For eight seasons, 'Entourage' has been a fun, breezy buddy comedy about a group of childhood friends living the good life in Hollywood. It's been a good time to watch, despite the fact that everything always works out for the guys in the end, which often led the show to hastily resolve season-long conflicts and gloss over tension between the characters.

But last night's series finale was dripping with more gloss than usual. In fact, it was all gloss. In one of the most baffling, problematic half-hours of TV I've ever seen, everything worked out for everyone -- except the audience. We were left feeling cheated over rushed catharsis, a love story that the show didn't bother to show us and characters that reconciled without ever earning it.

The whole thing revolved around an allegedly torrid love affair between Vince and Sophia, the Vanity Fair reporter who'd interviewed him several weeks before and adamantly refused his advances on the grounds that she's a serious journalist who doesn't date her subjects.

But, as we know by now, Vinny Chase's charm knows no bounds, and they fell madly in love with each other and decided to get married in Paris after hanging out for just 24 hours. All of which would have been fine, if 'Entourage' hadn't asked its audience to just take the show's word for it.

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay was sitting in for Hoda Kotb on Tuesday, co-hosting the fourth hour of 'Today' (weekdays, 7 AM ET on NBC) with Kathie Lee Gifford. He'll also be sitting in for Ari Gold, at least with with Mrs. Ari, on the new season of 'Entourage.' Flay previewed his multi-episode arc in the final season of HBO's hit half-hour Hollywood comedy, which will put him at odds with the frenetic agent Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven.

"My character, as Bobby Flay, has not actually appeared yet ... I can not confirm nor deny that I am a candidate for Mrs. Ari's next boyfriend. 'Cause you know they broke up."

"I don't know why she stuck around so long," replied Kathie Lee.

"Well, who knows, he's got a big agency," Flay quipped.

Ari Gold became an iconic TV character from the first foul-mouthed insults he ever uttered on 'Entourage.' But perhaps his most memorable moment came with coulda-been sweet peace offering, "Let's hug it out, bitch."

Since today's National Hug Day (according to this awesomely primitive website), after the jump you'll find a clip of Piven discussing the scene during a 2006 Paley Center panel. "Our inspiration, Ari, for this character, I saw him one time actually hugging my brother in law, Adam McKay, who's a screenwriter and director. He was hugging him so tightly it looked like Adam was maybe lactating and that Ari needed milk."

There's also a clip of infamous scene. You're welcome. And yes, we'll accept your gratitude for reminding you of this glorious TV milestone in hug form only.

(S06E12) "Sorry - he Jason Bourne'd me." - Drama

Huh?!? Was that really an Entourage season finale? It was so... good. It was as if every conversation I've ever had with my buddies after another season of Entourage and all of the "man, I really wish they had done this or included that" requests were jammed into this episode. Maybe Entourage should have double-length installments more often.

Anything to ensure that Ari always walks around with a paintball gun.

(S06E11) "E, I've had most of this town, so it was bound to happen that our trees would dabble in the same forest at some point." - Drama

One down and one to go in Entourage's sixth season - a season I should point out that started off incredibly strong and ended up flopping around like a dead fish after those first few stellar eps. However, last week's installment, "Berried Alive," redeemed much of what had been bad and for the most part, "Scared Straight" continued that trend.

With that in mind, there's at least a little excitement going in to next week's finale because we really don't know what's going to happen on a few fronts.

(S06E10) "I'm everywhere Lloyd." - Ari

Poor Lloyd - we knew this would happen. If there's one thing that Hollywood's newest agent should have learned, it's that you don't cross Ari Gold. Yes, Ari gave in and told Drama the truth - Lloyd will do a better job representing Drama - but he did it for Drama. Not for Lloyd. He's already cut Lloyd off from Coakley (and presumably NBC as a whole) and it's not crazy to imagine that Ari will continue to erect more walls in his former assistant's way. However, I've got some theories on how this may play out.

