The Entourage Review: Season 5, Episode 5: Tree Trippers

Posted by Tim Livingston on 10.06.2008

By the end of the show and the end of this review, don't be surprised if your mouth won't talk anymore.

LAST WEEK: The script gets tossed around. Drama buckles on The View. E tries to handle ALL of this like the good lil' manager he is as Amanda makes him an offer he can't refuse. This will be good.

I would like to point out that I actually started singing the theme song. I don't even like Jane's Addiction. I've never sung along with the theme song before. Damn.

Now on to “Tree Trippers.” Ari tries to get on Mr. Gray's good side for “Smoke Jumpers.” Alan ain't hearing it as Ari goes to meet the boys. The boys are at lunch and are arguing over the merits of why this is going on, as now the guys know that Ed Norton is all in for the movie. Ari pitches Benji from Steve Carl. Ari presents a $3M offer, and Ari cried over the script. No word on whether it was because he was sad or because it's a script about a stupid dog. Vince doesn't want to make a decision on money alone, and doesn't want to get taken care of by the rest of the guys. Meanwhile, repo men come by and take the guys' car because they haven't paid up on their lease payments. They even left Arnold! Driving in Ari's non-Ferrari car, Ari talks about Benji to Vince and tells him that the script is exactly what he thinks it is. Ari suggests Villas so that he can “relieve some stress,” but Drama suggests Joshua Tree. That's a good idea. With mushrooms. That's a GREAT idea. Vince asks Ari along, and here we go.

They go to Eric Roberts' house to get the stuff. Yes, THAT Eric Roberts. He and Ari hadn't seen each other in 10 years. Eric wants Ari to take a swing at the rock hard abs. Ari doesn't “Jew out” to ER's standards. Fantastic. Eric wants to know what's up with the journey, as he's big on people going to find themselves. Eric wants to go, but they can't all fit in Ari's car, so they take Eric's Winnebago. Sweet.

Weed smoking into the desert, Roberts brags about how he's taken the Winnie everywhere. Except Montana, which he can no longer enter legally. As if the majority of my extended family would want him. Ari asks about the plan. Drama says they shroom and come down. Simple as that. The guys talk about a trip to the lake in preparation of the trip. They bring up bed wetting Drama and how he needed two sleeping bags. Phenomenal. Ari wants Villa, but instead he gets a call from Lloyd. He's with Tom shopping for food and gets asked to watch Lilly, the Gold family dog. Ari is indignant. Lloyd is Lloyd. It is what you think it is. All of a sudden, porn star Katie Morgan drives by with her huge fake boobs and her porn star friends as they head for Vegas and an AVN convention. The boys can't come with, unfortunately. Of course, the girls flash them. Hey, that's what matters.

The gay couple returns home and Tom ain't happy that they have to dogsit because they have to miss game night. Gay game night. They suggest to their game night at Ari's. Lloyd says no. Tom promises perfection in his plan, and also promises to be locked up in the kennel upon failure. Wow.

They arrive at DA TREE. Open air. Drama loves it, but Ari doesn't love it. They brought two bags of shrooms with them. ER tries to help E out, as E confesses to not ever having an actual shroom before. Just a steam that he puked out 30 seconds later. Drama comes back to help E with a PB and Shroom sandwich for him. That's nice. Meanwhile, Ari gets no love. Drama doesn't want to do it right away. So he moves five feet to the left. Much better. They dust off a few caps. Peer pressure for Ari, but he succumbs. He also just doesn't like them. Turtle wants to know why he didn't do shrooms in the '60s. Ari was born in '67. Fat boy.

Back at the Ari Gold residence, it's a gay game night! Oh, this can only turn into something bad.

In the desert sun, nobody is feeling it at all. They are all just sitting around as Ari sits impatiently, not wanting to hear about Turtle's first handjob. Everyone else would, though. Ari's just the odd man out in this little quest of his and he is bothering the group. Mrs. Ari calls. Roberts: “We could kill him and nobody would know.” Mrs. Ari is heading home tonight from the aunt's house with the kids, as this is the reason the house is empty. Ari gets no reception out in the desert and tries to get signal hilariously. The group tells him to climb one of the rocky hills before he trips out. Poor Ari is being sent on a fool's quest. Turtle throws a stick. They start feeling something. Laughter ensues.

