Entourage 72: Murphy’s Lie Review

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Finally a regular routine allows me to pop in and drop a little knowledge on Entourage this week.  I may be playing a bit of catch up here, so previous episodes are not off the table for this review.  From the HBO site:

Eric considers the management-company offer while trying to patch things up with Ashley after a Freudian slip. Ari finally gets Mrs. Ari to forgive him at home, but an appearance by Mrs. Klein tests his resolve at work. Drama tries to protect Jamie-Lynn from a disreputable network executive.

The fact that Eric called his current girlfriend, Ashley, his ex-girlfriends name, Sloan, seemed way too forced for me.  It was like they were telling the audience, “Hey we need to get Ashley out of here and bring back Sloan because she is a better story line, so let us just come up with some stupid way to break them apart.”  Even the guys said it during the episode: “How do you do that if you are not in bed with the chick?”  In reality the whole scene where it happens is really badly acted by Kevin Connolly, but given the scene he is working with, who can blame him?

The second part of what is going on with Eric is a bit more entertaining with his introduction to Murray Beranson (George Segal) and the offer to join his management group.  Eric has a choice to either stay with just Vince and make a bit more money or join Murray and make a bit less money off of Vin, but the opportunity to not have to rely on Vin so much either.  This season has been about everyone trying to get out of Vince’s shadow and this would be a big step for Eric.  I like the conflict that this could create for the boys, I just do not see it as a permanent situation for Eric.  At this point he still has to take the offer letter home. Who knows what might happen after he tells everyone.  We know Sloan is trying to change Eric to become a bit more independent of the gang, but will she end up pushing too far?  While my wife is not real thrilled with the Ashley character, I will be a little upset to see her go.  I thought she played a good Eric Murphy girlfriend.

Vince, once again I might add, is really nothing more than a piece of scenery in this episode.  The writers have to be careful to remember what made Entourage the juggernaut that it is, and that is Vincent Chase.  I do like how they brought Vince to the college campus this week, but unless something happens with him, they are going to lose some of the steam they have built up in previous seasons.  It would have been interesting if a Vince sex tape made it out in the world, though.  Maybe we would get to see a bit more Shauna if that happened.

Speaking of college, the reason that Vince is there is because of Turtle.  Like Eric, Turtle is another character that is gaining a larger role in the season and I am still unsure if I like it or not.  Turtle works best in the show when he is around the gang and is used as the zinger guy.  I am not sold on this larger role, but it could be a good way for the writers to bring in some new characters, it just seems like the guys are past that college life, as they have a much richer and exciting life as is.  A bit of a step backwards in the scheme of things.  His roll with Jamie-Lynn was actually just watching her act (kiss) Drama and then the fun really started.

Drama is one thing, and that is loyal.  After making out with Turtle’s girlfriend, and using his tongue like a forceful snake, he realizes that the womanizing network executive is trying to make Jamie-Lynn one of his conquests.  Now the great part about all of this is we really do not get to much insight on what really is going on with the exec and Jamie which makes it even better.  Drama though, goes overboard and does a neck grab on the exec, probably ending his career on the television show he is on.  For Drama though, he would rather that, than have to live with the fact that he let Turtle’s girl sleep with the exec.  At some point we know that Jamie-Lynn is going to be on another show (in real life) and probably end her time on Entourage, but the fun part will be to see how it happens.  With the way Drama is acting, it could turn out to be an action packed exit.  Drama really carried this episode all by himself, and while I liked that, he can not do it every week.  His character is too quirky and crazy for that to happen.  Kevin Dillon was on fire again with his acting, and the writers consistency with Drama has also been on point.

Let us not forget about Ari and his problems.  Ari is dealing with the whole Andrew Klein situation, and I have stated previously I really do not like the character, or the actor (Gary Cole).  The woman he was sleeping with, well that character is worthy of note, may make Ari rethink a bunch of things before the season is over.  Hopefully she sticks around and we can lose the Klein character.  Mrs. Klein in her ranting and raving was a bit much. Yes, I know she was upset, but unless she was drunk or on drugs, I just do not see her characters going off the deep end like that in a public (semi-public) place.  Let the Klein characters both go and let us move on.  Ari and his wife, well they seemed to have patched things up without too much of a mess, and life moves on for them.  I thought we would see a lot more Ari and Lloyd interaction in these past few episodes, and it is quite disappointing that we have not.

The episode was so-so overall, and hopefully the comedy is a little stronger as we wind down this season.  At least we do not have to worry about it being renewed though.  Comforting thoughts.

2 Comments

1. 

   jason warner

   August 17, 2009 at 11:24 am

   Great review of the episode. I enjoyed last week’s episode but that this one was very weak especially the Eric/Ashley thing. I was curious on why Ari was sleeping on the couch. Ari is pretty wealthy and I winder why he doesn’t just sleep in the guest room. He definetely has one as we saw when his old fraternity brother stayed over? What gives?

   Reply
2. 

   Damon Cap

   August 17, 2009 at 11:36 am

   Yeah in a house like that, I think the writers were trying to make a point of showing how he was out of the master bedroom. If we had seen him in another bedroom people may have gotten confused, it is not like we see a lot of their bedroom. At least that is my take.

   Thanks, yeah last week was a bit stronger.

   Reply