‘GLOW’ Season 2 Review: One Of The Best Shows On Netflix Is Ready For A Rematch
By Chris Evangelista/June 27, 2018 7:00 am EST
The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are back for an all-new ’80s-themed season of GLOW, and what a wonderful season it is. In fact, with the combination of seasons 1 and 2, it’s safe to say, without any trace of hyperbole, that GLOW is one of the best shows Netflix has to offer. It’s paced perfectly, it never overstays its welcome, and best of all, it has so much heart that at times it’s almost overwhelming. Almost no other show on the streaming service is as warm as this; as emotionally vibrant as this. Best of all – GLOW balances its sweetness with a darkly dramatic center. It’s light and dark all at once, and the results are worth celebrating.
Climb Back Into the Ring
The premise of GLOW is essentially the same this season as last: the all-female wrestling league known as the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling puts on wildly entertaining, occasionally awkward matches in which their big, broad, stereotypical wrestling characters body-slam their way through trials and tribulations. The ladies are a bit more polished this time – they’ve been working on their moves, and improving their characters. They’re more confident, more entertaining, and they’re having fun.But all is not well. Sponsorship for their wrestling TV show is dropping, and before they know it, the girls of GLOW are banished to an early A.M. time slot that only the occasional insomniac might catch. And there are personal matters, too. The rift between former friends Ruth “Zoya the Destroya” Wilder (Alison Brie) and Debbie “Liberty Belle” Eagan (Betty Gilpin) has only grown. In season 1, Ruth had an affair with Debbie’s husband. Said affair has ended both Debbie’s marriage and her friendship with Ruth. And while Ruth and Debbie learned to work together in the ring by the end of season 1, time has not healed all emotional wounds.Debbie feels like her life is spinning out of control, and it’s clear she holds Ruth personally responsible for that. Ruth, meanwhile, struggles to continually prove herself. Wrestling is no longer just a “job” to her – it’s something much more important. Something she wants more control over. In the first episode, Ruth gathers up the ladies to shoot a hilarious opening credits sequence for the show in the local shopping mall. It’s clever and well-made, but it backfires. Sam Silva (Marc Maron), the regular director of GLOW, feels threatened by Ruth’s directorial prowess and lashes out, and starts barking about how he can fire anyone he wants. It’s a somewhat bleak start to the show, and to be sure, there are bleaker moments to come. A storyline involving GLOW producer Sebastian “Bash” Howard (Chris Lowell) grows increasingly melancholy and tragic, culminating in some disquieting moments. All these moments perfectly encapsulate the theme of this season, and the show in general: self-doubt. All the characters are struggling with their own feelings of inadequacy.Ruth struggles to mend her fractured friendship and be taken seriously in her career. Sam struggles to reclaim his faded artistic glory, and also be a good father to his recently discovered illegitimate daughter (Britt Baron). Debbie talks her way into landing a producer credit on the show, but still finds herself constantly out of the loop because she’s a woman; and of course, she’s still furious with her husband and Ruth. Wrestler Cherry “Junkchain” Bang (Sydelle Noel) has left GLOW to co-star in a cop TV show, only to discover she may not be a very good actress, at least in terms of reading lines.Everyone here is wrestling with something, literally and metaphorically. It can often yield somber results, and yet, GLOW finds miraculous ways to rise above the sadness and find bittersweet moments.
Picking Up The Pace
The acting and storytelling on display here is sublime across the board, but it’s pacing that’s GLOW’s greatest achievement. Netflix shows have a terrible tendency to draaaaag. The Marvel Netflix series are the most egregious offender here, puffing up what could easily be 8 episodes into 13. It’s sometimes painful to sit through, even if you’re pacing yourself and not bingeing.
GLOW, in sharp, glorious contrast, does the opposite. There are 10 episodes here, but each runs barely over a half-hour. As a result, each episode flies by while also cramming in plenty of story. Perhaps best of all, though, is how each episode is handled. While there is an overarching narrative to the season, GLOW does not succumb to the dreaded movie-as-TV-show-trend. Many showrunners these days like to proclaim that their shows aren’t really shows – they’re feature-length films broken up into ten (or more) episodes.This is a terrible trend, and needs to stop. TV shows shouldn’t be movies. Movies tell stories in a very specific way, and to take that and stretch it out beyond the standard cinematic length is often tortuous. GLOW never makes this mistake – the episodes are, well, episodic. As they should be. Each episode tells its own individual story, while also contributing to the overall narrative. The show becomes truly exceptional when its episodes veers off into unfamiliar territory. One episode late in the season is presented to us almost entirely as an episode of the fictional wrestling show the characters all star in. It’s a quirky, deliberately corny half-hour, completely with hilarious commercials for cable access shows about knitting. It might be the best episode of the season.
‘GLOW’ Season 2 Review: One Of The Best Shows On Netflix Is Ready For A Rematch
By Chris Evangelista/June 27, 2018 7:00 am EST
The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are back for an all-new ’80s-themed season of GLOW, and what a wonderful season it is. In fact, with the combination of seasons 1 and 2, it’s safe to say, without any trace of hyperbole, that GLOW is one of the best shows Netflix has to offer. It’s paced perfectly, it never overstays its welcome, and best of all, it has so much heart that at times it’s almost overwhelming. Almost no other show on the streaming service is as warm as this; as emotionally vibrant as this. Best of all – GLOW balances its sweetness with a darkly dramatic center. It’s light and dark all at once, and the results are worth celebrating.
