GLOW S2 |OT| Try not giving a fuck. There's a lot of power in that - 6/29

[Deleted member 5167]

Regarding Carmen's reaction:

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Yeah, its pretty clear in season one that Machu Pichu has a big crush on Bash and has at least some belief that that might be reciprocated (like... didn't he pretend to be her boyfriend in one ep?).
(I'm not spoiler tagging broad season one arcs, lol. If you're reading this topic and haven't seen season one, why are you reading this topic?)

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Season was great, even better than S1.
Debbie was absolutely awful though.

 

[LiQuid!]

Can't believe I got so blown away by Marc Maron again. You'd think I would have expected it by now. The writing and performance of that character are just so incredible to me. The near complete lack of sentimentality makes it so much more gut wrenching when you see flashes of the hurt in him. Absolute subtlety and brilliance.

 

[DreadfulOmen]

It's pretty loosely based on real life. The wrestling show is pretty close as are the in ring personas but a lot of the behind the scenes is different.

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There's a doc of Glow on Netflix. It's good stuff.

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Thanks

 

[THEVOID]

Can't believe I got so blown away by Marc Maron again. You'd think I would have expected it by now. The writing and performance of that character are just so incredible to me. The near complete lack of sentimentality makes it so much more gut wrenching when you see flashes of the hurt in him. Absolute subtlety and brilliance.

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Couldn't agree more. He was amazing this season. The back and forth with his daughter and her mother was golden.

He stole the show this season.

 

[Murkas]

Great season, probably better than the first one for me.

Regarding Bash

Spoiler

Florian died of AIDS, for me it was when Bash told the cleaners to wear gloves, which was the belief back in the 80s, that you can catch it from skin on skin contact? I dunno if I'd go as far and say that him and Bash were a couple, maybe just best friends, probably wrong though!

In terms of the very final scene

Spoiler

Did Ruth make a huge mistake? She looked worried before the screen cut away.

 

[dabig2]

Great season, probably better than the first one for me.

Regarding Bash

Spoiler

Florian died of AIDS, for me it was when Bash told the cleaners to wear gloves, which was the belief back in the 80s, that you can catch it from skin on skin contact? I dunno if I'd go as far and say that him and Bash were a couple, maybe just best friends, probably wrong though!

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Spoiler

For me, it was when the nurse said he died of "technically pneumonia". And then the whole no one wants to pick up the body, so Bash has to do it himself.

I think Bash was so in the closet that they probably weren't a couple - you know with kissing and sex and holding hands in private, but they obviously spent a lot of "only us" time.

Soulmates would be a good description.

Great writing, because back in '86 I can only imagine people were very skittish about the whole subject; people would rarely outright state the obvious in a conversation like we would in more modern and knowledgeable times.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I'm still convinced Alison Brie is somehow a long lost Imbruglia sister.

Spoiler: Scattered season 2 thoughts or something

It was interesting to see how their wrestling changed after Ruth's injury (and I hope it does come out that Debbie did it on purpose though I was expecting it to be a knee injury) to kind of be in line with the general shittiness of GLOW's wrestling. I wonder if they're going to get the awful, potentially dangerous ring too in Vegas. I do wonder where they're gonna go with the loss of the characters, like will they just give themselves a name change to maybe the actual GLOW names (I don't know who owns them, if anyone) or somehow just get the rights back? I really hope Ruth and Sam don't become a thing. I was kind of disappointed that Tamee largely disappeared after her episode. Awesome Kong/Kia Stevens recently had back surgery thought I imagine she'll be back in time if their have a third season.

I have more but I'm still trying to process, binging kinda sucks for me with that.

Spoiler: On Bash/Florian

AIDS was the first thing that sprung to mind given the era and the cause of death being "technically pneumonia". I think if you have even a slight bit of familiarity it was pretty obvious.

Great season, probably better than the first one for me.

Regarding Bash

Spoiler

Florian died of AIDS, for me it was when Bash told the cleaners to wear gloves, which was the belief back in the 80s, that you can catch it from skin on skin contact? I dunno if I'd go as far and say that him and Bash were a couple, maybe just best friends, probably wrong though!

In terms of the very final scene

Spoiler

Did Ruth make a huge mistake? She looked worried before the screen cut away.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: On the Bash spoiler

That was certainly a huge part of the hysteria with the ignorance on how it was transmitted, I don't think education programs came along until the early 90s. It was still "new" at the time.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Fantastic season, loved it. So many different plot threads going on; a few episodes in and I couldn't stop watching.

