After swindling his way onto the South Georgia University football team, Chad Powers now must keep up the charade without drawing more attention to himself. In episode 1 of Chad Powers, we followed Russ Holliday to the lowest point in his football career, but with access to professional prosthetic make-up thanks to his dad's job, Russ transformed himself into rising football star Chad Powers.
The premiere episode saw Russ score himself a spot on the roster as his alter-persona Chad Powers for the new school year, but this is where the real challenge begins. Not only will Russ need to keep up the act of who he really is, but he'll also have to figure out how to play football in the southern heat without his face melting off.
What happened in Chad Powers episode 2?
The second episode kicks off with more training from Catfish mascot Danny, who is becoming a better coach for Russ than anyone on the actual coaching staff. Being a college student is no easy task, and Danny has Russ running drills to help him keep up his persona as Chad Powers (and to help the disguise look more natural, of course). Danny has thought of everything, and he even helps Russ secure the forged papers he needs to enroll in classes.
On the field for an early morning practice, Ricky is stuck on water cooler duty, but Chad gets the rundown about everyone on the team from his back-up quarterback Gerry, who just might be even weirder than chipmunk-faced Chad. Head coach Jake wants to see Chad in action on the field, but after a scrimmage play, Russ gets frustrated when he realizes he might not be the starting quarterback.
The real villain in this episode reveals itself to be water, and after a comedic scene in the locker room where Chad gives some less-than-believable excuses for why he can't shower with the team, Russ realizes that protecting his face will be an awkward ongoing battle. He'll need to find a way to be a leader around the other guys without ruining the prosthetics. His next test? Making it through the team's lake house pool party.
Danny keeps Chad on track and logs his wild improv
Realizing that Chad keeps going on weird tangents when he's asked questions about his past, Danny starts to document "Chad Powers canon" and reminds him that everything he lies about will need to fit into this persona. The stakes couldn't be higher, as Chad wants to impress everyone (and appear normal) at the upcoming team party.
Head coach Jake is also feeling stressed about the party because his wife won't come and his daughter (assistant coach Ricky) doesn't want to be associated with the family either. Chad comes across Ricky in the woods on his way to the house, and she just might be starting to find humor in his super weird one-liners. She won't tell him who she wants as a starting quarterback, but Chad is quickly distracted by the pool party that could ruin his disguise.
He evades the pool – and an interrogation about why he doesn't have highlight reels – only to find himself in the middle of a water balloon fight. Determined to look better than back-up quarterback Gerry, Chad/Russ channels all of his fear and anger into pure water balloon-throwing rage. He even uses Gerry as a shield to keep his face dry as he finally earns respect from the rest of the team and the coaching staff. Too bad he didn't get out of the way before the team poured a whole cooler of water over his head... yikes!
Trouble in catfish paradise
In the last few scenes of the episode, it seems like every character is getting bad news. Coach Jake tells Chad that he's not going to be the starting quarterback after all, which prompts Russ to consider quitting this charade altogether and driving back to Los Angeles. We see that Ricky is left to clean up the party, and Coach Jake struggles to stay connected to Wendy. But a thoughtful moment of truce connects Ricky and dad Jake over a game of table tennis.
Back at Danny's apartment (which is also now apparently Russ's crash pad), we quickly learn that Russ did not decide to give up on the Catfish! Danny is elated that Chad's identity hasn't been revealed yet and that the team party was somewhat of a success. Russ seems to reject his old behavior as someone who would have been furious about being a back-up quarterback, and the episode ends with Chad looking satisfied to be holding a clip board on the sidelines while Gerry takes the field at practice.
Chad Powers season 1 streams Tuesdays on Hulu!