At the aunts, the kids are playing as Ari gets a hold of Mrs. Gold, and Mrs. Gold is getting impatient because the kids are restless. Ari is TRIPPING out at this point. AWESOME. He slaps himself to get going. Jonah, his son, is unhappy, so in order to keep the family there, he bribes his son with $100 to get him to stay! Ari is tripping out and it is pure magic, folks. He talks about how huge his hands are. Then he realizes that he's lost. Where is he? Fantastic.

Meanwhile, the other guys are pondering things. Vince asks for them all to say Benji in a funny manner. Drama holds up the Benji script and says it's floating. E's meditating but doesn't want to read it. ER says the answer is out in the desert. They realize Ari is still there. Maybe he found the answer? ER doesn't want to leave, but Vince might want to. ER wants to create. Drama wants to pee. Vince feels cold and doesn't like it. They ask E to keep a hold of the signs by writing them down. Oh man...while peeing, Drama thought he pulled his penis off. AWESOME. Now Turtle realizes that Arnold is lost because Drama thought a rock was the dog! This is too much.

Meanwhile, Ari is lost. Yelling for help lost. He calls Lloyd! Gay game night at the Golds is in full effect with Gay Wheel of Fortune! Lloyd is trying to keep cool, which is great dichotomy while Ari is freaking out on the shrooms. He confesses to Lloyd what he is really doing out in the desert while going on about how he hates magicians, as real life Jeremy Piven played a drugged-out magician in “Smokin' Aces.” Did he not like that role or something? Lloyd wonders why no buddy system was employed. The eventual answer to Gay Wheel of Fortune is phenomenal. Lloyd continues to work things out with Ari.

Back with the crew, they have to figure out where everyone else is. This brings up a great conversation about whether they should go after Ari or Arnold. Turtle's reasoning: You can't replace a best friend like you can an agent. They continue to write stuff down as they look for signs, but E can't speak because, and I quote, “My mouth can't talk!” PHENOMENAL. They yell out for both of them as the sun goes down.

Ari is still on the phone with Lloyd as he searches for the crew. He sees goblins, which is normal. Ari thinks Lloyd is Confucius. WOW. He thinks something is coming for him. He's tripping hard. Ari runs from what he thinks is coming (“I see eyes, Lloyd!”) as Lloyd continues to talk in Confucius-speak!

Turtle wants to find Arnold as nightfall is upon the group. In response, Vince grabs Drama and says he likes him. It's as random an occurrence as I wrote it. Vince realizes that he can't do the movie because of Aquaman 2, and because he screwed Alan. Vince wants everything to be good. He realizes E makes Vince good. He says E and Turtle are good friends. E can't talk and it freaks Turtle out! Vince sends Drama to make E talk, so Drama does what any normal person would do in that situation: He gives E a titty twister. E screams and now he can talk. No later than two seconds after, E says that Vince doesn't want to do Benji.

Ari is still lost and talking to Lloyd, but he can hear Drama. Lloyd is still Confucius. The group hears Ari, but Turtle thinks he heard Arnold, which is about right. After a shout or two, Ari runs toward the shouts and the boys realize its Ari. Ari was freaked out and Turtle is disappointed, but Arnold comes right behind him. Turtle talks to the dog. I'm not joking. He literally has a conversation with the dog. Vince says that Arnold find Ari, Ari found Benji and they found the group. Drama says The Tree has spoken. Benji is being done. Vince barks like a dog and the whole group joins in. Yeah, this is pretty phenomenal.

On the way home, ER shows what he made out of two sticks. Turtle is still tripping while the others still can't figure out if they are. Ari's phone rings and it's the wife calling at 2 a.m. This can't be good, and it isn't. Well, not for the Golds. For the 25 gay guys having a pool party bare-assed it might be, but...suffice to say, Ari is screwed when he gets home. They're on the highway when they drive by a fiery car crash. Vince sees himself putting out the flames. Sign achieved. He says to forget about the new Benji movie because he wants to do “Smoke Jumpers.” Vince just wants to wing it, knowing he's not a shoe-in for the movie. Turtle said he'd get a job to help the cause. Yeah, right. Ari says he'll get a job. Yeah, right. Vince reiterates his desire to do “Smoke Jumpers” and wants Ari to give it the old college try.

The 411: Entourage is saving HBO's butt right now. I don't think the new shows are making that big of an impact; meanwhile, Showtime is putting out some pretty dang good TV shows. After Six Feet Under and The Sopranos ended, Entourage was counted on to pick up the slack. In five episodes, it's turned itself from blundering to beautiful. Don't let your eyes deceive you. This is the best show going on TV and it's episodes like this that keep getting it done. Another great one to put in the books for this season as this show continues to roll.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]