April 8, 2007: Happy Birthday, Dear Vi-ince
After a tense hour with the
Soprano family, it was nice to decompress with the boys. Not too much has changed at Casa Chase, with the notable exception of Vince's representation. Amanda (
Carla Gugino) looks like she will prove to be quite a worthy adversary for Ari. (Speaking of Ms. Gugino, click
here to read more about her thoughts on being one of the guys.) The two agents' verbal sparring exemplified passive-aggressiveness at its finest. Though the breakup is still fresh, true to form, Ari is not going to go down without a fight. And "breakup" really is the way to characterize the awkward vibe, shameless jockeying for position and downright begging that was going on between Ari and Vince. It was like watching a really desperate guy try to win back an ex-girlfriend who is clearly over him. Score one for Ari, though. Wafting Vince's dream script under his nose was a brilliant maneuver, creating just enough doubt to cause Vince to vacillate about Amanda's proposed Edith Wharton project.
As usual, Turtle, Drama and Ari (the amazing, hysterical
Jeremy Piven) provided more than their share of comic relief and some really good one-liners. The tough part of blogging an HBO show is that most of the great quotes cannot be repeated on a family-friendly website. (Just about every sentence out of Ari's mouth is hilariously laden with expletives.) However, my favorite quote of the episode was a relatively mild one courtesy of Drama: "The whispering stops or else nobody's getting soufflé at dinner tonight." Wielding his culinary prowess as a weapon has become one of Drama's trademarks, and thank goodness he has his cooking to fall back on. Despite the huge, poorly lit, Sunset Boulevard billboard for his new series, it seems that nobody knows anything about the show. I, for one, am hoping that Drama's career takes off like gangbusters. The only thing that has the potential to be funnier than watching Johnny Drama, struggling actor, is imagining his reaction to even a modicum of success.
Finally, as we prepped for Vince's birthday spectacular, here are some valuable life lessons offered up by our favorite L.A. denizens:
- Calla lilies are irresistible to women. (I prefer Gerber daisies, but that's just me.)
- Corporate sponsorship is one way around pesky credit limits.
- Saying your birthday wish out loud ruins the wish.
As for that last one, I can't imagine what else Vince could possibly wish for while he is riding the amazing wave that is his life. As long as Turtle, Eric, Drama and Ari are riding along with him, I will be, too. Welcome back, boys!
