SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chad Powers Season 1, Episode 6. It also contains a mention of suicide.

The Chad Powers experience ends with its own Russ Holliday moment. The Hulu series builds up to a great conclusion, but then stumbles at the goal line by falling into the same trap that Russ did and many TV shows do: looking too far ahead.

Episode 6, “6th Quarter,” picks up immediately after Episode 5, with Coach Jake Hudson having a heart attack. To ensure that Jake gets to the hospital in time, Russ risks blowing his cover by fetching his Tesla Cybertruck. This is a fantastic setup, both dramatically and in terms of embodying the theme of the show. Russ has to choose between his newfound life as Chad and doing the right thing, which is the point of his journey: learning to care about anything other than himself.

But Chad Powers has ups and downs when it tries to execute the moments it’s been building toward all season long. Firstly, the show still has the tendency to land a crude joke where there maybe doesn’t need to be one, as if audiences will worry that the show stopped being funny. It’s okay to not be funny for a few minutes when dealing with serious topics like someone having a heart attack. Yet past that, there’s some rough spots as Chad’s world unravels and Russ tries to cope.

Glen Powell is spot on as Russ goes through a lot of emotions in a very short time frame. From his brusqueness as he tells Danny that he’s just going to disappear, to the fact that Russ speaks in Chad’s voice when he finally opens up to his father, Powell shifts gears often and yet makes it all work. Chad Powers sort of gives him that big, sweeping “come to Jesus” moment when Russ confesses his feelings to Ricky Hudson on the team bus, and he nails it—until the script takes that away.

Audiences are coming to Episode 6 expecting Chad’s moment of triumph against Georgia and Russ’s reckoning for pretending to be Chad. Neither one of those gets a full payoff. Ricky vents her rage at Russ (including a line the show could’ve done without about how she wishes he would have killed himself after the Rose Bowl). But the episode ends with Ricky being the only one who knows the truth, and Chad still playing football. Sort of, because the much-hyped game against Georgia hasn’t actually started by the time the credits roll.

Powell has spoken about his desire to do Chad Powers Season 2, and the Season 1 finale is clearly hoping for that. Obviously, Chad can’t be completely exposed if there’s going to be a second season—since the whole series revolves around that fake identity. But the way things are left with Ricky feels too open-ended. Russ telling her that she won’t rat him out, because it would also take down the whole team, comes across as more of a “gotcha” moment for plot purposes than the bittersweet scene it could’ve been between two people who came to care about each other. And there’s really no other jeopardy for Russ in the finale, because no one else is even sort of suspicious. Gerry’s angry (in a Brad Boimler on Star Trek: Lower Decks sort of way that Colton Ryan clearly had fun with), but he’s not on to anything.

The idea of most of Russ’s finale journey being internal would be stronger if Chad Powers fans at least got to see some kind of closure for Chad. The Georgia game has been talked up across two whole episodes, and yet viewers don’t see a single down. The game doesn’t have to finish and the Catfish don’t even have to win—one ending would be to put Chad in a game-winning position like Russ, and cut to black as the audience wonders how Chad will respond. Or even have them lose, despite their best efforts, and Season 2 takes a Major League II approach where Chad has to rally the team… and win back Ricky’s trust as Russ shows that he truly has changed.

But viewers don’t know anything about the Georgia game. They don’t get the big moment between Ricky and Russ, because that gets used to build conflict for next season. The one relationship that does have a form of closure is Russ with his father Mike (the always reliable Toby Huss from NCIS: Origins and King of the Hill). Mike helping his son to transform back into Chad is the kind of progress that the rest of the finale could have had. Not everything has to be wrapped up and not everything has to be okay, but give viewers something for crossing the finish line. Seeing Chad lead the Catfish to victory, or even a chance at it, would be a reward and heighten the stakes for Russ off the field. Or that moment of Russ and Ricky ending better than them being enemies (even if it was still heartbreaking) would’ve given fans hope as this big, seemingly impossible game gets underway. Leaving both stories muddled means neither of them truly score.

Chad Powers has been a better show than it’s been given credit for. It can be funny in an absurd way, and the cast members have really gone all in with their performances. One scene in the finale is an example of what this show has: Coach Hudson writing plays on his hospital room white board is so perfectly on-brand for him, and the shot of him from behind sets up the joke of seeing his butt in a hospital gown. But after that teenage humor passes, Steve Zahn delivers a genuine moment as Jake tries earnestly to stop being the coach and just be Ricky’s dad. It’s a show with a lot of weird jokes, but it’s also sneakily honest when it wants to be. The Chad Powers season 1 finale is good enough, but it would be better if the series just let itself breathe, instead of trying to plan for next season. Because if this show doesn’t get renewed, then this will feel just as unfinished as Russ Holliday’s career.

Chad Powers Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hulu.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.