With TV Club 10, we point you toward the 10 episodes that best represent a TV series, classic or modern. They might not be the 10 best episodes, but they’re the 10 episodes that’ll help you understand what the show’s all about.The pilot of Netflix’s GLOW ends with soap star Debbie Eagan (Betty Gilpin) storming into an early rehearsal for a women’s professional wrestling league and (both verbally and physically) confronting her best friend, Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), for sleeping with her husband. While witnessing this confrontation, director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) instantly imagines this confrontation in the wrestling ring, under the bright lights and in front of a raucous crowd—gloriously set to Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).” In that moment, real life becomes pro wrestling, and for these characters—and the ensemble surrounding them—pro wrestling becomes an integral part of their real lives.Created by showrunners Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch and executive produced by Jenji Kohan, GLOW was a heavily fictionalized take on the real-life professional women’s wrestling show and cult phenomenon from the 1980s, G.L.O.W. (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling). The phrase “inspired by” often does a lot of heavy lifting, but in the case of GLOW, the approach made a tremendous amount of sense: As a story initially about jealousy, betrayal, and self-worth, it was only natural to tell it through the backdrop of a world where backstabbing, politicking, and manipulation were the norm, despite the collaborative process. And that world just so happened to be professional wrestling in the ‘80s.Plus, GLOW tapped into something that pro-wrestling fans have long known: The drama behind the curtain is often even juicier than the predetermined drama in the ring and on the screen. Think of it like truth being stranger (and also even more contentious and cutthroat) than fiction.The first two seasons of GLOW follow a ragtag group of misfit underdogs scraping to get by and ignoring the harsh realities of their lifestyle. (The third season is technically a success story, but what that success means is a far cry away from what anyone involved expected.) It’s not just about wanting to be a performer and end up on television, but wanting to be a wrestler and be taken as seriously as you can in what’s considered an unserious world—especially as a female wrestler, a niche within a niche. The sexism, the racism, the desperation, the demoralization—that’s all there in GLOW (much like it especially was in pro wrestling in the ‘80s) from moment one. But what’s also there is the series’ ability to find both the truth and the humor in all of that.While the inciting incident for GLOW isn’t exactly the funniest situation to ever appear in a half-hour comedy, GLOW still ultimately succeeded in being just that: an actual comedy. As the discussion of what truly constitutes as a comedy or just a half-hour drama is revived occur over and over again, it’s fascinating to look back at a show—a prestige series on a major streaming platform—like GLOW and see how the television landscape has learned (or not learned) from it. Here, to mark the show’s final season dropping on August 9, 2019, are 10 episodes of GLOW that made for that special blend—that stellar tag team, if you will—of prestige comedy and drama.“Pilot” (season 1, episode 1)[caption id="attachment_1854881850" align="alignnone" width="854"] GLOW (Photo: Erica Parise/Netflix)[/caption]One thing the GLOW pilot does immediately is set the tone of the series as both soul-crushing and funny. (Depending on the scene, GLOW was either a soul-crushingly funny show or a funnily soul-crushing show. Max’s Hacks has followed in GLOW’s footsteps in this regard, albeit with a glossier approach.) As a struggling actor not just looking for work but substantial work, Ruth is desperation personified. This is contrasted by the success story of Debbie, who was able to walk away from a starring role on a soap to have a baby. Nothing is going Ruth’s way when the series begins, to the point where she’s even mugged by a gang of children who add insult to injury by calling her a “Pert Plus-looking bitch,” a funnily soul-crushing moment if ever there was one.But in that desperation, Ruth finds herself at the G.L.O.W. auditions among the likes of an assortment of women who also mostly have no business being in a wrestling ring. Like a middle-aged single mother who’s ready for her second act in life. Or a stuntwoman who believes it’s her turn to be the leading lady. Or a Hollywood party girl who just wants to have another crazy story to tell. Or the daughter of a wrestling legend who has to lie to her family. And from there, the world of GLOW opens up to tell these and the other characters’ stories in both real and hilarious ways.