SNAPSHOT
Set in ’85 LA, GLOW revolves around the adventures of Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), an out-of-work actress who turns to the burgeoning televised female wrestling scene to rescue her career.Ending on a cliffhanger that’d make the World Wrestling Federation organisers proud (someone wins the GLOW crown, someone else steals it from them), this should form the basis of a pretty compelling second season. (synopsis (c) Digital Spy)
One of my breakout favourite shows of 2017 was GLOW, the story of a misfit bunch of women who managed to turn an incredibly misogynistic premise for a TV show into something, empowering, uplifting and inspiring.
Rather than some crass ’80s exploitationist piece of TV, what we ended up with was a very clever, nuanced and insightful examination at life from the perspective of these amazing, engaging and winningly-flawed women as I observed in my review of season 1:
“Watching them not so much surmount the obstacles they face as somewhat successfully grapple with them – GLOW is not a show enamoured of twee happy endings although the finale, and some of the lead-up moments do have some requisite feel-good, dream-affirming moments – and seeing how they grow and change as G.L.O.W. goes from half-conceived idea to concrete reality, grants the show a deeply-involving emotional resonance that will propel you, in Netflix’s trademark binge-like fashion, through the trials and tribulations, ups and downs, laughs and drama that make this show one of the standout offerings of the year.”
With such a strong base to build on, I’m expecting big things from season 2, anticipation heightened by this fun, wholly-original trailer which brilliantly uses Michael Sembello’s song “Maniac”, from Flashdance (1983) to get us in the mood for more thoughtfully-fun adventures with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
GLOW season 2 is available for your viewing pleasure on Netflix from 29 June.