Some absolutely outstanding performances too, particularly Alison Brie and Marc Maron. Any scenes those two had together were a delight.

 

[Officer Big Mac]

Great season, probably better than the first one for me.

Regarding Bash

Spoiler

Florian died of AIDS, for me it was when Bash told the cleaners to wear gloves, which was the belief back in the 80s, that you can catch it from skin on skin contact? I dunno if I'd go as far and say that him and Bash were a couple, maybe just best friends, probably wrong though!

In terms of the very final scene

Spoiler

Did Ruth make a huge mistake? She looked worried before the screen cut away.

Click to shrink...

 

[HotHamBoy]

Just watched episode 4.

Man, this show leveled-up between seasons.

Can't believe I got so blown away by Marc Maron again. You'd think I would have expected it by now. The writing and performance of that character are just so incredible to me. The near complete lack of sentimentality makes it so much more gut wrenching when you see flashes of the hurt in him. Absolute subtlety and brilliance.

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It's amazing how far he how has come as an actor since Season 1 of Maron.

 

[BrokenFiction]

 

[Parisi]

Just finished S2 . Loved every episode.

So... about Bash and Florian...

Spoiler

Its obvious that Bash is Gay right? Yes, Florian was his bestie and his butler, but there always seemed to be something else. Then he proposes to Rhonda out of the blue. he never once he threw her a look when he was sharing the room with her and Carmen. I hope they explore more of this next season

 

[Deleted member 33]

Yeah, I think this is easily my favorite Netflix show right now. Well, that and The Crown.

 

[Dr Doom]

Marc Maron looks like a younger Stan Lee

 

[Fairy Godmother]

I find Debbie and Ruth's friendship to be very interesting.

Spoiler

I hope they won't be antagonistic again in Season 3.

They should add a rival group and have the whole cast fighting them in Season 3. That would be so amazing.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Just finished S2 . Loved every episode.

So... about Bash and Florian...

Spoiler

Its obvious that Bash is Gay right? Yes, Florian was his bestie and his butler, but there always seemed to be something else. Then he proposes to Rhonda out of the blue. he never once he threw her a look when he was sharing the room with her and Carmen. I hope they explore more of this next season

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Most likely.

 

[ryan299]

I need to change how I view this show bc it's really not a comedy. The only humor is situational and few and far between. It mainly comes during their deeper dives into the wrestling, which is when season 2 was at its best.

There's nothing special about any of the drama situations. It's stuff we've seen before.

The characters are all great. Their all distinctive and for the most part they all got fleshed out this season.

I think this is a great show to binge. It has a great flow to it that allows you to keep going without getting tired of it.

 

[Mona]

me and the gf watched 7 episodes of S2,

fuck you episode 6

 

[BrokenFiction]

Marc Maron looks like a younger Stan Lee

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Yeah, I can't unsee this either. I really hope they do a bio and Marc plays him.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

Can't believe I got so blown away by Marc Maron again. You'd think I would have expected it by now. The writing and performance of that character are just so incredible to me. The near complete lack of sentimentality makes it so much more gut wrenching when you see flashes of the hurt in him. Absolute subtlety and brilliance.

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Yeah he's definitely the MVP of the show and the way his character is handled reminds me of Guts in Berserk. When he lets his guard down and others in, it's impactful and feels earned.

 

[Lotus]

fuck you episode 6

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Oh snap, you didn't like it?

 

[Mona]

Oh snap, you didn't like it?

Click to shrink...

 

[Lotus]

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[Anoregon]

One my biggest take aways from this season is that I guess I never really appreciated that Allison Brie is a fucking really good actress. She does a phenomenal job with Ruth.

Regarding Bash, I'm on the same page as Planetsmasher.

Spoiler

I don't think he's actually gay/closeted, I think he's just so devastated and out of his depth by both his best friend's death and being confronted with this entire aspect of his life that he didn't even know about. He's confused and flailing and the wedding was just something he grabbed onto. Of course he could end up being gay, I wouldn't be shocked by that, it's just not my read of the situation right now.

 

[kiriku]

The first few episodes were fine, but then it started taking off and man I just finished the whole season and I still love this show so much! This ended up being such a step up from season 1 and I honestly didn't expect that. The characters and how they develop, the relationships between them, the comedy aspects and the wrestling itself. Music was on point as well. I hated Debbie but at the same time kind of ended up feeling sorry for her. This season also made me appreciate wrestling and felt like it had way more of that stuff than season 1.
I reeeeeally hope they make a third season.

