S01.E08: Perfect Game

[OtterMommy]

TBA

Streaming Date: August 12, 2022

[EdnasEdibles]

OK, maybe I'm a total sap but I cried during the final game. Just tears and tears.

I confess that with the show I started out not liking it and stuck with it and once I decided to let go of any preconceived notion of what it would be based on the movie and just accept the show as it is, I started to enjoy it and by the last episode, I think I will return next year if there's a season 2. 

It will be VERY interesting to see what happens with the husband and how (if?) that is resolved. 

[CrowTRobot]

I also got pretty invested by the end and will tune in if they do a season 2.  However, I never got over the anachronistic dialogue.  Carson and Clance were by far the worst offenders and it even had to end with that awful "Read the room" line.  BUT overall, I did enjoy the ensemble cast and want to see how they deal with the cliffhanger.

[shantown]

Thirding that I was slow getting into it, but once I was I was all in! I may have shed a slight tear at Carson's speech before the final practice. Then some hyped up tears at the mid-game "Rob the bank!" rally. The crying really started when Jo fell and started crying. And then I was straight out weeping when Carson and Greta helped Jo round the bases. And the rest of the Peaches went out to support her too! Jo on her teams shoulders! Turns out there's A LOT of crying in baseball.

So many small moments I loved, but especially Beverly giving all the money back to Jess. Those two characters very quietly looked out for everyone all season, and it was nice to see Beverly loosen up a little and for someone to take care of Jess.

As much as I expected/wanted Max to get on the Peaches somehow to merge the two storylines, I think they did a really nice job of Max and Carson's friendship as a bridge. Those two often ran in parallel throughout the show (discovering themselves, the haircuts, the subtle influence of mothers absent in different ways, etc) and while the show focused on each of their worlds separately, the Max/Carson friendship seemed to be a nice anchor for each of them.

They wrapped up almost everything, but I would love another season!
 

[txhorns79]

I'm not entirely sure what to think of this series.  At times, it really felt like a messy conglomeration of two shows, and you could see the seams showing.  I had a much better idea of the characters on Max storyline, than I did on the Peaches side of things.  I feel like Max's storyline is pretty much done, but I would be interested in another season of the Peaches.   

I also liked the overall team, but felt like Abbi Jacobson was just not right for her part.  Whatever one thinks of Geena Davis in the original movie, she has a definite presence.  You notice her, you see her knowledge and confidence, and you can easily see her in a leadership position.  To me, this show was kind of like if Dottie had been played by Lori Petty in the original movie.  Nothing against the actress, but this was not the role she should be in.  

I also wished we got to spend more time with the other players instead of spending so much time on the Carson/Greta train.  

Also, what happened with Nick Offerman?  Was it just that delays caused by Covid meant he had to drop out of the show?  I can't believe the original plan was for him to just leave off screen after a couple of episodes and suddenly a player is now the coach.              

[Cranberry]

10 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

Also, what happened with Nick Offerman?  Was it just that delays caused by Covid meant he had to drop out of the show?  I can't believe the original plan was for him to just leave off screen after a couple of episodes and suddenly a player is now the coach.  

I believe it was!

Quote

“Jimmy Dugan, what you love [about him] is that it’s a redemption story,” co-creator and star Jacobson told IndieWire over Zoom, citing Tom Hanks’ role in the film. “We’re in no way trying to take that character, but we’re also really subverting what the coach role from the film looks like in the show. In the [film], you grow to love him, and he loves them. We do not have a redemption story with Dove, and that was really important because this is the POV of the women on the team.”

[Mabinogia]

37 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I also liked the overall team, but felt like Abbi Jacobson was just not right for her part.  Whatever one thinks of Geena Davis in the original movie, she has a definite presence.  You notice her, you see her knowledge and confidence, and you can easily see her in a leadership position.  To me, this show was kind of like if Dottie had been played by Lori Petty in the original movie.  Nothing against the actress, but this was not the role she should be in.  

