TV Review: Entourage 5.9 – Pie

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 3, 2008

Entourage: First Class Jerk

Entourage, HBO, Airs Sundays 10pm E/P

Episode: “Pie” (Season Five, Episode Nine)

Synopsis: Vince’s first day on the set of Smokejumpers starts with a dickish Drama, includes feelings of nervousness, and ends with a realization that Vince’s career has sunk so low that Jason Patric actually carries more weight. Meanwhile, Ari reaches out to an old friend who needs his help, and ends up offering more than he planned.

Review: I’m still reeling from Ari’s decision to pass on the studio job, so I was hoping for an outstanding episode this week to help me begin the laborious process of rebuilding my relationship with the show.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get one.  This week’s episode isn’t terrible and it isn’t great, it just is.

The episode opened with a reminder that Drama is the biggest dick on TV as he runs around the cabin waking everyone up by clanging pans together.  Anyone who’s ever been awoken this way knows how extremely annoying it is.  The meat of the episode followed two story-lines… Vince’s first day on set where he gets walked over by Jason Patric, and Ari’s meeting with an old friend played by the wonderful Gary Cole then ends with Ari’s offer to buy his friend’s company.  So one at a time…

When did Vince become such a pussy?  More specifically, how does Vince, or anyone, feel threatened by Jason Patric?  The studio passed on Vince for the lead and went with Jason Patric?  The director (Stellan Skarsgard) is a Werner Herzog clone, meaning he is a maestro of masculine mayhem, and he’s supposedly afraid of Jason Patric?  Sure I’m happy to see Patric working, but I just don’t buy that he demands that kind of respect or fear.  And this is more of a nitpick than anything else, but the first scene where Patric steals Vince’s line, the one where the smokejumpers are all walking down the street of the burning town… building are blowing up on either side of them, and they all look oblivious and ignorant of the explosions.  These are shitty firefighters.

Ari’s meeting with his friend Andrew was interesting as it provided an opportunity to see Ari relaxed, sincere, and having fun.  Buying up another agency that handles only television is a nice move and could provide some interesting fodder for new storylines.  Not as much or as interesting as Ari as studio head would have, but still…  The episode ending does a nice job of placing Ari in yet another tight position, having already made the deal to buy Andrew’s company, only to find out that his partner, Barbara, is going to block the action.  I’m curious what Ari will have to give up in order for Barbara to accept the deal.  Cole is fantastic in anything he does, so hopefully the character will stick around for a few episodes at least.

For more coverage of your favorite shows, check out the Control Freaks Archive.

What did you think of this week’s episode?  Will DJ Icecold return this week with a mea culpa for his rude comment and wholly inaccurate prediction last week?


Read more articles by Rob Hunter

« Previous Article | Next Article »

Related Topics:

TV Reviews, TV for Movie Lovers, , , , , , , ,

Related Reading:

Your Ad Here

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!

  • D-Rock
    Gary Cole has already been signed on as a regular for next season, so we should be seeing a lot more Andrew Klein.
  • 1. Can the show just be about Ari now? Drama has become an unwatchable dickbag, E didn't have any lines in this episode or solve any problems, Vince is now supposed to be a bad actor that can barely handle himself on set? But at least Turtle wasn't begging for action the whole time.

    The Jason Patric thing is almost as confusing as Ari turning down the job. How did they go from having Edward Norton to a guy who's best known for being in Speed 2? They made a joke about how he's only in a movie every 5 years - but that's most likely not by choice.

    I'm calling it - Vince will quit this movie. And Stellan Saarsgard's director character will eat his shoe.

    2. Gary Cole = awesome. Really glad to see him joining the crew and bringing some good acting to the show. If this show slowly edged Vince's storyline out, and focused entirely on Ari, I almost wouldn't mind.

    3. Didn't E have other clients or something now? Bow Wow? Did those writers bail? Man, they are dropping plots like they don't matter all over the place.
  • bmovie74
    I for one love Drama. He is a one note song but my God he plays it well. His one liners never get old for me. Ari is obviously the best on the show and although Vince is important, since the whole show centers around him, he blows. I hate the new season but Entourage is like pizza - even when it's bad it's still pretty good. As much as a show centered around Ari would be cool I don't think it would work. I think the reason Entourage is so interesting is b/c most people feel like they can have a sneak peak into what a day in the life of a hollywood movie star really is like - not so much a day in the life of a hollywood agent. It relates to people bc at one point in time in everyone's life they want to be a movie star...not a moviestar's agent.

    For me this show is at it's best when it stems furtherest from reality. I don't want to see Vince deal with the same shitty problems I deal with throughout my week, I want to see him do whatever he wants, party like a rockstar, and live a life of excess - like a true star.
  • jimmyd
    You aguys are idiots. Patric is one of the best actors we have. You bring up Speed@, a
    movie he did over 12 years ago? What are you nuts? Take a look at NARC or YOUR FRIENDS
    AND NEIGHBORS, where he delivers the best monologue in screen history, uncut for three
    and half minutes. KNow what youre talking about before you flap your gums.
    Rob Hunter is the worst of the TMZ loving ass kissers.
  • Woohoo! I'm the worst! Take that you wannabee ass kissers!

    Now what's TMZ?

    ps. No one questioned Patric's acting ability you dillhole, just his power or cache in Hollywood.
  • turtle
    You don't know what TMZ is...sure...
  • Hunter doesn’t know what a lot of things are.

    But he’s right about Patric. The guy can’t have much cache in the town, and when the studio passed on Vince to look for a bigger star, it makes almost no sense that they went to a guy who is known - to the popular public - for Speed 2, or not known at all.

    They even made a Speed 2 reference in the episode, which, I’ll admit, was pretty cool.

    I’ll say it, though: I don’t think he’s that good an actor. I hated him in NARC. Your Friends and Neighbors is a good movie, and he does deliver a great monologue, but almost everything else I’ve seen him in he adds little to. “One of the best actors we have” - really? He’s average at best.
blog comments powered by Disqus