 

[large_gourd]

I also swallowed the whole show in about a day. It's an easy show to watch.

Spoiler: season 2 spoilers

Ruth and Sam are the core of the show, by design obviously, but they really centre the whole thing very well. Ruth's general mousey attitude combined with Sam's mutter misanthropy are always good for a joke and when they both get serious with each other it can be pretty powerful and engaging stuff, even if they aren't talking about anything THAT important. Maron is absolutely perfect for this role - I've never seen him in a starring role in anything before (doubt I'll be watching Maron) so who knows if he would just fit as well in another role but regardless - this is perfect casting. He is both the saddest and funniest character on the show, often in the same scene. The Justine stuff was all really nice, too - they both actually care about each other and seem to actively be supportive of each other (ie Justine inviting Ruth to his movie showing, and Sam giving Justine a shot at sitting in the booth on the final show taping).

Then there's the only biggest character on the show, Debbie, who I increasingly react to as a villain. I get that she has good reason to be pissed off at Ruth, but she even kind of admits that because Ruth was part of the reason for her divorce, nowadays she just kind of looks at her as this symbol of everything that makes her unhappy in life and that leads her to just be outright cruel like messing up Ruth's first date with Russell and of course just deciding 'fuck it i'm gonna break Ruth's leg' in the middle of a performance. The latter is especially bad behaviour in such a high risk situation based on trust.

I can't think of much endearing about Debbie now except for Gilpin's performance managing to make her compelling and keeping exactly what is going on in her fucked up head a bit mysterious. I'm not tired of the character at all, but I definitely don't exactly like her anymore. She's a nasty piece of work.

As far as the supporting cast goes - enjoyed Cherry and Keith's bits, enjoyed Welfare Queen (can't recall her real name haha that's kinda bad) and her son's interactions in her feature episode, too. The others are kind of just background action for me, but entertaining enough.

 

[Lotus]

enjoyed Welfare Queen (can't recall her real name haha that's kinda bad)

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Tamme. The e has an accent, but meh

 

[Anoregon]

I also really like how they show how Debbie's ex is clearly a very good, caring father. He's not just the stereotypical asshole cheating ex-husband. And even if she'd never admit it, she does seem to recognize the fact that he's a good dad to the point that she actively relies on it.

 

[large_gourd]

Tamme. The e has an accent, but meh

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yeah looked it up right after the post. there's a lot of characters - i didn't know fortune cookie was jenny or the viking was....actually i already forgot the viking's name again. oh well maybe in season 3 i'll catch the whole cast.

I also really like how they show how Debbie's ex is clearly a very good, caring father. He's not just the stereotypical asshole cheating ex-husband. And even if she'd never admit it, she does seem to recognize the fact that he's a good dad to the point that she actively relies on it.

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Spoiler: season 2 spoilers

His part this season was fairly reduced - I watched most of season 1 again after 2 and he's a real dickhead throughout a lot of that season, although yeah he's not a bad father or anything. He's at least trying with that part. The only thing is I kinda don't care. The only part that got me was when Debbie suddenly had this big smile on her face as she walked over to him to pick up her baby as he was standing there in the sunlight with him. Like if they didn't get rudely interrupted by reality she might've started thinking let's forget this whole divorce thing. It's kinda out of her control at this point - and that made me feel a little bit of something for her, considering how awful she was most of the season.

Also - what do people think about Ruth and Sam at the end of the season? Do you think he was just feeling general emotional pain from his daughter moving away and just looking for something to distract him and 'fill up the space'? Or is this a real thing? Ruth's expression was hard to read until she made up her decision - it can be read as fear for her career/situation if she rejects him, considering what happened to her earlier with the director - and Sam definitely is the type to hold a grudge. But I think he's probably a better man than that, at least, he seems to be becoming one. So I wonder if Ruth is really just not interested and it was a power-imbalance thing, or if she's just not interested now.

It's kind of a bummer to see two people who actually do get each other not have a mutual connection. Then at the same time, it's kind of nice to see two people who aren't having sex seem to care about each other a lot, too. Bittersweet. I wouldn't mind either way it went.

 

[Naijaboy]

I'm halfway through myself. I love how Sheila had the most curious letters about her persona.

Also... episode 5 was all sorts of uncomfortable .

