(l-r) Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, and Jeremy Piven star in HBO's 'Entourage: Season 5' |
10:01: Allen Gray (Paul Ben-Victor) is back, and bitterer than ever. The Paramount boss/golf enthusiast will clearly factor into Vince’s comeback, which doesn’t bode well for Vince.
10:02: Ari wants Vince to choose the lucrative Benji role over the indie-leaning Smoke Jumpers role for far less dough (and screen time). On an unrelated note, Ari is not wearing a suit!
10:04: There’s only one way to decide if Vince should do Benji: a mushroom-fueled trip to Joshua Tree--it’s the entourage’s version of Rock-Paper-Scissors. And there’s only one way to get the best ‘shrooms in town: Eric Roberts, of course! The up-and-down-and-up-again journeyman actor (hot off a surprising appearance in The Dark Knight) chauffeurs the gang to the desert in his grooooovy Winnebago.
10:07: Best Johnny Drama quote of the episode: “A lotta great artists are late to potty train.”
10:08: Best porn-star sighting of the episode: Katie Morgan (Google her for more info…and leave the SafeSearch function on if you’re at work!).
10:09: Lloyd has to make a tough choice of his own: Keep his promise to his boyfriend Tom (Brandon Quinn) and host game night for their friends, or take Ari’s orders to watch his dog. Lloyd chooses both.
10:10: It’s weird to see E take ‘shrooms--and even weirder to witness Ari's first experience; it’s less weird to see Vince and Turtle partaking; and it’s damn near expected to see Drama making a peanut-butter-and-mushroom sandwich!
10:14: Ari trying to talk to his wife and kids as the mushrooms kick in is hilarious. However, Ari trying to talk to--and bribe--his young son as the mushrooms kick in? Kinda creepy. Funny, sure, but creepy nonetheless.
10:16: Suddenly Benji sounds good…literally.
10:18: The guys lose Turtle’s beloved dog Arnold after Drama mistook him for a rock. It’s nice to see Johnny get some funny scenes after a largely cringe-worthy start to his season.
10:22: After losing track of both Ari and Arnold, the gang must choose which one to look for in the pitch-black desert. Meanwhile, E not talking while on ‘shrooms is great--he makes such perfect sense as ‘that guy.’
10:23: Uh-oh: Vince is speaking in the third-person!
10:25: With both Ari and Arnold finally found and reunited with the guys, they all howl Vince’s decision at the moon: Benji.
10:26: What episode would be complete without the ‘Oh, sh*t’ phone call? It’s Ari’s wife (Perrey Reeves)--Lloyd has thrown a swim party for his all-male guests…at the Gold household!
10:27: With the trip--and the episode--winding down, Vince sees firefighters putting out flames on the road. Which changes his mind to Smoke Jumpers, and more or less wipes out the whole answer-seeking purpose of the Joshua Tree voyage. Frankly, it would’ve been nice to see the episode just end on a high note.
10:29: Previews for next week: Dom (Domenick Lombardozzi) is back, and although he’s the most hated character in Entourage's history, it’s pretty clear that this season was in dire need of a shake-up.
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