The Slap Heard 'Round Boystown

So Ari has a soul. Who’d have thought? We’ve seen him be protective of his daughter. We’ve seen him be protective of his wife. And, of course, we’ve seen him be protective of himself.

The last episode of Entourage (“Dog Day Afternoon”) saw Ari showing he cares about someone outside of his family: his assistant Lloyd. Honestly, it seemed out of care of the blood-sucking agent. Yes, he’s been protective of Vince in the past, but he still has tried to manipulate and control him. But this time, after manipulating and controlling Lloyd, he pulled a mulligan and saved his assistant. He never tried to save Vince. He often would never even acknowledge what he did or try to seek forgiveness. So why Lloyd and why now??

That said, it was great to see Lloyd have his day. And it’s pretty funny to see a guy bitch slap another guy. The writers have gone to great lengths to make Lloyd a likable character to contrast the bullying ways of Ari. It’s no surprise they gave him such a prominent role. But Jeremy Piven couldn’t perform so well without a foil.

Then we have Eric who couldn’t stand up to Vince. Again, I find this interesting because Season 1 culminated in Eric completely standing up to Vince and preparing to distance himself from his Hollywood pal. Eric has grown ever since, started to stand up to Ari and found himself a hot girl. So why can’t he stand up to Vince now? He’s gonna get what he deserves and I’m sure the fun is in Cabo not Napa.

And then we have Turtle stand up for his dog. Can you blame him? A girl mouthing off like would be so annoying too, even if she is that hot. I just feel bad for Drama. He didn’t do anything wrong, yet he gets screwed over…again. Now that Drama has a job, I wonder when Turtle will go out and give his own gig another shot. I’m sure there are plenty of other rappers trying to make it big in LA who could use some time on Big Boy’s show.

All in all, the episode was leaps and bounds ahead of the previous one. I hope this one sets the stage for more to come. I want Bob Ryan back! I’d rather see Vince make “I Wanna Be Sedated” over “Medeíllin,” but my guess it will be “Medeíllin” and that’s how Ari scores Vince back as a client. It looks like Vince would rather sleep with his agent than work with her.