- Title: GLOW – Pilot
- IMDb: link
Well, that was… underwhelming. There’s a moment about 30-minutes into the first episode of GLOW where it almost sells me on its premise, but that’s quite a long wait for an episode that’s only 37-minutes long (counting opening and closing credits). Based loosely off the 1980s syndicated women’s wrestling league of the same name, GLOW introduces us to bad actor Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie) struggling to find work of any kind in Los Angeles. After accosting a talent promoter in a woman’s restroom, Ruth is given the opportunity to try out for a new concept put together by Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) who hopes to take a group of semi-athletic women, untalented actors, and those apparently with nothing better to do, and turn them into a brand.
Centered mostly on Ruth, a character who proves you can make Alison Brie unlikable if you try hard enough (even after giving us not one but two gratuitous nude scenes featuring the actress), the episode also features her best-friend Debbie (Betty Gilpin) whose husband Ruth is sleeping with. Up until Debbie discovers the affair, leading to a confrontation in the ring for a job Ruth has already been fired from, the first episode of GLOW lacks any kind of energy. The lackluster first episode changed my plans to binge more of the show on its opening weekend. Now I’m left wondering if the tease of something better we get at the end of this first episode is actually enough to invest more time into a show that so far has been a disappointment.