Chad Powers season 2 stops being a comedy, and the backup quarterback becomes the villain

Right, so Chad Powers is back on the telly for its second season, picking up exactly where all the mayhem left off. If you caught the first run, you’ll remember it took what started as a daft reality-show skit – originally dreamed up by Eli Manning – and expanded it into something much stranger. Thanks to Glen Powell (who co-created the series with Michael Waldron from Loki), it ended up being less about the sport and more of a proper comedy character study – an awkward ex-QB in prosthetics, mediating his own midlife crisis while impersonating someone else. The show’s often compared to Ted Lasso tone-wise, but honestly, it goes far weirder and much darker.

Chad Powers series two lands as a bundle of six episodes on 3 September, streaming on Hulu.

What’s happening this season?

The new run jumps straight back into the South Georgia Catfish’s football fairytale, with Steve Zahn returning as Coach Jake Hudson. This time, the focus narrows on the handful of people who’ve worked out that Chad is actually Russ Holliday in disguise. Most notably, there’s Ricky (Perry Mattfeld), who’s both the coach’s daughter and the assistant coach herself. She found out the truth in the first season’s climax – and, with a bit of gritted teeth, is now on side, just barely, to keep the team’s championship hopes alive. Also in the know: Russ’ mate Danny (Frankie Rodriguez).

So the trio are now locked in this secret – and honestly, it’s starting to do their heads in. As the Catfish edge closer to the playoffs, the media attention turns up, the risk of exposure escalates, and paranoia sets in. The rest of the cast get dialled back a little this time around – Coach Dobbs (Clayne Crawford) and Coach Byrd (Quentin Plair) are basically there just to goggle at Chad’s increasingly peculiar behaviour, while Coach Hudson’s still dealing with his own heart problems from last series.

Returning faces and new angles

Pretty much everyone of note reappears: Toby Huss as Russ’ make-up artist dad, Mike, is back in the mix. More surprising, they’ve beefed up the screen time for backup QB Gerry Dougan (played by Colton Ryan). He was always this relentlessly upbeat Christian type who didn’t stand a chance at actual football, but after losing the quarterback spot to Chad, he’s had something of a meltdown. Now Colton Ryan gets to really twist the knife, showing Gerry’s full descent – and he’s more unsettling by the week. There’s also Wynn Everett as Tricia Yeager, a chicken-millionaire booster for the team, pushing hard to put Chad in the spotlight and make herself even more dosh from the team’s unlikely success. She’s still mainly there for comic relief, but you get a sense she’s only getting started.

Tonally, if you thought the first season veered from sitcom into something else, brace yourself. Chad’s still a walking trainwreck, but the script shifts harder into psychological territory. By the time you hit the later episodes, it’s more drama than comedy, and absolutely none the worse for it. Michael Waldron takes front seat as writer for the opener and directs several episodes, with a battery of fresh writers handling the rest. Glen Powell is pure lead performer and producer this time; no writing credits here.

Does it all hang together?

Again, you get just six episodes, each clocking in around the half-hour mark. The previous season covered only the first chunk of the Catfish’s football campaign; this lot essentially brings them up to the playoffs. In terms of pacing, it feels more like a direct continuation – the back half of a single season, rather than a full new arc. There’s a lot packed in, though: relationships get payoff, longstanding threads finally tie up, we get new complications in Russ/Chad’s backstory, and plenty of hints about what a third season could look like (provided Hulu fancies it).

• Glen Powell remains front and centre as both Chad and Russ, playing both for awkward laughs and genuine pathos
• Michael Waldron leads the season’s writing and directing, with a new slate of writers joining in
• Perry Mattfeld’s Ricky gets much more to do, now part of Russ’ inner circle
• Colton Ryan’s Gerry emerges as a full-fledged antagonist
• Wynn Everett’s Tricia is ramping up her comedic villainy
• The tone pivots from “messy comedy” to “darker, psychological drama” as the episodes progress

The first season actually scored higher with regular viewers than most TV critics, and there’s a fair chance that’ll happen again – especially as Glen Powell manages to push his new ‘leading man’ status without smothering the oddball appeal that made Chad Powers work in the first place. Honestly, it’s as if someone’s tried to do Ted Lasso with a criminally dodgy Mrs Doubtfire, and it somehow works – even as the stakes get heavier and the laughs come with a palpable edge.