Entourage - Season 8

I'm not really sure who Entourage's final season was for. If you watch television critically and hope for consistent character development and well-considered, intelligent plotting, Entourage is too far-gone to provide that and too poorly written to attempt to salvage it in eight episodes. If you like shows that have funny lines and swearing and boobs, you won't find much of that at all here either. In fact, the whole season can be seen as a betrayal of what the show fundamentally is in an attempt to provide an emotional resolution and closure for these characters, which doesn't even succeed at doing so. It's not painful to watch, because as always, the show is slickly produced, features solid chemistry among the core characters, and is easy just to have on the TV. But I have to imagine they failed at whatever goal they were trying to reach by ending the show on their own terms.

The show has always been about poking fun at Hollywood while somewhat believably depicting the ups and downs of someone's career while living in that system. That's not really here though, Vince puts a little effort into helping Drama's acting and Turtle's business ventures, but for the most part the season is about him, E, and Ari trying to get the women of their dreams, or getting them back. And of the five central characters, only Ari comes close to having a satisfying arc in this final season. The rest of the subplots either have resolutions that are too easy and unearned, or merely stop once they reach high points rather than coming to a natural finish. It's obvious that they're leaving in the opportunity for a movie down the line, a movie that I will probably rent once it's on home video, if only because I felt slightly cheated out of seeing the parts of Entourage that are at least mildly enjoyable one last time. Entourage was never a great show, but it used to be a fun one, and that's been missing for a while. I would compare Entourage's final season to a quiet little fart right before you fall asleep.