Ashley

Ashley played E's girlfriend for most of the sixth season. She owns her own beaded jewelry business and spends the majority of her time stalking Eric. To sum up her character, I would say that she is an insecure, neurotic, obsessed, phsycho.

When Eric and her are hanging out she is constantly checking his blackberry and questioning every missed call and message. She even deletes voice mails from Sloan. When E tells her that is on the phone with Vince, she doesn't even believe him. She randomly shows up at his work unannounced just to see if he is at his office. To make it worse, she demands Eric's password for his e-mail so that she can keep constant tabs on him. She is jealous of Sloan, E's secretary, and all of his friends. She can't stand that his life involves anyone besides her.

Yet for some unknown reason, E went along with everything she told him to do up until she demanded his e-mail password. Although, he first considered just handing it over along with his dignity. It is no wonder that E ended up back with Sloan after dating the crazy. Sloan may not be a down to earth girl but at least she has some self respect.

I am left wondering why the women of the show that do not specifically fit into the "bitch"/"slut" roles tend to emasculate E. The only characters that are outside the gendered norms both play Eric's girlfriends, and they both make him feel weak. Maybe it is just Eric that is weak. He is unaware of what he wants and he is lonely without a girlfriend therefore he lets the women in his life push him around.

Sloan

Sloan is perhaps the only female character on Entourage that is not considered a "bitch" or "slut", and this makes her character the most interesting female in my opinion. For those of you that do not already know Sloan is played by Emmanuelle Chriqui. She is a gorgeous actress and a powerful woman on the show. Sloan works in public relations and is the daughter of Ari's former boss. She dated Eric on and off for three years.

In the season finale, Eric decides that he wants to get Sloan back because he realizes the dating scene is overrated. Of course, this epiphany came to him after he had an STD scare after hooking up with a random bar skank. Anyways, after three years of back and forth games, Sloan agreed to go for a ride with E. He takes her out for a romantic meal and drops the bomb that he wants to get back together. Sloan gets upset and demands that Eric take her home since they are now strictly friends and she has a new boyfriend. Eric refuses and takes her to the beach and then proposes to her to prove his commitment. The problem with Eric and Sloan's relationship throughout the show has been that he wasn't mature enough to commit to her. His friends and his job always came first, and she just received any attention that was left over after that. Well, Sloan agreed to marry Eric once he proved that he was willing to commit. The episode ended with a happily ever after vibe.

However, it leaves me wondering if Eric and Sloan's relationship will be any better just because he decided to propose. After all, she was dating someone else on the very day that she was proposed to. The last few years have been filled with bickering and unnecessary drama. She also played a lot of games with him, changing her mind about their relationship constantly. She always said that Eric wasn't mature enough, but it seemed like Eric was willing to do anything to be with her. He found a new job and bought his own house to show Sloan how serious he was. Even then, she still continued to see the negative. So just because he gave her a ring, she all of a sudden decides to be with him? What has really changed? This relationship seems doomed and I am beginning to wonder why the boys all love Sloan aside from her attractive looks.

Identity

During season six each of the guys learned a little more about what they want for their own lives. Before season six, all of the boy's lives revolved around Vince's acting gigs. This is the first season that each of them has decided to make plans for their own lives.

Turtle went back to school. He began college courses so that he could find a future for himself now that Vince knows how to drive. Eric became an agent at a powerful agency and is starting to sign his own clients, plus he is now engaged to Sloan. Drama decided that he can't live without acting because its a part of who he is. It actually seems that this season Vince is doing less than everyone else, and he is lonely because of it.

We have recently learned that Turtle is sensitive, Eric is in charge of his life, and Drama is confident. These are sides that we have not had the chance to see before. The personalities show depth. It has been interesting to see them each as individuals rather than just Vince's friends/employees. Now I would like to see Drama in a serious relationship because we have yet to see his love life. I would also like to see Vince in a relationship that lasts for more than a few episodes.

