Tuesday, December 27, 2016

"Entourage" Episode 16 Final recap

The end of "Entourage" is here and it brings the convenience of an equus ex machina and a time jump. Yeong-bin has escaped to Busan without the group for some alone time while everyone back in Seoul is trying to handle the fallout and get the star and Ho-jin to make up. Eun-gap in particular becomes closer to the boys than ever and provides some valuable advice to Ho-jin.
As much as I have wished for some solid character development and some self awareness from Yeong-bin (Seo Kang-joon), I believe the creators made the right choice with this happy, convenience-filled conclusion. As I say in my previous piece, this feels like the start of maturity for everyone in the group, including Eun-gap (Jo Jin-woong). Someone like Yeong-bin would need a big shock for an instant realization and one final episode cannot handle such a big plot point.
Eun-gap giving Ho-jin some adviceYeong-bin and his group
On the other hand, it feels as if little has changed in terms of the characters themselves and their lives. I can see where the writers were going with their relationships. The conclusion is essentially all about a tight-knit group who realize friendship is more important than anything, but the drama has not explored these connections enough for the outcome to have any emotional impact. Sixteen episodes of a story going anywhere and characters who accomplish very little is not exactly riveting entertainment.
"Entourage" is a very confused work when I consider it in its whole. It went for style over substance, then it tried tackling industry workings and at the very end decided to focus on its characters. For a pre-produced work, such indecisiveness and muddled progress is surprising. I know editing can change a lot, we have seen proof of that many times before and with a couple of famous cases as well, but there is much more to the problems of this series than that.
Eun-gap drunk and joyous, hugging Yeong-bin and Ho-jinThe crew after a successful movie premiere
The question for my final, spoiler free review will be whether this series is worth watching, but what I am contemplating here is whether I would want to watch more. In all honesty, with the same writing crew the answer would be "definitely not". Even Eun-gap, the show's most developed character is not very rich, if taken out of the context of the drama. Perhaps if things were different and better, I would feel this investment.
I would love a story where Yeong-bin becomes a professional and where Ho-jin (Park Jeong-min-I) becomes a super manager. One where Joon (Lee Gwang-soo) seeks help for his issues and where Turtle (Lee Dong-hwi) finds himself. Where Eun-gap and Ok-ja's (Choi Myeong-gil) relationship is developed. I would love a good series with this cast, but "Entourage" is just not that series.
"Entourage" is directed by Jang Yeong-woo, written by Kwon So-ra and Seo Jae-won and features Jo Jin-woong, Seo Kang-joon, Lee Gwang-soo, Park Jeong-min-I and Lee Dong-hwi.
Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

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