S03.E01: The Evolution Will Be Televised

[Door County Cherry]

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Ten new glassblowers impress the judges-including Season 1 champion-with pieces that tell the story of their evolution as artists. 

Airs July 22, 2022

[Kiss my mutt]

I’m so excited this back for season three! I’m a little in love with Katherine, I have to admit. 
i started bingeing this, this afternoon and so far I’ve agreed with all the judges picks. 

[joanne3482]

I did not like the season one winner in her season and when she won and I didn't like her as a judge now. I felt like she was overly harsh about their concepts. 

I was glad Dan won. I loved his homage to the people who supported him. 

[Taeolas]

Glad to have it back. 

I agree the S1 winner sometimes felt she was critiquing for the sake of critiquing, but all in all a good choice was made. 

One flaw I do have with this show, is that they usually DON'T show the winning (and losing) pieces after announcing who won/lost, which (IMO) is a cardinal sin in Reality TV competition shows.  Sure you may have JUST shown the pieces in the general discussion; but there are so many blowers and pieces involved, you should ALWAYS be showing the actual pieces once you announce them so we can make that final link. 

[bigmag]

I SO AGREE!  I have started making a note of the time left in the episode when they start showing the final pieces so that I know how far to back up to see what the winning and losing pieces are.  That is so irritating.  Don't know why they can't just show the appropriate pieces as they announce the winner and the loser.

Edited July 23, 2022 by bigmag

[Door County Cherry]

Especially since it is visual.   It's not like cooking or singing.   

I liked Deborah in her season and while I too cringed a bit at her harsh critique...I also sort of agreed with her.   She is a full-on conceptual artist.  And that's the POV she brought to the judge's table for a challenge that gave the blowers a lot of freedom to express themselves. 

It was the perfect kind of challenge for her to judge.

[chaifan]

I'm glad this is back.  I've really enjoyed this show each season. 

Deborah as a guest judge - that had to scare the crap out of a lot of those contestants.  I really liked her in her season, and I thought she clearly deserved the win.  I'll admit, her praise for the deflated basketball piece really surprised me.  I thought she was going to tear it apart, and whaddya know?  She loves it.  OK, so I obviously just don't get conceptual art.  I understood her critique of the gumball machine and the woman breaking free, but not the guy on top of the egg.  I also didn't understand the blobs in the petri dishes.  I thought they were cute and well executed, but I have no idea what that was supposed to "say" to me.

I think the bottom two fairly came down to the bird thing and the mirror thing, both from a concept and an execution standpoint.  But I thought the glass reproduction of the native art piece was going to win.  (Sorry, I don't know anyone's name yet.)

I really wish they'd make this an hour show and give a secondary challenge, sort of like the Great Pottery Throw Down.

[Aulty]

I finally got round to watching this. I really struggled to get on board with the critiques because they were so random in what they did and didn't like, although, via different routes, they and I arrived at the same conclusion.
My favourite: the petri dishes - just the dishes, they did them well.

On 7/25/2022 at 5:14 AM, chaifan said:

I really wish they'd make this an hour show and give a secondary challenge, sort of like the Great Pottery Throw Down.

That format would suit the show a lot more than the cut throat one-liners from the contestants. But Netflix seemingly likes to have a different take on their competition shows. Metal Masters and Flower Fight also have that 'talk big' format.

[HurricaneVal]

Sigh.  Deborah was so incredibly pretentious during judging.  I mean, Katherine is usually the extremely judgemental one who is pretentious, but even Katherine seemed intimidated by Deborah's obscure artistic pretentiousness.  

Deborah's and Katherine's comments and disdain for anything pretty and appealing in favor of the obscure or incomprehensible are why there is a perceived lack of appreciation of "Art."  When a piece is only considered "Art" if it is aesthetically difficult and narrowly symbolic of some obscure struggle, then it becomes irrelevant to most everyone who prefers conversation to debate.

That said, I also think a some of the artists had pre-conceived projects they went into the show with to show skills (gumball machine, non-binary growths in petri dishes) and created convoluted backstories to justify them for that comp.  No matter how charmed I was by the gumballs, I hate that sort of strategy.  I also hate the sob story of "here is my personal pain expressed in glass, I dare you to criticize my grief" sort of strategy.  "I was homeless as a child, and it affects every bit of my adult life.  That's why I chose that brown color (really a mistake, it cooled to a different color than anticipated) because it reminded me of the Chrysler station wagon I slept in with my family of five when in elementary school."

[sadtvjunkie]

I just found out that that Grace Whiteside is Mike's daughter from Salvage Dawgs. Him and Robert Kulp, own Black Dog Salvage in Roanoke, VA.  She used to help in the store and go on salvage jobs. Occasionally she designed pieces to sell in the store. An incredibly talented family. Mike's wife Suzie is an artist as well.