Agreed. What I liked about Geena Davis' Dottie was that she didn't want to be a leader but saw they needed one and jumped in to do it. Abbi's Carson was reluctantly shoved into the spot by Greta (who I think would have been a better leader, since she's the one the other women voted for). I assume they were going for Carson coming into her strength through this leadership role, but it never felt organic to me. Carson was the weakest link for me in the series. 

40 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I also wished we got to spend more time with the other players instead of spending so much time on the Carson/Greta train.  

I am hoping that, if we get another season, that is what happens. I would hate to lose Greta but I would be fine if Carson ran off and joined a circus lol. I embarrassingly can't remember how their story ended. I blame the fact that I could barely see anything through the veil of tears that were pouring down my face from that scene with Jo rounding the bases. That seriously did me in. I'm a sucker for "she might not be on our team anymore but she will always be our teammate" solidarity stuff. 

I do think it was a far better ending than the "did she/didn't she" ball drop. It was very clear that Jo hit a homer that won the game. It wasn't a pity walk, the Peaches didn't give up the win, there is no question, no ambiguity. It was just kind of an FU to the technicality and the women letting Jo know that no matter what uniform she wears, she will always be a Peach. 

[possibilities]

Having Dove leave instead of redeeming him, to me, was a good decision. If they had redeemed him, it would have been a male hero story, and the women's victories would have been chalked up to the dude. The way they did it, it was all the women, and the story was only theirs.

[Haleth]

It was just so abrupt, Dove leaving.  Of course it's a trope that any character has to lose his/her mentor to grow, but there was never even a goodbye scene.  He walks off the field midgame and is never seen again.  Strange.

I also bawled my eyes out when Carson and Greta picked Jo up.  I figured the championship was going to come down to Jo doing something, whether it was beating her old team or somehow throwing the game.  Having her genuinely get hurt and the Peaches rally around her was heartwarming. 

If it doesn't get a second season I'm ok with how things ended.  Max is thrilled to finally be a professional ball player, Greta has a glamorous job in NYC, and Carson is ready to take on a new adventure, whatever life brings her. 

[txhorns79]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

It was just so abrupt, Dove leaving.  Of course it's a trope that any character has to lose his/her mentor to grow, but there was never even a goodbye scene.  He walks off the field midgame and is never seen again.  Strange.

It was very abrupt, which made me feel like it was a scheduling issue.  Besides, does Dove really count as Carson's mentor?  They barely spent ten minutes together on screen. 

[buckboard]

So many commentors seem disappointed when the 2022 version of ALOTO didn't completely follow Penny Marshall's version, but it was never intended to.  It's not a remake or a reboot.  It was based on the original film, but went down different paths, exploring stories that weren't in the original - omission of the lesbian players from the plot and African Americans who weren't given an opportunity to play.  The creators met with Penny Marshall when they first began to plan their show and she gave them her okay.

I love both versions, each doing what they could do in the time they were filming.

[possibilities]

To me, it's like when Ghostbusters was remade with women, and there were some people who were upset by that. If you don't like it, don't watch it, but not everything is going to be tailor made for the same audience. If it didn't vary from the original, people would pan it for being lazy and un-necessary, a mere copy of a classic and nothing new.

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, buckboard said:

So many commentors seem disappointed when the 2022 version of ALOTO didn't completely follow Penny Marshall's version, but it was never intended to.  It's not a remake or a reboot.  It was based on the original film, but went down different paths, exploring stories that weren't in the original - omission of the lesbian players from the plot and African Americans who weren't given an opportunity to play.  The creators met with Penny Marshall when they first began to plan their show and she gave them her okay.

The thing that makes me laugh about all this "it's not like the original movie!" stuff is that the movie didn't invent this story, it was just one retelling of an actual thing that happened. This just happens to be a different look at that story. I kind of wish the show had picked a different team to follow, though I get they went with the Peaches probably for the same reason the movie did, because this is all based off the stories of an actual Rockford Peach. This isn't Penny Marshalls story. She just told one part of the story. It's the story of dozens of women who played baseball through the 40s-50s and the show is just telling another part of the story. 

