Entourage: Pie

Sunday’s episode continued Vince and Ari’s recent character development.  Vince has shown humility in playing the industry game, and Ari has shown that his greatest driving force isn’t money or power, but rather loyalty.  The episode starts with Vince on a movie set for the first time in over a year.  His Smokejumpers co-star is Jason Patric, played by none other than Jason Patric.

I respect the stars that make cameos on Entourage, because it requires a certain degree of self-deprecation.  Jason Patric seems like a jerk, which is ironically a testament to his acting skills – because I assume he’s not as big of a tool in real life.  He basically steals Vince’s lines, which is a big deal considering that Vince is already working with less dialogue than usual.  He was forced to take a supporting role in Smokejumpers and is focused on turning in a great comeback performance.  He can’t do this if Jason is stealing his lines.  After failing to successfully confront him about it, Vince takes the issue up with the director, who sides with Jason.  The director says he has to acquiesce to Jason for the greater good of the movie.  What?  Since when does a director have to kiss the ass of Jason Patric?  I mean the guy is a good actor, but he hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire lately.  Vince finally calls Jason out on his behavior when he commits the ultimate infraction: stealing Turtle’s pie!  This is when Vince learns that the director instructed Jason to read Vince’s lines.  That baffles me, and I can’t wait to see what happens next week.

While Vince deals with pre-film jitters, Ari has stress of a different sort.  His old buddy Andrew Klein wants to borrow some money.  They came up through the ranks together, but their paths diverged when their old agency disbanded.  Ari has gone on to be rich and successful, and Andy has lived in relative anonymity ever since.  He’s managed to carve out a respectable living in television, but Ari wants to help him get his swag back.  Rather than give Andy a loan, Ari offers to buy his company and to put him on at Miller Gold.  I liked this aspect of Sunday’s storyline, because Ari demonstrated a rare benevolence.  He’s actually a layered character and is just as integral to the show as Vince.  This season gets better and better with each episode.

Season 5, Episode 9: Pie (originally aired November 2, 2008)

For another take on this episode, check out by Old Friends, New Enemies by Paul Secrest.

For more on Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on HBO
Photographs courtesy of HBO