S02.E08: The Good Twin 2018.06.29

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

It's the moment you've been waiting for: a straight to the airwaves episode of GLOW, complete with dream sequences, music videos, and epic wrestling.

[ketose]

This is actually a really good episode. The production values are a little better than the original GLOW, but they captured both the events leading up to the episode and the structure of a 1980's episode of the original. It's even in the old 4:3 aspect ratio.

[thuganomics85]

Having an entire episode basically showing what an old original GLOW episode use to look like was a risky idea, but I was loving.  Even if I never saw one, it had all the production values, cheesiness, and craziness I would have expected from an 80s cable wrestling show.  In particular, the storyline for the "Black Magic" vs. "Britannica" feud really comes off like ones I've actually seen in wrestling shows.

I'm guessing the song about kidnapping was suppose to be take on the infamous "We are the World" song?

Hey, Annabella Sciorra!  She was just on Luke Cage last week!  I'm guessing she's going to end up being Justine's mother?

[Lady Calypso]

That was fun. I didn't know what I was expecting but that wasn't awful. I don't know anything about actual wrestling programs, let alone 80s wrestling programs, so I was taken aback by this episode, more than anything. It was cheesy, but in a good way. I really liked the Black Magic vs Britannica feud; that was surprisingly hilarious. 

Also, they found a good way to explain Ruth's injury with the twin stuff. 

I also like the twist ending. 

[Nordly Beaumont]

14 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I'm guessing the song about kidnapping was suppose to be take on the infamous "We are the World" song?

Yeah, for sure! And it was such a deep song:

Don't kidnap

Kidnapping is wrong to do

Don't kidnap

Kidnappers we're begging you

Let the children run and play and the ones you've got, let them get away

Then go find something else to do.

Wise words... wise words.

[snowwhyte]

I loved the kidnapping song and I'm assuming Kate Nash deliberately sang badly since she has a great voice.

[CletusMusashi]

This was great! First episode I've watched sober turns out to be perhaps the zaniest one they've made yet, so I actually laughed even more than I usually do. I'll be honest here: I watched the original "GLOW" because it was on in front of me and I was a horny teenager, and it had a bunch of scantily clad girls on it. In other words, I watched it for the exact same reasons I watched "Solid Gold." But I really didn't think the (original's) jokes were funny or songs/ideas were clever. It didn't even get to the "so stupid it's funny" level very much. Mostly it was just "regular stupid, but I'll keep watching this anyway because internet porn hasn't been invented yet." Hell, back when I was watching original GLOW, my family didn't even have a VCR!

This incarnation around, they did a good job of capturing the original spirit while actually doing it much better. I think that, for the most part, they've kept the balance of "'real' show" versus "show within a show" exactly right. But for this point in the series run, this was due. The story was set for it, I as a viewer was set for it, and holy shit were the writers and actors set for it!

Usually I watch the news with my morning coffee. This was much more fun.

[BigPaul25]

Umm, I don’t think floppy disks go up there.

[Nellise]

I hated this episode. I don't want to watch "bad" tv even if it's done on purpose (I can't stand the Good Neighbor SNL sketches). The previous episodes were great and this ground things to a halt and added Justine parent drama as a capper just to make me dislike it even more.

[benteen]

13 hours ago, BigPaul25 said:

Umm, I don’t think floppy disks go up there.

Very true.  On the show, it's mentioned once or twice that Glow is a show for kids but this was a reminder that it's a late-night cable show as well.

Very, very fun episode.  I love that they did an episode like this.  And yeah, "Don't Kidnap" is a surprisingly catchy song.

[mtlchick]

That goat was asking to be eaten at the end.  Not cool, dude!

 

That was Velveeta level cheesy and yet I laughed all the way through.   I liked that everyone had their own bit in it. 

[ketose]

On 7/1/2018 at 7:43 PM, BigPaul25 said:

Umm, I don’t think floppy disks go up there.

Certainly not the 5 1/4" disks.

[BigPaul25]

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the Russian gentleman at Olga’s was Russell, right?

[ketose]

1 hour ago, BigPaul25 said:

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the Russian gentleman at Olga’s was Russell, right?

