If you haven't finished Season 1 of Netflix's GLOW, then head back. You can read my non-spoilery full season review here, but the following piece is me talking about the ending, and perhaps other story elements, that you won't want to know about yet. SPOILERS, yo.
GLOW is great. I loved GLOW. That's no secret. It's all in the advance review I dropped at the beginning of the week. Here though I'll get into why I loved Season 1's ending so much.
I mentioned in my review that one of the elements I loved about the first season of this series was how it was about, for the most part, a group of performers and creatives, from various fields and middling success, discovering the value of wrestling as not just entertainment, but as art. Well, to the extent that there were elements within the storytelling aspects of feuds and matches that could be explored and stretched to provide maximum drama.
So for Debbie, in the final moments of the finale, to reveal that she'd never quit the show at all, but was just acting like Liberty Belle was a random housewife in the crowd, was truly excellent. The fact that, off-screen, she and Ruth had found a spark together, despite their ever-present tension, to "work" their own cast and director, was a fun surprise. As was Sam's ploy to pull out a double-swerve and take the GLOW crown from Debbie and give it to Welfare Queen. "The money's in the chase," he said. And the best part of that exchange was that all three of them knew it was true.
Somehow, during the building and creation of this bizarre product (which still exists as a retro-actively bizarre product today), this trio started to get wise to the wrestling business, deciphering what it means to draw interest and emotional investment - "Butts in seats." It was also very emotional to know that, in Sam's absence (since he'd been on a bender), that the women rallied and got the show up and running without him. Even booking that false main event tag team match, that seemed horrible on paper but still went over great.
Over the course of Season 1, the women all found a sense of home within the project. Whether it was creatively, like over-achiever Ruth or "I get it, this is a soap opera!" Debbie, or simply because it provided comradery and comfort for a lost LA misfit. One of my favorite "ah-ha" moments came from, of all people, Bash's mother (Elizabeth Perkins), during her "Just Say No" fundraiser. She didn't get wrestling. In fact, she abhorred it and always resented her son's love of it. But when she heard Ruth talk about how it gave someone a sense of control after a string of bad life choices, it spoke to her as a woman, despite being one of privilege, in a way that she probably didn't expect. She wasn't sold on the product after that, but it did get her to donate the use of a ballroom.
Switching gears back to Sam for a second - the viewer understands, from the outset, that he was destined to soften as a character. GLOW is super fun, but it's also going to have a few textbook maneuvers. So Sam was going to blossom a bit. Not much, but enough so that he grows to love his gals and invests in the project. Plus, as much as Sam can care about something, there's only so much he can emotionally give. He has limits. So he'll always have an edge, which is why I liked the ending so much when he pulled the rug out from under both Ruth and Debbie. He didn't just stand there and tear up and think "Wow, they did it." He duped them and undercut, basically, all their work. An on-brand dick move.
Sam warms up to Ruth over the course of the season, so much so that he accompanied her, in "Maybe It’s All the Disco," for her abortion. Not exactly providing her with soft sentiment, but still being there, as a plus one. The reveal of Justine being his daughter also worked to squeeze his heart a little bit, just enough to make him panic and make things worse for everyone. But that's his zone. He has to break before he can rebuild into something a little better.
So what did you all think of the ending?
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at http://ift.tt/2aJ67FB.
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