This season of IFC’s Brockmire sees titular character Jim Brockmire (Hank Azaria) serving as baseball commissioner in the 2030s, far from a smooth time for baseball (or society at large, judging by what happened to Scottsdale and “The Disputed Lands”). It started with Brockmire being brought in as the one man who could regain some attention for baseball, but even after he’s hired, that doesn’t always lead to a smooth relationship with the owners. That’s illustrated in this exclusive preview clip of episode four, “Comeback Player of the Year,” which is set to air Wednesday, April 8 at 10 p.m. Eastern on IFC. Here, Brockmire threatens to reveal the owners’ dirty secrets if they fire Jules (Amanda Peet), and boy, do they have some dirty secrets:
The dolphin rant at 1:05 is particularly great. “You killed the last dolphin, Leslie! You PAID to murder the last dolphin! You paid for the privilege!” While today’s professional sports owners are often making some supervillain moves, they haven’t gone that far—yet. But this is a good clip for showing off how Brockmire remains an “agent of chaos” even as MLB commissioner, and for illustrating some of what makes the series work; its over-the-top crassness combined with its good heart (after all, he’s doing this to help out someone else, not himself), mixed with some very funny pop culture commentary (“Christopher Nolan wrote those words, because only a mind as depraved and annoying and weird as his could understand a true agent of chaos like myself”). It’s a recipe that’s worked out very well for the show so far.
Brockmire airs Wednesdays on IFC at 10 p.m. Eastern.
