Grid Effect

Welcome back, hope everyone’s labor day was as reckless as mine. Whenever there is a three day weekend, that following Monday or Tuesday seems infinitely longer than a Monday after a two day weekend. It’s miserable, and that is exactly what I am today, fucking miserable. So my apologies for the lazy, dual post. But this is all I really have the energy/capacity for right now.

Entourage certainly could have been worse, but they fit so much into one episode it kind of ruined it. This is another situation where they could have spent three days in France working out who to sell the film to, instead we saw several abbreviated conversations then they dropped an anvil on us when the Arab guy doubled the studio’s offer and went straight to the financier, who then dropped the film because an isolated crowd at Cannes Film Festival didn’t enjoy it. Then Harvey, the abrasive studio head bought it for one dollar, promising to turn it around. Which will undoubtedly prove to be a successful venture by the end of next season.

At the very least, the project turned out to be somewhat of a bust (for now). On the other hand, Eric was proved right about it. And therein lies a problem, because regardless of which one of the parties was going to accurately project the movie’s success, and guess correctly (Eric or everybody else), it was going to be agitating. That is a significant problem when in a lighthearted, campy, summertime series, you wouldn’t mind seeing everyone fail. It might be worth addressing.

As for the peripheral aspects of this finale, the Johnny Drama plot was pretty overdone, and Ari felt obsolete (at least compared to how significant a role he should have played). Also, for those who feel this show is misogynistic, between the coke binges with Paul Rubenstein and his band of hookers, to the Arab guy fixing Turtle up with some free oral off-handedly, this episode did little to quell those complaints. Lloyd giving his boyfriend advice on the limbo was damn funny, though we could have done without that mamosa spout, but it caused quite the reaction with the people I was watching the show with. Who would have thought the highlight of an Entourage season finale would take place on a gay vacation?

Conchords actually ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, which will probably be dismissed with nothing more than a quick explanation (if that) in the season two premiere. Whether I like or dislike this is one thing, the fact that it worked well in this episode is undeniable. For one, we had a Dimitri Martin cameo, albeit an all but silent one, but anytime the best young comedian is involved, I tend to approve. Greg Fitzsimmons, who started this entire mess when Murray “discovered” him and his bongos, and caused a riff in the band when Murray forced him onto Bret and Jermaine.

Another great thing about this episode, we weren’t inundated with eight minutes of crappy songs like we usually are. Outside of a Footloose parody, a portion of “Crazy Dogs” new “Arf Arf” video, some tidbits of “The Humans Are Dead” performances (One with The Orginal Flight of The Conchords (Bret and Dimitri) and Flight of The Conchords (Greg and Jermaine)) and some rehersals; we were spared any uncomfortable, psuedo-videos that were beginning to test my patience. What we saw, sans the parody, was actually necessary to the plot and the humor was appropriately derivative.

This was a bizarre little episode, but enjoyable all the same. And a good conclusion to a successful pilot season. Whether they have enough versatility to stay interesting for a second season remains in question, but for now the series is a success, and we can leave it at that.

There it is, once Mad Men and Rescue Me wraps up their respective seasons, we are done with summer television on this site. Clear your schedules for It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Curb Your Enthusiasm both of which start next week.