 

[Anoregon]

Also - what do people think about Ruth and Sam at the end of the season? Do you think he was literally just feeling emotional pain from losing his daughter and just looking for something to distract him and 'fill up the space'? Or is this a real thing? Ruth's expression was hard to read until she made up her decision - it can be read as fear for her career/situation if she rejects him, considering what happened to her earlier with the director - and Sam definitely is the type to hold a grudge. But I think he's probably a better man than that, at least, he seems to be becoming one. So I wonder if Ruth is really just not interested and it was a power-imbalance thing, or if she's just not interested now.

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I think it's likely that Sam has never had a functional platonic relationship with a woman, so it was just sort of the standard pattern for him to try and make things romantic/sexual with Ruth at some point. He literally doesn't know how else to behave, but he does seem to be growing a bit as evidenced by the fact that her rejection of him didn't become some big thing he was stewing over for a while. I think she likes and respects him quite a lot, but has no interest in that type of relationship, regardless of any potential career implications.

I'm glad it went the way it did, because when I saw the direction it was heading in that episode my reaction was "oh god I hope this doesn't become a big thing now" and it pretty much didn't.

edit: I guess Sam has a decent enough non-romantic relationship with Cherry, but I'm not sure I would classify it as "functional. Also, her being happily married helps keep any sexual advances on his part to a minimum.

 

[Deleted member 5167]

Spoiler

of course just deciding 'fuck it i'm gonna break Ruth's leg' in the middle of a performance. The latter is especially bad behaviour in such a high risk situation based on trust.

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The show is well written enough that its not that clear cut, and

Spoiler: Episode 6

there's still enough room for doubt as to whether that was intentional or the result of coke fuelled sloppiness.
Because, yeah, wrestling is fake as hell, but its also a well choreographed physical display, and being drunk or high is going to affect what happens, with regards to missing cues, or as happened there exerting too much pressure and causing actual harm.

Like.. a lot of the moves are actual combat moves designed to inflict injury or pain, they're just pulled and signalled to avoid that.

 

[large_gourd]

Spoiler: season 2 spoilers

I think it's likely that Sam has never had a functional platonic relationship with a woman, so it was just sort of the standard pattern for him to try and make things romantic/sexual with Ruth at some point. He literally doesn't know how else to behave, but he does seem to be growing a bit as evidenced by the fact that her rejection of him didn't become some big thing he was stewing over for a while. I think she likes and respects him quite a lot, but has no interest in that type of relationship, regardless of any potential career implications.

I'm glad it went the way it did, because when I saw the direction it was heading in that episode my reaction was "oh god I hope this doesn't become a big thing now" and it pretty much didn't.

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Spoiler: season 2 spoilers

Yeah, definitely possible that Sam just kinda thought 'well we seem to be getting close so this is what happens now' and then probably in the back of his mind 'and then i ruin it and everyone's sad again'. But yeah it was nice to see he actually tried to bring it up and address it later, and not in a hostile way in a 'i dunno what i was thinking, i guess let's move on' kind of way.

I don't think Ruth's feelings are as easy a read though - Sam obviously finds her attractive, i mean come on, but putting that aside he's come to also like her and confide in her. Their relationship at the end of this season is pretty healthy, as are Sam's relationships in general improving. Ruth seems to be really happy when Justine's opinion is that Sam seems to like her more than anyone else, but that could definitely be platonic. Ruth's also career and work focused above all else, so you never know whether she's happy to be getting respect from Sam or just getting respect and feeling good about work in general. There's probably more story to tell there, but I think if anything ever was to happen after this, it'd have to come from Ruth and definitely when Sam was no longer her boss.

Also, I'm reading this all as a little biased in terms of hoping 'yes, get together' because by the end of the season I'd ended up liking Sam so much through the way he was trying to take responsibility with Justine and just displaying increasingly considerate behaviour across the board (while still being nice and rude) that I just wanted to see what would happen if something went right in his life for once. But I guess it wasn't to be.

 

[Broken Joystick]

I absolutely love Kate Nash in this, looking forward to more.

 

[Deleted member 5167]

I absolutely love Kate Nash in this, looking forward to more.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I only knew her as a singer/songwriter before GLOW, its nice to see she has some acting chops too

 

[large_gourd]

edit: I guess Sam has a decent enough non-romantic relationship with Cherry, but I'm not sure I would classify it as "functional. Also, her being happily married helps keep any sexual advances on his part to a minimum.

