With Season Four of Eastbound & Down, the saga of Kenny Powers comes to an end, as this offers the final year of episodes about the one-time Major League Baseball pitcher. I’ll look at the eight episodes of Season Four in broadcast order. The plot synopses come straight disc’s menus.

Chapter 22: “Bored with his dead-end job and suburban lifestyle, Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) – now married to April (Katy Mixon) and a father of two – ponders a career move after partying with Guy Young (Ken Marino), a onetime teammate and current host of a raucous TV talk show.”

Season Four launches with a bang via this strong episode. It’s a hoot to see Kenny try to suppress his inner egotistical maniac, and McBride milks those situations for all their comedic might.

Chapter 23: “Looking to reclaim the spoils of celebrity, Kenny pay a visit to Guy Young to discuss a career change. Kenny tries to convince Stevie (Steve Little) to rejoin the Powers team.”

“C23” continues Kenny’s return to obnoxious glory with another good show. The training montage with Stevie delights, and as awful a person as Kenny may be, it’s amusing to watch him embrace his inner bastard. “C23” keeps the season moving well.

Chapter 24: “Kenny treats his family and friends to an overnight trip to the water park. A day of good clean fun gives way to an evening of debauchery.”

After two terrific episodes, S4 sags with the lackluster “C24”. Its main problem comes from its essential absence of story elements, as it exists for the aforementioned debauchery and little else. The show works best when its craziness mixes with character/narrative development; “C24” lacks much of that thrust and becomes a disappointment.

Chapter 25: “Kenny follows through on a threat to Gene (Tim Heidecker). Stevie gets Kenny a charity to promote during Guy’s goodwill ‘dragon boat’ race. Taking the lead from his dad, Toby (Steele Gagnon) tries to find the courage to feed his new pet.”

Though not as great as the first two episodes of the season, “C25” rebounds after the mediocre “C24”. It mixes Kenny’s personal and professional sides in a satisfying way and gives us more of his outrageous antics. I’m happy that “C25” gets the year back on track.

Chapter 26: “April gets Kenny to undergo couples therapy. Kenny and Steve map out a new business venture designed to capitalize on Kenny’s soaring stock.”

One thing about this series remains a constant: Kenny’s ego and hubris will harpoon his success. So far he remains on top, and as always, it’s entertaining to watch him peacock. We know the decline will come soon, though, and “C26” sets up that part of the narrative well.

Chapter 27: “Kenny gets rattled when Guy introduces a wild card to the show. Stevie recruits Maria (Elizabeth De Razzo) to help promote Kenny’s side business. April reaches the end of her rope with Famous Kenny.”

“C27” sends Kenny to rock-bottom – all with the goal to redeem him by season’s end, of course. Actually, his comeback starts toward the end of this show, and it works surprisingly well. It can be awfully tough to like/care about Kenny, but “C27” renders him humble enough to do so.

Chapter 28: “Kenny finds his personal travails taking a toll at work. Stevie keeps up appearances in the face of adversity. Dustin (John Hawkes) and Cassie (Jennifer Irwin) help Kenny learn a valuable Christmas lesson.”

My interpretation of “Humble Kenny” may have been premature, as “C28” shows him more out of control than ever. Of course, it brings him back down in another story that attempts to ground him – as much as Kenny can be grounded, that is. It’s an interesting show with plenty of laughs.

Chapter 29: “Kenny returns a favor at his boss’s insistence. Stevie offers revisions to Kenny’s life story. April weighs a big decision.”

“C29” wraps up the series in a satisfying manner. Its developments come as no huge surprise, and they leave open the option for more Kenny material in the future. If this does act as the last we see of Kenny, it becomes a good send-off, and a fitting conclusion to a satisfying season – and a usually solid series.

Eastbound & Down appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on these Blu-ray Discs. The shows looked good.

Overall definition appeared positive. A little softness occasionally affected some wide shots, but the episodes mostly remained precise and well-delineated. Issues with jagged edges and shimmering didn’t occur, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to materialize.

E&D went with a pretty natural palette, and the hues came across well. They showed positive vivacity and looked fine. Blacks were deep and tight, and low-light shots depicted nice clarity. Everything here satisfied.

Expect a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio similar to what we heard in prior years, which meant a somewhat overactive soundscape. In particular, music could overwhelm the five channels; effects didn’t have a lot to do, so the mixes used the score and songs all over the place. This didn’t really work, as a more subdued use of the speakers would’ve been more satisfying.

The quality of the sound was more than acceptable. Speech seemed concise and distinctive, with no edginess or other issues. Music appeared peppy and full, while effects came across as accurate and clear. I wish the soundfields weren’t so heavy-handed, but the mixes were still acceptable for the shows.

When we head to the extras, we start with audio commentaries for all eight episodes:

Chapter 22: writer/actor Danny McBride, writer/director Jody Hill, consulting producer John Carcieri and actors Steve Little, Jillian Bell and Tim Heidecker.

Chapter 23: McBride, Hill, Carcieri, Little, editor Jeff Seibenick and actor Elizabeth De Razzo.

Chapter 24: McBride, Hill, Carcieri, Little and Bell.

Chapter 25: McBride, Hill, Bell, Heidecker and actor Ken Marino.

Chapter 26: McBride, Hill, Carcieri and Little.

Chapter 27: McBride, Hill, Marino, Bell and Heidecker.

Chapter 28: McBride, Hill, Carcieri, Seibenick, Little, De Razzo and actor Jennifer Irwin.

Chapter 29: McBride, Hill, Carcieri and Little.

Across these tracks, we hear about story/character subjects, cast and performances, deleted scenes, music, sets and locations, and a few other areas.

That’s a similar roster of topics found in the first few seasons, and the tracks feel about the same as well. At their best, the commentaries deliver nice insights about the production and the year’s creation, but the discussions also degenerate into laughing and praise more than I’d like. That issue aside, these pieces offer more than enough info to keep us involved.

On Disc One, we find a recap for the series’ third season. It runs one minute, 27 seconds and consists of show clips without any additional narration/explanation. It probably won’t explain the show to uninitiated fans, but it can help remind viewers of what they might’ve forgotten.

18 Deleted Scenes fill a total of 23 minutes, 19 seconds. We find a mix of extended sequences and totally new elements. Many of these entertain, but they don’t deliver much in the way of story/character material we don’t get elsewhere. They do expand some horizons a bit, though, and they’re fun to see.

Next comes a collection of Outtakes. This reel goes for 11 minutes as it shows goofs and giggles. I hoped for more alternate takes, but this is mostly a standard blooper reel.

With its fourth season, Eastbound & Down comes to an end. It goes out on top, as S4 delivers a strong roster of shows and finished off the series well. The Blu-ray provides good picture and audio along with a set of supplements highlighted by some mostly fun commentaries. E&D concludes well so this package will delight fans of the show.