With perhaps the exception of Eric, whose rekindled relationship with Sloan led to the pair getting engaged, the rest of the guys ended Season Seven on a low. After bringing in Mark Cuban as a potential business partner for Avion tequila, Turtle was seemingly pushed out of the deal with nothing to show for it; Drama gave up a plum job on network TV only to wind up settling for a new animated show conceived by Billy Walsh; Ari managed to save his career but not his wife after she walked away from their marriage; and Vince was thrown into cocaine rehabilitation following his arrest for possession of cocaine.

Fortunately, the only place to go from there is up, which means that even if Season Eight doesn’t cap off the series with a completely happy ending, it’ll at least have a much brighter outlook than the previous season. Though everyone involved is holding their cards pretty close to their chests in regards to what we can expect to see, HBO has released a few promos and snippets of information that tell us a few things. For starters, the season will begin with Vince being released from a 90-day stint in rehab and eager to get back to work. But when he finds it difficult to land an acting job due to his recent tabloid-worthy exploits, he decides to write a starring vehicle for himself.

The rest of the guys will also continue to try and forge their own careers now that they’ve severed their dependency to Vince, with Turtle launching a new business venture to open a Hollywood location of the New York-based Italian restaurant, Don Peppe; Drama beginning production on “Johnny’s Bananas” alongside Andrew Dice Clay (presumably as one of the other voices); and Eric opening a new management company with Scotty Lavin. Interestingly enough, it also looks like his engagement to Sloan has hit a snag, while Ari will dedicate his time solely to winning back Mrs. Ari following their separation.

It all sounds promising enough, as long as things don’t get too serious. That was one of the main problems with last season, which often forgot it was a comedy at times by focusing all of its energy on the darker and more dramatic moments. And with only eight episodes for its grand finale, Ellin and Co. will have to be especially mindful of staying true to the story they want to tell while still delivering the show that fans know and love.

The eighth and final season premieres July 24th at 10:30 pm EST on HBO.

NOTE: Starting this season, my “Entourage” blog will be moving from Premium Hollywood to the Bullz-Eye Blog, so be sure to go there on Sunday night or Monday morning for all the latest episode recaps. You can also follow along on BE’s “Entourage” fan hub where the latest entry will always be posted.

We’ve seen Vincent Chase down and out before following the aftermath of “Medellin,” but it was never quite as bad as this. The guy has been acting like a first-class jerk for weeks, and after making a scene at Sasha’s photo shoot that ends in him getting the boot, he comes home to discover that the guys have staged an intervention. Vince continues to deny that he even has a drug problem, but despite dumping that entire quart-sized bag of coke that Lloyd found down the sink as proof, his body language isn’t very convincing. The fact that he even had the nerve to then try and flip it on his friends was downright shameful, adding as he stormed out of the house, “I know you all need me, but I’ll call you if I need any of you.”

Why anyone continues to be his friend is beyond me, but he finally gets a taste of his own medicine when Eminem kicks the shit out of him after he insults the rapper at his own party. Granted, his bodyguards did most of the work, but ‘ol Marshall Mathers did get the first punch in, and it was a doozy of a right hook. And when the guys rush to the hospital to see how he’s doing, instead of being thankful that his friends haven’t abandoned him yet, he blames his behavior on them. Like I said, what a prick, and I’m glad the police officer found that cocaine he was carrying. Now he can go spend some time in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison and think about how he managed to fuck up a good thing – and all because of a porn star.

Meanwhile, Ari’s marital troubles continue to get worse as he tries to plan a surprise birthday for his wife. The only problem is that no one wants to come and risk being stuck in the middle of all the drama, so when Mrs. Ari’s sister, Marcy, comes to town to console her, Ari puts aside their long-running hatred for one another in order to ask for her help with party. Marcy agrees, only after Ari promises to clear all her debt, but when the time for the big surprise arrives, Mrs. Ari isn’t there to experience it. Instead, she calls Ari on the phone to tell him that she needs a break – something that’s been coming this whole season. I still don’t know why she’s acting this way, because it’s not like Ari ever did anything bad to her or the kids, but I guess the writers thought that Ari was due for his own personal tragedy of sorts since he’s been a little too successful as of late.

It’s totally unwarranted, of course, but I can’t imagine they won’t fix everything by the time the series comes to a close next year. And if they really do only plan on doing six episodes, they’re going to need to work fast. That means that Turtle will find success as an entrepreneur (and after only one year of business school!), Drama will finally be the star of his own show (but only in cartoon form), Eric will finally marry Sloan (though probably at the risk of his job), Ari will win back his wife (and possibly leave the agency to become a family man), and Vince will emerge from rehab sober and ready to work. (I’d include a parenthetical for him as well if I didn’t think the big Oscar storyline wasn’t being saved for the proposed movie.) It’s probably a little too much of a fairytale ending, but for a series that was built on that very premise, can it really end any other way?

