The Show

Those unfamiliar with Entourage should definitely take some time to view the previous seasons before even considering watching season seven or reading this review. 

Vincent Chase remains on top after Season 6 and begins 7 by starring in an action heavy film where the director wants him to do his own stunts.  After finally committing to it, he begins to grow the cajones he never had before in the series.  To prove he’s got the balls, he starts making a lot more decisions on his own that guide most of what this season has to offer. Starting with a new haircut and then jumping out of a plane, Vince takes this series into the darkest it has ever gone, but ultimately makes this the strongest season yet, featuring loads of character development and some surprising twists.

Episode Highlights

The season starts off slowly, not really picking up steam until Episode 5: Bottoms Up.  We see Vince begin to slip, Ari panic over a female colleague’s threats, and the long overdue settling of the penis comparison between rivals Eric and Scott (Scott Caan).  In addition, it introduces Sasha Grey, a welcome and pivotal new addition to the series.  Not only that, it happens to be the funniest episode of the season featuring superb cameos by Mike Tyson and Jessica Simpson, some discussions on anal sex,  and ends with a hilariously awkward scene featuring Eric and Sloan. From that point on in the season we start to see a steady stream of bad luck plaguing every cast member causing a downward spiral toward the season’s finale. 

Despite Season 5 presenting itself as the low point in Vince and the boy’s careers, Season 7 takes a much larger turn for the worst.  By the end, Vince is at the absolute lowest point of his career, succumbing to a cocaine addiction that not only destroys his image but causes him to lose the largest role of his career.  Eric’s short list of clients hasn’t made him successful, forcing him to join Scott’s conquest in taking over Murray’s (George Segal, 2012, Love and Other Drugs) business.  Turtle continues to struggle with debt from his latest business failure and his attempt to enter the tequila market with Alex has been rocky at best.  Ari’s struggle with bad publicity is compounded further by his wife’s decision to separate.  The only positive outcome from the entire season is Drama’s career changing role as a voice actor in an upcoming cartoon based on him.

Audio and Video

Entourage: The Complete Seventh Seasonfeatures a 1080p High Def 16:9 widescreen presentation and despite five episodes crammed on each disk, Entourage looks pretty good on Blu-ray.  In fact, it looks almost a little too good. Barbara Miller (Beverly D’Angelo, National Lampoon’s Vacation)’s and Sasha Grey’s caked-on makeup jobs look atrocious in high-def. Other than that, there are no other complaints in the transfer.

Like most Blu-ray releases, this one features English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 in addition to a French DTS Digital Surround 5.1 track and a Spanish DTS Digital Surround 2.0 one as well.  It all sounds great as well and Entourage continues to do a great job mixing in some great music old and new throughout the season.  You won’t be disappointed.  The inclusion of Christina Aguilera as she sings “You Lost Me” in Episode 10 is fantastic.

Special Features and Packaging

Entourage: The Complete Seventh Seasonon Blu-ray comes as a two disc collection with the following extras:

• Inside the Hollywood Highlife – A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Season 7 featuring interviews with the cast and crew featurette.
• The Shades of Sasha Grey – An inside look into the world of Sasha Grey featurette.
• 3 Audio commentaries with creator Doug Ellin, executive producer Ally Musika, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, and Adrian Grenier.

The commentaries are great. The cast members are hilarious in their ongoing chatter, constantly making fun of each other and adding in a bunch of outside knowledge on hidden stuff in the background or how great it was to work with all the cameos. It’s all great stuff and actually worth listening to.  Unfortunately, they talk so much you’ll barely hear any of the show at all.  Even when they mention a great line, the show’s audio is so low, you’ll have a hard time hearing what they’re commenting on.  In addition, there’s only commentary on episodes 6, 9, and 10.

Inside the Hollywood Highlife features some of the larger scenes in the season like Vince’s stunt drive and the entire last episode.  It runs about 14 minutes and includes small chunks of interviews.  Jeremy Piven’s insight on his role as Ari Gold is particularly good.  The Shades of Sasha Grey featurette runs about six minutes and is an in-depth interview with Sasha on her transition between being a porn starlet and mainstream acting.  Although she did a great job as Vince’s girl this season, I didn’t see the appeal of devoting an entire special feature to her when other major cast members like Scott Caan and Dania Ramirez have yet to see an extra dedicated to them.

Overall

If we’ve learned anything from stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Britney Spears, it’s that Hollywood loves the rise, fall and rise again of stars.  In similar fashion, it’s a safe bet we’ll see Vince rise again next season along with his co-stars as they finally break free of his shadow, no longer his entourage.  Season 7 doesn’t wrap up many of the separate plot lines as the previous seasons but sets the series up nicely for its finale in Season 8.

ComicsOnline gives Entourage: The Complete Seventh Season on Blu-ray 4 out of 5 coke binges.

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