Hey look! Two seconds into the episode, and we've got two of our supposedly requisite four boobs. Maybe we'll get up to eight in order to compensate for a couple of boobless weeks. But who is it getting the action? Not Vince, but Bow Wow, who for some reason decides to call Eric while a woman is riding his wang. Talk about multitasking.
Anyway, strangely, we're back to "real life" in Entourage land, which means that Vince is actually a working actor–and having some problems with a Deutsch director named Werner. But guess what? You already knew that, because Vince's problems this week were the same as Vince's problems last week–his lines are being taken away in the service of a film that he's not the star of. At least we got a funny screening-room scene between Stellen Skarsgard and Vince, in which the director tells him that he tilts his head and has a "lip quiver." All ridiculous shit that probably happens in Hollywood every day. It wasn't that compelling here, but slightly interesting/funny at least.
Meanwhile, with Vince's problems temporarily out of the way, E can concentrate on selling Bow Wow's TV show. (Magically, Eric never has to deal with two clients during the same week.) The studio gets word that Eric's arch-enemy Seth Green (who may or may not have fucked Sloane) is interested in doing the show, and in the interest of business, Eric has to try and set aside his hate for the totally hate-able character. But Green sends E on a wild goose chase around the city, which is actually a pretty funny move–especially when he demands that E get Sloane to call him and ask him to do the show, the ultimate humiliation. I thought Eric would ask her–these Hollywood types have no shame–but to his credit, he doesn't do it, and he has a nice little moment with his ex. There's more to come there, I'm sure.
And maybe they only had Green for one episode, but it was nice to see that story tied up in the way it was–with Green, Bow Wow, and Eric sitting in a waiting room in stand-off mode. But Green didn't realize that the former Lil' Bow Wow was, in fact a badass, and when he threatens to do the show with Nick Cannon (heresy!), he gets served, to use the parlance of the day. I like fistfights, what can I say?
In Ari's world, the B-story with Gary Cole got pretty stale pretty quickly, with the exception of one pretty great scene. Cole, in a natty new suit, comes in to meet Barbara and has an over-the-top panic attack (c'mon, really?), and for some reason that doesn't concern Ari at all. When Babs nixes the idea of hiring Cole completely–and this is after Ari said "please," at the behest of his daughter–shit flies: Ari showing up at the "most powerful women in Hollywood" banquet was pretty kickass, as was Babs' relenting when he threatened her. (But seriously, wouldn't the Ari we know and hate simply have threatened her this way from the very start?) "I would love to congratulate each and every one of you, but unfortunately Barbara's cock is all I can handle." Well said.
Just a couple more episodes to go, I believe… Will we flash forward to the premiere of Smoke Jumpers, in which all of Vince's character has been mysteriously excised? (Just a guess, people.) Or will things come to a head before then? Can nothing go right for these Hollywood types?
Grade: B-
Stray observations:
— Ari's daughter sums up Ari's life: "You pretended you were nice and got mom!"
— I loved Skarsgard's dismissive "actors and their words" line and his line about "George Clooney headtilt acting."
— Perhaps in a nod to Kanye West, Bow Wow works at The Gap. When the call comes in, it's "Fuck these crewneck wearing motherfuckers, I just got my own TV show!"
— Assuming Vince makes it into the movie at all, will his practice of keeping his head perfectly still make him look like a total idiot?