GLOW is wrestling and so much more
Now that Netflix's GLOW season two has been released and wrestling fans have had some time to absorb the stellar second season of the show, it could be safe to come out with the spoilers that follow.
The show's second season begins pretty much how the first ended. Loosely based on the 1980s all women's wrestling league of the same name, the show is heavy on both drama and comedy.
Like the best television shows, GLOW is a roller coaster of emotions, leaving viewers with a strange combination of both laughter and tears.
Wrestling fans will undoubtedly come for the wrestling; but, fans of television will stay for the drama, which is hard-hitting and impeccably well done.
Viewers who tune in with the belief that GLOW is simply a comedy, will either be gravely disappointed or pleasantly surprised; but, a middle ground will be impossible to find in the midst of such meaningful art.
The wrestling, along with the stunning 1980s inspired visuals, are proverbial cheese on a rat trap. GLOW is wrestling; however, GLOW is also part social commentary. The show is successful in exposing some of the weightiest issues of its day (the 1980s) and our own era, as well.
Sexual Harassment
Ruth Wilder, the show's main character, who plays Russian heel Zoya the Destroyer finds herself in what has been an increasingly common position for both women and men.
In the 1980s, well before the United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas brought sexual harassment to the public forefront, many women endured workplace harassment in silence, with little to no outside support. In the show's second season, Wilder finds herself in this difficult position.
Invited to meet K-DTV President Tom Grant, Wilder is informed that the meeting is changed from a public table at the restaurant to Grant's private bungalow. Terrified, Wilder obliges and proceeds to meet with Grant.
After finding herself in a vulnerable position with a rich and powerful man, Wilder is sexually harassed by Grant.
Grant implies that what's coming next is for the two of them to engage in sexual intercourse, in a move that would be financially opportunistic for glow. Wilder; however, chooses to escape instead, leaving the sexual predator alone in his bungalow.
When Wilder confides in former best friend and GLOW producer Debbie "Liberty Bell" Egan she does not receive the support she hopes for. Instead, Wilder is chastised for allowing an "opportunity" to slip through her fingertips.
As expected, Grant then utilizes his position of power to banish GLOW to the dreaded 2 AM time slot, in a move that will presumably ultimately kill the show.
Racism
Welfare Queen is played by Kia Stevens, better known to wrestling fans as WWE's Karma or Impact Wrestling's Awesome Kong.
Her character is based on a false caricature connived and made famous by former United States President Ronald Reagan, who pushed the false narrative in an attempt to reform the American welfare system in the 1980s.
Reagan spun yarns about black women, who were both on welfare and simultaneously living lavishly off the American welfare system. It is from this twisted trope that GLOW's Welfare Queen is born.
In reality, Stevens' character is like most struggling single mothers. She is hardworking and steadfast in her dedication to her family.
Through her years as a working single mother, she manages to raise an intelligent young man named Ernest, who becomes a successful student at one of the nation's most prestigious universities: Stanford.
When visiting her son at parent's weekend, Ernest is frequently mistaken for the only other African American student in his class, a fellow student whom he looks nothing like.
After Welfare Queen is recognized on campus, Ernest demands to see what his mother actually does for a living and attends a show, where Welfare Queen is humiliated in front of Ernest with fur coats, lavish costumes, and free meals all on the taxpayer dime.
Welfare Queen runs from the ring in tears, as she realizes the character she is forced to portray is disappointing to her son and far removed from the woman she actually is.
Homosexuality
Sebastian "Bash" Howard, played by Chris Lowell, struggles with his gay identity in GLOW season two. Living out his lifestyle in secret, he engages in a closeted relationship with life-long friend Florian, whom he claims is only his butler.
After Florian mysteriously leaves, Howard is broken-hearted and begins searching for his lover; but, to no avail. The entire endeavour ends heart-breakingly when Sebastian receives a phone call from the local hospital alerting him to the fact that Sebastian has died, "technically" from pneumonia; but, presumably from AIDS-related pneumonia.
Rather than mourn properly, Sebastian is consumed with keeping his own identity a secret and directs Florian's postmortem care back to Florian's own family. Consumed with AIDS fears, Sebastian then hires a crew to clean out Florian's room and "disinfect" his entire house. A concerned Florian warns the crew to wear gloves before proceeding.
Living in an era where irrational fear and hatred forced many homosexuals into a private secluded life or a life of danger in public, Sebastian, in an ultimate betrayal of his own identity, chooses to marry female wrestler Rhonda "Brittanica" Richardson. Sadly Brittanica has no idea that Howard is gay, and quite possibly ill with HIV or AIDS.
Health Care
After breaking her ankle in a match against rival Liberty Belle, Ruth "Zoya the Destroyer" Wilder is briefly hospitalized and left with the all too common astronomical hospital bill. The women of GLOW are un-insured and making nowhere near the amount of money it would take to pay for any injury they may suffer in the ring.
Wilder is lucky, in a sense, that the financially well off "Bash" Howard feels responsible for her injury and pays for the entirety of her medical costs. Wrestlers, like much of the pre-Affordable Care Act American populace, struggled without adequate health care for years.
GLOW exposes the phenomenon of a health care system that leaves many unable to care for themselves. Late at night in a busy local hospital, the rich and often clueless Howard is amazed that none of the wrestlers is actually insured and all of them are unable to pay for any injuries they may suffer under his watch.
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