Climb Back Into the Ring
The premise of GLOW is essentially the same this season as last: the all-female wrestling league known as the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling puts on wildly entertaining, occasionally awkward matches in which their big, broad, stereotypical wrestling characters body-slam their way through trials and tribulations. The ladies are a bit more polished this time – they’ve been working on their moves, and improving their characters. They’re more confident, more entertaining, and they’re having fun.But all is not well. Sponsorship for their wrestling TV show is dropping, and before they know it, the girls of GLOW are banished to an early A.M. time slot that only the occasional insomniac might catch. And there are personal matters, too. The rift between former friends Ruth “Zoya the Destroya” Wilder (Alison Brie) and Debbie “Liberty Belle” Eagan (Betty Gilpin) has only grown. In season 1, Ruth had an affair with Debbie’s husband. Said affair has ended both Debbie’s marriage and her friendship with Ruth. And while Ruth and Debbie learned to work together in the ring by the end of season 1, time has not healed all emotional wounds.Debbie feels like her life is spinning out of control, and it’s clear she holds Ruth personally responsible for that. Ruth, meanwhile, struggles to continually prove herself. Wrestling is no longer just a “job” to her – it’s something much more important. Something she wants more control over. In the first episode, Ruth gathers up the ladies to shoot a hilarious opening credits sequence for the show in the local shopping mall. It’s clever and well-made, but it backfires. Sam Silva (Marc Maron), the regular director of GLOW, feels threatened by Ruth’s directorial prowess and lashes out, and starts barking about how he can fire anyone he wants. It’s a somewhat bleak start to the show, and to be sure, there are bleaker moments to come. A storyline involving GLOW producer Sebastian “Bash” Howard (Chris Lowell) grows increasingly melancholy and tragic, culminating in some disquieting moments. All these moments perfectly encapsulate the theme of this season, and the show in general: self-doubt. All the characters are struggling with their own feelings of inadequacy.Ruth struggles to mend her fractured friendship and be taken seriously in her career. Sam struggles to reclaim his faded artistic glory, and also be a good father to his recently discovered illegitimate daughter (Britt Baron). Debbie talks her way into landing a producer credit on the show, but still finds herself constantly out of the loop because she’s a woman; and of course, she’s still furious with her husband and Ruth. Wrestler Cherry “Junkchain” Bang (Sydelle Noel) has left GLOW to co-star in a cop TV show, only to discover she may not be a very good actress, at least in terms of reading lines.Everyone here is wrestling with something, literally and metaphorically. It can often yield somber results, and yet, GLOW finds miraculous ways to rise above the sadness and find bittersweet moments.
Get Into Character
Picking Up The Pace
The acting and storytelling on display here is sublime across the board, but it’s pacing that’s GLOW’s greatest achievement. Netflix shows have a terrible tendency to draaaaag. The Marvel Netflix series are the most egregious offender here, puffing up what could easily be 8 episodes into 13. It’s sometimes painful to sit through, even if you’re pacing yourself and not bingeing.
GLOW, in sharp, glorious contrast, does the opposite. There are 10 episodes here, but each runs barely over a half-hour. As a result, each episode flies by while also cramming in plenty of story. Perhaps best of all, though, is how each episode is handled. While there is an overarching narrative to the season, GLOW does not succumb to the dreaded movie-as-TV-show-trend. Many showrunners these days like to proclaim that their shows aren’t really shows – they’re feature-length films broken up into ten (or more) episodes.This is a terrible trend, and needs to stop. TV shows shouldn’t be movies. Movies tell stories in a very specific way, and to take that and stretch it out beyond the standard cinematic length is often tortuous. GLOW never makes this mistake – the episodes are, well, episodic. As they should be. Each episode tells its own individual story, while also contributing to the overall narrative. The show becomes truly exceptional when its episodes veers off into unfamiliar territory. One episode late in the season is presented to us almost entirely as an episode of the fictional wrestling show the characters all star in. It’s a quirky, deliberately corny half-hour, completely with hilarious commercials for cable access shows about knitting. It might be the best episode of the season.
GLOW, in sharp, glorious contrast, does the opposite. There are 10 episodes here, but each runs barely over a half-hour. As a result, each episode flies by while also cramming in plenty of story. Perhaps best of all, though, is how each episode is handled. While there is an overarching narrative to the season, GLOW does not succumb to the dreaded movie-as-TV-show-trend. Many showrunners these days like to proclaim that their shows aren’t really shows – they’re feature-length films broken up into ten (or more) episodes.This is a terrible trend, and needs to stop. TV shows shouldn’t be movies. Movies tell stories in a very specific way, and to take that and stretch it out beyond the standard cinematic length is often tortuous. GLOW never makes this mistake – the episodes are, well, episodic. As they should be. Each episode tells its own individual story, while also contributing to the overall narrative. The show becomes truly exceptional when its episodes veers off into unfamiliar territory. One episode late in the season is presented to us almost entirely as an episode of the fictional wrestling show the characters all star in. It’s a quirky, deliberately corny half-hour, completely with hilarious commercials for cable access shows about knitting. It might be the best episode of the season.
The Best is Yet to Come
GLOW season 2 arrives on Netflix June 29, 2018.
