Entourage Season 7

Entourage is a show on HBO focusing on a 'rising movie star' Vincent Chase, and his 'entourage' (2 best friends and his brother), as well as his agent Ari Gold (played spectacularly by Jeremy Piven).

I just finished watching the finale for Season 7.

I've been a fan of the show for a long time.  I've heard it described as the male equivalent of 'Sex and the City', which is pretty damn insulting, but I get what they're saying.  If 'Sex and the City' is the female fantasy (God help us if it really is) of living in the big city, drinking fancy fruity drinks at stylish NYC bars, fucking dudes (obviously, it's in the title) and...buying shoes?  I don't actually watch the show. 

Anyway, you could say Entourage is like male fantasy fulfillment, or even 'lifestyle porn'.  In the same way that Vince's entourage enjoys the good life due to their relation to the new bigshot movie star, I can live vicariously through him by watching his exploits: living in LA in huge mansions, having awesome parties, banging all manner of hot chicks, cruising around in nice cars, interacting with famous people...all that shit.

There's more to it than that though.  At its best, the show can be very funny, and even when it's not funny, it's almost always entertaining to watch.  Vince is charming, his best bud E is the straight man, his brother Drama is a riot as the insane 'has been / never was' star, Turtle is goofy and endearing.  And Ari, as 'Hollywood's biggest agent', has some of the best lines and deliveries on television.

So I'm a fan of the show.  But I'd be the first to admit it has been past its prime.  Season 2 was really the best.  In recent seasons, I keep watching because at this point, I'm hooked.  I like the characters.  Their familiar faces and personalities comfort me and entertain me.  I wouldn't necessarily rush out to tell people to go watch it, but I know I still enjoy it.

So now we're in Season 7, and I see a lot of 'put this show out of its misery' comments.  There's plenty of hate to go around.  One of the most common criticisms of the show is that it's 'low stakes'.  Like 'uh oh, Vince might have to settle for the $5 million mansion when he really wanted the $10 million one'.  And it's true - this show is not exactly built on dramatic tension.  In this fantasy world where Vince and his bros. inhabit, the stakes have not been particularly high.

But that is what has made Season 7 interesting, and the best season the show has had in a while.  There have been real problems - Vince 'losing it', becoming a drug user, personal life out of control, as well as the dissolution of Ari's marriage - that have unfolded throughout the season.  Both problems developed slowly, subtly even.  In the finale, these problems that Vince and Ari have been downplaying, like it's no big deal, explode in their faces.

Anyway, I'm not gonna go overboard with this, but Season 7 made Entourage interesting again, to the point where I would actually recommend people watch it, even those that had essentially written the show off.  The show might still not have much life left in it (what show does, at this point?), but I am genuinely anticipating Season 8.  Bring on more Entourage, thumbs up.