“GLOW” Season 3 Review by Josh Davis (Mild Spoilers)
September 2, 2019 4:33 pm |
Glow season 3 starts with its two stars, Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin, as their wrestling alter egos, Zoya the Destroya and Liberty Belle, vamping on a local TV network to promote their new Las Vegas show. Zoya is in the process of mocking the American dream as, on a live feed behind her, the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes.
Brie’s Ruth Wilder is understandably riddled with guilt and, later in the episode, calls for a moment of silence that’s eventually broken up by a balloon fight. It’s the kind of comedy-meets tragedy-meets comedy beat that defines the best moments of the show.
While the first two seasons focused on the cast of misfit characters trying to stage a successful show starting lady wrestlers – often fighting 1980s sexism and sleazy television producers along the way – the main antagonist of season 3 is Las Vegas itself. Living in a casino, surrounded by buffets and roulette tables and miles of desert, many of the “us against them” relationships forged previously on the show become fractured and turn on themselves.
Yolanda Rivas (Shakira Barrera) and Arthie Premkumar (Sunita Mani) are well drawn as two young women dealing with a new relationship. Barrera’s character exudes confidence and self-awareness, while Mani’s is full of inexperience and self-doubt.
Similarly, Chris Lowell’s spoiled rich kid all grown up, Bash Howard, continues to struggle with his own sexuality, as hinted at in previous seasons.
Also great is Kevin Cahoon as Bobby Barnes, a newly introduced Vegas performer-in-drag who doubles as Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli and Carol Channing. His character helps push Sheila the She-Wolf (Gayle Rankin) to previously unseen depths.
Rankin was somewhat one-dimensional in previous seasons but has several revelatory scene-stealing moments this time. Cahoon also plays his character with grace and depth, particularly in a heart-breaking Penultimate episode that’s among the best of the series. It’s also the one episode where Geena Davis, as Vegas vet Sandy Devereaux St. Clair, is really allowed to shine.
Glow, as a series, has largely dealt with racism, sexuality and gender identity in more subtle ways up until now, but during season 3 many of those concepts are taken head on. What might have previously seemed heavy handed here feels like a natural evolution of the characters.
The show also has plenty of fun. In “Freaky Tuesday,” each of the wrestlers takes on a different persona for a one-night-only show, just for the hell of it. Watching the actors tackle each other’s characters is an absolute blast, although it also well sets up some of the best dramatic bits of the following episode, the requisite “self-discovery on drugs in the desert” episode, “Outward Bound.”
Marc Maron remains great as Sam Sylvia, an indie film maker turned director of a cable access television show about lady wrestling. Maron is typically dry and funny, but he also injects plenty of heart into his role as a father to Justine Biagi (Britt Baron) and as the sometimes romantic foil for Ruth. Maron and Brie have strong chemistry together, at times evoking the “will they or won’t they” tension of Sam and Diane from another stellar show set during the 1980s, Cheers.
Brie and Gilpin again are the heart of the show, and both are at the top of their acting game. Gilpin is ambitious – often ruthless – but also struggles as a new mother coping with not being around her infant son. Brie, meanwhile, is the every-girl: sometimes meek, sometimes bold, sometimes jumping triumphantly from the top rope, and other times literally wandering lost in the desert.
By the end of season 3, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling appear to be heading off into yet another new chapter. The finale expertly sets up a potential fourth season that could force yet another shakeup of both the cast, and the meta-characters they play.
Glow continues to be one of Netflix’s best original series, expertly balancing comedy and drama on a tightrope and packaged with just enough social commentary to be vital – but not overbearing – in 2019.
PCL Rating: Tupperware
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
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Tags: GLOW Season 3, Josh Davis, netflix, pop culture leftovers
Categorised in: Television Reviews
This post was written by Leftover Brian
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