The second episode of Big Shot premiered today on Disney+ titled “The Marvyn Korn Effect.” In this sophomore episode, we get to see how the rest of the teachers at Westbrook feel about their new star coach while Marvyn breaks new ground with his team, the Sirens. Here’s a play-by-play recap of the latest episode of Big Shot.
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Marvyn Korn (John Stamos) is taking an early morning job on a path by the beach when he passes a basketball court. He’s stopped by Louise Gruzinsky (Nell Verlaque) who was playing basketball with some of her brother’s friends. A boy named Dylan recognizes Marvyn and points him out to the rest of his friends, one of whom starts chanting “Throw a chair.” Louise apologizes as Marvyn begins his run again, telling her to “Save some for the game.”
Cut to the Sirens’ next game where the girls keep passing the ball to Louise to make all the shots, even though they’ve had opportunities to shoot it at the hoop. They win the game and Assistant Coach Holly (Jessalyn Gilsig) congratulates the girls as Coach Korn enters, upset that all the girls did was pass the ball to Louise. They defend themselves for having won, not understanding why he’s upset. “Yes, you won. But do you know why you won?,” he asks, saying that they’re better players so they should’ve won, but they’re not a good team. Next week they play Encinitas, who has better players. “How are we going to beat them? We’re going to be the better team.” He re-institutes his “Two-a-days” schedule tomorrow at 6:00 am. “If you’re 10 minutes early, you’re late.”
At an outdoor cafe for dinner with Holly, Marvyn’s assistant asks what he hoped to accomplish with his speech, which she feels put the girls down. “Those girls aren’t going to learn anything if all they do is feed the ball to Louise,” he explains. Holly tells Marvyn she thinks he enjoys being mad, which he brushes off, saying compliments lose their value if given too freely. She asks him to tell her something other than basketball that brings him joy. He first tells her Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, but she says it has to be something alive. “My daughter Emma,” he says.
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Back home in Chicago, Marvyn’s daughter Emma (Sophia Mitri Schloss) is getting cyber bullied, finding an animated video of her head getting knocked off her body by a flying chair. Her mom walks in the room, having seen it and saying she thought the bullying stopped. She reveals that she’s had a job offer in Italy and Emma is excited, thinking it means she can go to San Diego and live with her dad, going to Westbrook as a student. Her mom tells Emma that it’s not a good idea as she gets another harassing text. Emma asks her mom to think about it.
The Sirens are studying for their math test at a gelato cafe, complaining about Coach Korn’s tough approach and lack of compliments. Destiny (Tiana Le) is the only one who defends him while Mouse (Tisha Custodio) tries to get the conversation back on their math studying. Meanwhile, Louise is at home studying alone when her dad Larry (Michael Trucco) walks in. He congratulates Louise on the game earlier and she tells him Coach Korn isn’t happy, which he likes to hear. When she explains that the reason is that he doesn’t want her taking every shop, he gets upset, saying he’s going to talk to him. She asks him not to, adding “It’s hard enough just to have one coach.” Her dad responds, “He can coach the team but I’m your coach and you play your game.” She gives him a look and says “I think you mean your game.” Larry looks taken aback by that statement.
Arriving at their morning practice, the Sirens enter the court in their socks and tell Holly their shoes are missing. Coach Korn enters with a bag full of their shoes and tells the girls they can be a great team if they listen to him. “I don’t want you to think of being here as a punishment, think of it as a testament to my faith in you.” The girls are stunned by the pseudo-complement, which he says has value because he hasn’t cheapened it. He dumps out the bag of shoes and their laces are missing, dropping a bunch of laces on the ground. He tells them he’s going to teach them his full basketball system from the ground up, starting with how to tie their basketball shoes.
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In political science class, Ms. Grint (Toks Olagundoye) announces that there is a guest speaker next Thursday after school that the students receive credit for attending. It conflicts with the last practice before the next game and Olive (Monique A. Green), Mouse and Samantha (Cricket Wampler) tell the teacher about it. “Unfortunately, attendance is mandatory unless you don’t mind taking a zero,” the stern teacher explains, refusing to budge.
