Nine Notes on the First Season of Netflix’s Glow

1. Allison Brie is proving an adept actress in so many projects lately but I can’t decide whether the show wants us to think that her character of Ruth is a good actress or not. It’s true that GLOW encourages over-the-top acting but Ruth generally comes across as among the over-the-toppiest in the bunch.

2. It personally took a while to be sold on Ruth (Allison Brie) surviving some of the early bumps in the story. She got cut in the first week (not necessarily deservedly but by in-show logic), got beat up in the second week (I suppose she gets points for introducing him to Debbie?), and hasn’t really shown herself to be a great fighter and lacks a working character. Did Sam forget he has the power to cut people? If her specialty is acting (even though she does so at inappropriate moments and comes off in-universe as a bit hammy), why doesn’t he use her as an acting coach of sorts if this is sort of a performance thing?

3. Why are there so many outdoor car-hop-like eateries in the 1980s? Not really an expert on the decade but the other times I’ve seen such dining arrangements were in “The Founder”, “Guess Who’s coming to Dinner?” and “American Graffiti” and those were all well before the 1980s

4. I’m not sure if it’s a commentary on sexism or just plain sloppy that Ruth’s getting the blunt of the homewrecker label when Debbie’s husband sought out Ruth. He snuck into her room and seduced her. It’s also implied that he was the instigator the first time too, so this is at least a…