It's not uncommon for final seasons to feature reappearances from guest stars of episodes past, in an attempt to bring the series full circle. We're probably due to see several more familiar faces in Entourage's last five episodes, but last night they chose to bring back an old guest from Season Five in weirdly grand fashion, considering he never made much of an impression in the first place: Carl Ertz (Kim Coates, best known for Sons Of Anarchy).
Don't remember him? He's the guy who lured Vince (Adrian Grenier) from his Medellin failure island getaway in the fifth season's premiere, under the false pretense of a movie deal. He was really just using Vince as a pawn in a bidding war to get the actor they actually wanted for a lower quote. Read on to see what damage he caused this time.
Vince believes in this guy... Why?
Vince is really sucking so far this season. After reconnecting with Ertz in an AA meeting, he reluctantly agrees to give the thirsty producer a shot at doing his MOW script for Johnny (Kevin Dillon), despite Ari (Jeremy Piven) and a surprisingly vocal Turtle's (Jerry Ferrara) many warnings. Lo and behold, when Vince and Turtle go by his house at the end of the episode he, A, wants something in return from Vince (to consider starring in a terrible-sounding script, Tax Man), and B, he's coked out of his mind.
Second Chance Vince is determined to stay and help Ertz through the drug binge, but then Ertz inexplicably locks himself in his bathroom and blows his brains out, in a scene that's written and shot with false suspense, wrongly assuming that this is someone we actually care about. We can only hope some good plot developments come out of the cops coming to the house to find Vince standing next to a mountain of drugs.
Simply put, Andrew Dice Clay is a jackass.
If anybody deserves a win on this series full of people who win all day, it's Johnny Drama. Unfortunately, his new show is less about star power than chemistry, and a big part of the reason his pilot tested well just walked out of the door. Dice's genius plan to get out of his shit-hole of an apartment is apparently to demand more money for a show that hasn't even aired yet, and then walk out altogether when the studio very smartly refuses.
Good riddance to Dice, but that leaves our boy Drama's series in big trouble, especially since the only replacement Phil could find on short notice is Jamie Kennedy. We're worried for Johnny but excited to see a game Kennedy play a hack version of himself.
The Eric-and-Sloan telenovela takes a week off.
Fortunately there were no Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) sightings this week. Wait, come to think of it, that's pretty unfortunate, but you know what we meant. Funny how the absence of the NYC-bound beauty pretty much eliminates any and all subplots for E (Kevin Connolly) this week, as he's relegated to tagging along with Johnny to try and fix the mess Dice created. On a side note, he and Scott's office looks pretty sick.
Ari's plot development is the most exciting.
There's a plethora of jokes that can be mined from Ari Gold going back out onto the dating world, but surprisingly there aren't many in "One Last Shot," save an encounter with his date's serious cockblock of a roommate. The loud, self-assured alpha male of the office is replaced with a man clearly out of his comfort zone in today's dating waters, who, despite his date being bad as hell, would much rather be home with his wife.
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So Ari ditches the young'n (Really, she didn't get a reference to How Stella Got Her Groove Back?) and goes to the next best thing, someone hot but emotionally mature: Dana Gordon (Constance Zimmer)! Whoa! Who could have imagined that all of the sexual tension and hilarious references to their relationship in the past would ever be capitalized like this? Will the zingers between the two be just as good when they're actually together?
It seems like they might be setting us up for a finale that ends with Ari back with Dana instead of his wife. Dana knows what kind of a guy Ari is and she's equipped to snipe right back at him. Either way, good move, Ari. Mrs. Ari, the ball is in your court.
Alex and Carlos thank Turtle for putting them on.
Last season, Alex (Dania Ramirez) couldn't even hold a job as a driver, and Carlos (Miguel Sandoval) was struggling to promote Avion in the states. Thanks to the genius and ambition of Turtle, Mark freakin' Cuban invested in it, and (in Entourage-land, at least) it's hotter than Patron, with Alex enjoying a countrywide tour as the brand's face.
Naturally, they repay good old Sal by dumping and firing him, respectively. We won't feel too bad for him; having Alex for any period of time is still a win, and with his Avion stock he can pretty much kick back and let the money come to him. But Turtle's been kicking back and enjoying Vince's money for years now, and he isn't about that life anymore. Cashing in and trying to start a whole brand new venture right away isn't the smartest idea, but one thing's for sure: Turtle's hustle is not to be knocked.
In all, "One Last Shot" was another uneven episode, but one that can potentially kickstart some interesting plotlines; specifically, how will seeing a man shoot himself in the head affect Vince for the remainder of the series? Hopefully it doesn't drive him back to drugs—we've had enough of that storyline.
Lines Of The Night
"We wouldn't have you." - Lloyd (Rex Lee), on Ari going gay
"Nobody fucks Dice... Dice does the fucking." - Andrew Dice Clay
