Live It: How I Learned to Stop Hating and Love Entourage

A funny thing happened during Entourage's fifth season that I certainly never saw coming: the show got good again. Really good. Dare I say, Entourage has been one of the most pleasantly surprising, entertaining and plain ol' good times I've had in front of my television set during the last few months. Amazingly, on the eve of the season finale, I'm actually sorry to see it shuffle off for the year.

How did Entourage go from a show I actively hated to something that I unabashedly really like? For starters, creator Doug Ellin and his team of writers clearly took most of the criticism the show has received to heart. No longer is it a conflict free and joyless endeavor. The crux of the fifth season has been the deconstruction of Vincent Chase's movie career and it's hopeful resurrection. And while things aren't incredibly dire for Vince, they are a lot more believable than they have been before. Bad things actually happen! After the disastrous Medellin, Vince limped back to Hollywood, hat in hand and through a bunch of ridiculous machinations managed to get on a film that could revive his career--the one contrived and terrible part of the season: the studio head who was blocking Vince from getting the role dropped dead of a heart attack. In a normal year of Entourage, that would have been the "happily ever after, nothing bad happens to us!" finale. But, no! This year, Vince gets fired by the film's tyrannical director for being--get this--a terrible actor (Stellan Skarsgard, doing a hilarious send-up of Werner Herzog deserves special mention for making this story arc sizzle.) That's the set-up for the finale that has Vince and his boys traveling back to Queens for the first time in the history of the show, pennyless and hopeless. I couldn't be looking forward to this episode more.

But even more important than the increased stakes, Entourage has flown along with better focus. No longer is the show an endlessly annoying Y-chromosome remake of Sex and the City. Sure, relationships are spoken about, but they aren't the central fulcrum. With the exception of a brief flirtation with guest star Leighton Meester (playing a pop singer), Vince hasn't even had a girlfriend. And in year's past, Turtle having a secret relationship with Jamie Lynn Sigler (hilariously playing herself and dropping c-bombs with the ease of Tony Soprano) would have been arch, stilted and filled with awful navel gazing. Now, it's scoffed at; to quote Eric, the only thing less ridiculous than Turtle having an affair with Ms. Sigler would be if he was "fucking a Martian."

It's not just the boys who have gotten their balls back. It's Ari. Look, as much I love Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves, I heart you!), delving into Ari's home life was a complete mess. No one cares about Ari Gold being human and going to couples therapy and dealing with married life. They want to hear his homophobic slurs towards Lloyd and his disgraceful put-downs to the various women he encounters--if Jeremy Piven had a better line reading this year than when he called Beverly D'Angelo a "nasty twat" as she was leaving his office, I didn't see it. Ironically, this has been Mr. Piven's best performance on the show since season one, and I bet he won't get a fourth straight Emmy award next year, even though for once, he deserves it.

But as good as Mr. Piven has been, I'm constantly impressed by Kevin Connolly. Of everyone on Entourage, he's the one actor blessed with an actual character arc. Eric went from over-his-head Yes Man for Vince during the early seasons to a Mini-Ari, complete with sharp suits, agent sunglasses and a dismissive snark that fits Mr. Connolly's acting skills perfectly. He's endearingly likeable, easy to root for, and best of all, hilariously normal. It's very easy to see yourself in Eric, and a great credit for that has to go to Mr. Connolly. He's not as dreamy as Adrian Grenier, he doesn't play a cartoon character like Kevin Dillon (an actor I still despise; every time Mr. Dillon opens his mouth, I want to slap him) and he'll never get the blustery Mamet-esque soliloquies like Mr. Piven, but Mr. Connolly is the true linchpin to Entourage's success.

With sharper writing, excellent guest star turns (the aforementioned Mr. Skarsgard and Ms. Sigler, Gary Cole as a down-on-his-luck-agent, Jeffrey Tambor as himself) and an overall more palpable tone, Entourage has finally become the show everyone was hoping for. Better late than never.