Ruth and Sam

[DianeDobbler]

I thought I'd throw a couple of these topics in here (Ruth and Debbie is next).

The Ruth/Sam thing feels very "Mad Men" to me in the way Brie talks about it. She has very legit reasons for putting on the brakes, but also I get the feeling it's big in spoiler territory so she wants to keep it under cover as much as possible. She steers away, the way Elisabeth Moss kept steering away from Peggy and Stan ("He's like her brother! It was so weird kissing Jay!") so as not to prompt any perverse contrary moves by Matthew Weiner. While I'm pretty sure GLOW's show runners are more mature than Weiner, the principle applies. I saw a post-S1 interview with her and Maron where she said they both fought to do the shared cigarette in the car en route to the abortion, and then after a million takes of huffing the unpleasant herbal cigarette she was all "Wtf did I do that!" I think she wants it but she doesn't want to jump into some on and off again, will they won't they spiral. Her idea of waiting til S5 (and by then the chemistry may have petered out anyhow rendering it all moot) sounds about right to me if you don't want it to become the THING in the story to which Attention must always be paid. Seeing as how, as Maron said, we already have one of those (Ruth and Debbie).

About that cigarette scene - Ruth has a car. Why did she need someone to drive her to the health clinic for the abortion? Why couldn't she have driven herself, rested up in one of the wellness rooms afterwards or what not, or gone home. Failing that, a couple of words to Sam about needing company would have been nice. Instead it was taken for granted - "She's getting an abortion! And she doesn't have anyone else to call!"

Eh. Then don't call anyone.

And, while it was very nice of Sam to arrange for Ruth to win the crown in the final episode, why was she in costume when she was co-directing and not performing that night?

[Loandbehold]

11 minutes ago, DianeDobbler said:

And, while it was very nice of Sam to arrange for Ruth to win the crown in the final episode, why was she in costume when she was co-directing and not performing that night?

I think she probably had a role to play in the "wedding," so she had to be in costume.

[Totale]

Every time Ruth and Sam start to exchange looks we shout "no" and throw things at the screen.  He's about twice her age and gross.  Please don't go there.

[mehtotheworld]

On 8/1/2018 at 11:23 AM, Totale said:

Every time Ruth and Sam start to exchange looks we shout "no" and throw things at the screen.  He's about twice her age and gross.  Please don't go there.

That’s exactly where I am. Every time it started to veer in that direction, I cringed. He just seems to play a similar role in Ruth’s life as in Justine’s, unwilling mentor of sorts, with the added bonus of working well together and putting a better product together than apart. I just don’t see the romantic connection/chemistry. 

The camera guy is much more of an equal romantic partner, especially after seeing Sam treat Ruth like shit in the beginning of the second season. Sam’s more like the skeevy uncle than the love interest. No thanks to any sort of romance between them. I love romances, I’m usually the kind of person to cheer them on, but I’m just not seeing that here. 

With that rant out of the way, I do love their friendship and professional relationship, especially when he would make comments about her being hated in the first season. He’s not there to care about your feelings, he’ll tell you the truth to get the best out of you, etc. It’s an interesting dynamic that really doesn’t need a gross romance tacked on. 

Edited August 11, 2018 by mehtotheworld

[Guest]

Agreed @mehtotheworld! I'm a big fan of weird/unexpected sexual tension and not necessarily opposed to it across power dynamics in the right context,  but Ruth/Sam feels too father/daughter to me, even if they tried to channel some of that paternal energy to Justine (who he ironically also tried to bang, ick). More than that, Ruth seems to finally have a healthy, reciprocated relationship with Camera Guy, so it'd be unfortunate if she threw that away and regressed to pursue another toxic relationship as an extension of her misguided savior complex with Sam. Continuing with the Mad Men theme, they also have shades of Peggy/Don, which also teetered on ambiguously romantic at times but never quite went there.