[rollacoaster]

As soon as I realized what Greta and Carson were gonna do for Jo, I dissolved into tears. SO MUCH FUCKING CRYING IN BASEBALL. 😥😢😭😫

I know Max felt Toni was a bit of a villain, but she was truly afraid for her daughter and what she will face in the world. She truly did SEE Max, and it was a powerful gesture to ensure she would have status and security in the community by passing on the beauty parlor to her. I'm glad that Toni will be supporting and mothering Clance through her pregnancy.  

I realized that, for all her brashness and bluster, Max really is very young and has lived a relatively sheltered life. I'm glad she has Uncle Bertie to encourage her to soar, and I hope she comes to appreciate the strong foundation her mother gave her.

The reveal that Beverly was part of the LGBTQ family and had been looking out for Jess (and truly, all the women) was beautiful.  

I did like how anachronistic music was used for emphasis, though I never did quite get used to the contemporary dialog. It did tickle me when Max and Clance sauntered into the factory in shades, waving The Defender around and greeting everyone with a rousing "Grand rising!" That HAD to be ad-libbed!

I was shocked at just how young Esti was! She really was just a baby. I understand what Lupe's issue was, but I do wish she had been kinder to her. I'm glad that Esti had a friend in Jess, and that they learned a bit of each other'slanguage. Jess was a hoot, and being a super intense person, I think she appreciated Esti's passionate nature. 

This is probably a minority opinion, but I enjoyed Carson's character arc. I feel that she had grown into a position of strength by the end, and she showed tremendous discernment by not running off to New York with Greta. I never did trust or warm up to Greta, she was just too mercurial.  

Anyhow, this was fun and well done! And, as always, enjoyed reading everyone's snarky and insightful commentary! 

Edited August 23, 2022 by rollacoaster

[possibilities]

I liked Carson, too. IRL, I would have found her intolerable; it's just really hard to deal with someone who is self-absorbed and basically jerking you around because she doesn't know who she is. BUT: I thought Jacobson did a good job representing an exact type of person who exists and existed in the community. This show was surprisingly good at drawing on what are basically tropes, and making them seem more like archetypes, which is a deft handling of similar material.

[txhorns79]

20 hours ago, buckboard said:

So many commentors seem disappointed when the 2022 version of ALOTO didn't completely follow Penny Marshall's version, but it was never intended to.  It's not a remake or a reboot. 

I think if you trade on the name of a very popular movie for your tv series, you can't really blame people for thinking the show is going to be a continuation of the movie, or feel similar to the movie.  To me, it would be like announcing you are going to call your show Bates Motel, but then say the show is not going to have any association with the characters from the movie Psycho.  

10 hours ago, rollacoaster said:

I realized that, for all her brashness and bluster, Max really is very young and has lived a relatively sheltered life. I'm glad she has Uncle Bertie to encourage her to soar, and I hope she comes to appreciate the strong foundation her mother gave her.

I was a little surprised Max didn't receive any pushback from the All Star League on her appearance.  I would think there would be similar concerns to the AAGPBL about wanting their female players to appear feminine.           

[pasdetrois]

I thought Lupe and Jess were more interesting characters than Carson and Greta. Every time Carson opened her mouth, I heard Broad City).

[Bastet]

I watched the whole series in two sittings because I kept wanting to see more, so I will have to go back to properly appreciate - and comment on - individual episodes, but I had to jump here to rave about how much I love how they handled the Peaches losing the game.  In both this and the film, the "wrong" team wins fair and square, but here I have a much easier time swallowing the Peaches' loss.  (And not just because I like Jo infinitely more than I like whiny baby Kit.)

When Carson sent Charlie and his "in a way, you've already won" blather packing, and rebounded to tell the team, yeah, the Blue Sox are better than us, but that doesn't mean they automatically win, so let's get out there and give it our all, and if we come up short, let us be fucking epic in our loss, I was cheering.  And then the way they did that?  Holy shit.  I had gotten pretty teary watching Max and Clance say goodbye, with Max saying she'll be back in the spring, and Clance saying no she won't - this is going to lead her to something, which is going to lead her to something else - but that had nothing on my reaction to the Peaches helping Jo around the bases rather than winning by forfeit.

I adored Beverly giving Jess (one of my favorite characters, and one I'd love see more of if there's a second season) her fine money back with the "we take care of our own" reveal.

