GLOW - Netflix, women wrestlin', Alison Brie, Marc Maron

Books, comics, TV, music
61

We plowed through the third season, and I loved it, though it left me, as they say in show biz, wanting a little more. The show weathered its change of venue and premise much better than other Jenji Kohan shows a few seasons down the line. The women in the ensemble all had meaty storylines – though sometimes those slices of meat were cut very thin. Geena Davis was a welcome addition to the show, while Mark Maron’s character shrugged and diverged from the GLOW narrative. Betty Gelpin’s character (the “real” character, not Liberty Belle) was saddled with a new personal problem that was dismissed or ignored as quickly as her coke habit last season. The guy who played Bash did a terrific monologue. Alison Brie kept on being the sparkling center of the show. There was at least one truly unexpected character evolution.

This season, the premise shifted to glittering Vegas, and the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling changed from a weekly rasslin’ show to a set showcase as rehearsed and constant as a Neil Diamond concert. I suspect the GLOW-the-Netflix-show showrunners wanted to stay away from what GLOW-the-show-within-the-Netflix-show showrunners kept saying explicitly in dialogue: “GLOW is frozen!” “GLOW is on autopilot!” I think there was less wrestling in this season, and I’m conflicted how I feel about that.

When I was a kid, I was never into pro wrestling. I preferred the cartoonish, outlandish personalities of M.A.S.K. and The Centurions to the Dubya Dubya Eff or the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The wrestlers weren’t even competing, I learned. It was fixed! As I got a little older, I started to see that, hey, even if the fights are scripted, these muscleheads are still doing some pretty strenuous physical activity, and they could get seriously hurt. So I started paying the sport, er, entertainment a little more respect. With GLOW the Show, I felt even more respect for the characters and the actresses. Maybe some of the actresses had a background in wrestling, but the patrician Trudi from Mad Men certainly didn’t. Neither did the GLOW character Ruth. Yet there was Alison Brie doing, for the most part, her own wrestling stunts. These scrappy and appealing '80s underdogs could hurt themselves! Wait, so could the scrappy and appealing '10s actors portraying those '80s underdogs! I was invested in everyone pulling through, inside and outside the ring, even though, because of the demands of drama and nods to the historical record, they didn’t always.

Maybe if you see a few dozen bouncing-off-the-ropes to pin the opponent, you’ve seen them all. They also turned up the dial on ample, quasi-gratuitous partial to full nudity. That is not a complaint. There was also a reference to a historical tragedy that may have been Too Soon, but again, not a complaint.

I hope they make a fourth season, and can jam a few more episodes into it. Bring on the late late eighties!

62

I was disappointed. They tried to cover far too much ground, and the whole thing suffered. What’s especially irritating is that they evidently knew they were covering too much ground, but went ahead and did it anyway. Gah. It was someone’s job to say “Look, I know we have a million worthwhile stories to tell. But we’ve got ten half-hour episodes. So pick four of those stories, and we’ll do them right.” And that someone was asleep at the wheel.

Maybe they knew that S4 was unlikely unless they became a breakout hit, so they threw lots of stuff at the wall in the hopes that one of the plotlines would generate enough buzz? I dunno.

And even if the show does get special dispensation for a fourth season, some of the things they introduced this season are still mystifying. Debbie flirts with bulimia. Never mentioned again. Cherry’s in trouble with the casino. Problem solved…Somehow? A $5000 mud-wrestling payout? Randy’s playing in the hotel. No he’s not. Either way, we did not need to spend time on that.

The show would have been so much better served if they’d gone into this season with tighter arcs and a solid conclusion.

I hate to sound so negative, because it’s still worth watching, and there are some marvelous scenes all the way through. But I wish they’d drawn lines and worked within them.

63

I think that is one problem with these prestige character dramas with large casts. The excess of character backstory and size of the cast ground OITNB to a halt in the 3-4th season. We got too many storylines covering too many characters, and it got really hard to focus or care on any of them.

I have just seen the first episode of season 3, excited to see more. I love the cast, but I was always worried with Jenji Kohan somehow within six degrees of separation of this, that things would fall apart.

