GLOW season 3, episode 8 reveals that not everyone is comfortable fixing what is broken in their lives.
Almost a full calendar year has passed since the Challenger explosion coincided with opening night of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling Vegas show. And while we’ve only spent 50 performances with production at the top of GLOW season 3, episode 8, by the end we are well-ingrained in the daily grind and not even able to muster up a “wa-hoo” for show 200.
Everyone, including the residents of Las Vegas, are losing interest in the stale and routine comings and goings of the casino. But a few of our key players face huge turning point moments — one faces the mirror and struggles to recognize their true self, another seeks the guidance of a third party, and one accepts the help of a friend.
GLOW season 3, episode 8 recap
Things have been building in the background over the course of the season and a few of these minor details come to a head in “Keep Ridin’.”
GLOW season 3, episode 8 quick hits
- Bobby Barnes is back! And lucky for us, has ingrained himself into the group over the past few months. He is truly an asset.
- She never fails to remind us, but just in case you forgot, Ruth is the serious actress of the group. But maybe it’s time for her to learn some new skills.
- Remember that prostitute mix up? Melanie is still “seeing” him.
- And Ruth and Russell are still a thing, but he is moving to Spain for two months to shoot a movie.
- Not a reminder, but whatever makeup remover is in that bottle, I need it.
EXTREME BMX RHAPSODY
Rhapsody is the latest show that Bash Howard is sinking some money into on the strip. The failing review is not filling the seats, and much to Sandy’s chagrin, she needs Bash’s money to save the show that is closest to her heart. But all Bash Howard production flair is blinding, as is Bash’s sudden angsty behavior.
Getting up to speed, Bash and Rhonda have been busy investing their wealth in desert, not just in Rhapsody, but they are also settling down and planting roots by building a house. While the physical roots are cementing their marriage, they could not be further apart emotionally.
Birdie’s visit came with one piece of advice: Keep him interested. But Bash is anything but interested in Rhonda, at least in an intimate sense. When we opened the season on the newlyweds, they were very much up to newlywed activities. While I have one strong sneaking suspicion why things are failing in the bedroom at this point, Rhonda takes on the blame for his lack of interest.
Is she not physically attractive enough? It’s been two months since they’ve had sex and not for a lack of effort on Rhonda’s part. There is, however, one moment that catches Bash’s attention: when someone else gives his wife attention. During the BMX setup, Rhonda catches the eye of a hired worker with whom she shamelessly flirts. Bash will have none of that, and she is grateful that in his jealous rage he kisses her with more emotion than he has over the past two months. It’s misdirected emotion, but nevertheless infused with passion.
The money, the move, the work are all great distractions for Bash. He can run from dealing with his current emotional state and all the financial and societal strings that come with it, so long as he has a project to throw all of his energy at. But if this marriage is going to work, he needs to channel his attention a bit more in Rhonda’s direction.
Want to see a man about a horse?
From an outsider’s perspective, Debbie is living the dream — being wined and dined almost every night, getting out of town and staying at a sweeping ranch, test riding a horse. All of that glamour comes with the caveat that she is entertaining the business partners of JJ while also balancing being a present mother figure and struggling to chip away at the brick wall between the title of producer and what that title means in action.
If I were to compare Debbie and Ruth to birds, at this point in the story, Debbie has done whatever it takes to spread her wings, racking up as much mileage as she can when she has the chance to fly. She’s a bit rattled and worn, but as Ruth points out, she came to Vegas to be a wrestler and now has an entirely new life.
Ruth, meanwhile, takes to grooming her wings and sitting on her little perch waiting for someone else to let her out of the cage. She is a show bird who knows that she has the capability to fly but is looking for permission to step outside of a cage of her own design.
The juxtaposition of these two characters throughout the run of GLOW has been one of the series’ strongest female relationships. Typically, either Ruth or Debbie walks away having gained some insight to a change that one or both of them need to make. But as Debbie and Ruth rock on the porch of JJ’s ranch, it’s evident that Ruth has lost all perspective on her own journey.
Ruth versus the world
The only thing Ruth can focus on is the success and improvements of everyone around her. Take Sheila. She still thinks that Ruth is “above” the work that she has been doing because Ruth reads the right books and talks with a serious, vested interest when it comes to “the business we call show.” But Sheila is the only one this season making consistent moves when it comes to building a stage presence and taking risks. It may be for a small crowd of Bobby Barnes’ closest friends, but Sheila is rehearsing new material, making stage choices, and honing her skill set.
And she asks Ruth to join her! The selection is from True West by Sam Shephard about brothers who reunite. During the first rehearsal, Ruth’s reading of the material is flat, void of any emotional resonance. Sheila even points it out to Ruth, but the professional assures her that “she wasn’t acting yet.” Umm…okay?
Countering Ruth, Sheila is off-book and infusing every word with paragraphs worth of subtext. But maybe she doesn’t know that during a rehearsal she doesn’t need to, you know, act. I tease, but Ruth is clearly inferior to Sheila in this moment. The mood might not be right, the setting may not be right, she just went through a quasi-breakup (maybe?). Ruth can make a laundry list of excuses, but enough is enough.
Circling back to her time with Debbie, we see her unpack all of Ruth with a single once-over. She and Ruth are not 25 anymore, there isn’t a dingy theater basement that will fulfill their wildest desires to be artists. It’s time to want things that are going make life bigger, not smaller.
So, Debbie is making moves. She is reading her situation and finding the doors open to her and taking steps to walk through them. Like Sheila, the size of the job doesn’t matter, so long as she is working toward what she wants, even if that means producing an underground AIDS fundraiser for free. Ruth cannot get out of her own head long enough to make anything happen for herself, so she watches as everyone continues to move around her. Just like the opening shot of this episode.
GLOW has a knack for amplifying story in this way. Take Debbie’s wardrobe and makeup overhaul in contrast to Ruth’s stagnant look, and Sheila physically running circles around her in the ring.
So, when Ruth sits in the psychic’s trailer on the side of the road asking for some kind of sign to give up or keep going, it’s a gut punch to hear Sam offering her an audition. Will this be the shot that makes or breaks Ruth’s dream, the sign that she needs?
Full disclosure: Hearing Sam’s voice was very exciting, especially as he mocked her for her performance reports. I’m still a sucker for this cat and mouse romance. Sue me.
Muddy waters
CARMEN DESERVES SO MUCH MORE. Okay, I’ve said it once, or a million times, but Carmen deserves all the best the world has to offer. In this episode alone, she sees that her dear friend, trainer, and coworker is struggling to make good on her gambling debts to the casino. Rather than let her crash and burn, Carmen takes the resources at hand and guides Cherry to a quick buck — mud wrestling.
With the help of a friend (remember the dance class instructor, Denise, from GLOW season 3, episode 3? They’re still friends!), Carmen strips down with Cherry to enter the muddy pool and help her win over the bets she needs to pay back the casino. While Cherry is hesitant, Carmen leans into the event completely, naming them after Thundercats, coaching Cherry through some choreography and doubling down on selling their performance to rake in a huge cash out.
We learn in this episode that Carmen has a romantic interest, but that fact plays second fiddle to this burst of self-confidence and assurance that she brings to every situation. Carmen loves every single thing about wrestling in whatever form it comes in. She is a storyteller, a rock-solid friend, and restores a lot of faith to the people around her. I love what Britney Young brings to this role.
GLOW season 3 is available now on Netflix.
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