Entourage Review: That’s All?

After eight years it all comes down to this. This week we say goodbye to the boys (and girls) of Los Angeles in the Entourage series finale, which manages to wrap up all loose ends while still tossing out a frustrating tease for the inevitable big screen follow-up.

After finally landing a date with journalist Sophia (guest star Alice Eve) last week, Vince (Adrian Grenier) returns from 24 hours of bliss with her, having made up his mind it’s time to get married in Paris immediately. Newly-minted millionaire Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) are completely on board and take off for Sloan’s (Emmanuelle Chriqui) house to convince her to join them, hoping it’ll give her a push to reunite with Eric (Kevin Connolly).

For his part, Eric’s decided to follow Sloan to New York, leaving behind the business he’s built to try to be as big a part of his child’s life as possible. Vince tells him about the wedding and, of course, Eric wouldn’t miss it. Vince also makes a call to Sloan’s father Terrance (guest star Malcolm McDowell), hoping to smooth things over for E, which might have gone well had Terrance actually known he was about to become a grandfather. Terrance ultimately threatens Eric over the phone afterward. Meanwhile, Ari (Jeremy Piven) has finally come to terms with what he needs to do to get his wife back.

After listening to a demo CD his daughter passed along, he turns down Barbara’s (Beverly D’Angelo) offer to loan him the money needed to complete the divorce, and instead wants to leave his job. Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) takes him back and the two agree to move to Italy and live a relaxing lifestyle together. Ari even gives Lloyd (Rex Lee) one last pep talk before boarding the plane for Vince’s wedding. Vince comes through with Sloan, after a hefty apology, and convinces her to meet Eric for a separate flight that will take them anywhere they want to go.

Honestly, Entourage, that’s all? I am glad Doug Ellin and co. managed to wrap up most loose ends, but I’m not sure which storyline was ultimately the most ridiculous. Sloan spends the entire episode obsessing over whether or not Eric had sex with Melinda Clark…and then is just over it? I suppose I can’t be sure where they ended up, but that’s how it plays. But what about Terrance? And Melinda? And poor Scotty (Scott Caan) just hanging around waiting to know if his business partner is leaving him? And Vince…a wedding? After one date, with a woman who took 4 episodes to even take you up on a dinner offer? It almost all happens too suddenly in these last 20 minutes for me as a viewer to be able to process it.

What I find the most upsetting is the last second scene during the end credits, which if you missed, go get your HBO OnDemand fired up now. Ari and his wife have reconciled and are living the dream abroad when he gets a call with an offer to run not just a studio, but the whole conglomerate. He lies to his wife about who was on the phone, and is given a week to accept or decline. After all the work he did this season to save his marriage, it’s not even undone in a week…just over the span of the credits?

I firmly believe there are two right ways to go with TV series finales. If you go the first way, a la Six Feet Under, you let us know ultimately what’s going to happen to everyone, leaving little to no room for ambiguity. Route two leaves things more open, like Friends or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where no lingering questions remain, but room for the audience to imagine future adventures exists. Entourage ultimately did neither with a season that seemed like one giant pitch for a movie we all knew is coming.

For another take on this week’s episode check out “The End of An Era” by Tanya Lane.

Season 8, Episode 8 “The End” (original airdate September 11, 2011)

Images courtesy of HBO.