By Jett Wells
In its sixth season, the "Entourage" gang is growing up: Turtle is enrolled in college, Eric has signed to a firm, Drama has a stable TV show, Ari's busy dealing with his personal life and Vinny Chase is ... happy and successful? The show’s focus has shifted from Vinny's juicy celebrity life to E's and Turtle's love lives, and in result the main character has slipped into the shadows as a meaningless, smiling sugar daddy. The writers wanted more depth in E and Turtle, except it is slowly becoming clear that E and Turtle aren't that interesting and that the show's greatness is solely built around Vinny's career and Ari's big mouth.
The theme continues in this week's episode, where Vinny is once again totally irrelevant. While Turtle walks to his first day of classes, Vinny tags along to check out the UCLA campus. Merely seconds later, a gorgeous college girl sits next to him with one thing on her mind. This is what Vincent Chase has been reduced to: An extra that has sex with random women. Without his career in question, Vinny is nothing more than piece of furniture on screen, and it's a waste because he's the face of the franchise. Most of all, it just shows the writers have gotten lazy.
Perhaps the only silver lining in Vinny's absence is that it doesn't hurt the one person who really makes "Entourage" must-see TV: Ari Gold. Even without Ari muscling studio execs, Ari's still funny as hell when all he does is fight with his wife and yell at his assistant Lloyd. Nonetheless, "Entourage" has missed a step, and the sooner Vincent Chase does something meaningful plot-wise this season, the better.
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