[Drama Review] 'Entourage' - Episode 12

AKP STAFF

Amber, Lee Kwang Soo, Seo Kang Jun, Lee Dong Hwi

Episode 12 of 'Entourage' has started to show some promising signs again! This was officially the episode where we got to see manager Lee Ho Jin (Park Jung Min) being a boss and Turtle (Lee Dong Hwi) experiencing character change!

Ho Jin: Let's just break up then, Young Bin! (The catch is, that's his actual line in this scene...)

One factor that sets this episode apart from the other episodes we've seen so far is that for what I feel like is the very first time, we got to see some real action take place inside the entertainment industry. While they did frequently hint that some of the scenes that went on this episode were more "old fashioned" ways of doing things in the field, I felt that it still exposed us to more real aspects of how movies become started, how contracts between actors and management companies get drawn up, and such. So far, all of the signing of contracts, the offers for movie roles, all of that took place in more refined settings, such as in offices or cafes, and the conversations were rather sugar coated as lines in a drama so that the conversations were all hints of what really happens rather than what actually happens, if you follow me. But in this episode, we see Kim Eun Gap (Jo Jin Woong) and Lee Ho Jin going to beg a movie buyer for negotiations. We see them heading over to a rundown office of a movie production company that used to be the biggest deal in the field, but has now since been reduced to a flickering little candle. We hear them talking about numbers and percentages, as well as bickering about discord between management companies and movie production companies.

We also now understand very clearly why Korean actors/actresses love those Chinese productions so much.

Not only did Eun Gap and Ho Jin paint those pictures for us with more substance this episode but the drama also laid out a more tangible picture of the job of being a manager, thanks to Turtle's decision to officially become Cha Jun's (Lee Kwang Soo). For those of you who haven't been too fond of Turtle's lazy, doing-nothing character, this is where we got to see him get off his ass, albeit under the overdone evils of Cha Jun's ill-intentions to "bring him up with hardship."

This is where I have to mention the scene where Cha Jun blows up at Turtle (again) and orders him to bring him cup ramen. I don't know if any of you found Turtle's weird, green, pajama-shirt fashion odd since the beginning of that scene in the car, but I did and kept raising my eyebrows at it until I realized how serious (yet unrealistically fuzzy in a sitcom-ish way) the scene was getting. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I want to believe that the pajama shirt in itself was a setup for the rather dream-like wake-up call that Turtle experiences in that scene. You can't help but feel really bad for the poor guy, and hope like he was probably hoping, that this was all just a bad dream! The scene in itself was a nice change from all of the boring cafes and office settings. I hope to see more of them from here on out.

Who knew pajamas could be this deep!

Now we have to talk about how Cha Young Bin (Seo Kang Jun) literally did nothing this episode. Not to mention every other episode, really. But it's all in the drama's attempt to really portray the entertainment industry for what it is, I suppose. In the end, guys, it turns out that the actors we know and love are all just couch potatoes, and the real heroes are the managers and management company employees? It's amazing thinking about the fact that Young Bin himself is literally doing nothing except sitting at home eating crackers, but every conversation exchanged among all of the people with the reins centers on Young Bin. The money goes back and forth between people with Young Bin in the center, as well. In the end, he's the one who's sitting on those huge bucks, but to be an actor really means being this figurehead who gets paid while everyone else is doing everything important? If you put it that way, it's rough!

But I guess this drama is trying to say that in the very least, Young Bin is the kind of actor who manages to have a voice in the productions he wants to work on, not to mention he's not just a puppet to the eyes of people like Eun Gap and Ho Jin, who really care about him. Even though I understand that, I can't help but have a stink eye for Young Bin. He's so stubborn and childlike still, even after having worked out everything this episode.

Is this really how guys make up after a fight..?

After another rocky weekend, 'Entourage' may be managing to bring things around, but we'll have to wait and see to really be sure. I'm interested to find out whether or not Turtle's manager position was just a one-time episode deal or if he's really going to stick through it. In terms of the drama's main plot, there's still a lot to deal with since we can't be sure if CEO Kang Ok Ja is going to just let Young Bin and Eun Gap cruise by. It looks like we won't be seeing any more of Sohee for the remainder of series (I know some of you are probably sad about that... :-/ ). The one sure thing that this weekend's episodes leave us with is that all of our expectations have been sort of cast aside, and now we're just tagging along for the ride after having given up on our own desires for this production. Well then, until next week!