Since I haven't read the earlier episodes threads yet, I don't know what the general consensus is here on the series as a whole, but I enjoyed it.  I think it included just the right amount of allusions to the film (although I'd have left out "there's no crying in baseball" if I was in charge; too iconic) and the core cast worked very nicely together.  I'd never seen any of them before, except Dale Dickey (Beverly) in several things and D'Arcy Carden (Greta) as Janet on The Good Place, but I thought they all did well.  I missed the attention to period detail the film had, and the modern slang was distracting (yet the modern music almost always worked for me), but I liked it.  I look forward to going back and savoring each episode at a more reasonable pace.

[shantown]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

I missed the attention to period detail the film had, and the modern slang was distracting (yet the modern music almost always worked for me), but I liked it.  I look forward to going back and savoring each episode at a more reasonable pace.

It bothered me at first, but for the most part I stopped noticing after a few episodes. The look and feel of the period was still there, even if the dialogue wasn't. For the most part I didn't notice, except Abbi Jacobson has this very specific 2010's awkwardness about her that never really leaves her. Also admittedly, I've never seen the movie (I know, blasphemy) so that might be why changes in the show didn't bother me as much - I didn't know they were changed.

A new thing I noticed on my rewatch: When the cosmetics company woman offers Greta a job in NY it's because she "always liked girls who are a bit too much." It's the same phrasing she used when she had to criticize her on behalf of the candy boss in episode 2: "I've come to pass on a note from the board. You're a bit too much out there, so if you could be a little sweeter, a little... a little... Less." I thought it was a nice callback and a nice way to show up the old boys club a bit.

[buckboard]

On 8/22/2022 at 3:40 PM, Mabinogia said:

The thing that makes me laugh about all this "it's not like the original movie!" stuff is that the movie didn't invent this story, it was just one retelling of an actual thing that happened. This just happens to be a different look at that story. I kind of wish the show had picked a different team to follow, though I get they went with the Peaches probably for the same reason the movie did, because this is all based off the stories of an actual Rockford Peach. This isn't Penny Marshalls story. She just told one part of the story. It's the story of dozens of women who played baseball through the 40s-50s and the show is just telling another part of the story. 

Perfect, Mabinogia.

[possibilities]

9 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

I thought Lupe and Jess were more interesting characters than

They were great. I was relieved when we got more focus on them later in the season, instead of keeping them in the background or just making them foils for Carson.

[Scarlett45]

On 8/23/2022 at 8:27 AM, txhorns79 said:

I was a little surprised Max didn't receive any pushback from the All Star League on her appearance.  I would think there would be similar concerns to the AAGPBL about wanting their female players to appear feminine.

Max is quite feminine looking though- her features are small, her hair is just short. And it’s not short in a style that was popular for black men at the time (like Bertie’s), it’s short in a specifically coded feminine style. 
 

I thought the ending left it open if there is a Season 2. The Negro league with Max and S being the two women players on the team have a lot of stories to tell, and I think we could see more of Carson. I don’t think her husband is the kind to have her locked up (they have been best friends since they were 6), but I think her life is turned upside down now that he knows. 

[shantown]

16 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I thought the ending left it open if there is a Season 2. The Negro league with Max and S being the two women players on the team have a lot of stories to tell, and I think we could see more of Carson. I don’t think her husband is the kind to have her locked up (they have been best friends since they were 6), but I think her life is turned upside down now that he knows. 

Yes, I think there's a lot of stories left open for a season 2 so I hope it gets one! Would also like to see some new Peaches come in, an expansion on some other returners, and who the coach is in S2. Fingers crossed!

[possibilities]

Maybe they will follow the team Jo transferred to a bit more. I really wanted to see more of her.

[gik910]

Ok. We just finished.

I want a story about Bev in WW1.

And Lupe and Jess. And Maybelle. 

And Max's continuing story. And Clance. And Uncle Bertie. 

While I understand the structural use of Carson....I was so much more interested in the side characters. She was so neutral and they were all so much more captivating. 

