The events in Chad Powers episode 5 escalated quickly when everything went wrong at the ESPN GameDay interview reshoots.
Russ met Wendy Hudson as Chad, who realized she was the mystery woman he had slept with the night before, and even though Wendy doesn't recognize Chad as Russ, she openly admits to sleeping with Russ, which gets Ricky's wheels turning about why Russ is following the Catfish, and leads Coach Hudson to have a heart attack! Whew!
What happened in Chad Powers season 1 episode 6?
We jump right back in where we left off with Coach Hudson having a heart attack, but emergency services isn't answering Ricky's call for an ambulance. With Coach Hudson's car keys at the bottom of the lake, Chad takes a big risk and drives Coach and Ricky to the hospital in his cyber truck. Chad lies about the car belonging to Danny, but Ricky doesn't believe him. She sends Chad away once they arrive at the ER, and Chad runs back to school to tell Danny EVERYTHING.
Danny does his best to reassure Russ that Chad hasn't actually done anything wrong, and advises him to act normally around Ricky the next time they see each other. But Ricky's not a gullible person, and the next day at football practice, she quickly pulls down Chad's compression sleeve to reveal Russ Holiday's forearm tattoo. She tells Chad and Danny that she knows Chad is Russ Holiday, and Chad does what Chad does best: he runs away.
Is this the end of Chad Powers forever?
Back at home, Danny fights for Russ to continue playing as Chad in order to not disgrace the team and the coaching staff, but Russ is hellbent on just hoping he can disappear again, and that Ricky will keep the secret to herself. Trying another angle, Danny suggests that Russ drives out to Atlanta to visit his dad (who is conveniently working on a film set nearby in Atlanta) to make amends, and Danny even offers to go with him on the roadtrip.
Ricky visits her dad in the hospital, and finds him in good spirits about the upcoming game. He knows that Chad bailed on practice and isn't answering his phone, but not wanting to break his spirit about the game, Ricky doesn't tell him that Chad is actually Russ.
Chad and Danny arrive at the film set and find Russ's dad (who is also wearing prosthetics). Russ wants to return the makeup kit, and then confesses everything about how and why he's been pretending to be Chad. But Russ' dad has a reaction that Russ wasn't expecting. His dad is most impressed by the work ethic and commitment it took to bring Chad to life, and he wholeheartedly forgives Russ for impersonating this joyful, football-loving player.
Ricky goes fishing for Russ as a catfish
With the confidence he needs to show his face at the game, Danny and Russ' dad work together to bring Chad Powers back to life one more time. Danny and Chad speed off to the game in the infamous cyber truck, and when he finally arrives at the stadium, he finds Ricky sitting alone on the team's bus. Could this be the wholesome reveal moment we've been building up to all season? Absolutely not!
Ricky gets Russ to admit that he's been Chad this whole time, and though she pretends at first to be understanding, she quickly reveals her true feelings and slaps him across the face. She lays into him about how much she hates everything about who Russ is and what he's done, going as far to say that she wishes he had just taken his own life, which honestly seems very out of character for this show and really took me out of the moment.
When she threatens to reveal Chad's identity to the whole world, Russ puts his villain hat on again and explains to her that the truth will be the downfall of the season's record, the team, and her family, especially since Coach Hudson was the one to help enroll him at the university. The only way to move forward with the win, for the sake of her dad, is to let Chad play one more game.
Chad takes the field under Ricky's close eye
The only person who hates to see Chad walk into the locker room is Gerry, who finally thought he'd get to play quarterback in a game this season, but Ricky quickly shuts down the argument and defends Chad in front of the whole team. Ricky keeps her eyes locked on Chad as he gets the team pumped up for the game, and her demeanor suggests that she might just be entering her own villain era.
The Catfish take the field at the away game to a packed stadium, and the tension is more complex than ever before. I'm glad the series gave fans closure by having Ricky finally realize that Russ had been playing her this whole time, but the story also opens the door for a potential second season, which seems inevitable here. Now the only question is how far Ricky will go to keep the dangerous secret alive?
All episodes of Chad Powers season 1 are now available to stream on Hulu.