Season 3 of GLOW dropped yesterday on Netflix.
I love this show much better than I ever thought I would based on the initial descriptions of it. It’s a great mixture of comedy and drama. The characters (and their actors) are terrific and of course there’s the whole fabulous 80s-ness of it all.
I’m four episodes in so far. I’ll post more discussion in following comments.
Spoilers for eps 1-4 in this post:
The first episode starts with a cringey scene–“Zoya” mocking American astronauts just as the Challenger explodes. Kinda funny in an uncomfortable way, but still an odd choice.
So far (through ep 4) there’s been hardly anything shown of their wrestling show. It’s all about how they are all adjusting to (and making the most of) living in Vegas and dealing with their other personal issues. And it’s all very entertaining. I’m sure they’ll get around to showing us more of their Vegas act later in the season.
There have been many funny scenes (of course) and already some really touching scenes (the “wolf” girl and the drag queen, Deb watching video of her son).
Last season many of us were wondering about Bash’s sexuality. The first few episodes here it seemed like they were trying to put that speculation to rest, but ep 4 appears to be bringing it back.
Sam’s screenplay appears to be him working out his feelings about his daughter, who has been absent from the show through ep 4. I hope she does show up again at some point.
I don’t really like Ruth’s boyfriend, but I also don’t think she and Sam should get together. Sam seems more like a paternal figure than romantic partner for her.
That’s all until I’ve watched a bit more. If you like this show, watch this season soon! I think Netflix looks closely at the viewing numbers for the first few weeks.
We’re through the first three episodes, and unfortunately I think the writing is off this time. The show is starting to have the feel of a soap opera. The dialog has taken a step backwards, and all the little dramas and conflicts seem kind of engineered and then solved in obvious ways.
For example, the second Ruth and Sam went into the casino, with Ruth claiming that she didn’t gamble and didn’t understand the appeal, I knew there would be a scene of her winning big at some game and not wanting to quit. It’s an obvious old trope, and sure enough they went there.
Oh, and if Ruth really isn’t attracted to Sam, she is behaving as a dipshit. She stared at him as though she was in love with him through the entire second episode. And if she is interested in him, she’s behaving like a dipshit anyway. Since I don’t think the character is supposed to be a total dipshit, the writers are not doing her a service.
This has the risk of turning into ‘Orange is the New Black - the Vegas Years’. In other words, the fascinating era and premise of the show will rapidly just become the backdrop for a series of character fights and soap opera conflicts.
I’m liking the third season and am 6 episodes in. I do still have questions about whether Bash is gay. There have been so many hints that he is such as how he dresses, and how devastated he was at the death of his butler who was gay. If Bash is gay, it seems he has not admitted it to himself. But then he seemed very anxious to have sex with his new wife, so maybe Bi? Also the drag queen he interviewed for a job obviously assumed Bash was gay.
Why has Bash been so mean to his co-producers? In the first two seasons he just seemed to want to get along and was thrilled his tv show was being made. Now he is throwing his weight around and trying to manipulate the others.
I agree Sam is a bad match for Ruth. They may have some fun for awhile, but Sam is mean and his insecurities always wreck whatever relationship he is in.
Well that changed in ep 5. I liked the role-switching they did with their wrestling characters.
And in ep 6 we actually got several lines from the characters who play the ‘Old Bitties’ in the wrestling show. It’s not much, but they are probably the least-developed characters so it was nice to see a little more of them.
Sheila’s going through some big changes.
I also liked the ‘career mom’ talk between Deb and Tamme.
I watched to the end of season 3. There are a lot of questions left up in the air, so definitely they are planning to have a season 4. I enjoyed the season as much as the others.
Bash’s sexuality is explored in more than enough detail. I think there has been more nudity and sex on this show than any other series I have seen on Netflix, not that I am complaining.
The cabaret show in the 9th episode is fun and you get to see Gena Davis in a showgirl outfit at age 62.
Sam and Ruth almost hook up, and then the relationship blows up because Ruth did not get a part she thought she had in the bag. Her disappointment was huge.
Debbie is a real ass to her current boyfriend. He made some statements that showed they would not work together, but then she stole some business from him because she had access to confidential information. Did she get any ownership of the new business?
I thought he was dismissive of her and her business acumen and deserved what he got.
He told her, in no uncertain terms, that he brings her to the meetings to sit there and look pretty, so he doesn’t get bored. Granted, he didn’t expect her to be better at negotiating than him, but that was a pretty assholish thing to say. Anyone other than a Stepford wife would have been insulted by that.
So far as I know, it’s all Bash’s. Doesn’t mean Bash won’t take it (or his money) and run. We saw him do it once, he could certainly do it again.
I liked this season overall, but it felt heavier than the previous seasons. The two wrestling episodes were fun, and the camping ep had some light moments, but a lot of the storylines this season were kind of dark: Bash and Rhonda and their issues, Deb being away from her kid, Tamme’s back problems, the fire and homophobic graffiti at the drag show, Sam’s heart attack, etc. I guess the opening scene of the season being about the Challenger disaster was setting the tone. Still, the drama was mostly well done and it kept me interested in the characters.
If there is a season 4 and assuming Bash’s purchase of the TV station goes forward, it would be interesting to see the wrestlers become more well-known, more famous, even if just locally.
My WAG is that they’ll get the TV station and Bash and Debbie will butt heads all season. It’ll be a power struggle between Debbie who wants more and knows she can do it and Bash who wants everything done his way. Doing everything his way, of course, means Debbie will just be working for him, not working with him.
Then there’s Ruth. I assume she’ll reluctantly come back to Deb (the same way Deb reluctantly came back to Ruth after she ruined Deb’s marriage). If for no other reason than because we need those three (and Sam) in the same area.
