Yes I'm not writing a review of an anime today. Today I write about HBO's comedy Eastbound & Down. I've just finished the first season a few moments back and thought of writing about it.
The series is written by Jody Hill, Ben Best and Danny Mcbride (the last two enter the show as actors) and produced by Will Ferrel's company. The first season has 6 half-hour episodes, making it a short one.
This show is about Kenny Powers, portrayed by Danny McBride (This is the End, 30 minutes or less). At age of 19 he became a superstar in the baseball world, but eventually things got a bad turn and hence became the trip of drugs, prostitution, gambling and eventually steroids. The series starts as Kenny returns to his hometown as a sub P.E. teacher and crashing at his older brother's, Dustin Powers (portrayed by John Hawkes) house. Despite being broke, Kenny retains the douchebagness and super star attitude that got him out of the baseball world and the season revolves around his attempts of coming back to the major league and trying to get his high-school lover April Buchanon (portrayed by Katy Mixon) back.
The important characters of the show are the following:
Kenny Powers - As said before Kenny was a superstar baseball player. Eventually his attitude and use of steroids got him out of the major league. He comes back to his hometown to teach P.E. He is obnouxious, rude and is always swearing and most of the time is on drugs. Always gets on ridiculous situations because of his plans. Despite being most of a comedy character Kenny also has some moments when we see the pain his life gives him, giving it a serious tone now and then.
April Buchanon - Kenny's high-school sweetheart and also a teacher on the same school as Kenny. She shows despise for Kenny, avoiding him and criticising him a lot of times, but inside she still has some feelings for him.
Terrence Cutler (portrayed by Andrew Daily) - The Principal of the school and also April's fiancee. He's a fan of Kenny and has positive atitude, the same atitude that lets kenny do whatever he wants in the school. As he is April's fiancee, is always the target of Kenny's sarcasm.
Steven "Stevie" Janowski (portrayed by Steve Little) - the greatest fan of Kenny, capable of doing almost everything from him. He is a nice person, and his personality gets very influenced by Kenny. He functions as the sidekick for Kenny's ambitions.
The show has a look as if it got taken from a series B movie. The plot is not a great one, it's very simple and short, which reflected on the critics it received. The characters are vulgar and aren't the best good looking but, despite that, it gives the tone necessary for the kind of comedy that they're trying to pull off. It has some clever humour and doesn't have easy jokes handed to the audience, in a way it's like most of the works of it's producer Will Ferrel. It even has him as a recurring character, Ashley Schaeffer a BMW stand owner, and he's brilliant on the role. It also has the guest apperances of Adam Scott (Party Down, Parks and Recreation) and Craig Robinson (Pineapple Express, Hot Tub Time Machine, This is the End). Craig's character along with Danny's and Will's have the best moment in the season.
Just genious.
It's a show that has some great moments with the jokes and situations, but the character that stands out the most is Kenny, giving the others a feel that they're all irrelevant. The first season got average ratings, but the following ones got a lot higher so I'm curious how it will develop. It's fourth season started this year and is it's last, so it's a short comedy series to follow, with each season having 6 to 8 episodes each.
Plot - 3/5 - The story doesn't get much development, feeling like an introduction for what's to come in the future. It has some great moments and great quotes, but it could have been better.
Visual - 4/5 - The visual on the show fits well in the comedy, as it looks kinda of bad, giving the crappy-like set for Kennys life. It's hard to describe, but if you watch it, you'll get it.
Sound - 2/5 - Aside from the opening theme, Going Down by Freddie King, it uses almost no soundtrack. Kenny most of the time listens to his own audio book "I'm fucking in, you're fucking out" making use of monologues instead of audio to give tones for the scenes.
Perfomances - 3/5 - Danny and Steve shine on their roles but the rest of the characters don't give opportunites to shine, as they are bland. The only characters that also stand out are Will Ferrel's and Craig Robinson's and they only appear two times in the season.
Resuming, the first season hasn't much to give, feeling like an intro, but I have hope for the next ones.
Eastbound & Down season 1 gets a 11/20 at the end of the 9th inning.
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