In last week's double-episode premiere of Hulu's new sports comedy series Chad Powers, disgraced college football star Russ Holliday successfully catfished his way onto a new team.
Now playing for the South Georgia Catfish (mascot pun intended) as the fictional Chad Powers, Russ will need to stay tight to his new persona and even tighter to the strips of prosthetics on his face.
Episode 3 throws us into Chad's first football game, where he's learning about all kinds of unfortunate responsibilities he has to deal with as the back-up quarterback. The team is losing in the 3rd quarter, and coach Ricky wants to put Chad in the game. But more importantly, Chad and Ricky have a heartfelt conversation on the sidelines that leaves us realizing Russ is developing feelings for Ricky, and is also seeing how underutilized and under-appreciated she is by the rest of the coaching staff.
As the team gets more frustrated by the nearing loss, Chad pitches an idea to Ricky and tries to convince her that he can make the exact play they need to score. Chad makes some ridiculous comments as he tries to get his point across in character, Coincidentally, the coaching staff has lost power to their headsets, delaying the start of the 4th quarter, and giving Ricky an opportunity to make her point.
Ricky wants Jake to put Chad in the game
Ricky pitches the play the Catfish need to score a touchdown and makes her case in earshot of Chad, who backs her up. But Jake is terrified that Chad will fail in their home opener, thinking that Chad has never played in a game like this before. The conversation gets heated too quickly, and Ricky calls out her dad for not trusting or respecting her. Jake reacts horribly to this and orders Ricky to leave the game.
But it's Catfish mascot Danny who takes things into his own hands (fins?) and purposely trips and injures quarterback Gerry so that Chad will have to take the field. Jake eats his own words as he pumps Chad up to go into the game, and Chad meets the moment by leading the team to a first down.
Chad leads the Catfish to victory
Chad's quickly put into a situation that mirrors the opening scene from the series -- he has to run the ball himself to the end zone. But with the fear that haunts him over dropping the ball early, this time he forgets to let go, hugging the ball until the referee convinces him to turn it over. With the score now 13-10, Chad has less than a minute to do it all over again.
With 20 seconds and the clock ticking, Chad decides to change the play! He tells the team they're going to switch to Ricky's play. And it works! The Catfish score another touchdown and win the game! Everyone celebrates the win, including Eli Manning who had a fun cameo in the episode.
Chad separates himself from the crowd to check on Ricky, who's been watching from the locker room. The episode ends on a look of understanding and pride between the two of them -- they both have a comeback story to write.
Chad Powers season 1 streams new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.