Having said that, kind of a cliffhanger for Carson, so I would like a season 2 for that resolution. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by gik910
Forgot a thought

[Mabinogia]

43 minutes ago, gik910 said:

I want a story about Bev in WW1.

I would actually love that. 

I really would love to see more of Max's story, both baseball related and family/friends related. I would happily watch more of the Peaches or the team Jo ended up on (I forget the team name). I'm indifferent about Carson but wouldn't hate seeing more of her if she stays with the Peaches. I loved Greta (probably because I love D'Arcy Carden) but I can't see that story continuing in this particular series since she is no longer really tied to the team and isn't really tied to (nor do I want to see her go back to) Carson, so I think her part in the story is sadly over. 

[ombre]

UUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

In my head I was absolutely certain there were ten episodes.  And now this season is over and I'm not ready for it!

I started watching this because it seemed like something that would work for my mom and I to watch together.  Sweet, charming, a few hokey nods to the fact that the world has changed in the decades since the movie, but... otherwise... unremarkable.  And for the first few episodes it was just that.  Fine.  Just fine.  

And then around episode 6 they started letting all those ancillary characters really do their thing.  And they were so.  damn.  good.  And now I want to go back and watch it again because I very, very strongly suspect they were all being so damn good the whole time, just without any lines to chew on.  My mom and I had a big fight about Jess, who I had seen as being very quietly an intense team player the whole time but who she had seen as a grumpy storm cloud.  I want to go back and see what she was showing.  I want to get to appreciate what she was doing with basically no lines.  Ditto Maybelle.  Ditto Bev.  Ditto Max's dad, whose sense of humor makes me giggle.

I was trying to explain to my mom, who hasn't seen the movie, how beautifully some of the references work.  The closest I could get was the idea that armies marching over bridges have to break their march so they won't accidentally hit the resonance frequency of the bridge and have the whole thing ripple itself into... well, in that example into a busted bridge and a sorry army.  But the references back really felt like more than just the sum of their parts.  Maybelle's little speech - duh, yes she's a mom this is her one chance to get away - made me realize that oh right, she was the analog to the movie mom, and there it was, resonating in the key of "I'm not an easy blonde, I've got a lot of responsibilities but I found a way to live for myself for just once!" And the ending - they had to lose, that's the story - but, ahh... I don't have the words.  It resonated bigger than just a sense of "oh, that's a neat thing they did there."

And I'm still holding to my heart that beautiful little line from Bev to Jess.  The amount that communicated about generations of queer women finding a little sliver of the world here and a little sliver of the world there.  The homosocial world of the first world war, the homosocial world of the second world war.  Little spaces stolen away.

Lots of other folks have said many of my other thoughts - especially the relief that they didn't just rewrite history and have Max make it onto the Peaches.  Instead, they figured out where the empty spaces in history are - the stories that are so unusual that they only worked for a moment or only on the edges.  A coupla chicks on a Black barnstorming team that knows very well the importance of putting on a fun show to keep the bread coming in?  Yeah, that's absolutely possible and so, *so* much more interesting.  Fingers crossed for another season!

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, ombre said:

My mom and I had a big fight about Jess, who I had seen as being very quietly an intense team player the whole time but who she had seen as a grumpy storm cloud.  I want to go back and see what she was showing.  I want to get to appreciate what she was doing with basically no lines.

DO IT!  Jess was my favorite secondary character on first watch, but, having binged the whole series in just two sittings, at the end I could only point to a few specific moments why; it was mostly a feeling.  Properly digesting the series the second time around (which I'm not yet quite through doing), I was able to hone in on all the things that had added up to create that feeling.

One of which is: the actor playing her is by far the best of the cast at the physical aspects of portraying a baseball player.  This production was not as stringent as the film in not even considering, let alone casting, actors who couldn't athletically perform (even Geena Davis had Penny Marshall hurling baseballs at her in Marshall's backyard before they discussed the role) -- Marshall had no intention of using doubles or crafty edits, so everyone needed to be believable (and this while using period-appropriate equipment, like mitts without webbing; there was more than one broken nose, unfortunately).  In this series, I can see the cheats sometimes, but it's not distracting.  Yet, on re-watch, it did become noticeable just how damn good Kelly McKormack is at it.

