GLOW ​‘Viking Funer­al’ review – These girls are out to do more than have fun

If GLOW​’s first sea­son was an appe­tis­er, its sec­ond is set to serve a main dish of ful­ly-fleshed char­ac­ters whose group dynam­ics add the nec­es­sary spice to cul­mi­nate in a gourmet meal. While we already wit­nessed pow­er trips and pet­ti­ness and an equal­ly real sense of team spir­it through­out the first sea­son, sea­son two open­er ​‘Viking Funer­al’ sets us up for a deep­er under­stand­ing of its indi­vid­ual char­ac­ters and their rela­tion­ship to this show. They’re still not exchang­ing BFF bracelets, but their mutu­al goal is all they need to pull togeth­er as a team.

While Sam (Marc Maron), their self-sab­o­tag­ing direc­tor, is try­ing to snort away his col­lege-day-flash­backs in prepa­ra­tion of the first day of shoot­ing, Ruth (Ali­son Brie) is as annoy­ing­ly eager as ever to get start­ed. Hav­ing almost lost the show to financ­ing issues, direc­to­r­i­al dis­putes and diva atti­tudes in the first sea­son, the gor­geous ladies of wrestling are tak­ing their per­for­mances very seri­ous­ly and are ready to give it their all.

They are no longer will­ing to care­ful­ly tip-toe around Sam’s frag­ile artists’ ego. Although the women – Ruth in par­tic­u­lar – have already proven their ideas to be good and wor­thy, they are not treat­ed as such by the male exec­u­tives financ­ing and direct­ing the show. Look­ing to shut her up when she launch­es at him with anoth­er (bril­liant) idea, Sam puts Ruth in charge of the girls while he designs the set.

Imag­in­ing her­self to be the Alma to his Hitch­cock, Ruth ignores Sam’s insis­tence that they do not need title cred­its and heads off to the mall with the girls and a cam­era­man in tow. What ensues is the mak­ing of a title sequence straight out of a com­i­cal­ly aggres­sive ​’80s pop-punk music video direct­ed by Ruth. Con­trary to the Girls just Wan­na Have Fun vibe, how­ev­er, it goes to show that these girls are out to do more than have fun – they want to kick ass in what they do and get the recog­ni­tion they deserve.

Sure, they imag­ined them­selves on a set far more glam­orous than GLOW could ever be, play­ing real char­ac­ters with intri­cate back­sto­ries, but they are also aware of the fact these camp begin­nings could lead them to a brighter future. They’re in it togeth­er and despite not hav­ing deeply bond­ed as a group, they know how to throw an unfor­tu­nate new­com­er off with a seri­ous ​“you can’t sit with us vibe”.

Sea­son one lacked char­ac­ter devel­op­ment when it came to any­one oth­er than Ruth and Deb­bie (Bet­ty Gilpin), and of course Sam and Bash (Chris Low­ell), but it looks as though a stronger focus on the GLOW group dynam­ics will reveal more about what brought each glam­orous lady to the set in the first place. The high­ly relat­able char­ac­ters and onscreen chem­istry we have come to expect from any show with Jen­ji Kohan’s name on it is not some­thing GLOW relies on.

Instead, it is draw­ing the audi­ence into the expe­ri­ence of 14 women who were, for the most part, com­plete strangers to one anoth­er before enter­ing the ring and shar­ing hotel rooms. They are still estab­lish­ing hier­ar­chies, find­ing the artistry in their roles and the love for their wrestling part­ners. These rela­tion­ships are build­ing at a real­is­tic pace and it’s rather refresh­ing to see such a nat­ur­al depic­tion of what it real­ly means to be thrown into a group of com­pet­ing women.

The GLOW girls want to show they real­ly are a team and they are not replace­able – but upon chal­leng­ing Sam’s ideas with title cred­its he con­sid­ers ​“cheesy girly bull­shit”, he is quick to remind them he is still very much in a posi­tion of pow­er. But he’s going to have to fight for it. Turns out the GLOW ladies are as dri­ven as their char­ac­ters are ridicu­lous, and if they’re going to fol­low Lib­er­ty Belle’s lead and recog­nise their true worth, it might be Sam who will no longer be wel­comed at their table.