Chad Powers on Hulu season 1, episode 4 review

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chad Powers Season 1, Episode 4.

With Halloween just over two weeks away, Chad Powers attempts to do an episode worthy of the holiday. At least that’s the impression given from Episode 4 of the Hulu series, which is one-part horror comedy and one-part buddy adventure. Sometimes this mashup works, and sometimes it’s an incomplete pass.

Musical theater buffs will appreciate the episode’s use of The Phantom of the Opera as a metaphor for the dynamic between Russ Holliday and Danny. The idea may be unexpected, but it’s not that farfetched; Russ just hides behind prosthetics instead of the Phantom’s mask. The playing of the ballad “All I Ask of You” as Danny and Russ make new molds of Chad’s face is pushing the joke a little bit, but the utilization of the dramatic title track as a musical bookend works much better.

“4th Quarter” also finally illustrates why the friendship between Russ and Danny works. It’s overdue because Danny as an individual character has been lacking in development; he’s come across as purely there for snarky comic relief, and that hasn’t always worked either. But in this episode, Danny puts Russ in his place — and just as importantly, Russ does the same for him. Their fight is a mutual wake-up call…