1 hour ago, ombre said:

Lots of other folks have said many of my other thoughts - especially the relief that they didn't just rewrite history and have Max make it onto the Peaches.

I'd have walked out of the theatre ... or, you know, switched to a different program on my TV ... if that had happened.  I never had any fear they'd be that stupid, but:

2 hours ago, ombre said:

Instead, they figured out where the empty spaces in history are - the stories that are so unusual that they only worked for a moment or only on the edges.  A coupla chicks on a Black barnstorming team that knows very well the importance of putting on a fun show to keep the bread coming in?  Yeah, that's absolutely possible and so, *so* much more interesting.

Yeah, I didn't know they were going to do such a good job with Max's story, giving the two narratives a believable overlap with how her relationship with Carson develops, but honoring the fact her story is still overwhelmingly different - and thus separate - from Carson's despite their shared love for baseball and women.

[ombre]

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

DO IT!  Jess was my favorite secondary character on first watch, but, having binged the whole series in just two sittings, at the end I could only point to a few specific moments why; it was mostly a feeling.  Properly digesting the series the second time around (which I'm not yet quite through doing), I was able to hone in on all the things that had added up to create that feeling.

One of which is: the actor playing her is by far the best of the cast at the physical aspects of portraying a baseball player.  This production was not as stringent as the film in not even considering, let alone casting, actors who couldn't athletically perform (even Geena Davis had Penny Marshall hurling baseballs at her in Marshall's backyard before they discussed the role) -- Marshall had no intention of using doubles or crafty edits, so everyone needed to be believable (and this while using period-appropriate equipment, like mitts without webbing; there was more than one broken nose, unfortunately).  In this series, I can see the cheats sometimes, but it's not distracting.  Yet, on re-watch, it did become noticeable just how damn good Kelly McKormack is at it.

Ya might dig - https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2022/08/14/getting-the-part-of-jess-in-a-league-of-their-own-was-like-a-home-run-for-canadas-kelly-mccormack.html

[rollacoaster]

12 hours ago, ombre said:

UUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

In my head I was absolutely certain there were ten episodes.  And now this season is over and I'm not ready for it!

I started watching this because it seemed like something that would work for my mom and I to watch together.  Sweet, charming, a few hokey nods to the fact that the world has changed in the decades since the movie, but... otherwise... unremarkable.  And for the first few episodes it was just that.  Fine.  Just fine.  

And then around episode 6 they started letting all those ancillary characters really do their thing.  And they were so.  damn.  good.  And now I want to go back and watch it again because I very, very strongly suspect they were all being so damn good the whole time, just without any lines to chew on.  My mom and I had a big fight about Jess, who I had seen as being very quietly an intense team player the whole time but who she had seen as a grumpy storm cloud.  I want to go back and see what she was showing.  I want to get to appreciate what she was doing with basically no lines.  Ditto Maybelle.  Ditto Bev.  Ditto Max's dad, whose sense of humor makes me giggle.

I was trying to explain to my mom, who hasn't seen the movie, how beautifully some of the references work.  The closest I could get was the idea that armies marching over bridges have to break their march so they won't accidentally hit the resonance frequency of the bridge and have the whole thing ripple itself into... well, in that example into a busted bridge and a sorry army.  But the references back really felt like more than just the sum of their parts.  Maybelle's little speech - duh, yes she's a mom this is her one chance to get away - made me realize that oh right, she was the analog to the movie mom, and there it was, resonating in the key of "I'm not an easy blonde, I've got a lot of responsibilities but I found a way to live for myself for just once!" And the ending - they had to lose, that's the story - but, ahh... I don't have the words.  It resonated bigger than just a sense of "oh, that's a neat thing they did there."

And I'm still holding to my heart that beautiful little line from Bev to Jess.  The amount that communicated about generations of queer women finding a little sliver of the world here and a little sliver of the world there.  The homosocial world of the first world war, the homosocial world of the second world war.  Little spaces stolen away.

