GLOW, season 3
Over the weekend, I marathoned the third season. Which was still great fun, though I sense frustration with the wrestling format on the part of the writers, Captain.
Not just because the actual wrestling content in this season was minimal - really, there were only two episodes which had notable scenes at length devoted to it, episode 5 and the finale -, but also because if you add up Sam’s weary routine of rehearsing everyone in the season opener, Carmen’s problem that due to the show format in Vegas, there were no ongoing storylines but the same thing every night (except for those two occasions) leading her to quit, and our heroines observing in ep 5 that this was the first time they’ve wanted to watch the show for eons, it basically begs to be taken as meta. It’s also noteworthy that when in previous seasons our heroines had their emotional breakthroughs in connection to the wrestling - say, Debbie figuring out wrestling is a soap and she can do this while Ruth creating Zoya finally gives her a persona to play that’s a smashing success in s1, Ruth directing, Debbie breaking Ruth’s leg and the ensuing confrontation in s2 - this season other artistic (or business) venues provided the big catalysts: Sheila coming into her own as an actress in the underground revue, Debbie coming into her own as a producer and business woman, Sam actually making a success out of fatherhood (I think the critical point is when he realises not just that Justine’s script is good but that it’s far better than his own and doesn’t respond to this negatively but by supporting Justine in any way he can) which also ends up providing him with an actual directing job, and so forth. (The only exception is Carmen whose idea the Christmas Special is, but that’s not so much artistic breaththrough/renewal as it is goodbye since she’s determined already at this point to leave GLOW and go on the road wrestling.) Even the Arthie/Yolanda tale has its big emotional turning points - Arthie being confronted with public homophobia, and her subsequent coming out in public which also leads to the couple’s reconciliatoin - not connected to wrestling, but rather to the underground revue. All of which works for this particular season, but should the show continue, there could be a problem if I’m right and the writers are exhausted with wrestling per se.
In that context, it’s noteworthy that Ruth, who had the big plot ideas for the wrestling saga in the first two seasons, in this season doesn’t contribute anything creative (changing the casting to switching roles in ep 5 starts as Tammé’s idea and is then picked on and expanded by Debbie and the rest, using A Christmas Carol in the finale is Carmen’s idea, playing in the revue is Sheila’s idea and at any rate Ruth never gets there for personal reasons). Which contributes to her increasing sense of redundancy and uselessness, and it’s one of the few things in the season there is no emotional pay off to, though I appreciate both Debbie wanting Ruth to direct in the new tv show (those two have come a long way) and Ruth not seeing that as the simple solution to all her problems (Ruth being a main protagonist, she needs to find a solution that she’s worked herself for).
Last season had introduced the spectre of AIDS via Bash finding out this was what Florian died of. It being the 80s, this season makes more of it though within the dramedy format - i.e. none of our characters gets sick, but Bobby organizing a revue for AIDS victims becomes an important plot point and focal point for various emotional developments, there’s a season story of Arthie struggling whether her loving Yolanda also translates into her identifying as gay while Bash has his long delayed and buried in denial realisation about his own sexuality finally happening in the last but one episode but as opposed to Arthie responds not with coming out but diving right back in in terror and self loathing (doesn’t do Bash any favours but strikes mea s plausible given how he was raised and conditioned all his life), and I appreciate that Debbie’s rich capitalist rancher isn’t a cliché homophobe but instead on board with supporting AIDS victims because his nephew died of it. It makes him three dimensional instead of a caricature, and I like even temporary love interests to be three dimensional. That his relationship with Debbie still fails because he sees her in the traditional supporting mate role and underestimates her ambition and killer instincts is also good.
(On that note, figures Debbie would go for the full 80s hairdo while Ruth stays the same hair-wise, bless. When Tex was introduced, I thought, of course, Debbie is Jane Fonda and he's Ted Turner, but eventually Debbie did Jane one better and became her own 80s mogul.)
There was far less Tammé than I’d have liked to see, but otoh I appreciate characters like Jenny and Mel getting fleshed out. Of the new characters, Geena Davis is always welcome on my tv screen but Sandy felt a bit like a celebrity cameo in that she didn’t contribute anything but a sense of Vegas history to the season. (And given the last thing I saw Geena Davis in was The Exorcist - tv version - where she had a truly juicy part to play, that felt like a bit of a let down.) Otoh, Bobby the Drag Queen was an excellent addition and was used in just the right amount, plus he worked as catalyst for various character revealing scenes our heroines had.
Lastly: the team going camping/hiking filled me with nostalgia because the last time I saw Las Vegas was when I made a „hiking through the National Parks“ journey with the APs in 2011. America can be so beautiful. I hope there’ll be something left of that once the Orange Menace and his ilk are gone.