Entourage and Feminism

Adrian Grenier: A self-professed feminist?

This is what Adrian said to The Guardian after they asked him what he thought of the portrayal of women on Entourage:

"I’m a feminist, so if there was anything that was untrue I would be on it. But you should see some of the girls out in LA. Entourage is remarkably honest. I don’t think it pulls its punches, let’s say. There are a wide range of different types of women characters. It’s not just the superficial bimbo, although we do have a couple of them: that’s part of what the LA experience is. But then you have strong characters like Carla Gugino, who plays Amanda – she’s smart, and strong, and a great actress – those are the women that stand out to me, the rest are superficial backdrop … I probably wouldn’t hang out with those girls as much. I hang out with the ones who are smart and interesting."

Adrian received a lot of criticism for this statement, especially from fans. Upon visiting another blog that discussed this quote I found the following points of view from the comment board:

"Hey, a no disparagement contract is a no disparagement contract. I'm just focusing on the good, I guess, instead of the bad. Good = high profile male identifying as feminist." -blogger

"Not that I have any reason to doubt he's being genuine, or anything, but this quote sounds a lot like the kind of thing people decide you should say when your highly dude-ish program is criticized as highly dude-ish and found to be insufficiently attracting the young-women demographic" -blogger

"Come on, y'all, give the man a break. How many Hollywood stars even want to be considered feminist? Props for that, and ... you can't really judge him by the show. Otherwise other feminist actresses would have to be judged by the work they take, and then we'd be screwed." -blogger

Judging by the number of young women who refuse to be labeled "feminist," I'm not sure that's the most effective strategy. And since when does TV portraying women as bimbos have a hard time attracting that demographic, anyway? The Hills? Simple Life? The OC? Etc." -blogger

So the question is, was this a good career move for Adrian?

As reflected by the quotes mentioned earlier from bloggers, his willingness to be recognized as a feminist can either be looked at as a positive attribute or just a superficial means of defending his show.

While this past season does have several strong female characters, there is still a representation that the women's main role is as sex objects on the show. Therefore, it seems that Adrian's feminist statement is hypocritical. While, I find it interesting that a man in this industry would identify himself as a feminist, I feel that Adrian contradicts himself. He refers to the majority of the women on the show as being "superficial backdrop," not exactly something you would expect a "feminist" to say. The majority of his statement following, "I'm a feminist," was misogynistic. I think he made this statement because of all the criticism the show has received for depicting women so negatively. He wanted to preserve his self image and defend the show to get a wider audience from women. His attempt sounds insincere.

Maybe You Can Have It All

"Maybe you can have it all," is the series slogan. This slogan perfectly describes the theme of the show. Vince is a poor boy from Queens with a dream to make it in Hollywood. Everyone loves this kind of story in which the protagonist rises from nothing and makes a life for himself. It is similar to the fantasy of winning the lottery.

They say that Americans love to see celebrities fail. Well I say that we love to see a success story, but hollywood tragically influences people to make poor decisions. Entourage is refreshing because Vince is an actor that keeps focused and handles his fame well. Vince is a likable character because he is grounded. He remembers where he came from and he has the same childhood friends. His friends are his family and he is loyal to each of them. In the last episode of season six, he even starts getting involved with charities.

Because Vince is the star of the show and he is a good guy, viewers cheer on his success. In a society that is obsessed with fame, shows like entourage will always thrive. People like to live vicariously through Vince and they like to believe that this could happen to them. And why shouldn't they?

Friendship as the backbone for Entourage? I don't think so.

The writers of the show claim that Entourage is a show about friendship because without the emphasis of brotherhood bonding the show wouldn't be relatable to viewers. This may be true, but it is definitely not the backbone of the show. If it were just about a bunch of guys hanging out all the time, no one would watch.

