Kenny Powers is back and if there was any question on whether he was still the incredibly self-centered, insensitive and vulgar asshole we’ve grown to love it was answered almost instantly as the man shows up in the first episode of season two with cornrows, a proliferation of ‘motherfuckers’, and a cock in his hand.
Mexico is the perfect locale for this story. Kenny fits in so well in the stereotypical landscape that show creators Jody Hill, Danny McBride, and Ben Best have provided for him here with the peeling paint, low rent environments, and debauchery-friendly locales. Seeing him partnered with his own ‘Of Mice and Men’ duo firing guns, imbibing in whatever, and cockfighting is fitting and a load of fun. Better yet is seeing him living in the identity of his ol’ ‘buddy’ Stevie while the world back in North Carolina goes on without him.
The great thing about Eastbound and Down is that it has different criteria to meet than every other show. All it has to do is be true to itself and unleash Kenny Powers on reality. This first new episode does that and if watching Danny McBride on a scooter in the barrio flicking people off while a large Hispanic man drives a scooter with a sidecar with a tiny vulgar Kenyan man in it doesn’t work for you may I suggest The Big Bang Theory.
I’d say there was probably at least one too many musical montage moments in the show but they are easily counterbalanced by jokes about the ‘saxophone player from The Lost Boys’, the funeral scene for Big Red, and long, slow motions of hot Mexican ass gyrations.
It’s good to have the show back.
The icing: Seeing longtime villain and character actor Marco Rodríguez getting a nice good guy role and one which’ll be a nice foil for Kenny in future episodes.