Date of release: June 23, 2017 (Netflix)
Back in 2017, I already knew before I even watched one split-second of footage of GLOW that I was hungry for this kind of female-centric show. Maybe it was time to give men some rest after they screwed up and destroyed cities, countries, and almost the entire world, all this while also screwing up children and women (which they continue to do so until the world has turned to ashes), so it might have been time for women to take the steering wheel and show men what was really up. So, here is GLOW, a show I was instantly awaiting like my sixth birthday when the first trailer was released six years ago, giving me hope that Hollywood is at least trying to give the focus and spotlight to women, so they could show the world what they can do. And because this entire review shouldn’t be sounding like a hot take on feminism, maybe it should end right here and I should just get into why I loved this episode so much.
I have no idea though if GLOW becomes a staple of feminism, or if it just happened to be a show about something I have no idea even existed in the 1980s, about women of all kinds of corners becoming friends under special circumstances, about a sport that was apparently loved and hated so quickly that it found no mention in the annals of history, which is why I originally thought (after seeing the trailer for the first time) that this show was a work of fiction. Wrestling has always been something I never particularly cared for, although one or two scripted products were nice to look at (well, only THE WRESTLER, because of the emotional drama, as well as FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY, which is surprisingly one of the better biographies out there that happens to be about a wrestler), and Hulk Hogan was more like a kick-ass film and TV star than a wrestler for me, who also sometimes hosted stuff, like NBC’s reimagining of AMERICAN GLADIATOR in 2008. In a way, this show was not only giving me a bunch of women to look out for (although I already knew and loved two of them before: Alison Brie and Kate Nash were, still are, and will forever be lovely ladies I could watch or listen to any day of the week), but it would also give me a history lesson. Feminism maybe was a thing in the 1980s, and it might also be the thriving factor behind the narrative of this show, besides all the cheap and amateurish wrestling moves that were being executed. But what do I know about wrestling and its moves that could easily give you all the blue and black spots on your body that make your friends think you are fighting too much?
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| Welcome to the first round of GLOW: The Cut! |
Yes, I loved this episode. Netflix must have realized after STRANGER THINGS that making period pieces look like products shot in the period they are set in is not that hard to do and it will make things look great. I got the feeling there was going to be a difference between period pieces and movies and TV shows set in a specific era, because GLOW felt like it was shot in the 1980s, with the writing and directing minds of the twenty-first century. The style, the tone, the imagined smell, and the acting even make GLOW a show that could have easily been the best thing ever in the 1980s, even if no one would have watched it. I have no idea how long it took for the cast to be styled into their 1980s selves, and how happy everyone must have been about the result, because Alison Brie looked like a product of the 1980s in this opening installment. It didn’t feel like I was watching a show produced in 2016 or 2017. It felt almost like Hollywood was keeping GLOW back for three decades, just so they can assault all the men’s rights activists with this show, as well as all the conservative buttholes who believe that women are good for nothing and only belong behind the cooking stove and in the baby-making factory.
The only thing that could be considered negative about GLOW is that it’s considered a half-hour show. Yes, it started its run with a 37-minute episode, but I would have loved to see far more of that. Halfway through the 30 minutes-plus-change, it felt like I was watching a film which has just begun, just about to fully introduce its characters, just trying to bring the audience into the world of wrestling one stunt at a time. But then the episode ended and the credits flashed by, and if this wouldn’t have been Netflix and the opportunity for me to watch the next episode immediately, I would have been all ‘WTF?’ This might not be one of the best premiere episodes ever, but it certainly goes up the ranks of “This ended way too soon, and I want to see way more of it,” and when pilot episodes land on that list, then it must be because the show is truly great.
Story-wise, the premiere was simple: Get Ruth rock-bottom, so that she won’t have anything else to do that impress Sam and make it big on a cable television show. Introduce a few other gorgeous ladies in the process and create an ongoing character arc that might give Ruth the chance to shine outside the wrestling ring. A simple task, so wonderfully executed, because I felt with Ruth when she was dragged through the opening scene audition, and then smashed because she decided to think 30 years ahead, wanting to take the part men usually get, because everyone believed that Hollywood was the product of men (quick history lesson: It was a product of Jews and women). I felt with Ruth when she was pretty much thrown out of the GLOW auditions by Sam, because she dared to think 30 years ahead once more, and I felt with Ruth when Debbie appeared with her kid, ready to kick her ass (which was extremely convenient for the story ahead and Sam’s realization that his new job may not be so shady after all). Ruth was thrown to the ground, saw a way up, decided to take the shot, but as ridiculous and humiliating as she was without Debbie in the ring, trying to reenact what she saw on television (I couldn’t watch it, because it was so painfully hilarious), she was soon on the ground again. That’s a whole different version of rock-bottom if I have ever seen one.
For a premiere episode, it was pretty good in introducing Ruth as the principal character, but the other cast members didn’t get their moment to shine. Okay, I was looking for Kate Nash and then got disappointed that she didn’t have a lot of stuff to do, but even the other girls barely had anything to do, and only needed to be here to assure the viewers that these women were indeed unconventional and sort of belonged on this particular stage. You have the teenager, you have the woman in make-up thinking she is a wolf, you have the heavy-setters who might or might not know a little about the stunt or wrestling business, you have the British lady, you have the serious actor(s), and you have whoever else, depending on what kind of characters the writers were thinking about when the show was created. It’s a great mixture of characters who are just waiting to be developed in future episodes.
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| The first wrestling move of GLOW: The Headcrusher! |
But I was glad the episode showed that GLOW is first and foremost a comedy. “Movies got a little white after 1979” – I broke out in laughter after that line, not to mention Ruth’s hilarious effort to be like Hulk Hogan, so she can impress Sam. And not to forget Sam’s failure of getting out of the ring and falling straight to the floor at one point (random physical comedy is always the best). In the end, GLOW might not even be a show taking its premise seriously and instead just throws its main attraction front and center, so the viewers can be entertained. Not all Netflix shows need to be dark and gritty and moody – every once in a while a simple comedy does it, too, and although GLOW is not a simple comedy, the first episode makes it seem like it wasn’t supposed to be just a history lesson. Especially since history lessons are not that great in the first place. They always need something special to be interesting.