Apparently, Amanda was just interested in teaming up with Ari to bring an NFL team to Los Angeles, but now that opportunity is gone for good. It definitely wasn’t Ari’s proudest moment, but I’m sure he’ll survive. Of course, the suggestion that Amanda would suddenly be willing to work with Ari after threatening to ruin him only a few episodes ago seems ludicrous in and of itself. I mean, why the sudden change of heart? It’s not like they were ever friends, and Amanda clearly still isn’t over Ari’s sabotage of the Warner Brothers gig that ultimately went to Dana Gordon.

Simply put, it would never happen, though I am warming up to the idea of Drama doing “Johnny’s Bananas.” I still feel like Drama takes the craft of acting a little too seriously to consider voicing a character on an animated show, but after a series of conversations with Eric’s secretary, Jenny – where we not only learned that the job would only take an hour or two a week to record, but that his condo has been foreclosed – it makes sense that Drama would finally decide to do the show, even if he is selling out as a result. It’s just a shame he didn’t come to that conclusion a little earlier, because it looks like Phil put a lot of effort in creating that presentation.

And speaking of indecision, the Avion tequila soap opera rolls along as Turtle hits yet another road block when Carlos lectures him about being left in the dark about the Mark Cuban situation. He wants Turtle to sign a nondisclosure agreement to prevent him from talking to anyone about the company until Carlos decides what he wants. But that’s exactly the problem: Carlos doesn’t seem to know what he wants. Though Turtle has lined up a reliable investor in Cuban – who’s not only willing to front the $5 million to build the factory, but also has plenty of ideas about how to take it to the next level – Carlos gets overly protective, insisting he set his own terms. Instead, Cuban tells Carlos that he’s just going to sidestep him and buy the business outright, and since it’s technically not Carlos’ company (something about an older brother), he can’t do anything about it. I don’t know why Turtle’s upset, though. Cuban will probably still hook him up with some sort of finder’s fee (or even keep him on board as a business partner) and it’s not like he didn’t do his best to help Carlos make Avion popular. If anything, he almost did his job a little too well.

Meanwhile, Vince’s cocaine-fueled bender continues to affect his relationship with Eric after he’s unable to promise Sasha a part in “Airwalkers,” leading Vince to go straight to the source instead. Surprisingly, new director Peter Berg doesn’t take much convincing, and he casts her in a role that could grow in future sequels. But when Vince tells Sasha the good news, he doesn’t get the response he was hoping for. Although she’s understandably excited, she still plans to do the adult film, despite what she may or may not have promised Vince. And worse yet, one of the guys in the gangbang is her ex-fiancé. So what does Vince do? He tells her that he loves her, of course, no doubt in a last-ditch plea for her not to do the movie. Watching his girlfriend having sex with strangers will be the least of his worries, though, after Lloyd discovered his hidden stash in the house. I’ve heard of dime bags before, but Vince was storing his blow in a gallon-sized freezer bag. That’s not a drug problem – it’s a crisis.

And while Vince is busy trying to persuade Sasha not to do the porno by getting her a part in his new movie, Eric is desperately trying to keep Vince attached to said movie. That’s because the studio wants Vince to take a drug test, and he flat out refuses, claiming that he’s never been in any kind of trouble that would suggest he should need to be tested. Thankfully, Billy finally confesses to Eric that he did witness Vince doing some coke with Scotty Lavin at that party, and after ripping Scotty a new one right in front of a prospective client, he then confronts Vince about his drug use. But instead of apologizing to Eric for lying, Vince just acts like a giant prick, warning Eric to stay out of his personal business and practically demanding that he find Sasha a part in “Airwalker” or else.

Personally, this behavior still seems a bit out of character for Vince (especially after everything he’s already gone through following the “Medellin” debacle), but he’s still attached to the movie when it’s all said and done. Unfortunately, Randall Wallace is not, who chose to walk away from the project after the studio bent to Vince’s will. The real question isn’t whether they’ll be able to find a new director, though, but just how in the world Vince is going to bounce back a second time when Hollywood becomes privy to this scandalous behavior.

It certainly can’t end well for him, but at least Ari is trying to mend his broken relationships as he experiences trouble on both home fronts. Not only has Ari promised a “kinder, gentler” workplace to his current staff just as old employees begin to come out of the woodwork to sue him, but Mrs. Ari feels embarrassed by the entire situation, going so far as to call an emergency therapy session to try and work out their marital problems one last time. Ari would probably tell you that there’s nothing wrong with his marriage, but Mrs. Ari wants some changes (including a no-Blackberrys-in-the-house rule and no more broken promises) lest she have to reevaluate their relationship. Though Ari seems a little hurt by the ultimatum, he eventually agrees, if only because he’s already late for an important meeting with Mark Cuban.