I believe so. Bash was the Mannequin brought to life and Sam was the Doorman from the "Makeover" video. I liked that stuff because it was very much in keeping with the idea of a low budget show where the occasional male cast member is drawn from the crew. Also, if you have a goat for one bit, you might as well use him for a Sheila sketch as well.

[JakeyJokes]

I was too young for the original GLOW, but not too young for WOW, which was David McLain (the inspiration for Bash)'s attempt to reboot GLOW. It bombed, in part because a wrestling show has to reflect its time and can't be "retro". This episode hammered that concept, that what probably worked so well in the late '80s, won't work in 2000. 

When pro wrestling was at its peak in the late '90s, WWF won the ratings war in part to a very sexualized and provocative show. But at the time, American culture was that way, with the Lewinsky scandal dominating the news, the rise of cable television, Jerry Springer being on three times a day.

[tennisgurl]

Oh my God, I loved everything about that. Like, that was awesome. I know very little about original GLOW (beyond what I googled when I started to watch the show) but I have wanted for awhile to know more about what this actual show is, beyond the wrestling bits we see, and this looks like it lines up pretty well with the original show. A bit more of a parody than what the show seemed to be, but the goofy jokes, cheesy story lines, and hokey sketches seemed pretty spot on. Especially how the "good" characters all seem to live together and hang out or something when they arent fighting random evil people? Love it. 

I always loved seeing all the non wrestlers who work on the show popping up in supporting roles, especially Sam and his dorky dancing as the bouncer/DJ. It really nails the low budget feel the show is supposed to have, that basically everyone working on the show has to pull double duty because they cant afford to hire more actors. 

Bash cant clap in time. 

[QueerGirrl]

This is the best episode of the series so far for me.  It was all the craziness and cheesiness that I remember from GLOW back in the day.   Loved Zoya singing Don't Kidnap along with everyone else.

[Danny Franks]

Yeah, not a fan of this one. I could tell within the first scene that it wasn't going to do it for me. I enjoyed the wrestling scenes, with Bash presenting. But I didn't like the crappy sitcom parody scenes. It wasn't funny, and while I can happily accept a few minutes of not-funny sitcom parody, I don't want to watch half an hour of it, no matter how accurate it is. Simply aping something doesn't make it funny.

Did this follow the format of the old episodes of GLOW? I don't know. The description of the show mentions that "music video clips and comedy skits were emphasized over the action in the ring", but if that's so, then the show we've been watching has not been a faithful adaptation of the original premise. We've seen nothing of them filming skits or character work, outside things they've done in the ring, which is something they really should have at least mentioned.

Cherry's new character is pretty great, at least. I remember being terrified of Papa Shango, in the WWF when I was a kid, and this witch character seems very similar, the perfect sort of cheesy character for professional wrestling in the 80s and early 90s.

[dubbel zout]

I liked this episode, but I don't think we need to ever see another one like it. It was useful (don't mean that as negatively as it might sound) to see what the women were working toward, but I think a lot of the show-within-the-show kind of hopped the track. As funny as "Don't Kidnap" was, it also felt way out of place. But maybe the original GLOW was like that? I never saw it.

[Loandbehold]

The original GLOW had little skits throughout the episode, but I don't recall an entire episode devoted to a single story outside the ring. Also, no music video like a "We Are the World" parody.

[loki567]

When I first heard about this episode, I was expecting to like a lot more than I did. They went all out to replicate a cheesy 80s wrestling show but at the end of it, it was still a cheesy 80s wrestling show. 

I appreciate the effort and the ambition to do something completely different from what they've done before, but I hoping this is the last "show within a show," episode they do. 

[spaceytraci1208]

On 7/10/2018 at 9:38 AM, Danny Franks said:

Cherry's new character is pretty great, at least. I remember being terrified of Papa Shango, in the WWF when I was a kid, and this witch character seems very similar, the perfect sort of cheesy character for professional wrestling in the 80s and early 90s.

Papa Shango putting a curse on The Ultimate Warrior was where I quit wrestling as a kid for the first time lol. With all the other foolishness they served up, that was the event that made me roll my eyes and say "This is stupid" LOL

[Kel Varnsen]

I didn't love it but I respect them for trying it. I thought it would have worked better if they had made it so there were maybe 3 storylines leading up to matches instead of 2 because some parts really dragged. If they had cut the first music video and Beirut's dream of being a dancer it would have helped.

