Episode 11 - No Cannes Do
29 March 2012
Synopsis: Eric invites Anna out to celebrate the boys leaving for Cannes. Billy likes her and asks her to be in Silo. Eric is caught in a difficult position as both her manager and a producer on the movie. Ultimately his lack of honesty means she fires him. Meanwhile a terrorist threat at LAX causes the airport to close. Ari is busy trying to make things right with his wife and Lloyd who both want to go to Cannes. In the end Kanye West offers the entourage a ride on his private jet.
The Good: Eric’s awkward position is a very interesting one for his character. He has begun lying to Vince because he doesn’t believe in Billy and now he lies to Anna at Vince’s behest. He fails to do his job as her manager by not being honest and so deserves to be fired. It’s a sad reminder of how linked he is to Vince and his whims. Especially as it is Billy who needlessly demands that she be in the movie. Viewers have every reason to despise Billy now as upon hearing the news that she doesn’t want to do Silo he flippantly says “Good, I was thinking of keeping it as the brother anyway.” Poor Eric, not only has he lost Anna but he may well suffer a downturn in Vince’s career because of Billy.
The Bad: Sadly the rest of the episode is predictable and not so good. For starters we had to suspect that Anna Faris would leave the show soon. It is a problem with using real movie stars in the show in this context.
Johnny and Turtle attempt a silly story which even they can’t pull off. Johnny’s suggestion that they scour the airport for unsavoury characters is foolish enough but it seems out of character for Turtle to agree to it.
Ari’s relationship with his wife has become too predictable as well. They tend to argue with each other, then finally be honest and make up. Her passive aggressive behaviour in this story is a bit annoying and feels like time wasting.
Last but not least is Kanye West rolling up to give them a lift to Cannes. One of the just about plausible get outs Entourage often uses is that Vince’s fame, money and charm can open doors and solve problems for them. That is fine for a television show to use but when Kanye happens to wonder into the same terminal as them at the right moment, flying to a neighbouring country (to France) it seems unnecessarily convenient.
Comic Highlight: On Kanye’s plane he makes an announcement over the p.a. “we’re getting ready to take off in just a few minutes. And for those of you who don’t know, I actually took flying lessons a week ago and even though it’s totally illegal, I’m gonna fly us out of here.” Then he pops out of the cock pit “No, I’m just fucking with you.”
Victory?: A weak episode in many ways. There is too much time wasting around the journey to Cannes and the Eric story could have been much stronger.
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