Olive, Mouse and Samantha enter the gym nervously, heading towards Coach Korn’s office. They tell him about their teacher’s mandate that they attend a lecture and miss the last rehearsal before the next game.“Not a problem,” he tells them, claiming to be able to make the teacher change her mind.“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this.” Entering Ms. Grint’s classroom, Marvyn says “It seems we have a scheduling issue.” Ms. Grint smugly replies, “Oh no, I don’t think we have an issue.” She explains that attendance for her lecture is mandatory and it won’t be changed. “I do not teach your players, you coach my students,” she says, wielding her power.
A frustrated Marvyn Korn enters the teacher’s lounge and walks to the kitchenette, looking lost. A young global studies teacher named Felix (Chantz Simpson) shows him where to get the coffee and Marvyn picks up a mug, which causes a man named George Pappas (Richard Robichaux) to jump up, pointing out that it’s his cup and his name is on the bottom. “I don’t mind sharing it as long as you ask permission,” the school guidance counselor says. But before Marvyn can finish asking for permission, he says “No.”
Back in the gym, Marvyn gets a video call from Emma who tells him about her mom’s job offer in Italy, which would last 6-months to a year. He’s surprised by the request and gives her excuses why it’s not a good idea, starting with the fact that it’s already a few weeks into the semester and finishing with a statement about being on rocky ground there. “I can help, I speak Marvyn Korn,” Emma eagerly offers. He says the timing isn’t great and Emma is clearly disappointed, abruptly ending the call.
At afternoon practice, Coach Korn has the girls moving around the court with imaginary basketballs. Marvyn has a meeting with Principal Sherilyn (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Ms. Grint and Holly wishes him luck, but he tells her she’s coming with him. After practice, the girls are outside talking about how great it is to hear that Coach Korn has faith in them. Louise shares that she doesn’t think he’ll be staying much longer, adding that her dad isn’t happy with him. They see Ms. Grint walk by and talk about how scared they are of her. They question if Marvyn can handle her.
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As Marvyn and Holly approach Sherilyn’s office, they see Ms. Grint and George Pappas inside. Walking in, they find that the principal wanted the school counselor to be present. “I want you to know I’m on no one’s side here, only the side of the girls of Westbrook,” George Pappas says, which Holly shoots down as being what they’re all there for. George reveals that many teachers are concerned about Marvyn being around the students with his past record. Sherilyn addresses him directly, saying that her answer has been the same every time he’s brought it up, which is that Coach Korn has been thoroughly vetted. Marvyn asks if they can speed things up and Sherilyn cuts to the chase, telling Ms. Grint that she can either reschedule her lecture to not conflict with the basketball practice or offer the players an opportunity to make up the assignment. Ms. Grint is not happy.
Walking down the hallway, Marvyn tells Holly “You just witnessed the Marvyn Korn effect.” She says she thought the effect referred to the chaos he leaves in his wake, adding that Ms. Grint isn’t one to forgive and forget. Entering the gym, Coach Korn finds Louise practicing with an actual ball, telling her he only wants her to practice with the team. She defends herself as just trying to be the best player. “We’re going nowhere unless you pass the ball,” he says, which she replies by saying she’s not learning anything with his current practices. He joins her on the court, asking her to pass the ball to him instead of shooting and to learn to do it without looking. At the end of a montage during which Louise learns to do it flawlessly, Coach Korn tells her she did great and she beams with pride.
Walking outside, Holly asks Marvyn if he's thought about moving Louise to moving guard, asking if he’s too afraid of her father to do it. They pass a coffee kiosk outside the school where several teachers are surrounding principal Sherilyn, including Ms. Grint, who is loudly complaining about the absurdity of her academics being less important than the school’s basketball team, in her rant explaining that he has the girls practicing morning and afternoon. “Are you practicing two-a-days?,” Sherilyn asks after Marvyn entered the conversation with his big ego. She tells him there’s a daily limit on the amount of time teachers can demand of the girls. “From now on, one practice per day,” she sternly tells him. Marvyn complains that he can’t turn the team around with that schedule. “That is unfortunate. And I was just starting to like you,” the principal says as she leaves, trailed by George Pappas, who she asks not to follow her.
