What I'm Watching: Entourage

Entourage: Season 6, Episode 8 “The Sorkin Notes” (B)

Now here’s where this show becomes way too incredibly silly but also sort of brilliant at the same time. Aaron Sorkin ranks somewhat above Gus Van Sant and James Cameron for his semi-enthusiastic self-portrayal, so that’s pretty good. Andrew’s adulterous tendencies this season, however, have as a whole been less than fascinating, and everything really comes to a head here as he goes off the deep end because his (ex-)wife goes off the deep end. Marlo’s taunting and torching of Andrew’s notes was a pretty inspired scene, capped off by his mad driving of his car into their living room. The biggest (and most preposterous) surprise of the episode was Sorkin’s accompaniment of Ari to see Andrew in jail, and his agreement to sign with the agency if he never has to hear from Ari. It’s amazing how hated Ari is, yet he’s so incredibly successful and such a guilty delight to watch run back and forth across the screen each episode. The whole Andrew arc isn’t nearly as good as it could have been, especially because Gary Cole is such a talented actor (“Office Space” and “The West Wing” come to mind), and he’s saddled with nothing more than a whole lot of jealous and crazy here. It’s as if the character didn’t ever need to be introduced. He’s added little to the show. It’s entertaining, sure, but remember when Ari got fired by Terence? That was back when “Entourage” truly was an amazing show, and it’s lost a lot of that pizzazz and incredibly energy. It’s most evident in the wasting of an episode for three of the main characters, who spend their time training to defend themselves against a stalker (not Ashley – I don’t know who else thought it might be her) and just generally being dumb. At least Eric’s moving on with his life, and delivered a masterful takedown of Sloane before going back to Ashley. That girl’s pretty crazy though, so E better watch his back. He’d be much safer with the hot-and-cold Sloane than the fiery, possessive, possibly criminally deranged Ashley. Well, he’s got a few episodes to figure it out. While the series is taking a week off for Labor Day, at least three more episodes are slated for this season.