Which brings me to something else, did Marc Maron have something going on IRL while they were filming this season? There’s no reason why he couldn’t continue to do what he’s been doing and still have plenty of time to help Justine meet with producers.
What was up with Cherry Bang at the casino? Did she simply owe money? If so, why would the casino have extended her that much credit? Was she being accused of cheating?
She owed money ($5000, I think). They had already cut her a bunch of slack, at least WRT time, because they knew who she was. Whether or not Cherry knew how much she owed, I wasn’t clear about. It seemed like it came as a surprise to her.
I’m not sure what the point of that whole sub plot was. If it was earlier in the season, I would have assumed Cherry and Carmen were going start doing this kind of thing on the side for extra money (for Cherry) and to get out and have more fun (for Carmen) and there’d be some fallout from it. Maybe it was just some sloppy writing because Carmen and Cherry hadn’t done as much during this season as they did in other seasons, especially S1.
Watched it and was quite surprised about the loads of sex and nudity this time. That was quite unexpected. I disliked Ruths arc in this one - she surely is one whiny bitch. and refusing an offer from Deb because it would be quitting… I don’t get it. She obviously is a better director than actor, and I thought the arc with Sheila and her not getting the part would make that clear to her.
Also, her not getting together with Sam because he is honest to her - wow. As if she was not shitty to him before, that really takes the cake.
Real good take on the issues of finding your sexual identity in a hateful, AIDS fearing world - even though I am sad for Bash this shows the reality of many people during that time frighteningly well. And by mirroring this with Arthies arc it is not all Doom&Gloom.
I would have loved more Wrestling bits, as the ones they showed were hilarious. The Christmas carol as womens Wrestling was mindblowing. So, hoping for Season 4 with new characters for our ladies and more Wrestling madness!
Deb wants to take on the world, she’s had big parts and has even bigger plans. Ruth doesn’t seem to be comfortable with skipping a few steps along the way. She wants to do community theater or live shows in a off-strip Vegas casino. Then, when she thought she finally got her big break (Justine’s movie), she got turned down for the role and took it really hard. That sucked all the self confidence out of her and I think she feels like she doesn’t deserve anything better.
She sort of summed it all up as she was getting on the plane when she said “I don’t want an off-ramp. I never even got on the road, I don’t want what you want”.
However, one way or another I think Ruth, Deb, Sam and Bash will end up working together next season, unless they’re writing someone off the show or attempting to set up a spinoff. WAG, Deb asks Sam to produce and/or Bash helps Sam and Justine make their movie and Ruth follows Sam.
That is the point I am annoyed about. She was happy to take the gift horse from Sam, but taking it from Deb is bad? That is what I meant about her arc being annoying - she is just as undecided at the end as she was in the beginning. I don’t get any self-realisatoin on her part. Saying “I know I am stuck” and then NOT acting at a Chance to get unstuck is - stupid. But then again my wife told me she would feel like that is cheating, something she has not earned herself. But that blows in the face of everything Deb explained her. The system is stacked against women in the first place. Finally getting into a Situation where women can decide without roadblocks of the patriarchal System would enable her to grow on her own merits.
Ah, well. I was happy with Bash taking the dumbass decision, so maybe I should be as happy for Ruth. Gives them something else to angst over in S4. It just feels like Ruth, who is supposed to be the smart one, became the unexplainably bitchy one this Season.
This season disappointed me. I don’t know what it’s about anymore, certainly nothing to do with women’s wrestling. The series improved somewhat as the episodes continued with some new story lines developing, but don’t seem to be leading anywhere. I will say that the “undercard”, the cast members below the top stars gave better performances while the top three (Maron, Brie, and Gilpin) act as jaded and apathetic as Maron’s character.
Also want to mention that Netflix has way too much damn money if they can pay Geena Davis enough to appear as a geriatric showgirl. I dunno, maybe she thinks it’s art?
Ok, threw a lot of shade there, but I’ll still watch another season if it doesn’t get worse.
While Netflix doesn’t have strict run times, it’s easy to tell some stuff ended up on the cutting room floor, like a conclusion to the gambling debt subplot. Personally, I don’t think Ruth was out of character; it’s not the first time her decision making had been questionable. Did Geena Davis know who actually backstabbed her? Sounded like she was blaming Bash.
I lamented the lack of wrestling and wrestling cameos. It was good to use Tammie (Aja Kong, real wrestler) to show what it really is like for wrestlers. Time off for injuries means no paycheck, so wrestlers power thru the pain. At least that had improved, every in the smaller independent circuit, over the last 30 years. Still far from perfect, but definitely better.
The parts that were good were great (A Christmas Carol, Sheila), but there was an awful lot of just plain soap opera.
The nudity feels exploitatatve. Isn’t that the original premise of the show, that women are treated differently than men in their careers? And then in order to be in a show about that, they have to appear nude? Not being male, I found it really, really pathetic and hypocritical.
At least they have male nudity as well, but I do agree. A Show about exploiting sexy female wrestlers certainly doesn’t need nuditiy and sex scenes to get its message across. There were some really intelligent parts, like showing the boredom of repetition set in, the awful reality of unaffordable healthcare, and so on. What was a bit said about Sheila was her leaving her wolf-identity completely behind her. Its nice to show a cathartic moment of moving along, but basically saying “I was wrong all along” is not the right choice to me. A middle ground, where she still likes to dress up, just does compromise for roles, would have been more natural and not as dismissive of her past life.
This continues to be one of my favorite things on Netflix. In a show where exploitation is a major theme I don’t find the nudity out of place at all. GLOW challenges its audience.