Entourage: Dog Day Afternoon

(S03E14) "We may be whores at my agency, but we ain't pimps." -Ari
This wasn't exactly the best Entourage episode, especially after how much I enjoyed last week's mid-season premiere. However, I still really liked this one a lot for some different reasons. The whole "break-up" between Vince and Ari has really done wonders for the show and while it was a little rough this week, I really like the direction it's headed. If you think about it, the entire series to date has been about the client/agent relationship between Vince and Ari. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this may have been the first episode where the two of them didn't talk even once.

That's a good thing though because it's forced the writers to develop the show in areas that in the past have only been briefly touched upon. Now they can get expanded.

The entire dynamic between Ari and Lloyd is what made the show for me. Those two play off each other so well and everything that happens between them is loaded. I love that we got a whole episode devoted to it. While it was random to see Will Sasso as Hollywood's "gayest screenwriter," the way the story ended was great. You want to talk about devotion? Simply put? Ari actually gives a crap. It isn't always about signing the client and we don't always see that side with him. For Ari to trek through that giant gay rave (all I could think of was the steel worker's mill from that Simpson's episode where John Waters guest starred) and get Lloyd out of there? Certainly not what you would have expected.

I was disappointed that Amanda only had a brief scene in the episode. I really like what she brought to the table last week. But with the way things are progressing, I doubt very much she'll be maintaining Vince as a client much longer.

As far as Drama and Turtle go? Nothing new there really. They were trying to get laid. That's a pretty standard story for them at this point.

Who's not getting laid? Eric. For the first time, we finally have some real conflict between him and Sloane. It's about time too since they're the only couple on the show. Ironic though, that it's Vince's big mouth that ended up putting E in the dog house. The question is, was Sloane actually uncomfortable on all these past dates with Vince's random hook-ups? I'm starting to think she wasn't (she never verified it) and that Eric was just kind of making it all up to try and free himself from Vince. What was with Sloane's little smirk at the end though? I suppose you could interpret that as her being happy to finally get a weekend alone with her boyfriend. So maybe things aren't as rocky.

So at this point, I almost feel like we need to start a pool. How many episodes before Vince ends up with Ari again? It's going to happen, but I'm thinking not until season four. Once Amanda drops him, I want to see how Vince functions completely on his own. So based on what this may be setting up, I'll give this episode a 5.