The real reason that this show is so successful is because it continues to push boundaries. The guys are constantly having inappropriate sexual encounters and referencing drugs. These two things are not normally talked about and that is why it is so entertaining to watch on TV. Entourage first caught my attention because of the pure shock value. I often found myself saying, "did that really just happen?"

I will never forget the first episode that featured guest star Bob Saget. He mentioned his coke addiction and love for prostitutes. He then hooked the boys up with some action from the neighbors. And then later appeared asking Eric if he could have sex in his office in exchange for E being his agent. This was definitely disturbing to me because I always had a sentimental sense of nostalgia for Danny Tanner in Full House.

The boys are also constantly shown bonding around smoking a marijuana joint. One episode in particular shows the love they have for weed when the town goes dry and they have to go on a journey to find a sherpa so they can have their marijuana fix.

Another shocking element of the show is all the sex in random public places. It seems all Vince has to do is show up at a restaurant, store, or bar to get laid. One episode shows him with a girl he met for the first time at a bar, rocking in his escalade in the parking lot outside during sex.

The actual characters and friendships are not what makes this show popular. It is the sex and drugs that draw in viewers that are mesmerized by their ability to do whatever they want without any consequences.

Season 6 Finale

This past Sunday, October 4th was the season finale for Entourage. It was jam packed with celebrity guest appearances (Matt Damon, Bono, Lebron James) and yet I was disappointed with the way things ended. The finale was predictable and the show is becoming repetitive.

Here is a short recap of what happened on the finale: Vince got hassled by Matt Damon to help his charity for kids by donating his time and money. He left for Italy to start filming his new flick. Drama decided to return to acting and auditioned for the new Melrose Place, but was turned down. Instead he was offered a holding contract while a script is being written for him and flew to Italy with Vince in the meantime. Turtle hooked up with the college coed, but ultimately decided he wanted to be with Jamie. He hopped a plane to New Zealand to be with her, but while on the plane she told him not to come because she didn't want to date him while she was filming. After arriving in New Zealand Turtle took the next flight to Rome to meet up with Vince and Drama. Eric took Sloan out on a date. They fought the entire time and then Eric proposed to her and she said yes.

It sounds like there is a lot of content for this finale but I was left disappointed because all of it was extremely predictable. Everyone knew that Eric and Sloan had to get together for good because there can only be so much back and forth before it gets too annoying. As soon as Jamie got the part on a new series it was obvious that her and Turtle would break up. Drama had to go back to acting or what else would he do with his life? And as for Vince, what did he even do this season? He wasn't working and he wasn't dating anyone. I feel like he was barely even on the show. The few scenes that include him show him playing pool at the house or drinking at the bar with guys. I would like to see something new from Vince in the next season.

The only enjoyable parts of this episode were the celebrity appearances in which Matt Damon ruthlessly campaigned for his charity along with Bono and Lebron James. And my favorite scene in which Ari bought out his former boss's company and walked in with a paint ball gun shooting all of the "dead weight" aka people that he has hated throughout his entire career including Adam. Lloyd was offered the role as an agent for Ari's new company and he apologized for taking Lloyd for granted.

Another aspect of this episode that bothered me was the sign that Ari had made for Lloyd to congratulate him on his promotion. The sign read, "Congratulations, now you're a real Asian." Then as he showed the office to Lloyd he jokingly said, "That's supposed to say agent." The sign was offensive and unprofessional.

This show is cyclical and I'm getting bored with the repetitiveness and cheap jokes. Next season I would like to see Ari's wife have a more prominant role in a couple episodes. I also hope that they show the wedding between Eric and Sloan. Also, Vince needs to be a main character again and hopefully something unpredictable will happen on his movie set. I look forward to seeing Lloyd as an agent and how Eric will balance his life as a married man with all the guys. I hope this next season is better and the writers come up with some fresh ideas. If I had to rate season 6 on a 1-10 scale, I would give it a 6. I will anxiously await season 7 with optimistic hopes that it will be better than the last.