Eastbound and Down Season 4, Episode 7 “Chapter 28”
Written by John Carcieri, Jody Hill & Danny McBride
Directed by Jody Hill
Series finale airs Sunday, 11/17 at 10pm ET on HBO
From the beginning, Eastbound and Down‘s always been a show that operates on two narrative levels. The first of these is obvious: it’s the story of a man discovering the value of family, the baseball player finally rounding third and returning home. The second isn’t as easy to parse out in later seasons, but was quite prevalent in season one: Kenny Powers is the epitome of American’s obsession with the vapid, a satire of our culture’s addiction to celebrity and how one man gets lost in it – a materialization of all things material, so to speak. “Chapter 28” is a perfect marriage of these two ideas, taking on Famous Kenny and American Christmas in one fell swoop – not only delivering another outstanding episode in the series, but an important penultimate episode that narrows the focus heading into the final chapter.
For Kenny Powers, Christmas is only about one thing: celebrating one’s richness. Always a poster child for American consumerism, his spending around Christmas time is neither surprising, or pleasant to watch – as is his ignorance to what he’s missing out on, pretending he doesn’t have “lonely eyes” or doesn’t feel his heart breaking when April suggests that a divorce really might be for the best. In doing so, “Chapter 28” takes one of the biggest risks of the series: it remains uncompromising by both sides of the debate, embracing both Kenny’s need to feel like a man (the Dakota/Kenny parallel comes into play once again this week) and punishing him for being such an insufferable asshole.
Some might find the Christmas holiday a cliche device to frame one’s realization of how important family is – but understanding the nature of Kenny and how he handles depression, Christmas is really the perfect setting to show Kenny at his worst. When it tries to apply the same logic to Stevie, it predictably goes a little too far off the deep end (coked-up Stevie cursing at models, then shooting his own chin off after deciding not to commit suicide) – Stevie’s always been the semi-disturbed voice of reason, and having him fall victim to the same exact character defect as Kenny, doesn’t quite feel true to the character, more just a funny way to fuck up Stevie’s life some more, and reinforce a point in Kenny’s life.
But when it’s focused on Kenny, “Chapter 28” continues to deliver, even as it races dangerously close to ruining Kenny Powers for audiences forever. “Chapter 28” is Kenny finding a new low point in his life: he drives his best friend to (nearly) kill himself, he spurns the mother of his children, refusing to provide anything for her (referring to his lawyer, he tells April “that motherfucker’s cray”) – and to top it all off, he ruins Guy’s former show, burning down Sports Sesh in a matter of weeks with a horribly-planned holiday special he shows up drunk to. It all comes plummeting pretty quickly, the shortest of Kenny’s seemingly meteoric rises from bottom to top and back over the series run – a reminder that this really is his last chance before it all comes unraveled forever.
It’s a smart move that lends itself nicely to the series’ overall structure, establishing the stakes of the finale while still finding times to poke jokes at America’s obsession with gifts and general Christmas cheer, much of which seems more self-sufficing then well-meaning (just look at Maria’s chest if you need an example of that). Kenny may not physically turn into The Grinch in this episode, but he becomes his own brand of black-leather wearing monster – and “Chapter 28” lays blame where it’s due (Kenny’s behavior with his wife, best friend, and co-workers) and poses interesting questions when it doesn’t (Kenny wants to be Dakota and Mr. Powers at the same time… can he finally pick one and be happy?). Can Kenny save his family – and does he even deserve the chance? Like that old chemistry teacher we remember so fondly, the answers will be found in the ruins of the empire.
Other thoughts/observations:
– “Being racist? That’s far from dope, dude.”
– “I’m up here floating like a god” might be the epitome of Kenny Powers and his frustration with the world. I’m up here, busting my ass – now make me famous, motherfuckers!
– I don’t know why, but Stevie flipping out about parking passes had me in stitches. “Those are for employees only!”
– “Does this mean we’re brothers again?” Has a bigger asshole ever hit your soft spot like Kenny Powers can?
– “Don’t worry, normal people: this isn’t my blood, it’s someone else’s.”