“Debbie Does Something” (season 1, episode 5)“Debbie Does Something” is actually quite the packed episode of GLOW. It features the introduction of Ruth’s eventual wrestling gimmick (the Soviet heel Zoya the Destroya), a mini-teen rom-com in the form of Justine (Britt Baron) and the pizza delivery boy Billy Offal, and, of course, the major moment everyone remembers from the episode: Debbite realizing that pro wrestling is just a soap opera.Each G.L.O.W. Girl has their own reason for coming aboard the lady-wrestling train, but in the case of Debbie, she was the one pursued, the one brought in to be the star of the show. She didn’t have a eureka moment about pro wrestling in the pilot like Ruth did, and she doesn’t “need” G.L.O.W. like any of the other girls do. Her realization finally comes when she goes with Carmen (Britney Young) and Melrose (Jackie Tohn) to her first-ever pro-wrestling match. Debbie knows soap operas. Debbie gets soap operas. Debbie cares about soap operas. So in understanding that wrestling is just a more violent, visceral soap opera, Debbie is able to have a shift in mindset. And with that shift, finally, the star of the show has an investment in it. And she learns that in order to truly be said star, she needs a great heel—even if she’s not yet ready to accept that her great heel is Ruth. (It is unfortunate to be reminded of disgraced pro wrestler Joey Ryan’s existence in this episode, but at least he only plays a small part as local wrestling heel Mr. Monopoly.)“Live Studio Audience” (season 1, episode 7)[caption id="attachment_1854881851" align="alignnone" width="854"] GLOW (Photo: Erica Parise/Netflix)[/caption]“Live Studio Audience” is an episode of television that includes both a legitimate ‘80s training montage (set to the musical stylings of Stan Bush) and a hilarious (and hilariously taboo) tag-team match between two Black women (stuntwoman Cherry [Sydelle Noel] and single mother Tammé [Kia Stevens]), channeling their inner Pam Griers and a pair of dummies (hairdressers Dawn [Rebekka Johnson] and Stacey [Kimmy Gatewood], the comic relief and essentially to GLOW what the Faks are to The Bear, who are convinced to wrestle as Ku Klux Klan members). And it happens after this question is uttered: “What if Bill Cosby gets mad at us?”Anything can happen in professional wrestling. So as G.L.O.W.’s first official live show and test run before they film for TV, naturally, things were never going to run smoothly. They don’t have anyone to do the entrance music for the girls, so Sheila the She Wolf (Gayle Rankin) ends up on keyboard, performing the only song she knows how to play. The crowd they’re able to get is a bunch of randos and weirdos who don’t care about wrestling and really aren’t given a reason to. Until Dawn and Stacey—whose typical gimmick, the Beatdown Biddies, sees them as old-lady stereotypes—come out in their white sheets and proclaim, “Segregation forever!” that is. This is the moment that gets the people going, provides some side-splittingly dry commentary from an unprepared Sam, and actually turns things around for the live show. It ultimately doesn’t get Cherry and Tammé out of playing their stereotypical characters Junkchain and Welfare Queen, respectively, but it’s a moment that transcends the awkwardness that precedes it and paves the way for the main event (that, unfortunately, has its own snags).“Money’s In The Chase” (season 1, episode 10)The season-one finale is a true main event and the culmination of all these characters’ hard work, as it centers on the first live taping of G.L.O.W. While the training montage in “Live Studio Audience” (and the bits of the match we got before it abruptly ended) promised that “Liberty Belle” Debbie and “Zoya the Destroya” Ruth would tear the roof off the place with their epic battle of good versus evil, “Money’s In The Chase” finally delivered it. And though Ruth and Debbie’s friendship was a central piece of GLOW, the series wasn’t hesitant to point out that reconciliation—if ever—would be a long way away. By this episode, there is no reconciliation. But in the ring, there’s trust. And in that trust, there’s the ability to make magic and storytelling gold.At the same time, after a season of these women learning to accept and be their, often times, offensively stereotyped wrestling characters, this is also the episode in which Arthie (Sunita Mani)—who is saddled with a terrorist character, Beirut, which is right up there with Cambodian character Jenny’s (Ellen Wong) Chinese heel Fortune Cookie in terms of classically xenophobic-based wrestling gimmicks—learns and experiences the real-life effect of playing a fake bad guy in the world of pro wrestling, especially when it’s race-related. There is nothing funny about the slurs thrown at Arthie in this moment or the things thrown at her simply for existing, which even end up hitting sweet summer child Rhonda (Kate Nash)—a.k.a. Britannica, the smartest woman in the world—in the process. But unfortunately, it underlines the reality of the situation, even as the show highlights the humor in how ridiculously over-the-top gimmicks like this were. “Mother Of All Matches” (season
