*Minor spoilers below*

Glow is a show that has become more confident with each season. While the first season had its heart in the right place, it was in the dramatic weight of the second season where it earned its championship belt (bad wrestling pun intended). This season continues that trend but focuses more on being an examination of life for women in the eighties than ever before. This creates a different flavour for the show as the wrestling itself is pushed to the background.

In previous seasons, Glow was a show about a group of ambitious actresses trying to make a successful wrestling TV show with a female only cast. This season changes the format as the ladies are now performing live every night in Las Vegas. The repetitive nature of their live show means that the eighties sports movie vibe from previous seasons has been lost. This allows the show to focus on what it has always been about which is the challenges facing women struggling to succeed in a world that favours men.

On that front, this season is much more of a character study as Ruth (Alison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin) continue to be the main focus through their personal and professional struggles. Brie, Gilpin and the cast at large do an excellent job of portraying a range of well-rounded fleshed out characters who are really this show’s selling point. While the range of characters and representation in the cast has always been refreshing, Marc Maron’s Sam continues to be endlessly grumpy yet always likeable.

For me, Glow works best as a show which uses its retro eighties setting to provide an ultimately modern perspective on how women are treated in show-business. In the same way that last season touched on Me Too, this season challenges female stereotypes. This comes to the fore as Debbie openly struggles with being a career woman and her role as a mother while her son is on the other side of the country.

There are some minor issues as the plot can be loose and lacking in direction at the best of times. This can be mainly seen when characters repeatedly fall out and make amends in the space of an episode or so. Yet, Glow continues to excel in its third season as it succeeds as an upbeat comedy that sneaks some thought-provoking ideas through the backdoor. Fingers crossed that it will be back for its fourth season.

Image Credit: Glow TV show logo.png, Netflix, Attribution – ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0), some rights reserved.

Disclaimer Notice: Any thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely my own. Any images (copyrighted or otherwise) have been used according to Creative Commons and if needed, have been referenced to the best of my knowledge.

© 2020 Kelly’s Film Guide