Entourage, HBO, Airs Sundays 10pm E/P
Episode: “First Class Jerk” (Season Five, Episode Eight)
Synopsis: The gang returns from last week’s surprise vacation, and Turtle scores a first class seat next to Jamie Lynn Sigler, star of HBO’s The Sopranos. He makes a mile-high claim to the guys, which no one believes, and ends up paying the price for opening his mouth. Slimy agent Josh Weinstein courts Vince with an offer involving Frank Darabont of The Shawshank Redemption whilst Ari is distracted mulling over the studio-head offer.
Review: Utter bullshit. That’s really what this episode should have been called. Total and complete bullshit. First, the bullshit with Turtle and Sigler. While I applaud Sigler for having the courage to portray herself as someone who would jerk off a rotund stranger on an airplane, I just don’t buy that it would happen. It’s not that Sigler’s too attractive (she isn’t) or too famous (not anymore) but I just don’t believe it. That said, if it had happened and Turtle’s chance at sex (especially sex with a celebrity) was ruined by Drama’s big, obnoxious mouth, then I think Turtle should have beat the motherfucker down in that final bar scene instead of simply shrugging his shoulders. It would have been the most believable thing in the entire episode.
The bigger pile of bullshit involves Ari and his decision to pass on the studio-head position. Would any real world agent, even one who runs his own agency, pass on this offer? Highly doubtful. Especially when Ari acknowledges that he’s sinking his money into the agency and has yet to really turn a profit. The job offer of ten million dollars should have been irresistible. Am I just being greedy here? Take the job, and if you’re not enjoying it after a year, you quit… ten million dollars richer. I think that would go a long way towards funding your agency. In addition to Ari’s unbelievable decision, the show then tries to make us believe that they would skip over Amanda, their own second choice, and accept Ari’s suggestion of Dana? Over the course of a single meeting they’re going to just toss their research and planning out the window and offer the job to someone that Ari tosses out at the last minute? The bullshit keeps on flowing…
Believability issues aside, this leaves the viewers stuck with the status qou yet again. All of the characters still in the same damn position they’ve been in for some time now. Ari as a studio head would have opened up so many new and dramatic avenues and story-lines, but instead we get the same old shtick.
This episode irritated me. I have no questions for you.