On 7/4/2018 at 4:14 AM, JakeyJokes said:

When pro wrestling was at its peak in the late '90s, WWF won the ratings war in part to a very sexualized and provocative show. But at the time, American culture was that way, with the Lewinsky scandal dominating the news, the rise of cable television, Jerry Springer being on three times a day.

When WWF was in it's peak they also realized that good storylines can be more of a draw than good matches. Hell the biggest ratings a segment in Monday Night Raw ever got was for a 20 minute bit that The Rock and Mick Foley did in 1999, that was The Rock This is Your Life. It had no actual wrestling and got their best ratings ever (and it was ridiculous but also awesome). So yea storylines are super important, even silly ones.

[DianeDobbler]

I enjoyed it. It kept moving. If any of the "side" storylines had dragged, it would have been annoying, as the truth is I'm not interested in all the women. In fact, Arthie and Yolanda are two of the biggest snoozes for me, but I enjoyed their dance, particularly Yolanda's "develope'" with pointed toe while wearing a tux. For me the hit of the episode was Debbie surprised in the shower - her delayed covering of her chest - you could see the character of Liberty Belle "realizing", and you could see the actress Debbie Eagan (played by Betty Gilpin) being awesome with her timing, and I also loved Griefercise.

[chocolatine]

I *loved* this episode! The Don't Kidnap song was everything, such a perfect parody of the cheesy charity songs that were all the rage at the time, like We Are The World and Do They Know It's Christmas. And Ruth's increasingly outlandish Russian stereotypes were hilarious as well. I loved that the episode was straight-up fun and we got a break from the dramatic arcs - except for the very end, I guess.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The show footage was hilarious. Loved that Junkchain 2.0's complaint during Griefercize was that Charles in Charge got canceled. The music videos were totally 80s as were the crazy storylines. Sheila going on a date with Olga's goat to see Cats and then eating him was creepy but funny. I'm glad they brought back Reggie! I hope Ruth made Sam apologize to her. And yay for Arthie finally getting to do something besides be Beirut the terrorist.

I appreciated all of the 80s homages and details like the Tab can and Welfare Queen using Mr. T's "I pity the fool" line in her doll commercial. Hopefully the girls are getting a cut of all the merchandise they're selling (cue Spaceballs "merchandising, merchandising, merchandising!").

[The Crazed Spruce]

Just a reminder that even though all of this season's episodes were posted at the same time, not everyone watches them at the same pace Any plot details from later in the season are to be left behind spoiler tags, or better yet, left out of the earlier episode threads entirely.

[ganesh]

I've been gunning down the show because I was flying cross country. I cannot honestly get enough of Brie doing the ridiculous Russian accent. The whole identical twin story line is absolutely 80s. 

AND THE SONG. *dies*

Edited December 29, 2018 by ganesh

[aradia22]

Loved the opening skit. So many wonderfully stupid choices. 

"I must board the next goat for America!" "Next goat? Don't you mean boat?" "What am I? Made of rubles? I have only money for goat journey!" XD

Aww, I'm happy to see them using the title sequence they shot in the mall.

It's amazing that they haven't dropped the Thomas bit. LOL, how did I not see that Thomas would be Bash?

I am surprised Sam went for all of this. Sure, skits on a wrestling show are somewhat unconventional but this feels like a lot of "girly bullshit" for him to be okay with. Especially the music video. Of course, I adored it. The Makeover video looks were FIRE.

The stuff in the Britannica/Black Magic fight with the instant replays and the skits really making it more than just the fight do feel like something Sam would be cool with. That and the Welfare Queen stop motion commercial. (Who is making those dolls?)

I'm not sure if I believe Sheila would participate in all the dumb skits so willingly but it was nice to see the actress have some fun. Her comic timing is great.

Yay, Arthie finally got to play something else in that dream sequence. The dancing was actually pretty decent. 

This was a great way to reintroduce Vicky.

I will definitely be rewatching this episode.