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1349716.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Not just because the actual wrestling content in this season was minimal - really, there were only two episodes which had notable scenes at length devoted to it, episode 5 and the finale -, but also because if you add up Sam’s weary routine of rehearsing everyone in the season opener, Carmen’s problem that due to the show format in Vegas, there were no ongoing storylines but the same thing every night (except for those two occasions) leading her to quit, and our heroines observing in ep 5 that this was the first time they’ve wanted to watch the show for eons, it basically begs to be taken as meta. It’s also noteworthy that when in previous seasons our heroines had their emotional breakthroughs in connection to the wrestling - say, Debbie figuring out wrestling is a soap and she can do this while Ruth creating Zoya finally gives her a persona to play that’s a smashing success in s1, Ruth directing, Debbie breaking Ruth’s leg and the ensuing confrontation in s2 - this season other artistic (or business) venues provided the big catalysts: Sheila coming into her own as an actress in the underground revue, Debbie coming into her own as a producer and business woman, Sam actually making a success out of fatherhood (I think the critical point is when he realises not just that Justine’s script is good but that it’s far better than his own and doesn’t respond to this negatively but by supporting Justine in any way he can) which also ends up providing him with an actual directing job, and so forth. (The only exception is Carmen whose idea the Christmas Special is, but that’s not so much artistic breaththrough/renewal as it is goodbye since she’s determined already at this point to leave GLOW and go on the road wrestling.) Even the Arthie/Yolanda tale has its big emotional turning points - Arthie being confronted with public homophobia, and her subsequent coming out in public which also leads to the couple’s reconciliatoin - not connected to wrestling, but rather to the underground revue. All of which works for this particular season, but should the show continue, there could be a problem if I’m right and the writers are exhausted with wrestling per se.
In that context, it’s noteworthy that Ruth, who had the big plot ideas for the wrestling saga in the first two seasons, in this season doesn’t contribute anything creative (changing the casting to switching roles in ep 5 starts as Tammé’s idea and is then picked on and expanded by Debbie and the rest, using A Christmas Carol in the finale is Carmen’s idea, playing in the revue is Sheila’s idea and at any rate Ruth never gets there for personal reasons). Which contributes to her increasing sense of redundancy and uselessness, and it’s one of the few things in the season there is no emotional pay off to, though I appreciate both Debbie wanting Ruth to direct in the new tv show (those two have come a long way) and Ruth not seeing that as the simple solution to all her problems (Ruth being a main protagonist, she needs to find a solution that she’s worked herself for).
Last season had introduced the spectre of AIDS via Bash finding out this was what Florian died of. It being the 80s, this season makes more of it though within the dramedy format - i.e. none of our characters gets sick, but Bobby organizing a revue for AIDS victims becomes an important plot point and focal point for various emotional developments, there’s a season story of Arthie struggling whether her loving Yolanda also translates into her identifying as gay while Bash has his long delayed and buried in denial realisation about his own sexuality finally happening in the last but one episode but as opposed to Arthie responds not with coming out but diving right back in in terror and self loathing (doesn’t do Bash any favours but strikes mea s plausible given how he was raised and conditioned all his life), and I appreciate that Debbie’s rich capitalist rancher isn’t a cliché homophobe but instead on board with supporting AIDS victims because his nephew died of it. It makes him three dimensional instead of a caricature, and I like even temporary love interests to be three dimensional. That his relationship with Debbie still fails because he sees her in the traditional supporting mate role and underestimates her ambition and killer instincts is also good.
(On that note, figures Debbie would go for the full 80s hairdo while Ruth stays the same hair-wise, bless. When Tex was introduced, I thought, of course, Debbie is Jane Fonda and he's Ted Turner, but eventually Debbie did Jane one better and became her own 80s mogul.)
There was far less Tammé than I’d have liked to see, but otoh I appreciate characters like Jenny and Mel getting fleshed out. Of the new characters, Geena Davis is always welcome on my tv screen but Sandy felt a bit like a celebrity cameo in that she didn’t contribute anything but a sense of Vegas history to the season. (And given the last thing I saw Geena Davis in was The Exorcist - tv version - where she had a truly juicy part to play, that felt like a bit of a let down.) Otoh, Bobby the Drag Queen was an excellent addition and was used in just the right amount, plus he worked as catalyst for various character revealing scenes our heroines had.
Lastly: the team going camping/hiking filled me with nostalgia because the last time I saw Las Vegas was when I made a „hiking through the National Parks“ journey with the APs in 2011. America can be so beautiful. I hope there’ll be something left of that once the Orange Menace and his ilk are gone.
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1349716.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.