The Max Dark Comedy Series Celebrates The Worst Kind Of Person
Baseball often gets a bad rap for being a boring sport, but you may have a change of heart after watching Eastbound & Down. And if you’re not a huge sports fan, you don’t need to worry because the series doesn’t have as much game play as you’d expect. While Eastbound & Down is most certainly a sports comedy, most of the humor takes place off of the field and inside the mind of its protagonist, Kenny Powers.
Kenny Powers Is His Own Worst Enemy
Eastbound & Down is the brainchild of Ben Best, Jody Hill, and the man behind Kenny Powers himself, Danny McBride. Across four seasons, we bear witness to Kenny Powers’ fall from grace that gets him axed from the major leagues, and his multiple attempts to redeem himself despite his innate ability to always get in his own way.
From The Major Leagues To Gym Class
The first season of Eastbound & Down finds Kenny Powers at his lowest point, or so we think. Through flashback reels, we learn that Kenny was one of the best pitchers in the major leagues, but his rotten attitude (and frequent cocaine and steroid use) got him booted from professional baseball with little to no opportunity for reentry. He moves in with his brother, Dustin, and secures a job as a gym teacher at his old middle school.
Kenny spends most of his time drinking and driving while listening to his old motivational audio-book, You’re F*cking Out, I’m F*cking In, while simultaneously wearing out his welcome in Dustin’s household. His ego takes quite a beating when he learns that his memorabilia barely sells on eBay, forcing him to downsize and sell off a number of assets. Meanwhile, Kenny finds himself trying to rekindle his romance with his ex-lover, April, who works at the same school.
Kenny’s Quest For Redemption Always Fails
Season 2 of Eastbound & Down primarily takes place in Mexico, where Kenny is recruited by the Charros after a brief stint in the underground cockfighting circuit. Having not learned a single thing from his past mistakes, he butts heads with the team’s owner for his excessive showboating and entitled attitude. If you’re starting to notice a pattern in Eastbound & Down’s story arc, then we don’t really need to tell you that Kenny will be given multiple opportunities to save face throughout seasons 3 and 4, with disastrous results each time. Though he learns a number of difficult life lessons, he can never come to terms with the fact that maybe he’s not actually destined to do great things.
Perfect For Those Who Enjoy It’s Always Sunny
Eastbound & Down does the unthinkable by making you root for the most loathsome protagonist you’ve ever seen in a TV series. Like Always Sunny in Philadelphia, you want to keep tuning in to see Kenny get repeatedly hoisted by his own petard. Kenny Powers’ deplorable behavior clearly resonated with critics and audiences alike, landing the series an overall critical score of 91 percent against an audience score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Streaming On Max
Though Kenny Powers’ attitude and obnoxious sense of entitlement ultimately prevents him from achieving greatness, Danny McBride’s performance hits it out of the park in every episode. You can stream Eastbound & Down on Max, but we don’t recommend following in Kenny’s footsteps if you ever want a shot at making it into the big leagues.
