Stream K-Dramas at OnDemandKorea

[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Entourage" Episode 8

Well, it took half a series for "Entourage" to provide relatable content and it mostly comes from Eun-gap and Cho Jin-woong's performance, but I will take any comfort at this point. Our prickly agent goes through a big change and his top actor has relationship woes. Ho-jin has his hands full between dating and Yeong-bin's scandal and Joon goes through an identity crisis, so it is chaos all around.

Advertisement

"Entourage" could have been salvaged by its creators had it started off by providing a clearer plot or at least a focus on the every day issues its target demographic faces. The drama sadly opted for sanitized "sexiness" and style through a band of morons. While it is now too late to really raise sympathy for most of them, at least the drama tries to expand itself a bit beyond pretty and rich people bickering and going to parties.

Joon having a crisis over his careerSo-hee and Yeong-bin discussing work

I have spoken about the superficially designed women of "Entourage" before, so the focus on So-hee's (Ahn So-hee) career and relationship issues as a modern woman in South Korea is welcome. It also puts another nail in the coffin of any respect I could have for Yeong-bin when he turns into "that guy" and becomes oppressive. Yeong-bin's flaws are not developed and Seo Kang-joon does not make any conflict between them and his caring nature stand out, if it even exists.

I assume it does, because he is now shown as a champion of loyalty for staying with Eun-gap (Cho Jin-woong). Which brings us to the man himself and his lonely fight to inject humanity into this. His relationship with Joy (Amber) truly is a joy to watch and his problems are not the most well developed, but they are miles closer to relatable than what we can get through Prince Sulk-a-lot. I feel as if everything but Eun-gap is designed without real consideration for the audience's identity.

Eun-gap trying to find people who still want himJoy leaving the agency with Eun-gap

Eun-gap's story also provides a semblance of a main plot, which the drama has lacked and which it has failed to replace with interesting episodic stories or better exploration of the entertainment industry. I assume a new agency going from zero to success through Yeong-bin is where we are headed, although he will clearly not make it easy for anyone involved. Ho-jin (Park Jung-min) might have trouble with Ji-an (Kim Hye-in) as well, due to their respective power figures.

At this point, I will welcome a focus on Eun-gap's work, because I do not think focusing on Yeong-bin as a central figure is doing the series any favors. He is a perpetually spoiled man-baby and unless he starts moving forward, the story has to find someone who does. Episode eight gives us a glimpse of that and it creates rare engagement.

"Entourage" is directed by Jang Yeong-woo, written by Kwon So-ra and Seo Jae-won and features Cho Jin-woong, Seo Kang-joon, Lee Kwang-soo, Park Jung-min and Lee Dong-hwi.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

❎ Try Ad-free