THIS WEEK ON Eastbound & Down – Chapter 15
The latest Eastbound drop was a disappointment to EB&D loyalist, who have such lofty expectations for the final season, that anything less perfection each Sunday night is enough to sour their entire following work week. The more fickle fans have already thrown in the towel, but my position continues to be one of moderation, and hope for a brighter future. So let us all hold hands in quiet prayer as we delve into the gritty details of Chapter 15…the good, the bad, and the ugly.
This week Kenny finds himself in panic mode, as he is forced to deal with baby Toby on his own starting at parental ground zero. After crafting a makeshift diaper out of kitchen towels and placemats, Kenny’s first instinct is to go all Dog the bounty hunter, intending to return Toby from whence he came: “Right up April’s butthole”.
He borrows Shane’s world famous Pussy Rocket, and breaks into April’s house looking for clues. Finding none, he then does an unfunny schtick at her job, an unfunny schtick at Jefferson Davis Middle with ol’ Principle Cutler, and ends up at Stevie’s apartment with Maria. Finally the episode starts to open up a bit with some wicked good one liners that come at you so fast, you can barely process them.
Maria points Kenny to the Kia dealership where Stevie now works as an underling to KP super villain, Ashley Fucking Shaeffer (played by Will Ferrell). But this confrontation, despite being long in the making, doesn’t pan out to what everyone expects. Aside from a well executed ball-tap, the scene was generally unfunny as well.
Kenny leaves for a filler scene with Dustin/Cassie, and an even worse filler scene where he considers setting Toby adrift, ala Moses. At this point, the only thing capable of rescuing the episode would be an audacious ending. It appears to be heading that direction, as Kenny decides to rescue Stevie from enslavement at Ashley Schaeffer’s plantation dinner party that night.
But in the past, where the execution of such crucial scenes was unpredictable and explosive, this one seemed almost phoned in. It felt like they had something loosely planned but nobody had the time to spend writing something decent. They dress Stevie up like a geisha, and have him prance around as some sort of sex slave to the dinner party. Kenny steps in to rescue him but is thwarted in a weird action sequence. Awkward, and cartoonish, yes. Funny, no.
The dinner party ends up on the back yard which is basically an well lit football field. It’s here that Kenny and Stevie are forced to run for their lives from cannon fodder in a southern style Apacalypto reenactment. Maria shows up just in time in the Pussy Rocket, and saves the pair from certain death. That is how it ends, more or less. Emphasis on less. Bizarre? Yes. Funny? Meh.
Stevie whined his way through the entire episode, and he really kicks his whining up a notch in the final escape sequence. It dampened the show in general, but was not the cause of the subsequent unfunniness. I just thought that was worth mentioning.
At this point I could scribe a few paragraphs analyzing the character development, story line, and other fun stuff, but until the show gets back in the comedic black, I am going to take a sabbatical from any heavy lifting. Hopefully Chapter 16 is capable of returning KP back to the greatness from whence he came, as the first two episodes of season 3 have been a little less than hilarious. We shall see Sunday night. Until then, Godspeed, and good luck.