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Back in the gym, Marvyn tells Holly that he’s going to defy Sherilyn’s orders and she says the next ESPN ticker will announce that he was fired from coaching a girl’s high school team. Calling the team over, he tells Olive, Mouse and Samantha that they’re going to take the lecture instead of attending his practice. He also tells the girl’s they’re going back to one practice a day. They look disappointed.
In the parking lot, the Sirens stop Holly and ask her what happened, saying they feel like Coach Korn just gave up on them by going back to one practice a day. She tells them it wasn’t up to him, sharing that some teachers felt he was pushing them too hard. They press her for more information and she says “It’s not for me to say, but between us, Ms. Grint can shove it.” The girls turn around and see Ms. Grint talking and laughing with other teachers, looking very smug. That night at the gelato cafe, they talk about how disappointed they are while studying. After talking about what they wish they could do to Ms. Grint, Louise gets an idea.
Marvyn is back on the beach for his morning run the next morning when he passes the basketball court, where he sees the entire team plus Holly practicing. They joke that it’s purely coincidental and Holly accidentally has a second whistle on her, too. Since it’s not at school, they say it’s “Not an official practice.”
It’s now the Encinitas game and Larry Gruzinski is yelling at other Sirens to “Give her the ball,” referring to Louise. He watches as Louise does a fake-out pass to another teammate who makes the shot. He looks upset as the Sirens score because the ball wasn’t shot by his daughter. After the game, the Sirens take a winning selfie and Coach Korn enters. “The thing about Encinitas is they have better players. So Gruzinsky, why did we win?,” he asks. “We have a better team, Coach,” Louise replies. He turns to leave and Holly whispers that he avoided complimenting them by making the girls compliment themselves. He seems proud of that.
Out in the gym, Louise finds her dad looking disappointed, telling her he would’ve liked the game better if she had just taken the shot. She tells him he was her first coach, but now she just needs him to be her dad. One of her brother’s friends named Dylan (Emery Kelly) enters and Louise hugs her dad before leaving the gym with Dylan. Larry watches his daughter leave with a crestfallen look on his face.
Marvyn is back in Sherilyn’s office, who tells him she can see that he’s connecting with the girls. She somehow knows about the off-campus practices, which he says is just “A creative solution to a problem we both would love to see go away.” She tells him the problem with the teachers is only getting worse, which is why she is requiring that he have weekly meetings with George Pappas, who can change the mind of the faculty if Marvyn can change the guidance counselor’s mind. When he objects, she tells him to think of it as “A creative solution to a problem we both would love to see go away.”
Inside George’s office, the school counselor acts tough with Marvyn, sharing that before joining Westbrook, he was a warden. He tells Marvyn that he’s trapped and alone, saying that Holly feels she should’ve been promoted into his current job, the girls are just teenagers, Larry Gruzinski isn’t impressed, and Sherilyn put him in these meetings. “You are on your own Mr. Korn, but it doesn’t have to be a life sentence,” he tells him, adding that he wants to help Marvyn get out of Westbrook. Marvyn gets up and walks towards the door, saying “See ya.” George reminds him the meeting just began and Marvyn says “You weren’t really a warden” as he closes the door behind him.
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Back in his office, Destiny enters and makes a joke about needing to miss the next game. “I just wanted to say thank you,” she says, taking Marvyn aback. He asks what for and she says “For caring,” pointing to the picture of Emma and asking if that’s his daughter. He tells her he misses her and she says she misses her father, adding that she would give anything to see him again. She exits and Marvyn pulls up her student file, seeing that her father is deceased. He catches her before she leaves the gym and asks her if she has some time, playing a game of H.O.R.S.E.
Marvyn makes a video call to Emma, who’s between classes, telling her he wants her to come live with him and that he mom is okay with it. “This isn’t just about me, though, right? You need me too?,” she asks. “Of course I need you, you’re my daughter.” She smiles and gets ready for her next class.
The next episode of Big Shot premieres April 30th on Disney+. Here’s a description of “TCKS”:
Marvyn sets his sights on moving the team up to Division Two as his daughter, Emma, arrives in town.