Date of release: June 23, 2017 (Netflix)
It was a pretty entertaining season finale, but this show needed to continue to depict what the aftermath of the first TV airing was going to be, and how the gorgeous ladies of wrestling were dealing with their newfound fame (if they ever get any – I still have not looked into the real-life history of GLOW and how that show came to be before its premiere airing and immediately after). Ten episodes were not enough to get me over the hump, but I am fixated on the show now and I want to see another 100 episodes of it. Okay, maybe not 100 because that would be a little much for a focused story like this, let’s just try two or three more seasons, because there is still enough in the story to have the characters develop an end goal for themselves.
Debbie and Ruth’s friendship is such a character arc, which is sort of in limbo after this episode, but since that relationship is one of the central arcs of the show, it does not even count among the stories that have raised their attention levels over the past few episodes. But there would be Carmen’s sudden connection to her father during the production of the wrestling show’s pilot episode that could be exploited in future episodes, as Carmen is being more respected by her always critical family, turning into a respected wrestler and actress in the process. She has the luck to be directly connected to the world of wrestling, and if only her father and brothers could be somehow involved in the show, to make it more prominent on television, that might give them some screentime, and Carmen some standing within the group of women. Of course, there would also be Sam and Justine – she obviously does not want to be a wrestler (with Cherry’s potential exit, Sam might have to cast a few new girls and Justine could be one of them, wanting to stick with Sam), and Sam possibly wants to create a normal father/daughter relationship here (maybe with a daughter behind him, he could be able to get his life in order), but there is solid soap opera drama here, which I am in for. Just let Sam go after the guys Justine is currently dating, like Billy who seems to be a bit of a dick, judging by his first appearance as Justine’s official boyfriend a few episodes ago. There is a funny premise here, and I was laughing about how he managed to find out where Justine was because that is something a father, worried about his daughter, would do all the time.
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| The pilot episode needs concentration and glitter make-up. |
There would also be Bash, who seemed to be extremely happy and confident in the role of the announcer and moderator of the show-within-a-show. In addition, I saw some meaning and depth in the scene during which he put the glitter on his eyelids, and it is not like I did not already theorize in my head that Bash might be closeted or even trans, or simply just a little more feminine than other men, which is considered a negative stigma in the America of the 1980s. Then again, he might just totally love being in this field of work now. After all, his mother said in the previous episode that her son is way too much into wrestling, so maybe he is just happy that he can follow his dreams for once after needing quite a few years and a bunch of money to figure out what he wanted in life. Still, Bash has become more of an interesting character after this episode – for him, GLOW did not just become the show he produces, it has become his life and his everything. The way he freaked out about the action in the ring was not just because the camera captured him, it was simply just because he was too excited about his dream coming true right in front of his eyes, and he made it happen.
And of course, there is Cherry. I could have mentioned her getting a shot at an audition during the previous episode’s review, but I forgot about it. Mostly because the threat of her stepping away from the wrestling show and doing her own thing did not even exist at that point, let alone did it seem like an important step for the character according to the writers. In this episode though, she was offered the role in the black Cagney and Jew Lacey series, so there might be a chance that Cherry will say goodbye to her new friends, considering she did not get a lot to do in the ring and probably did not get any respect as the group’s coach either. What a shame that the KKK tag team match was not repeated for the shooting of the pilot. When you can bring Lebanese terrorism cliches into the ring, then the American past can definitely be made fun of.
The pilot of the wrestling show was great to look at though. Russia and China versus the two elderly ladies was quite a funny idea, but it looked more like an SNL sketch than a potential storyline for a wrestling match. That Ruth would take over and shoot China out of the ring was hilarious, however – at this point I really believed that Debbie would make her entrance and that all of this was a ploy, just to get some more excitement into the show by having an audience member get into the ring (which means Debbie and Ruth may have talked before the shoot, and Ruth knew from the beginning that the initial title match was still on). And seeing the match between Ruth and Debbie again, although cut together like a montage, was beautiful and exciting fun. I still love the image of Debbie holding her foot at Ruth’s neck and smiling, winking to the audience, essentially creating her signature move here, as well as putting a satirical look at America in general in that move: Americans like violence, they kill their enemy and they go back home to their TV dinners and perfect suburban lives as if nothing has ever happened.
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| Russia is ready to take over the world. |
I felt for Arthie though – getting hit by a beer can because some stupid Americans in the audience are unable to separate fiction from reality. Before Debbie’s signature-move-turned-American-satire even came, Beirut and Britannica’s moment in the ring seemed like another visual depiction of America in the 1980s. Is GLOW silently and secretly turning into a sociopolitical satire through their fictional wrestling matches? Will the second season go into that more, and in the process find what kind of comedy works well for the show? Because I would love that even more than I already loved the first season.