Lots of other folks have said many of my other thoughts - especially the relief that they didn't just rewrite history and have Max make it onto the Peaches.  Instead, they figured out where the empty spaces in history are - the stories that are so unusual that they only worked for a moment or only on the edges.  A coupla chicks on a Black barnstorming team that knows very well the importance of putting on a fun show to keep the bread coming in?  Yeah, that's absolutely possible and so, *so* much more interesting.  Fingers crossed for another season!

ALL OF THIS! So beautifully expressed! I might just go back and watch again myself. 

[SoMuchTV]

Weird how the dust on that ball field stirred up my allergies. Shut up. I’m not crying, you’re crying. 

I think I liked this more as it went along. I understand the modern language bothered a lot of viewers but for some reason it didn’t bug me. Now I’m off to watch the movie. I’m sure I must have seen it at some point in my life but I really don’t remember anything about it. 

[CrowTRobot]

On 9/9/2022 at 12:00 AM, Bastet said:

In this series, I can see the cheats sometimes, but it's not distracting. 

Actually this reminds me that the CG ball during pitches when it was coming towards or going away from camera really did stand out to me as fake and took me out of the action.  It was too perfectly still and smooth and had that CGI look.  If they do a second season I hope they can go another route with those particular types of shots.

[ombre]

I've been rewatching because I'm really interested in what made things click so much more towards the end of the season.  I'm starting to think that a lot of the first half - especially in Max's story - was set-up for the story they really wanted to tell and that the writers had a hard time getting there.  The way that poor girl's story pinballed from one thing to the next leaves me dizzy.  And it was hard not to feel like the writing for the group scenes in the salon and the revival left something to be desired.  Do not tell me that Max needed a translation for what "passed on" means!  But as they got out of those settings and into the factory and the Black queer world it felt like things settled in.  (And not just for Max - the scenes between Clance and her husband were lovely.)

But my teeth are still really on edge at Bertie showing up at Clance's house with a big box containing a suit.  There is no way on earth that that character - no matter how desperate and puppy-dog excited he might have felt for some loving connection with family - would have taken a step like that and put Max in that position.  I can understand Carson not seeing a difference between showing up at the factory - as she says, Max has just shown up at her workplace, so...  But Bertie has seen enough of society in the 40s (and the show *knows* what the stakes are, as we saw at the bar) that he simply wouldn't do that.  And making him do that is a real disservice to the character, making him feel oddly naive.

I'm baffled by the little diversion between Max and the minister's wife.  (Although the overall feel of the scenes reminded me of the first scenes of - I may be dating myself here - The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love.  Randy and Wendy.  Gah.)  I get that the real purpose was to introduce us to Max's queerness and then cut her off a little more from the Black community (making church uncomfortable) and make it easier for her to hit the road later.  But it meant that Max's grilling Carson about sex with men vs women felt odd.  

I'm really curious about where the final line will be drawn with Max's naivete - she's written as being so sheltered that she doesn't know or understand much about, say, racism.  I want to know more about how her parents would have managed that.  Felt like we were about to get a bit about Bad Stuff Back Down South from her mom, but it's had to imagine that they also managed to keep her completely sheltered from Bad Stuff Here In the North.

My overall impression is that the show has *much* better actors than writers and they've managed to make some really bumpy material work better than it had any right to and I'm grateful because it was a really fun ride.  And it feels like something got *really* retooled between eps 3 and 6 and I know I'll never know anything about it, but oh I *am* curious.  The combination of the Carson's-learned-to-lead, Max-meets-Bertie's-world, and gay-bar plots hits well.  

As my last two two observations - going back to Max's terrible first-eps wig was almost physically painful.  And I continue to love Jess's tiny interactions.  Two of my favorite moments are when Dove went into absurd fishing metaphors and she was nodding knowingly along and when she was making observations about the first thing she does on a sinking ship is throw the dead weight over and Lu makes fun of her - when have you ever been on a sinking ship? - and then almost immediately switches to "I want to hear about every one."  They both played it so well and I died laughing.

