By Nick Carrabine
NCarrabine@News-Herald.com

(Spoilers below)

With only eight more episodes left in the series, HBO’s Entourage is gearing up for what looks to be a strong series finale.

Two more episodes remain this season and six more will be produced next summer to serve as the season’s eighth and final season (however there is talk of a motion picture following the series finale.)

First off, I don’t get into too many TV shows nowadays. What’s the point? Most either get canceled after a year or two or the ones people do enjoy end up “jumping the shark” and then fade to black after eight seasons (too soon Soprano fans?).

Lets face it, Entourage isn’t exactly a ground-breaking television show. Most people enjoy it because it’s short (between 22-28 minutes per episode), it’s a buddy-buddy comedy series and each episode is jam-packed with A-list celebrities. And who doesn’t love Jeremy Piven’s portrayal of a fast-talking, quick-witted and verbally abusive agent, Ari Gold.

Throughout the first six seasons, most episodes reflected each other. There were never any real problems that any of the main characters had to face head-on, most ended on a happy note and there never seemed to be any reality checks for main character, Vinny Chase, who the show revolves around as an A-list celebrity.

(There is a very funny, but explicit, 2-minute parody video which I will not post here that could be found on YouTube that pokes fun of how each week, Entourage seems the same)

Then came Season 7.

Entourage has been one of my favorite shows on TV for the past six years but even I, a few years ago, started saying that if this show doesn’t start addressing conflicts that real A-list celebrities living in Hollywood experience on a day-to-day basis, then I can’t label the show as anything other than an entertaining 25 minute getaway from reality every Sunday night.

Season 7 is finally showing the consequences of Ari’s mean spirited behavior for the past six seasons, Vince’s irresponsible actions catching up with him and perhaps a fall-out between Vince and his entourage (which include his older brother, and two best friends — one being his manager).

Yes, Vince’s life is spiraling out of control. He’s dating a porn star, showing up to meetings drunk and is now experiencing with harder drugs behind his friends’ back. Ari has been exposed as a foul-mouthed verbally abusive employer by ex-employees causing him to lose potential ownership in an NFL team, but more importantly to him, causing him to potentially lose his wife and children.

The show’s other characters E (Vince’s best friend and manager), Drama (Vince’s older brother) and Turtle (Vince’s other best friend) are starting to make moves without Vince, who they were once solely dependent on.

I’m not sure in which direction the show will go from here (I'm hoping for more darker material), but at least it’s becoming more interesting and the creators have certainly paved the way to endless possibilities as to how the show would conclude.

Vince has a drug overdose? Vince’s girlfriend ruins his career (he’s already demanded one producer to include her in his movie and also the reason he’s turned to harder drugs)? Ari’s wife forces him to choose between family and his agency? Vince’s friends turn their back on him?

Who knows? But it’s better than guessing that they’d all ride off in the sunset hand-in-hand happily ever after, which is what the show was looking like previous to this season.