Season 1, Episode 6: “Everything is Everything”
Original Air Date: July 26th, 2015
Grade: C
I’m not sure exactly when Spencer’s deal with Tracy is, but it’s kind of weird. The sixth episode of Ballers, “Everything is Everything”, starts with Spencer throwing a football with a kid. I’m not sure if it’s his kid, Tracy’s kid, or a random kid, but it’s a kid nonetheless. After some terrible banter (I’ve got an arm like Rodgers!) Tracy confronts Spencer about ducking his MRI and finally convinces him to reschedule and get it done. Immediately after that, Spencer gets nailed in the back of the head with the football thrown by the kid and goes off on him. Real smooth there, Strasmore.
While Spencer is dealing with minor head trauma from a foam football, Charles gets kicked out of the house last week, and we pick up on him heading to Ricky’s “Funhouse”. The Funhouse is apparently an entire mansion that Ricky has kept, including two staffers paid to upkeep the house, which is basically his sex palace set aside to party and hookup with girls. How Ricky does this behind his girlfriend’s back is a genuine mystery. How do you not know of a mansion stocked exclusively for infidelity? Of course, Charles being a newly liberated man, embraces his freedom. After Ricky gives Charles the MTV Cribs style tour of the Funhouse, Ricky finds out his teammate’s mother has spilled the beans on their relationship and has gone to TMZ about it.
After Ricky’s dalliance is public knowledge, he scrambles to find solid footing so he can keep his career going. Luckily, Spencer is on his side, and urging him to keep calm, Spencer arranges an interview with Jay Glazer so Ricky can tell his side of the story. Just prior to the interview, Ricky has a mini-breakdown, and Spencer tells him to just be himself, and the ensuing interview breaks down enough walls and makes enough of a splash to get Ricky out of the doghouse. For now.
While Spencer is making life better for Ricky, Vernon is going through some troubles with his blackmail. Reggie forces Spencer to come clean about possibly knowing the blackmailer. And then nothing happens, which pretty much is now the M.O. with Ballers. At the end of the meeting, nothing comes of it except the title of the episode, and Joe is sent off to deal with Maximo.
By the end of the episode, Charles goes back to his wife after tracking him down to the Funhouse, and we are literally back to where we were last week. Spinning tires is the entire theme of the show so far. Spencer’s big cliffhanger last episode lead to absolutely nothing. The meeting between Vernon? Nothing. Ballers is becoming like Entourage, and I don’t mean that in a good way. Give me growth and give me plot arcs that aren’t resolved in 30 minutes or less please.