Then again, it’s probably a good thing that he was, or Turtle would have never run into Cuban while waiting to speak with Ari at his office. Turtle’s in desperate need of an investor for the tequila business, because although the demand is high after Vince’s impromptu Twitter blitz of Avion, Carlos can’t fill the order. He says that they need $5 million just to build the kind of factory needed to produce that much tequila in that amount of time, but what exactly did he expect with Vince promoting it? He claims that they weren’t planning to expand the business until 2013, so why bother with any kind of marketing campaign if you’re not ready to supply the product? If these guys are as legit as they’re supposed to seem, they don’t know a thing about running a business. Thankfully, Turtle has his fancy degree from UCLA, and with a big investor like Cuban on board, it might just be enough to get Avion off the ground.

Meanwhile, Drama is still stuck in neutral after reconfirming to Eric that he has no interest in “Johnny’s Bananas,” despite the fact that the studio wants to go ahead with the project. In fact, the studio is so convinced that it could be the next “The Simpsons” that Phil is willing to recast the part if Drama passes. But as Eric is quick to inform him, that’s not going to happen as long as he owns the show. Of course, I’d be willing to bet that Billy would sell him out if it meant a second chance to make it in Hollywood, but it’s not going to matter, because Drama is going to do the show eventually, no matter how stupid it sounds. And I’m sorry, but “Johnny’s Bananas” would never, and could never, be as good as “The Simpsons.” Heck, it should consider itself lucky just to be mentioned in the same sentence as “The Simpsons,” because it’s one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard. That’s not the first time I’ve said that, and it won’t be the last.

I’m not sure how long Billy is going to wait to speak up, but if he truly is Vince’s friend, he would have said something by now. Maybe he was scared because Scotty Lavin (who also partook in the snorting festivities) was in the same room, but that’s no reason to wuss out like that. Still, just like last week’s subplot involving Turtle and Alex’s shaved bush, I simply don’t buy Vincent Chase as a cokehead. Maybe the writers think they need to drag his character through a drug addiction (and eventual drug rehab program) before he can finally win an Oscar in the much rumored “Entourage” movie (honestly, where else can it go?), but despite Vince’s shortcomings as a responsible adult, he just never struck me as the kind of guy who would experiment with drugs. Blame the porn star girlfriend or just lazy writing.

Speaking of Billy, it looks like he’s going to be hanging around for these last few episodes, and for once, I don’t mind. Though he was obviously more entertaining as a self-destructive prima donna, it’s nice to see him acting like a regular dude for once. Unfortunately, that also means that we have to endure this stupid storyline about him creating an animated series for Drama. Now, I’m no Hollywood agent, but how in the world could anyone think that “Johnny’s Bananas” – a cartoon about a “high-strung simian trying to make it in the human world” – is a good premise for a TV show? I always thought Eric had good taste, but if he’s truly intrigued by the idea of Drama voicing a cartoon gorilla, then well, I clearly didn’t know him as well as I thought. Then again, this was the second time in the same episode where one of the leads did something completely out of character, so maybe it can just be chalked up to lazy writing.

Turtle’s tequila storyline was actually much improved this week thanks to some brief cameos by Mark Wahlberg and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, but since nothing of real significance actually happened, let’s just skip Turtle this week and move on to the highlight of the episode: Ari. It’s been quite a rollercoaster for everyone’s favorite super agent these past few weeks, but just when it looked like Deadline Hollywood was going to run a potentially career-killing piece on him, nothing happened. Instead, Ari learns from an inside source at DH (Carrie Fisher in a surprisingly small role) that Lizzie has left Amanda’s agency after only a day on the job, and when he visits her to find out what happened, Lizzie apologizes for threatening to sue him, claiming it was all Amanda’s idea.

Ari is more than happy to settle their dispute by doing whatever he can to help her out, and when she suggests that he get her a studio job, Ari pays a visit to Dana Gordon to ask for a favor in securing Lizzie an interview. In return, Dana wants Ari to convince Lenny Kravitz to take a role in the new Russell Crowe movie, but even though he fails to deliver, Lizzie still holds up her end of the deal by giving Ari the tapes. Unfortunately for Ari, that didn’t stop someone else from leaking the information to Deadline Hollywood anyway, and before he knows it, news of Ari’s questionable treatment of his staff spreads across Hollywood. Jerry Jones is one of the first to call, confirming that the NFL deal is off, and we don’t even know what his wife had to say. Still, you’d think that she knows Ari well enough to know that while he can be crude and crass at times, he’s still a really good man when it counts. Whether his clients and co-workers feel the same way, however, remains to be seen.