Chad Powers Season 2 Review: Glen Powell’s Sophomore Show Is the Real MVP of Sports Comedies

Chad Powers, co-created by showrunner Michael Waldron and star Glen Powell and based on the Eli Manning skit, is back on the field for Season 2. The good news for fans of the South Georgia Catfish is that the quirky sports comedy is better than ever.

​Telling the story of disgraced college football player Russ Holliday (Powell), who poses as quarterback Chad Powers for a fresh start, Season 2 picks up a week after Chad Powers Season 1 Episode 6 left off. Now Coach Ricky Hudson (Perry Mattfeld), who Russ happens to be falling in love with, also knows his secret.

​The show keeps the high-concept conceit working by not relying only on the humor of the situation and instead raises the stakes of Chad’s secret. You’re fully invested watching the Catfish vie for a bid at the national championship and Russ try to keep the people he cares about safe. 

​For fans who tune in more for the off-color humor than the football and romance, don’t worry. There are still plenty of jokes at Chad’s expense requiring Powell’s full embrace of physical comedy (watch Chad try to escape getting an X-ray in Episode 1) and wise-cracking dialogue from the show’s A-Team ensemble cast.

Wynn Everett’s Tricia Yeager alone spouts out enough bawdy insanity you could quote her for days. An extended metaphor from Tricia about Coach Hudson (Steve Zahn) as a jockey goads Chad into admitting at one point he likes the way coach rides him…even when it hurts.

Hey, Tricia doesn’t have time for political correctness, she just wants to win.

She’s not the only one. While Chad Powers has always been about Russ grappling with his own legacy and future, it’s a common theme across characters in Season 2.

Coach Hudson’s return to football, against his doctor’s advice, shows his desperation to cement his legacy. Of course, he doesn’t realize his shot at a title is pinned to a lie that could destroy everything, making it all the more devastating. 

Coach’s lie about his health and Chad’s lie create a tangled web that Ricky’s stuck in, even as she considers her own future as a coach. She’s torn between her loyalty to her dad, her own need to win, and her complicated feelings for Russ after learning his true identity and having her heart broken by losing “Chad.”

Mattfeld gives a knockout performance portraying Ricky’s juggling act that goes back and forth between being furious at Russ and her circumstances and getting wrapped up in the exhilaration of the lie and her feelings. She’s arguably the co-lead of the season now that she is in on the conspiracy, and her screen time adds an extra layer of humanity to the show.

Russ and Ricky’s relationship arc this season will have fans’ hearts doing flips as Ricky wants to wring his neck one minute and can’t help but smile at him the next. Russ, meanwhile, is consistently yearning the entire season, even when a potential rival for Ricky’s attention in the form of new booster Jay Palmer (Colin Woodell) enters the picture.

Although there are fewer big heartbreaking monologues this season, Powell’s Russ still delivers death by a thousand cuts as every step forward Chad/Russ makes is still haunted by his past. The fact that you truly believe now Russ has changed as a person makes the tightrope act he walks even more harrowing as a viewer.

He no longer just cares about his own football redemption; he has a team and friends he genuinely cares about. But caring isn’t always enough, especially when you’re buried so deep in a lie.

That’s especially true as backup quarterback Gerry Dougan (Colton Ryan) makes it his mission to get revenge on Chad at any cost. Ryan makes for a delicious standout villain this season, delivering humor and menace in equal parts.

There are stretches of the season, especially on Episode 5, that lean fully into the horror and thriller genres. The switch up doesn’t undermine the comedy of the show though, it just adds a new flavor.

The series’ biggest weakness is once again its episode count. With only 6 episodes in the season, the story moves fast and leaves a lot on the hypothetical cutting room floor.

The superbly talented cast of interesting supporting characters is a blessing and a curse. You want to see more of them, but the short run-time hamstrings their chances to shine.

Frankie A. Rodriguez’s Danny is the biggest victim, as he once again gets no storylines that aren’t somehow tied back to Russ’s secret (at least he gets a brief musical number again to display his talents). If Chad Powers gets another season, and it deserves to, hopefully the powers that be will consider adding one or two more episodes.

There’s still plenty of on-field action this season, with the finale once again focusing on a must-win game that will keep fans on the edge of the seat as if it were their own college team playing. Chad’s performance and the team’s result isn’t only thing in the finale that will shock you.

Ultimately, the season asks the same thing Tricia asks Chad, “Can you be a good person and a winner?” Well, you’ll have to tune into Chad Powers Season 2 to find out.

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Chad Powers Season 2 is streaming now on Hulu.

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