Edited September 17, 2022 by ombre

[Scarlett45]

On 9/17/2022 at 2:08 PM, ombre said:

I'm baffled by the little diversion between Max and the minister's wife.  (Although the overall feel of the scenes reminded me of the first scenes of - I may be dating myself here - The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love.  Randy and Wendy.  Gah.)  I get that the real purpose was to introduce us to Max's queerness and then cut her off a little more from the Black community (making church uncomfortable) and make it easier for her to hit the road later.  But it meant that Max's grilling Carson about sex with men vs women felt odd.  

I didn’t see it that way. I saw it to show that Max is clearly comfortable in her attraction to women (even if she’s not “open” about it) and unlike Carson, for a variety of reasons she never felt compelled to marry to “pretend” with a guy. 

I think that her hookup with that one guy (I keep forgetting his name) who really liked her was her first time “giving it a shot” and she was so absolutely bored and a little revolted she didn’t know how women who were attracted to women (like she knew Carson was) could bare to have sex with men. She didn’t get how her hookup from church could bare it. 
 

Sexuality is a spectrum- and even in the 21st century I have a friend who used to identify as bi-sexual and married a man but now identifies as a lesbian and states in her late 30s “I was just in denial about being a lesbian because I really wanted a heteronormative lifestyle.” (She and her wife have been together 11yrs now) Of course there are people who are bisexual, and then there are people who may have stronger same sex attraction (like Carson) but can be content with their heterosexual partner (for a variety of social reasons). 

On 9/17/2022 at 2:08 PM, ombre said:

I'm really curious about where the final line will be drawn with Max's naivete - she's written as being so sheltered that she doesn't know or understand much about, say, racism.  I want to know more about how her parents would have managed that.  Felt like we were about to get a bit about Bad Stuff Back Down South from her mom, but it's had to imagine that they also managed to keep her completely sheltered from Bad Stuff Here In the North.

I think Max knows about racism. She’s not surprised that she’s cast away, but there have always been people who have been motivated and willing to “push the envelope” and buck the trend.
 

Also given that her mom was a black business owner in Rockford, her world was VERY segregated. Very. She didn’t have to interact as a second class citizen much as she worked in her mother’s shop.
 

My parents are boomers (born at the end of WWII, so they could’ve been children of Clance/Guy) and they said they didn’t interact with non black people on a regular basis until college. (Outside of big things like shopping downtown which was a rare event that they did with parents) They went to black schools, churches, stores etc. We are from Chicago which is a little more diverse etc than Rockford- but unless they we’re doing “official business”- like getting an ID or taking a state exam for school their world was homogenous. 

[possibilities]

Max knew what to expect when they went to get crab at that place that wouldn't serve her. She wasn't the least bit surprised by it. That alone says she knows about racism.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 8/23/2022 at 12:13 PM, pasdetrois said:

I thought Lupe and Jess were more interesting characters than Carson and Greta. Every time Carson opened her mouth, I heard Broad City).

I hear Bean from Disenchantment, but it is basically the same issue. That was harder to get around than the more modern dialogue and music. I mean it's not like they were listening to Barracuda, I was the same way I was watching this show in a screen that way way clearer and had more colours than anything available in the 1940's. Still a pretty great show, though although I have only seen the movie once and that was just a year or two ago. 

[Sesquipedalia]

This guy is my favorite.

[Johnny Dollar]

Every other player on the team seemed to have a more interesting backstory than Carson. And I can’t believe that anyone would be motivated by one of her boring ass speeches.  I’d rather see more Max and Clance, or follow Greta and Jo barnstorm across the country, or Uncle Bert and the underground nightclub, all character that are infinitely more compelling than Carson. 

[snickers]

I'm late to the party, but I recently finished watching this show, started it sometime around September I think-

I see a lot of Carson hate, I actually warmed up to her by the end, who I didn't really care for too much was Greta!

All of the other Peaches grew on me by the end as well-

As for Max, I agree with what others have said, no way she could have joined the Peaches, I like how they showed her own path, but her character got on my nerves more than Carson, I could only tolerate her for the most part because of her Father and my favorite character of the show...CLANCE! she was the bomb! sooo funny, we needed more Clance on screen!!!!!!!

I don't think Amazon has said yet if this show is renewed or canceled, not a good sign.