It feels like forever, but can you believe it’s only been a year since GLOW premiered? As Bash would say, “It is a miracle what you can accomplish when you force people to work overtime.”
I’m going to quickly recap some of the bigger plot points we left off on at the end of season one. GLOW is officially in production following the success of its pilot. Debbie (Betty Gilpin) and Ruth (Alison Brie) have come a bit of a way in their relationship, but there are still barriers to them becoming friends again. Sam (Marc Maron) struggles with… Himself, mostly, but he’s clearly letting his issues get in the way of establishing a relationship with his daughter Justine (Britt Baron). And finally, after Cherry (Sydelle Noel) accepted an offer as the lead on a different show, she left a vacancy in the cast that needs to be filled.
Remember that feel-good, DIY, “let’s get together and make something happen” attitude from the season one finale, where all these girls picked themselves up by their boot straps, basically, and pulled off a hugely ambitious and successful – and fun – achievement? That attitude carries over into this episode but has a markedly different outcome.
Ruth (Brie) once again takes the reigns and leads the girls while Sam is busy getting distracted by his self-loathing and the stress of having any kind of oversight, and she leads the cast in shooting an opening credits sequence. It’s a lot of fun, and everybody seems to be having the time of their lives getting into character and spending a day at the mall together. When Ruth surprises him with the final product, he’s a little less grateful than he was when he found out she put the pilot together without him. Furious and offended that Ruth is a more effective leader and director than he is, he loses it on the cast, which results in the firing of Reggie “The Viking” Walsh (Marianna Palka) after she stands up for Ruth by standing up to Sam.
Sam is projecting his own inadequacy here and taking it out on Ruth. Earlier in the episode, Bash (Chris Lowell) tells Sam that the network was begging him to replace Sam with a more established director, and the revelation that Ruth has swooped it to be a better and more well-liked director in his absence makes him feel more expendable than ever. The last thing he wants is someone with no directorial experience showing off what a better job they can do, and he takes that out on Ruth to a stunning degree. The relationship they built last season comes crashing down in one quick, tense moment where Ruth tries to take responsibility and suggest she should get fired, not Reggie.
Sam tells her everyone is replaceable, even her, which is a really rough thing to say to someone who has not only grown as close to him as she has, but who has grown into her own and was finally starting to rebuild her confidence in herself. For someone as demonstrably self-destructive as Ruth, hearing that could set her down a dangerous path. Based on the expression on her face when she turns around to see the finished GLOW set, it seems like Ruth may hold onto her newfound self-esteem for now.
Whereas season one episode one has us recoiling and cringing at Ruth and every single thing she does, I’m floored by what a relatable protagonist she has become and how much her character evolved in such a short time. She is a natural leader and a born entertainer, and she uses her skills to create a sense of teamwork when morale is at an all-time low. It becomes clear in this episode that she is, if nothing else, a passionate person; and that passion has driven her in everything she’s ever done.
At times that passion has been misguided and caused some bad decisions, but Ruth goes full-force at everything with optimism and, wherever confidence is lacking, a strong belief in faking it until you make it. Thanks to her passion for movies, she excels as directing and getting a good shot. Thanks to her passion for throwing herself into every project, she’s become one of the top characters and best performers in the ensemble. She also does her best to fully embody her character.
One of the most relatable moments for me was the moment at which Ruth receives a romantic proposition from the cameraman, only for Debbie (Gilpin) to offer her a ride home instead. Not wanting to miss her opportunity at spending quality time with Debbie, and desperate to rekindle any sort of friendship, Ruth accepts Debbie’s offer and turns down the cameraman. The ride is awkward and uncomfortable, and the version of Ruth that we had seen all episode disappears. She demurs in Debbie’s presence and wants so badly to right her wrongs that she finds herself, for some reason, asking Debbie’s permission to date.
Debbie, meanwhile, is a little more self-centered; and rightfully so. After seeing the contracts the girls are expected to sign and realizing that she’d essentially give her life away for the show, she devises a plan with her soon-to-be-ex-husband Mark (Rich Sommer) to convince Glen (Andrew Friedman), the network head, to make her a producer on the series. The revelation that Debbie s now a producer comes with a big of discomfort from Sam (Maron), who has already had enough with the studio’s interference on day one of production, and a bit of uncertainty from Ruth (Brie), whose position within the team feels just as uncertain as her relationships with Debbie and Sam, respectively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwVOmTImfLA&t=2s
Debbie being a producer might start to rub the other girls the wrong way and cause internal conflict, but I think it’s also great potential for her to act as a foil to Sam and his increasingly less respectable behavior. For example, Debbie could potentially go over his head and hire Reggie (Palka) back. I’m kind of banking on her to do that, so I hope she does.
Speaking of internal conflict among the girls, the fact that there’s a new cast member on hand to replace Cherry (Noelle) is DEFINITELY not going over well. The girls all feel anxious that Cherry was replaced without notice, and the fact that there’s no proper introduction is jarring. The new cast member, Yolanda (Shakira Barrera), slipping into Junkchain’s old costume as if nothing’s wrong, is a stripper that Sam met at a club and hired after a lap dance. She gets little screen time in episode one, but from what it sounds like, she has absolutely no experience acting or wrestling, which might frustrate everyone while she tries to catch up to the rest of the cast.
Barrera is a great actress, and Yolanda has given us a lot of personality in the short time we’ve seen her, and while I’m just as anxious as the characters about there being a new personality mixed into the fold, I can’t wait to see how they explore her character and how the rest of the girls end up warming up to her.
What I find the most exciting about this new season is that we’ve already had the opportunity to explore these women and their personalities as individuals and actresses, and we’re now getting the opportunity to see how they explore their wrestling personas and discover their voice as performers. Watching Ruth (Brie) hand out tiny vodka bottles and explain that they’re common gifts demonstrates that she’s done some research into Russian culture during their hiatus, and seeing Debbie (Egan) talk down to a dry cleaning employee shows that the arrogant American woman stereotype behind Liberty Belle may be seeping into her personal life.
Sheila “the She Wolf” (Gayle Rankin) of course continues being a literally wolf woman. The cast – both the fictional characters in the show and the actual actresses – are fully letting loose, and it’s a joy to see. How the mood changes now that Sam (Maron) is establishing the set as being less fun that it was up until this mood remains to be seen, but I have a feeling they’ll find new ways to make it fun. They always do.
The episode does a perfect job picking up where the last season left off and letting you know where all the characters are at, without making it feel too heavy on exposition or lengthy explanations. We understand exactly how far Debbie and Ruth have to go to make amends, but we see that the potential is still there. Sam and his newly discovered daughter Justine (Baron) have yet to establish a relationship outside of him letting her live with him. There’s also an interesting new development with Ruth and the cameraman who is smitten with her that looks like it may be a thing, which will be exciting to see how Ruth navigates. While not a lot of new plot threads have been established, it’s clear that nothing got tied up enough at the end of season one anyway. In all, it was a pretty perfect return to form for GLOW that has me ready for more, immediately.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
