S01.E03: The Cut Off

[OtterMommy]

TBA

Streaming Date: August 12, 2022

[rollacoaster]

I'm really enjoying this show so far. I'm loving the women's athleticism and passion for the game. It's great seeing Carson gain confidence and start asserting herself. Greta is coming off very manipulative to me. I don't like how she plays with Carson. 

When Max came in from working at the factory overnight and flopped down exhausted on the bed, it gave me Tiana vibes. 

Poor Guy and that egg, lol! Max's dad was wrong for that. But also: 😆

Carson's roommate gives off such a new age vibe, with talk of energy and transmission and initiation. 

Dove is kind of a dick. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by rollacoaster

[Haleth]

I am much more interested in Max's story than Carson's.  I'm anxious for the plot to move more quickly to the inevitable scene when Max shows how good she is and is asked to join the team.

[rollacoaster]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

I am much more interested in Max's story than Carson's.  I'm anxious for the plot to move more quickly to the inevitable scene when Max shows how good she is and is asked to join the team.

I'm very much looking forward to that intersection! Max has such a powerful presence, and the actress does an excellent job of balancing Max's intense charisma with having to play small in the presence of white people. I love that we get to see her interactions with her family and community. 

[shantown]

I'm slowly getting invested in this, but Abbi Jacobson's awkward mannerisms and line delivery really pull me out. All the other characters seem to be doing a better job of working the modern slang and thoughts into the 40's setting, but AJ is just all over the place. I get that the Carson character is supposed to be a little bit frazzled with the multiple life changes she's experiencing, but it's coming across like she's just wishy-washy and not the hesitant, heartachy sort of vibe I think she's supposed to be conveying. 

I really need Max's storyline and the Peaches storyline to fully connect soon. Right now it's like watching two completely different shows. Both are good, but I'd like it to be more cohesive overall.

I am enjoying it though! Gbemisola Ikumelo is doing a great job as Clance, and endearing me to a character who could have veered into grating very easily. Melanie Field as Jo and Kelly McCormack as Jess (the Candian) have done a lot with the small bits they've been given thus far. I hope as the show goes the rest of the characters get as much focus as Carson and Greta.

[Scarlett45]

On 8/19/2022 at 8:30 PM, shantown said:

Gbemisola Ikumelo is doing a great job as Clance, and endearing me to a character who could have veered into grating very easily.

I am loving her a lot too. 

On 8/19/2022 at 8:30 PM, shantown said:

I get that the Carson character is supposed to be a little bit frazzled with the multiple life changes she's experiencing, but it's coming across like she's just wishy-washy and not the hesitant, heartachy sort of vibe I think she's supposed to be conveying. 

Although Carson is an adult woman in her mid 20s, emotionally she’s very much an adolescent. She hasn’t been given the language we have in the 21st century to express what she’s feeling, and she’s been kinda stagnant. 

[possibilities]

I have known a lot of women like Carson, even in current times, and definitely when I was her age in the1980s and 1990s. She's a definite type.

[Bastet]

I like the parallel between the Peaches sneaking off to practice and Max sneaking off to work -- things your coach and mom should be happy to see you doing.

Max's "Guess you were hiring" when one of the snooty white women fails to get the boss to fire Max for being a Maxine was great.  I also love her playing Gary to find out how to get to the boss, and then playing Fowkes so perfectly, even though Gary said there's no way she has the stomach to play to that man's ego.

But by the end my heart was breaking for her.  First when she mustered up the courage to tell her mom about her factory job, only to be delayed by her name adding her name to the salon sign (in neon, no less), and then when she finally does it, but her mom refuses to see Max feels compelled to pursue a nontraditional path the same way she did. 

I'm glad Clance isn't pregnant, since they just got married five minutes ago and deserve some time to get settled in as spouses before becoming parents (of course, now it's the military that is going to interrupt them), but Max's dad fucking with Guy with the egg cracked me up.

The "conversation pie" made me laugh, too, and I think it's a really interesting team dynamic where Lupe being Dove's vanity project makes the others exclude her in order to stay under his radar, and then being excluded makes Lupe fall for his routine, believing he truly cares about her and that he's the only one who does.  I love Carson hurling the ball at him for humiliating Lupe, and tells him an actual coach would be nice, but at least don't stand in their way.

(And of course that jackass gets - and takes - the credit when they finally win, even though the only thing he does is waste Lupe's arm on that stupid forkball of his.)

Shirley is the only Peach I don't like - her collection of neuroses annoys me; I do not find it quirky or endearing - and I'd much rather see more of Jess than her.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Bastet

[Hanahope]

I was shocked the marine chaperone was not as old as I thought she was.