One show, that somehow accomplished this sort of large cast character drama well, was Mad Men (Allison Brie connection) That show too had a wide cast, and would meander off into certain side characters for an episode, but things were heavily tied into the plot with Don or Betty. This is something that OITNB did not do, large stretches of the season would be bereft of the main character, finding me struggling to keep up or care with her troubles.

I hope that GLOW’s expansion is more along the route of Mad Men, and less along the lines of Orange is the New Black (OITNB).

I also remarked to my wife, “Wasn’t it weird that Allison Brie and Kate Nash were both topless a bunch in season 1?” Like, I don’t think there has been any nudity outside of those first episodes. I feel like this is something that is done early on in shows now. Gotta have that T&A to rope em in. Happened in Game of Thrones too. Probably didn’t need that to happen in season 1.

64

There’s tons of nudity in season 3.

65

Well then, that’s all sorted.

66

Yeah, I remember watching season 1 and thinking they were checklisting the boobs early so they could move on to the actual story. And yeah, this season features rather a lot more skin. Most of it’s gratuitous, which doesn’t bother me except DAMMIT, IF I WANT PORN I KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT. GET ON WITH THE STORY.

There is a fun scene with Brie and Gilpin that actually communicates something worthwhile.

67

Seen a bit over half of the new season now. Like the second season it is more drama and less comedy. I miss the humor. I still enjoy it, but the season really needed the comedy goldmine that the sixth episode provided.

68

I really enjoyed the enjoyed the third season, despite the muddy central plot and a few other issues. But I felt it kind of fell apart right at the end.

69

There’s definitely a lot to like about it. For all my bitching about the lack of overall focus, some of the set-piece scenes and secondary character bits are really good, and Debbie’s development over the whole season is entertaining. The end is a bit frantic, but her trajectory is definitely one of the better ones.

70

Watched episode 8 of season 3 last night, and the comment Sam made at end of episode 7 about letting all the weird shit out was spot on. Episode 8 is off the rails, but it did make me laugh when I wasn’t thinking “how weird.” Britannica inserting the floppy disc down below to reinstall her brain, WTF?

The fight in the hospital between Debbie and Ruth was cathartic and intense. I wonder how many takes that took?

And I admit the scene with Ruth and the network president made me squirm and I turned it off mid scene and watched the remainder a few days later. Loved Sam’s response and Glen’s complicity.

EDIT: I was referring to season 2…

71

That’s actually season 2—you have another season waiting in case you didn’t realize.

And yeah, the hospital fight is great scene. I’m not usually interested in watching people yell at each other about their relationship, but that was really compelling, and it told us so much about Ruth and Debbie’s somewhat toxic friendship, and how Ruth came to feel as she did, and why she fell into bed with Mark (twice). Soapy, but substantial. I loved that whole episode.

Opinions seem mixed on the “real” G.L.O.W. episode in S2E8, but I thought they hit on a nice combination of clever and stupid. I especially liked the saga of the goat, who carries Olga all the way from Potatograd to LA, meets Sheila at the performance of Cats, and ends up getting killed and eaten because he won’t keep his hoofs off her. Such a weird, charming, amateurish idea.

72

Renewed—somewhat surprisingly, given Netflix’s parsimonious attitude toward extending shows beyond season 3—for a fourth and final season.

I’m really glad they have an opportunity to properly wrap it up. Judging by what they did what with the first two seasons, I think they’ll benefit from having a definite endpoint.

73

Oh good. Loved the show but the third season concluded awkwardly, I thought.

74

I finished the 3rd season, the last few episode were better than the start, but overall I find it much weaker than the first two season which I thoroughly enjoyed. . I’ll watch the 4th but I’m glad it is the final season.

75

Just started watching this and skimmed through this thread, mostly avoiding spoilers. Still on season one, and it’s great–glad to hear it stays solid!

76

I agree completely with that. S3 felt like a soap opera and the focus went away from the ladies wrestling.

77

It’s good!

Season three was pretty good, but not what some of us expected. Hopefully we still get a final fourth season.

78

4th and final season cancelled due to Covid production delays.

79

Nooooo!

80

I don’t understand why they (as in all networks, not just Netflix) don’t just push these shows rather than cancel them outright. It’s not like the actors are going to get tied up on another production, nothing’s shooting anyway. There’s going to be an audience for scripted drama when they can produce them again.