Entourage: Drive

Entourage’s appeal is quite simple. I think we all have a curiosity to see how the “other half” lives, and Entourage taps into the fantasy of a charmed life.  Particularly for male viewers, the show’s characters mirror the dynamics found in their own friendships.  For female viewers, well there’s Vince’s perfect hair and puppy dog eyes, not to mention Ari, if assholes are more your thing.  Anyway, in an effort to broaden Vince’s character, the writers allowed him to fall on uncharacteristically hard times last season.  Some viewers longed for a return to the good ol’ days when Vince was sleeping with groupies and the gang engaged in various debaucheries.  I for one had grown tired of the unrealistic way everything seemed to fall in Vince’s lap, and I didn’t mind seeing him struggle for a change.  However, eventually the show would lose its initial appeal if Vince were allowed to languish for too long.  We’ve watched the fall, and now we are ready to watch Vince emerge from his troubles in Victory! (Shout out to Johnny Drama).

When we last left Boy Wonder he was back in Queens, having to return home after things went cold in L.A.  Door after door was slammed in Vince’s face until Marty Scorsese threw him a life saver, resurrecting his once-promising career by offering him a career-defining starring role in Gatsby, the film adaptation of the Fitzgerald’s classic.  I mean, hell this is the second time I’ve wished Vinnie Chase were a real actor so I could see one of these fictional movies.  I wished I could have seen Queen’s Boulevard and Medillen, and of course the idea of Vince teaming up with Scorsese is perfect. I’m sure by season’s end they’ll have Vince winning an Oscar. If you’re a loyal follower of the show, you know that when Vince is happy everyone is happy.  This means Ari is loving life and Drama, Turtle, and E are feeling great.  They all rallied around Vince during the hard times, and will reap the benefits when he’s back on top.

Eric appears to be doing just that, having had more sex in the past month then ever.  It looks like Sloan might even be back in the picture, as she oddly presses Eric to finally move out of Vince’s place and sublet from a friend.  Eric eventually decides to move out on his own, and he’s not the only one growing up and making long overdue moves.  Vince finally gets his driver’s license in preparation for a movie role.  Not everyone is pleased though. Lloyd would like a promotion, and Ari is reluctant to address the issue.  After being persuaded to give him a shot by Andy, he agrees to give Lloyd a chance, if he can survive a hazing, 100 day bootcamp of sorts.

The season premiere was far from memorable, only because it takes about one episode to lay the groundwork of re-introducing the characters and their current situations.  Now that it’s been established that Vince is back on the rise, I expect the next few episodes to be awesome.  I wish we could have seen a glimpse of Vince filming Gatsby, but I guess the writers just wanted to skip to the end result.  I’m so glad my favorite show is back!

Season 6, Episode 1: Drive (originaly aired July 12th 2009)

For more on “Drive”, read Let’s All Take Some “E” by Renata Sellitti here.

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on HBO