Date of release: June 29, 2018 (Netflix)
written by: Sascha Rothchild
directed by: Kate Dennis
Here is an interesting piece of history I would like to get some knowledge of: When Yolanda revealed herself as gay in a very liberal,twenty-first-century fashion, it became obvious that none of the women had a problem with that (except maybe Arthie, who actually had to say something about that). When guys reveal themselves as gay to a group of straight men, there is an instant silence and secret shame. I can imagine this was the case in the 1980s as well when homoerotica was seen as something evil that you should deregulate like abortion or black people voting. Yet the women around Yolanda did not mind her sexuality. Maybe it was a choice by the writers and producers of the show to not create a conflict out of that, maybe it is an unintended positive consequence of producing a show with a majority of women in front of and behind the camera, but maybe it is also something of a depiction about how sexual preference was seen individually among women and men before I was born. Were women easier with the thought of one of their own being gay, while men were thinking about how to get away from homosexuals? Including the AIDS epidemic from midway through the 1980s, which is where GLOW is currently set in, is one way to add some spices to that narrative, especially since it got ahold of gay men mostly, but I would love to know some real-life stories about straight men and women, and how they reacted and thought about one of their friends in a small group of friends being gay. It makes me wonder if there is some hypocrisy with men, whose only thought after finding out one of them is gay is to make sure those people are turned into legal subhumans, while lesbians were generally more accepted because of the fact that they seemed to be “exciting” men more.
Okay, I might have answered my question by myself, since it all hinges upon the AIDS epidemic, which was deadly for most gay men, so the fear factor might have played a role here, but that is kind of the stuff I tend to think about when watching scripted television. So, thanks, Yolanda, for making me spend more than 300 words and ten minutes of brain processing power on this topic.
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| Kate Nash tries to sing out the poop baby. |
It was a good episode. The public service announcement was a good idea to bring Debbie and Ruth together, and depict another angle of their difficult relationship, with is neither a friendship nor hate, but something of a unique disdain towards Ruth’s happy chapter in life, while Debbie is going through a nightmare of her own making. Debbie could have ruined Ruth’s date with Russell because it was an added element of revenge for Ruth destroying Debbie’s marriage, but it could have also been an attempt at not wanting to be alone fixing the PSA, which might have been a thing Debbie wanted to invest her time in and make it as good as possible. After all, she turned into a producer to make a career out of it (and to make more money) and watch out for herself in this business, and any additional move she makes during the production of the show would raise her profile. This is why I hope Debbie wanted to make the PSA as rad and awesome and perfect as possible, and that the idea of keeping Ruth in the office came by accident, because after all, Ruth still needs to pay for what she did to Debbie, and Debbie could “control” Ruth better if she would keep her around.
By the way, I just realize that Ruth is kind of between a rock and a hard place. Hated (probably) by both Debbie and Sam, both of them making Ruth’s life on the wrestling show a little difficult, but appreciated by everyone else because it was her who directed the pilot and saved the show, and gave all the women work for the season. There is an interesting character arc hiding in there, making me wonder if the writers were interested in amplifying the push-and-pull Ruth is in the middle of. I mean, does her career get ruined because Debbie and Sam are playing her individually, or is her career going to start up because she happened to discover her talent as a director?
Jenny and Melrose had a nice story, even if it happened to be a filler. It tends to show though that some of the women can be friends and smack each other around in a good spirit and not take everything so seriously. Not that I am expecting issues and hatred between Jenny and Melrose, after the former took away some dick the latter has been working towards, but these kinds of fun stories can continue to enrich the show and put some light comedy into it, just in case the show itself is turning to some dark drama for the sake of storytelling. But yeah, if there is a little bit of a sense that these comedic stories are not just filler, then GLOW could be a lot better as a show.
And finally, consider me shocked that Cherry is back in business (well, not that shocked). I knew she was part of this season, since her character appears on promotional material for it, but I was still a little surprised to see her here after the first two episodes had absolutely nothing that involved her character. I would assume there is an arc behind Cherry “losing” her lead role in the Black Cagney and Jew Lacey show, especially when it was all about not being good enough to be an actor and having to make money in a G-rated morning wrestling show. Plus, giving Sydelle Noel two episodes off may have been for budgetary reasons. I cannot tell how cheap or expensive it was for GLOW to be produced for Netflix, but the fact that Noel, clearly one of the main cast members, was gone for two episodes means Netflix was slashing some of the budget after renewing the series for a second season.
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| Who makes *that* face when touching a boob? |
Now I am kind of scared though that Yolanda will not have a place in the wrestling show, in case Cherry returns. Then again, the management business of producing the wrestling show could be spotlighted a lot with Cherry’s return. With Ruth being an on-stage director when Sam is too screwed up to do anything, with Debbie being a producer, and with Cherry having gotten the show out of the garage in the first place, Sam might be close to learning that a show with all women in it can only be run by women, and he might be pushed into the background. There is a power struggle looming, and I am totally in for that premise.