(S06E09) "If that's a personal call you're on Lloyd, I'm gonna waterboard you." - Ari

Ari has always been mean to Lloyd. He treats him like crap, makes him do chores rather than his job, and constantly insults him. However, at the same time, Ari has always been nice to Lloyd too. He's given him one helluva job opportunity to learn underneath him and to some extent, I can understand Ari's plan to toughen Lloyd up a bit before a bump to junior agent occurs.

We know what Lloyd is like though -- he can only take so much. So it was only a matter of time before Ari pushed too hard. On a day when Ari stole Zac Efron from Adam Davies, there should have been a celebration and instead, Ari treated Lloyd worse that we've seen in ages. It's about time this plot went somewhere.

(S06E08) "I'm glad you finally admit the last five years of your life were all fantasy provided by me." - Ari

Because I've been such a big proponent of this season (despite what I'm about to say, I still say this has been the best season since the third), I'm starting to think that everything has been a fantasy up until this point when it comes to Entourage.

There are so many solid plots going on this season and every time I think that something big is gonna happen, it falls flat and leaves me disappointed.

(S06E07) "That's not what this is for." - Lloyd, upon seeing Eric's "gift" and message for Ari

Eric taking Murray's job offer may be the best thing that's ever happened on Entourage. It's opened up this whole new dynamic on the show and honestly makes things a lot more interesting.

Granted, it does push Vince even further into the background of the show, but that's been a steady trend for a while now. I'll put up with anything to get Bob Saget back.

(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.

(S06E05) "No, we're up for it, but is this gonna be like the old days when you try to pay me back in personal training sessions and shit?" - Mark Wahlberg

Seems like the dynamic of Entourage is really shifting lately, huh? Over the past two or three episodes, Eric has moved to the head of the class, taking over the biggest parts of each half-hour. I'm not complaining, but earlier in the season I did wonder what the result of Vince's success would be. Now we know.

(S06E04) "Wow, you pay for that or is there someone out there that would actually bang you for free?" - Ari

This is shaping up to be a helluva season for Entourage. Only four episodes in, and it feels like a completely different show than we're used to. Rather than wallowing in endless "woe is me plots" (every character on the show has been guilty of them in the five previous seasons), things feel fresh and the characters are growing up. Plus, instead of making me constantly laugh, Entourage is making me do something I never expected -- think.

(S06E02) "Who would've thought I'd be the only one guaranteed to have sex tonight?!?" - Turtle

I know I've said it before, but one of the things that I've always loved about Entourage is how the writers behind the show seem to have this uncanny knack for re-creating exact conversations that I've had with my friends before. I know I'm not the only one out there who's had a laugh with their buddies trying to figure out how exactly did Seth Rogan get laid in Knocked Up? When Turtle made his final point ("His ugliness is oddly fascinating."), it was like deja-vu for me.

Then they went and killed the moment when Vince got that nudie pic of Sloan's friend. That never happens to me or my friends.

(S06E01) "Can we drive with the airbags deployed?" - Drama

The boys are back, and as I mentioned in my Early Look review last week, everything we knew about Entourage finally seems to be evolving. Some of it's logical and some of it's forced so that the story progresses, but all of it makes sense. Entourage was due for an overhaul if you think about it, and what could be more perfect than seeing what life is like for the guys when they aren't constantly worrying about Vince's career?

You think Turtle would have ever had time to smoke a J in a hot tub with Jamie-Lynn Sigler if Scorsese hadn't called Vince? I don't think so.

Like many shows before it, Entourage has officially reached a point where the title of the program doesn't exactly make total sense anymore. Think season two of Prison Break after they had, you know... broken out of prison. In this case, we've spent five seasons watching boys become men, and much like the tagline for Entourage's sixth season plainly spells out, "life changes, friends don't." What exactly happens when Vince no longer has an entourage?

The show gets a helluva lot more interesting is what happens.