Episode three of Chad Powers takes place nearly entirely within the context of a football game, where the South Georgia Catfish face off against Ole Miss. After a brief jogging scene where Russ listens to commentary on his famous fumble, the episode balances the storylines of all major characters during the game. The Catfish are losing, Coach Hudson is refusing to adjust, Ricky is reduced to grunt work, and Chad’s biggest responsibility is holding a cup for the starting quarterback, Gerry, to piss into. As the game grows increasingly bleak, Danny trips and purposefully injures Gerry’s ankle. Ricky is exiled by her father, and Chad proudly walks onto the field. He gets a touchdown, refusing to drop the ball until he sees the score tick up. In the final drive, Chad ignores Coach Hudson, going with Ricky’s play as she watches from the equipment room. This play wins them the game, and Chad celebrates with Ricky.
On the surface, “3rd Quarter” plays out like a very predictable, nostalgic, sometimes vulgar sports movie. The most impressive aspect of this episode was its ability to balance all of the characters in such a short time frame. Chad and Danny are able to communicate when needed; Jake and Ricky’s argument plays out naturally, and Tricia’s sudden inclusion works very well after her initial private jet-themed argument in the suite. Chad and Ricky’s relationship was also fun to explore this episode, as they look out for each other despite their tough personalities. While having familiar and predictable moments, the episode had strokes of creativity, with the fluid camera movement of Chad checking into the game and the incredibly fascinating choice to focus on Ricky as Chad successfully executes her play and wins the game. Even if everyone has seen this type of comeback win a thousand times, the excitement was palpable, and the interplay between the characters was great to see.
There were a lot of smaller issues with the episode that came from its placement in the season. Both Ricky’s play being used and Chad running into the End Zone and redeeming his mistake occurring so quickly was a compelling choice, but it seems to limit the remaining half of the season to only be about Chad’s ruse. Additionally, while the piss cup helped sell the dynamic very well, the show could have benefited from more time spent with Chad on the sidelines. With this, the character interactions in this episode proved that the show could have likely sustained an episode where Chad and Ricky talked on the sidelines for most of the time. Generally, Chad and Ricky could use more development, even if their final moment was very sweet. Overall, while playing out like a typical, predictable sports story and featuring fairly simplistic character moments, “3rd Quarter” had strong moments and enjoyable interactions, even if it might limit the possibilities for what will happen in the remainder of the season.
Rating: 7/10