TV: GLOW

I started watching Netflix's GLOW the other day - a show about a women's wrestling troupe set in 1985. We may be over-saturated with TV shows set in the '80s, but this one is, to me, one of the better options.

I decided to watch this after seeing some of the in-Netflix promo for the recently released second season, and after hearing that Kate Nash was in it. Her inclusion intrigued me, and the show's concept seemed really interesting. I'm also very here for more unflattering portrayals of the '80s, and I feel like this show has a pleasing level of grim and ugly to it without being an off-putting misery fest (but your mileage may vary on this). It's not afraid to show us the ugly fashions sometimes.

The show is really well shot and really shines through its characters and some of the comedy elements. Our main character is Ruth, a jittery screw-up who is perhaps a bit too earnest about her acting passions at the wrong times, and I think she walks such a perfect tightrope between sympathetic and deeply embarrassing. I love her, but I also really want her to stop.

The cast is excellent overall, and while I think Kate Nash's character, Rhonda, could benefit from being less exaggeratedly ditsy, she does do well when she's given lines of any actual feeling that a real person might ever say instead of an unfunny quip to solidify her supreme idiocy.

One thing I really like about the show is that way it approaches and makes jokes about race and sex. There are some perfect little moments where characters discuss and sometimes laugh about this stuff, and I think it's done nicely, despite the fact that for a lot of people I'm sure watching this show will be a slog because the "isms" are simply a part of the setting and environment. I get that, but for some reason I don't find it as frustrating in GLOW as I have done in other shows (such as Mad Men, as an example I've seen this show compared to quite a lot).

There's a level of soap opera to GLOW that I think is well-crafted, the comedic pacing works well, and the narrative is fascinating to watch unfold. Like many Netflix productions, this one also utilises expert cliffhangers that are cruelly forcing me to watch an entire season in one day. Please have mercy. I love this thing.