The End of Entourage - Top 5 Relationships I’ll Miss

Entourage has been one of my favorite shows during it’s eight year run. I was actually lucky enough to score an interview with Jerry Ferrara (Turtle) during season two. Now that the show is ending I want to reminisce about it a bit. Rather than focus on plots, or individual characters, or specific moments, though, I’m going to focus on what made the show so great - the relationships. Billed as being about a Hollywood star who took his friends with him for the ride, the relationships that developed throughout Entourage’s run were the most interesting aspect of the show. These are my personal top five relationships in Entourage history.


5) E & Scott Lavin
This relationship was a recent development over the past few seasons and has blossomed into a great, updated, Odd Couple. In one office we have the super serious, always trying to prove he’s more than just Vince’s boy, E, and in the other office we have the laid back, always down for a good time, Scott. I’m still not sure if deep down they even like each other, in fact, if I had to put money on it I’d say they didn’t, but they know each one has something to offer that the other doesn’t, and that combined they really can please all of the people all of the time. It’s why they could take over the management group they were working for. They also serve as a nice reminder that different working styles can be successful, even when those styles are right next door to each other in the same building.


4) Drama & Jennie (E’s Secretary)
In an otherwise brilliantly written show I consider this non-event as one of the few writing holes Entourage featured. Drama and Jennie weren’t just flirting with each other, she was the one who convinced him that Johnny’s Bananas was funny, and she was the one he called when he was having doubts about the show. What’s strange is Jennie was inspiring Drama to go for it with the cartoon one season, and then the next it was as if that never happened. Heck, Jennie’s barely been in the final season at all. When the two are in a scene together there’s light flirting, but I think the writers really missed an opportunity to give the character of Drama a final rounding out.


3) Turtle & Himself
Turtle was the member of Vince’s crew who was the most self-aware and the least Hollywood. At first he was content being the stoner hanger-on, but it didn’t take long for him to want to earn his keep. He failed numerous times before seeing success, but it was his constant want to grow as a person, and his vocalizing of that want to grow as a person, that made him so impressive. He made it clear that although he liked making money, what he really liked was working, and earning it. Actor Jerry Ferrara’s weight loss during the show’s eight year run added to his character's persona of wanting to be a better, more complete, person, as well.


2) Ari and E
The tough love paternal relationship Ari Gold had with E, who he initially had no use for whatsoever, was one of the most beautiful mentor-protege relationships in television history. They called each other some of the worst things in the book, but through it all E never lost sight of the fact that Ari was one of the kings of that town and that he was almost always right. When E started seeing real success past simply being his best friend’s manager there was a poignant moment where he was on the phone with Ari, I can’t remember if it was early in the morning or very late at night, but Ari was in bed and rather than doling out a typical Ari insult he gave E a heartfelt congratulations in a “you done growed up” kind of way.

The parallels Ari's and E’s careers had were also an awesome, unspoken, part of the show. Both went out on their own, both found a partner they weren't particularly fond of (E had Scott, Ari had Barbara Miller), both took over established companies (Ari took over his former bosses company and E took over what was his current bosses company). Although they’d never admit to being on a mentor-protege level, they were, and while Ari Gold was Darth Vader to a lot of people, he was Obi-Wan to E’s Luke Skywalker.


1) Ari and Lloyd
Pairing Ari and Lloyd was the single best move Entourage did in its eight seasons. Originally hired because Ari didn’t want E sleeping with another one of his assistants and making things awkward, Lloyd turned out to be not just the perfect assistant for Ari Gold, someone who could take his vulgarity and insults, but the perfect friend, as well. Their on-screen chemistry was amazing. When Ari was fired and Lloyd decided to leave with him to start their own agency the explanation he gave as to why, and how much he believed in Ari, wasn’t just heartfelt and beautiful, it showed him to be more loyal and understanding than Ari’s wife would turn out to be. In an interesting twist, Lloyd also seemed to understand Ari’s passion in ways that his wife never did, and understood that his family, above all, came first. Ari’s wife thought it never came first, but she didn’t see what Lloyd saw. She also wasn’t there for him nearly as much as Lloyd was. In return, Ari gave his tough love to Lloyd, much like he did to E, and in doing so taught him how to be an agent. Unlike with E, however, this wasn’t a paternal relationship, this was business turned friendship, with Lloyd eventually becoming family.