ENTOURAGE: What about Bob?

"Nobody f**ks Bob but Bob"

One of the season's best episodes can be summed up in that simple sentence. And when Ari tried to do just that, Bob went old-school on the brash young hotshot by undercutting a deal Ari & E had with Universal for the Ramones project and selling the script to Vince's enemy, Allen at Warners.

The show starts off with Drama about to head out to shoot his pilot, and he's both excited and nervous. Turtle brings up a sore spot by telling Drama not to have a panic attack, he tries to smooth things over by offering some friendly advice: to ease the tension, he needs to "rub one out". A good tug takes away all your anxiety". Drama acts appalled, but you know what's, ahem, coming later.

E, Ari and Bob are headed to a meeting with Paramount head Brad Grey. But Ari "forgets" to call Bob. Sensing this, E called him, much to Ari's chagrin: "I don't need this old f**k keeling over in the middle of my flow"-priceless! Bob shows up and the three head in.

Meanwhile Vince & Turtle are at a local sneaker store because Turtle is hoping to use Vince's fame in order to score a pair of limited edition Fukijama's, commisioned by a world famous grafitti artist. Vince won't do it, and the two must race across town to get the last pair, only to find out they got beat to 'em by DJ AM, a sneakerhead & fellow size 10. "I'm not mad, Vince, just sad, very very sad" Turtle tells him (cue the violins).

Bob blew the meeting with Paramount, "you lost him at Sanka" Ari tells him, and tensions are high between the two. But E brokers a compromise: Bob stays silent while Ari does his thing. Agreed, exept as they head to Disney, as Ari told them, they were actually going to Universal, and as Bob is tossed off the Disney lot, a plan of revenge begins to form.

Drama is now having a full-blown PA in his trailer, repeatedly telling himself "you are not a pussy" as he tries to get psyched up for his first role in, well, a while. But when nothing works, the whole crew waiting, and Eddie beating on the door, Drama decides to beat something of his own, thanks to a nearby Maxim and a bottle of hand lotion. Problem is, he left his microphone on, and as he's doing his thing, Burns yells to the crew "hey, come over hear, you gotta hear this-he's rubbing one out" as the whole crew rolls with laughter. When he finally does the scene, he nails it, and after the shot Burns tells Drama he needs some reaction shots: mad, sad, happy, embarrassed; "I don't really see why I would be embarrassed?" Burns then whispers in his ear "when you went to your trailer, you had your mike on while you were wackin' it; the whole crew heard ya' .Drama then looks plenty embarrassed, and Burns yells "got it, great Drama". It was freaking hilarious!

By now E and Ari are pumped: they've got an offer from Universal, and now Ari plans on going back to Paramount to start a bidding war. But Bob has been incommunicato, and when he finally does reach them, he drops the bomb about the deal with Warners: "Went to see my old pal Allen at Warners & man, does he hate young Vince" Ouch, right through the heart: this Alzeheimer-esque Rain Man of old Hollywood just stuck it to one of today's biggest stars and his people. And Vince is out of work- again. Or is it still?

The closing scene shows the boys rolling into aN LA ghetto neighborhood, with Vince handing Turtle an envelope stuffed with cash and telling him to go inside and ask for Jimmy. Nervously, Turtle asks for entrance, goes inside and is greeted by a smallish Asian grafitti artist: "You Turtle?" he asks. "How you like my sneakers?" Fukijama himself then hands an incredulous Turtle an engraved case with the ultimate pair of limiteds in it "only 1 of 1" he tells Turtle as he dares to touch the shoes, an obvious homage to the mystical suitcase in Pulp Fiction if I ever saw one. When Turtle comes out happy as a clam, he looks at the others and asks what's wrong:
"Oh nothing, I just spent $20 thousand on sneakers and I don't have a job."

A lot of threads to leave dangling for next week's finale. The previews already reveal that Vince and Ari are about to split, over what is not clear. Vince's career is certainly in stall mode, in large part his own doing, but now that Ari is working with Babs he needs to bring in clients that earn for the agency. What are the odds that Ari is kicked to the curb by Vince, only to land a killer part thanks to old Bob & buddy E, leaving Ari to come groveling back. After all, Ari is great at groveling. Does Drama continue to work, or suffer from stage fright? And now that Turtle has a $20k pair of custom kicks, will that land him a new rapper? All these questions and only one week to go. Oh yeah, one other thing: WHERE THE HELL IS SLOAN?!?!?!?