Entourage: It's All Too Easy

So another season of Entourage has whizzed by (every year I swear their season ends almost before it begins), but this time I might be ready for a break. The finale left me unsatisfied, and it's frustrating because they were so close to making it work.

When we last left the boys in the penultimate episode, they were flying back to New York because "we always said when we had nothing left, we'd go home." Which rings untrue and is amazingly self-centered for Vince. Everybody else actually was making it in L.A. -- Eric's management company was taking off, Drama was on a hit show, and even Turtle's prospects were looking up thanks to Jamie. Vince was the only one with nothing. I'm all for loyalty to one's friends, but that's a two-way street, and it bugged me to see the gang drop everything they'd worked so hard to build and run home to coddle Vince's ego.

Vince has always been the least interesting character on the show. Things come easy for him, he's lazy and even Ari doubts his acting chops. I thought this was really the chance for Vince to emerge. The meltdown after Gus Van Sant's rejection was the first time I had seen some fire in Vince. How great would it have been for Vince to hit bottom and have to work his way up? Auditioning again, taking supporting roles, basically busting his ass to get back to the top. He always says how passionate he is -- that was the time to show it. Showing his doubts, his struggles, maybe his jealousy over his friends' success might have actually given Vince some depth, and would have made him 1,000 times more interesting than he is now.

But along comes Marty Scorcese out of nowhere to hand-deliver what could be the biggest plum in Vince's career. And yeah, he'd be perfect as the modern Gatsby. But for once, I wanted to see him earn something. Everyone else has, and they've become better people and better characters. Vince is still getting life handed to him on a platter and hasn't grown a bit since Season 1. And that routine just gets old.