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.
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.
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.
Source:HanCinema
