Entourage Review: Shear Madness

Remember when Ari and Vince broke up, and both were down and out? Boy, have times changed.  Not only is Vince riding high, but the rest of the guys (except Drama) are doing pretty well in their own right.  I’m glad, because it makes for much better television.

Ari’s new agency is easily the biggest in town, and he is in a unique position to become one of the most powerful figures in entertainment.  Sunday’s episode was all about Ari attempting to negotiate with Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones and the NFL to sell the NFL’s television rights.  Jones himself actually had a lengthy cameo in the episode, which was cool.  Although he couldn’t negotiate the original deal that Ari was looking for, Ari’s tenacity impressed Jones enough that he offers him the chance to own an NFL team if they can return a franchise to Los Angeles.

You may recall Lizzie, an agent in the television division who used to work under Ari’s friend Andrew.  That is, until the two began an affair that quickly spiraled out of control, leaving Ari’s buddy dazed and divorced.  She’s a great agent and Andrew had a meltdown; so he left and she stayed.  Ari let her sit in on the meeting with Jerry Jones, and happily informs her about his offer to own a team.  In his exuberance he thanks her for her help, giving her a hug and a little spin.  While he’s doing this “Mrs. Ari” walks in, and he’s got some ‘splaining to do.  His wife knows that Lizzie played a part in the destruction of a friend’s marriage, and here Ari is with his arms around the homewrecker.  Ari frequently has to mend fences with the Missus, but this is a little different.  He clears his schedule for the remainder of the day so he can take care of his problems at home.

Speaking of problems, there is the issue of Vince’s head.  One of the biggest criticisms I have of Vince as a character is that he doesn’t always appreciate the consequences of his actions.  This means that he’ll foolishly stand on principle, and also that he will act rashly from time to time.  From running off to the desert last year to agreeing to the car stunt in Cassavetes’ new movie: Vince pretty much does whatever Vince wants to do.  In this episode we first see Vince awaking from a long slumber ahead of an interview with Entertainment Tonight for the Ferrari movie.  Vince insists on getting a haircut before the interview, but he doesn’t have time to see his usual stylist.  He impulsively decides to cut it himself, and he looks vastly different.  I think it was a mistake to cut those trademark long locks, but everyone on his team gasses him up about the new look.  The interview with Maria Menounos goes well until Vince jokes that the Cassavetes movie that he just wrapped will probably suck.  Now Eric and Shauna are left trying to do damage control.

This is the backdrop of Ari’s day; putting out one fire after another.  When Cassavetes calls him up in an irate mood, he assumes it’s about the interview.  Nope. Vince didn’t check with his director before lopping off his hair, and he has ruined the possibility of re-shooting certain scenes from the movie they just wrapped.  Vince does what Vince wants to do, which is also why he ends up sky diving with Eric’s annoying, ball-breaking colleague Scott.

Turtle and Drama also have interesting days, with Turtle trying to figure out a $10,000 charge on his company credit card and Drama still hunting for the perfect script.  Eric agrees to manage him and floats the idea of building a show around Drama rather than continuing to read script after script.

Vince just got his career back on track.  Will his flub come back to bite him?  Has he jeopardized his heartthrob status with the new haircut? I can’t wait to find out.  So far this season is off to an awesome start.

Season 7, Episode 2: Buzzed (originally aired July 11, 2010)

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Sundays at 10:30pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro