Episode 4 - Tequila Sunrise
23 February 2012
Synopsis: Turtle discovers that not he but Vince is the one wanted down in Mexico. Alex takes him to friends who want Vince to help publicise their tequila and admits that she has feelings for him. John Stamos comes to see if he and Johnny have chemistry but leaves angrily when Johnny beats him at table tennis. Eric tries to be mature around Scott and is rewarded with reconciliation. Ari makes his big pitch for an LA NFL franchise but hears disturbing rumours about what Lizzie is up to.
The Good: Ari's new assistant Jake begins to really develop a personality and a fresh dynamic with his boss which is nice to see. The Turtle plot seemed really silly until the reveal that it was Vince that was the real target. Suddenly it made perfect sense why Alex had recommended him and indeed why she had kept him in the dark for so long.
I do like the Scott Lavin character a lot. Here he makes peace with Eric but it was written and performed with enough ambiguity that you suspect he is still scheming under the surface.
The Bad: Lizzie's vitriol seemed out of place. Although Ari shut down her ambitions, he is hardly the first boss to have done that. Considering he let her sit in on the NFL meeting and continued to employ her despite what happened to Andrew it would seem he had been somewhat fair to her. We shall see if there is any more depth to it or if she will just become the new Adam Davies. I certainly hope her new backers are an actual interesting threat to Ari and not just a generic new competition for him to one day defeat. Ari's dismissive attitude to Andrew seemed a tiny bit odd too. You can imagine Ari turning on him after giving him so much but his hostility seemed at odds with his repeated statements that Andrew would be coming back to work soon (703).
Turtle's tequila story was somewhat interesting but the romance with Alex is not. She went from seeing him as creepy to suddenly offering him sex on a plate too quickly. Although she plays the role with nuance the writing just hasn't set up their attraction in a believable enough way.
John Stamos follows in a long line of celebrities playing an exaggerated version of themselves and stinking up the room. What I always object to is the childish or blatant exaggerations which seem so obviously manufactured. Stamos was written to be a dick from the moment he swaggered into the house and being a sore loser was such a childish character trait that it dragged the show down. To see the otherwise very straight Phil Yagoda talking about Stamos' notorious problems made the story feel cheap. When Bob Saget is on the show he takes his very well known blue comedy rep and rolls with it where as Stamos is just being foolish. Even if you ignore that part of the story Johnny's apparent con to win Stamos over was clumsily presented. Johnny did a great job throwing the game (assuming he really did) but that angle wasn't stressed to give him the credit he deserves.
Comic Highlight: Phil Yagoda is on the phone explaining to Johnny what a mistake it was to defeat Stamos at ping pong. Desperately Johnny asks if there is anyone else they could call. "No John there's not! And you know why?" in frustration Phil is about to snap but once more his affection for Johnny prevents him and he sarcastically finishes "because there's nobody better looking than you in this town." Johnny thinks for a second and responds "Rob Lowe maybe."
Victory?: The plots are settling in at that Entourage pace in a way which doesn't thrill me. It looks like we may have to deal with a season of Lizzie, Stamos, Alex and Scott before they all get kicked to the curb. I hope that isn't the case but so far we are getting decidedly mixed results once more.
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