
From Around the Web: Entourage, “Bottoms Up”
- Speakeasy: There are a number of ways for a movie star to self destruct, but on this week’s episode of Entourage, Vince goes the Charlie Sheen route: he dates a porn star. His new lady friend is Sasha Grey, who crossed over to mainstream roles with Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” but is more famous for appearances in such classics as Throat: a Cautionary Tale.
- Ology: In closing, I declare this the best episode of Entourage I’ve seen in years. Kudos to writer Ally Musika… but here’s the thing. I want to have high hopes for the rest of the season, but Ally has been working on Entourage for six years now, making her partially responsible for that extended dearth of humor and genuine emotion too. Hmm. Ally, if you’re reading this, and I know you’re not, MORE LIKE THIS ONE PLEASE. Please?
Some stats and info about Entourage, “Bottoms Up”
TV SHOW – Entourage
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 7, Episode 5
AIRED ON – August 1st, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – HBO/MAX
GENRE – Comedy, Relationship Shows
CREATED BY – Doug Ellin
CAST – Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Rex Lee, Perrey Reeves, Debi Mazar, Emmanuelle Chiriqui
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.