overnights

The ‘Entourage’ Guilt/Pleasure Index: Less Drama, More Gold

Courtesy of HBO

This week’s episode, “Snow Job,†is delightfully chock-full of vintage Ari, and delightfully free of Turtle and Drama. In a related story, it’s the best episode of the season. No wonder this is the one show we can’t stop watching–slash–can’t stop hating ourselves for watching!

Pleasure: In his first day as Anna Faris’s manager, E runs up against her obnoxious, pet-fixated boyfriend, Dave, who insists that Anna should ruin her photo shoot by posing as a cat and addresses everyone as “dawg.â€

While E’s stuck handling that crisis in the Hollywood Hills, where there’s no cell-phone reception, Ari’s got a meltdown of his own: Crazy Billy Walsh (remember him?) has delivered his script for Lost in the Clouds, which is perfect in every respect — well, except for the fact that it doesn’t take place on a mountain, is about a bunch of farmers in the year 2075, and is called Silo.

As a result, we’re treated to some solid Gold. He gyrates! He sputters! He barges in on a studio head as he steps out of the shower! Some weeks, we swear, Ari is this close to turning into Popeye. You can almost see the anchors on his forearms.

The night’s best line is a Dana Gordon–Ari Gold co-production. When they pitch “Silo†to her skeptical boss, she says, “It’s Blade Runner meets Field of Dreams.†To which Ari adds, “Two classics! Boom!†Which brings us to the first law of Entourage: If Ari says “Boom!†at some point in the show, then you’re watching a very good episode.

Guilt: Drama is kept mercifully in the background, which gives us a one-week reprieve from such pesky questions as: What ever happened to his condo in Beverly Hills? Did he sell it? Rent it out? And isn’t he supposed to be on a TV show?

This week there’s a feeble attempt to address that latter question; at one point, Drama says, “That’s the beauty of an ensemble cast — two-day workweek.†Still, his newfound fame on Five Towns was one of this season’s more promising plot threads — until it was dropped entirely.

Of course, we can’t complain too loudly. That’s because of the second law of Entourage: Less Drama means more comedy.

The Guilt/Pleasure Index: 9