(S06E06) "Listen, from here on, I swear, if one of my friends so much as jerks off, you're gonna be the first to know." - Ari

I don't want this review to come off sounding like I'm annoyed with how this season of Entourage has gone (so far, it's already better than last season and I loved this episode), but I really don't see what direction it's headed in.

Going into this season, there was a lot of speculation that landing a role in Marty Scorsese's latest flick would finally nab Vince the attention, and Oscar, he's been longing for. After the premiere, where all we heard was how amazing Gatsby was, there hasn't been a single mention of that plot. Instead we're getting a lot of smaller mini-arcs that just don't seem to tie together.

Of course, this is the direct result of something that I, along with many other fans, have been lobbying for - seeing some serious character development. The only problem was that up until this season, everyone else sat stagnant and ate, slept, and breathed all things Vince. Vinny was the glue that created that continuity and with him essentially being relegated to the sidelines now, everyone else is off fighting for their own piece and it feels very segmented.

I have hope that it can still tie together, but it's looking grim right now. Drama is gung-ho for Five Towns in a big way (more than we've ever seen before), Eric is working for Murray now, and Turtle is going to be sitting in lecture halls four days a week. Granted, the addition of Jamie-Lynn Sigler to the guest cast for Five Towns has kept a connection between Drama and Turtle alive (I will feel horrible for Turtle if that network exec Coakley does end up screwing Jamie-Lynn), but Eric is so far removed from everything else right now, that his scenes feel like we're watching a show within a show.

A few more thoughts on "Murphy's Lie" --

• What's the consensus with Ashley? Do we even like her? So far, she's established herself as rude, childish, untrusting, nosy, and temperamental. I see no positives from Eric pursuing her.
• The scene with Marlo tearing through the Miller-Gold office, looking for Lizzie was priceless. Jami Gertz must be having a blast with this role.
• The scene with Vince having sex with the college chick while she videotaped it has the potential to go somewhere and I hope it's not wasted - there had better be a Vincent Chase sex tape floating around soon. Vince needs some conflict ASAP and what better way to create some negative press during his Oscar campaign?

One final thought, and this one is important because it could be the impetus to bring the gang back together (at least a bit) - anyone think Coakley will actually follow through on his threat and have Drama killed off of Five Towns? I'm betting he does it. Next week's episode is called "No More Drama." Uh oh.