McBride Shines in Season Premiere of ‘Eastbound and Down’

If the pace and flow of the season two premiere is any indication of what to expect from Kenny Powers on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” this fall, Danny McBride may be one step closer to Hollywood super-stardom.

Lewd, disgusting, dishonest and arrogant, McBride is hilarious and in his element throughout. If you thought it was easy to hate him last season, the change in scenery only adds more to the character. Taking place in Mexico after Powers bails on his family and girlfriend, the cockfighting, poverty and rampant sex and drug use seem like a perfect place for him. Trying to reinvent himself and armed with Stevie Janowsky’s credit card, Powers becomes a small time crook.

Add in his short-lived sidekick, Aaron (played by Deep Roy, the oompa loompa in the recent “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” remake) and you have the beginnings of a little Mexican mafia here.

That is until his cockfighting ring falls apart and he has an opportunity to play ball in a seedy Mexican League. Recognized by the team’s manager, it only takes a small amount of cajoling before Powers goes to steal the spotlight again.

So just like that, the corn rows are gone and his trademark mullet returns.

Welcome back. You were missed. Especially after a weak season of “True Blood” and a mediocre end to “Hung.” Riding his moped around the town after he apparently signs with the team, Powers seems like he’s back to his old ways, imagining that he’s going to take the country by storm.

The eventual wake up call should be an interesting one.

While it would have been nice to see him try to conform a bit more, as the scenes where he’s trying to make some quick cash with his handy hooligans are the funniest of the episode, this character belongs on the ball field.

Now that he is, the betrayals, screw ups and wacky situations are just a few pitches away.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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