GLOW and Outlander

What else is going on with my Netflix watching now that my wife Andrea and I have finally finished Jessica Jones?

 

GLOW  

 

A week after season 3 dropped, I finally watched the first two episodes of the season.  

 

After two seasons for struggling for success on television and ultimately failing, the Glorious Ladies Of Wrestling launch their new direction as a live show on the Las Vegas strip. And it looks like for once, things are looking up for the GLOW gang.

 

Except for the space shuttle Challenger.

 

In the season opener, Ruth and Debbie are doing a bit on a local TV show promoting the debut of their new show. In costume and in character as Zoya the Destroyer and Liberty Belle, their schtick gets interrupted by breaking news of the space shuttle Challenger exploding shortly after lift-off.

 

Creating a very awkward moment for Ruth and Debbie.

 

Kind of awkward for me too. I remember with horrible clarity the day of the Challenger tragedy. It was kind of weird seeing history that I personally remember being recreated like that.

 

That night is the scheduled launch of the Glorious Ladies Of Wrestling  life show in Las Vegas. Should the show go on?  

 

It does go on. As it turns out, it is a much needed cathartic release under the shadow of tragedy.

 

Episode 2 is a sort of day in the life story that follows various characters through a day off. Sam and Ruth spend a day together. It’s a fun day for them both which prompts Sam to confess to Ruth that he is in love with her. Ruth is a bit weirded out by that. So am I. We’ve come a long way from Season 1 Episode 1 when Sam could barely tolerate having Ruth in the same room. 

 

Outlander 

 

While we are in a “droughtlander” between seasons (Season 5 is not expected to drop until 2020), I have an opportunity to catch up on the beginning of the show.

 

I came to Outlander the day season 3 premiered and I got caught up in the last half dozen episodes of the season 2 marathon that preceded it.  I arrived to find Claire more or less acclimated to life in the 18^th century and having a more or less comfortable rapport with Jamie. But what was Outlander like when all of this was new and not fully formed? Netflix has Season 1 and this Sunday, I took time out to watch episode 1 of the 1^st season.

 

It’s a bit weird.

 

The episode spends most of it’s hour long length in the 20^th century, 6 months following the end of World War II in Europe. If you come into this episode with any immediate expectation of “bring on the time travel” or “bring on the highlanders”, you might find your patience sorely tested. Rather, much attention is paid to Claire and her husband Thomas Randall, laying the foundation of what life is like for Claire at that point in time in the 20^th century. We have a full understanding of what Claire has and also, sadly, what she feels is missing. This is important to establish just what Claire stands to lose when she becomes stranded 200 years in the past and, remarkably, what she stands to gain. 

 

Claire’s arrival in the 18^th century occurs late in the hour but she quickly encounters her husband’s ancestor, Black Jack Randall, a man who looks like her husband but sorely lacking in his grace and compassion. And she falls in with a band of Scotsmen which includes an injured man named Jamie. During the short time this sequence takes, Claire sets his broken shoulder and digs a bullet out of him. Claire is confused by where (and when) she finds herself but she still has her wits about her.

 

By the time I first began watching Outlander, Claire has had considerable experience navigating this world of the past. Seeing her from the beginning, lacking that experience is an interesting perspective. But it’s clear from the outset that Claire has a unique strength and wisdom that will carry her through gaining that experience.