'Eastbound & Down' Season 2, Episode 2 Recap

['Eastbound and Down' - 'Chapter 8']

What would you do with a second chance? Odds are, you'd do it differently. Kenny Powers, on the other hand, has made a living defying the odds. No matter how low Kenny sinks, he still holds onto the things that separate him from everyone else -- his swagger, his mullet, his rudimentary grasp of the English language, his complete disregard for anyone other than himself (or breasts), and his numerous venereal diseases -- despite those things causing his demise in the first place.

That kind of persistence makes us love him, or at least love that we're not him. Kenny Powers is good at a lot of things ... learning and maturing are not among them.

The thought of Stevie Janowski having sex is enough to make even the most virile teenager start campaigning for abstinence ... or at least throw up a little, so it was no surprise that 'Eastbound and Down' opened with whack-job Stevie having sex with a black hooker, in an attempt to track down his long-lost hero. Stevie's devotion to Kenny runs far too deep for him to simply disappear. The Kenny/Stevie dynamics really drove the first season, and there's nothing funnier than a loser following a different kind of loser into bitterness and shame.

Kenny just wanted to fit in with his new team, which is difficult to do when you have a God complex and suffer from drug- and alcohol-induced fits of delusion. If insanity is defined as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," then Kenny Powers is one crazy mofo. He's still doing blow in the clubhouse, disrespecting his coach, alienating his teammates, and dropping f-bombs at Dice Clay speed. To Kenny, Mexico is so beneath him that his arrogance is still warranted.

After practice, Kenny was taken to meet the owner of the Charros, and it was here that Kenny found his muse. People like Kenny Powers can't exist in a vacuum. They need enablers ... people like Stevie and Sebastian (the wealthy Charros owner) who buy into all Kenny's BS and unknowingly fuel his ignorance. Without them, Kenny Powers as we know him ceases to exist. Sebastian ate Kenny's whole American jackass shtick and licked the plate clean as the two prepared for Kenny's triumphant return to the mound. When Sebastian said "That's racism, man! I love to racism, bro!" a purely self-gratifying relationship was born.

Upon his return home, Kenny's door was ajar. He kicked in the door, guns blazing, and shot Stevie square in the leg, somehow making their relationship even more codependent. After treating the wound with margarita mix and a shower, Kenny got help from his neighbors who broke the news that Stevie had to stay for a while, much to Kenny's chagrin. While Stevie slept, Kenny flipped through Stevie's bag to peer into the bromantic nature of their relationship.

Alone in the apartment, Stevie took a look around and revealed a Rockwell painting of depravity and excess (no, not Norman Rockwell, Rick Rockwell, Norman's half-brother): A sombrero, a bong, a vagina-shaped toothbrush holder, a half inflated (hey, I'm an optimist) blow-up doll, pills and syringes, porn, booze, and a snake in the refrigerator. This is Kenny Powers's Mexico. Turned out that Stevie just followed his credit card charges straight to Kenny's doorstep, like "breadcrumbs."

"Just starin' at buttholes and gettin' a buzz on!" Kenny loves to put on a show, especially for Stevie, but his intentions were quite different this night. Kenny asked about everyone he left behind, and found out that April ended up marrying Cutler. April was the only person in the world who held Kenny to a different standard, and most of the time he didn't like it. But she was also the only person for whom he wanted to be better. This news turned Kenny into the mopey little bitch he constantly rants about. He dumped Stevie into a truck of illegals bound for America.

Tormented over April, Kenny hid in the clubhouse when it was his time to enter the game. His coach, as enabling as anyone, gave him the old "don't do this comeback for some f@#king girl, do it for you" speech, setting the stage for Kenny's return to glory which can best be described as: "Hulk Hogan's orgasm."

Kenny got a strike out on three pitches, then everyone went home. No parade. No fanfare. No women rushing naked onto the field to pleasure him. Not nearly what Kenny expected, but I have faith that it won't stop him from continuing to expect it at every turn. Stevie made it back to catch Kenny on his way out of the ballpark, and he told Stevie that, "It just seems like your face and our friendship is kind of the collateral damage." Stevie begged for Kenny "to please let me stay here and join you on this Hispanic adventure." We all deserve a second chance.

'Eastbound & Down' airs Sun., 10:30PM ET on HBO.