LAST WEEK: ‘Ballers’ Season 2 Premiere: Dwayne Johnson’s Return Rocks, But Doesn’t Ball Super Hard
“Ballers” continues to engage on a real-world level with the folks who circulate around football culture — the journalists, the entourages, the agents. Because those who play for the NFL might technically be considered the most baller of all to the outside, but on the inside, the real baller-ing may just be found elsewhere.
But as always, here’s what really matters…
The Rock was still feeling his wounds from last week’s scuffle with Terrell Suggs. And there’s nothing so un-baller as finding out your Vicodin prescription has run out – and that your doctor is deeply concerned about prescribing you more pills.
The Rock might not need the pills, but he does need the emotional reinforcement of taking down a man who he once trusted but is now no longer a hero. We first get a taste of that with Terrell Suggs coming in for a meeting that is not exactly square. It is round. Like a ball. Because Suggs is still technically with Andre (Andy Garcia), the man who once did Spencer wrong.
This sequence would matter less if The Rock was not wearing the most baller plaid suit we’ve ever seen. Seriously, it’s a true work of art — one that likely gives him the strength to put up with Joe (Rob Corddry) calling him a pussy. The Rock is defensive in those moments, but when his sports journalist girlfriend Tracy (Arielle Kebble) quits her job and celebrates with a private wine party, he proves himself to be a gentleman in taking her to bed. Total baller move. (Ballering, for the record, has room for gentleman-esque behavior.)
Asking Joe to slap him in the face at a tennis tournament? Technically baller, but weirdly so. Especially because it was a forced move, and perhaps Spencer didn’t need it. Spencer seemed very comfortable facing off against Andre, who mismanaged his money and set up the vendetta we now get to enjoy.
So comfortable, in fact, that The Rock got hard when it came to Suggs and other clients — flat-out telling Andre, on his behalf, that they were fired. Where does that leave us? Worried about the painkillers, but otherwise…
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