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Yeah but it's said in I think episode one that not only to Sam and Cherry have a sexual history, it also included Keith, many years earlier. So whatever tumult went on in that whole situation is all in the past and now they're just old friends it seems like. It's mentioned that he's loyal to his friends, as well, even if he is a dickhead to them in the day to day.

The show is well written enough that its not that clear cut, and there's still enough room for doubt as to whether that was intentional or the result of coke fuelled sloppiness.
Because, yeah, wrestling is fake as hell, but its also a well choreographed physical display, and being drunk or high is going to affect what happens, with regards to missing cues, or as happened there exerting too much pressure and causing actual harm.

Like.. a lot of the moves are actual combat moves designed to inflict injury or pain, they're just pulled and signalled to avoid that.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: season 2 spoilers

I wouldn't say it requires being 'well-written' for whether Debbie intended to or not to be ambiguous - ambiguity doesn't = good writing. Sometimes things just happen and it's clear what the intentions were. Debbie was obvious a mix of high and drunk going into that match, which is already kind of bad enough cos she did it intentionally and also RIGHT before going out, but I think in her disoriented state something angry in her, angry at Ruth, just made her put actual pressure on Ruth's leg and injure her. Debbie did get off way too light for that - nobody seemed to blame her (they just kinda wondered allowed 'was that an accident?' while in the hospital. Really, she should've been fired, if I think about it. That ain't stability. Although, she's also a producer at this point, so I guess Sam/anybody can't just fire her, but nobody even really called her out.

If Ruth had never spoken to her again after that, I wouldn't blame her. But I guess Ruth still cares about her. Their relationship is super fucked up.

 

[Deleted member 5167]

I wouldn't say it requires being 'well-written' for whether Debbie intended to or not to be ambiguous - ambiguity doesn't = good writing.

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Except it was directly foreshadowed with the near face-heel turn with Welfare Queen.
This show is really well written.

 

[ghostemoji]

I liked this season a lot. This is a really neat thing.

 

[Lotus]

Oh, I just realized, y'all ain't using spoiler tags for some of this stuff. Is that cool now, or...

 

[large_gourd]

Oh, I just realized, y'all ain't using spoiler tags for some of this stuff. Is that cool now, or...

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oops, will do right away. thought cos it had aired it was fine - didn't see the two weeks thing.

 

[NameUser]

EP 8 is giving me Atlanta vibes with this fake commercials. Also I had no idea that was Kate Nash. I used to love her music. She looks kinda different now. Or my memory sucks.

 

[Violence Jack]

Episode 8 is one of the greatest episodes I have ever seen from any TV show. All those feelings of childhood nostalgia watching G.L.O.W. back in the 80s late Saturday nights with my dad came rushing back in. I honestly think this is my favorite currently running show next to Cobra Kai.

 

[Achtung]

Just finished it.. fantastic season.. love the whole vibe of this show. As a kid from the 80s this shit scratches so many awesome itches.

 

[Dr Doom]

Nice Chavo guest appearance.

This season is good. Everybody got a storyline.

The music for this season is great.

Time for a long wait........

 

[Soap]

EP 8 is giving me Atlanta vibes with this fake commercials. Also I had no idea that was Kate Nash. I used to love her music. She looks kinda different now. Or my memory sucks.

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No. She does look different. I was equally shocked too.

 

[Encephalon]

Spoiler: Bash

Bash is absolutely gay and Florian is not just his "friend."

He marries Rhonda because he's given up on love. He can't feasibly be out, and the time for him to be out isn't going to come for decades. It's not the right choice, but I suppose fooling himself into thinking he can make Rhonda happy without being straight is in character.

The face he makes on the bus at the end of the show says everything.

 

[THEVOID]

Spoiler: Bash

Bash is absolutely gay and Florian is not just his "friend."

He marries Rhonda because he's given up on love. He can't feasibly be out, and the time for him to be out isn't going to come for decades. It's not the right choice, but I suppose fooling himself into thinking he can make Rhonda happy without being straight is in character.

The face he makes on the bus at the end of the show says everything.

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Thats how I took it .

 

[NameUser]

No. She does look different. I was equally shocked too.

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Yup. Looked up some old pictures and my memory is correct. Now I have to see if she still makes music lol

Edit: Yup, she does, and I still love her lyrics.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Spoiler: Bash

Bash comes off as being in deep denial/conflict with himself and deeper in the closet.