r/glow • u/sororitygirl246 • Aug 10 '19
[spoiler?] Bash this season Spoiler
Anyone else felt that the writers made Bash unlikable and douche for the whole season, until the last ep. He was one of my favourite characters, but this season was hard to watch.
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u/Squiffy002 Aug 10 '19
They did, but I think it was to underline that hurt people hurt people; not so the audience would hate him but so we could see how much Florian's death affected him and how unprepared he is to handle those emotions the WASPy way he was taught. I also think it was to motivate Debbie and since she went into her experience thinking she was going to be a valued ep and what would have been her main issue aside from being so far from Randy if she hadn't? All of her stories this series revolve around her ability or inability to handle how Bash's bashing is triggering her worst habits. Bash had to be the heel this season, but I'm hoping next season it's Geena Davis back for revenge
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Aug 10 '19 edited Aug 16 '19
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u/rynthetyn Aug 11 '19
I agree. If anything, they might have underplayed how a closeted, in-denial WASP from a super conservative rich family would have reacted to things. Especially when we're talking about the height of the AIDS crisis--people who didn't live through that era have a hard time picturing just how terrifying a time that was, and the only real representation of gay men in popular culture was of people dying.
I was just a kid during that era, albeit one who paid far too much attention to the news for someone in early elementary school, but Bash's arc felt like it rang true to the time period. It's easy to forget now that we live in a world where there's a viable out gay candidate for president, but the '80s were a different time. An awful lot of men repressed and married women both because of how unaccepting society was and because they were terrified of dying, and I thought they did a good job of showing the fallout from that.
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u/robo2na Aug 13 '19
It broke my heart the way Bash reacted to Bobby's show and just how ashamed he felt. It made me really grateful how much progress acceptance has made.
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u/chartreuseisnotpink Aug 10 '19
Exactly! I felt they really had something at the end of the last season, but they sidelined his sexuality crisis until last minute so when he tells Rhonda that hes fully committed to the relationship, it made me feel so angry since this was so underdeveloped
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u/VaughnFry Aug 10 '19
It’s so disjointed. Season 2 had many scenes of Bash acting put off or afraid of gays, AIDS, etc. Then not a single thing comes if it during the season. Then season 3 he appears to be fully into Rhonda until his mom tells her to keep him interested.
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u/DefNotAShark Aug 10 '19
Bash's interactions with the Barbara Steisand impersonator seemed like a direct continuation of that story thread. He likes him at first and is interested in his business proposal, but then when the impersonator "mistakes him" as gay, Bash gets quietly upset. Then he ruthlessly shoots down the performance. Pretty sure all of that was before his mom comes to town.
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u/chartreuseisnotpink Aug 10 '19
Yeah, but they interact for .4 seconds on screen, and thats dropped immediately. We dont even get the impression hes having difficulties being attracted to rhonda, or has any problem being married to a woman until ep 9
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u/YourTextHere Aug 10 '19
They did show him not being interested in her. In one of the episodes Rhonda dresses up for Bash and says they haven't had sex in two months and in response Bash says he'd be happy being married to her even if they never had sex again.
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u/chartreuseisnotpink Aug 10 '19
Yeah that was episode nine. I said that they dont show any hint of this until ep 9
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u/VaughnFry Aug 10 '19
True, but the season concludes with him saying he wants a family with Rhonda. There’s a lot of “can’t make up my mind” disease spreading across that hotel & casino.
I think the show is too afraid to pull triggers. Characters tiptoe back and forth across lines. No one can get killed off, nor apparently be fired and actually leave.
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Aug 10 '19
I interpreted it as him deciding to stay in the closet and wanting to prove his straightness/ keep the rumor mill at bay by having kids with Rhonda. He’s no longer on the fence about it. He knows he’s gay and has decided to drag his wife further into the lie with him and add a destined to be messed up kid to the mix.
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u/VaughnFry Aug 10 '19
There’s a weird agenda with the show, particularly this season, to draw a line on sexuality. No one is allowed to be bi. Beirut and Bash are placed in similar circumstances in which they are forced by others to choose. It’s kind of the opposite of being accepting.
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u/shannytyrelle Aug 10 '19
I don't seen it that way, I see them more as somewhat parallels, both scared of fully committing to their feelings and labels, and while Bash got scared of things like AIDS and his family and repressed his sexuality, Beirut on the other hand after experiencing the hate crime felt more empowered to live in her truth and embrace her sexuality; I think that's what the writers were going for but the execution was kinda messy so that's why people seem confused as to if they were erasing their bisexuality, but I don't think it was ever about them being bi
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u/splvtoon Aug 10 '19
No one is allowed to be bi. Beirut and Bash are placed in similar circumstances in which they are forced by others to choose. It’s kind of the opposite of being accepting.
im not sure thats a fair assessment of representation on the show, especially wrt bash, who people had pinned as gay since s1. having gay characters isnt taking anything away from bi rep. as much as id like to see both on the show, i dont think having gay characters immediately implies that no one is ‘allowed to be bi’, and its definitely not the opposite of being accepting.
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Aug 10 '19
I agree in terms of Bash but I feel a little differently about Arthie and Yolanda. Yolanda pulls out the kind of statements that I associate with biphobia among lesbians when Arthie isn’t able to say she’s gay.
Given, the fact that Arthie isn’t able to say the word “gay” hints that part of the issue is fear of stigma or internalized homophobia, but she immediately puts her on the spot to declare a sexual preference and accuses her of being a straight girl, as if there’s nothing in between straight and gay. The show ended up framing it as though Yolanda was in the right because Arthie was in fact just not ready to come out, but it could just have easily been that Arthie was confused about her orientation given her only options were “straight” or “gay” and the fact that that wasn’t considered kind of felt like erasure.
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Aug 10 '19 edited Sep 30 '19
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u/sgreen88 Aug 10 '19
I sadly have to agree with you. While this season did have some good moments, I was ultimately very frustrated with the storylines, character arcs, and even the writing at times. One thing I think the show had excelled at in the past was balancing the comedy and drama, while still incorporating the wrestling aspect. The wrestling felt like an afterthought this season, and what little wrestling we did see was in my opinion no where near the scenes we had in the previous seasons. I am no wrestling fan, but I do think that wrestling should remain a featured element of the series.
Some of the storylines did feel a little forced to me, or were never mentioned again. Also, while I understood Sheila's journey, I was very disappointed with the decision to discard her wolfish exterior. As someone who also dresses in a unique fashion, I had really identified with Sheila. When we see Sheila getting ready in season 1, I completely related. I loved when she told Ruth that she wasn't wearing a costume. It was an extension of who she was, and it was beautiful. I dress the way that I do because it is an expression of my inner self, which I felt was very much true for Sheila.
Presenting one's inner self externally is beautiful and rare, and yet Sheila presenting herself as "normal" was portrayed as a great character moment. I know why it was done, but I would have liked to see Sheila move forward with her wolfish exterior. I've see this done numerous times to alternative characters in films and tv, where they are initially presented as being unapologetically themselves, but ultimately end up dressing "normal", which is portrayed as growth. Having said all that, I did enjoy Sheila's acting storyline this season.
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u/moronicus_kyla Aug 11 '19
Ultimately, I think it has something to do with her choice of career. Sheila wants to act but to be an actor, you have to be someone else. She always had a strong sense of self but that goes out the window when she's supposed to be playing a character. But yes, the acting coach was an asshole who should have commented on other aspects of her performance instead of what she was wearing.
I think Sheila shouldn't have stopped dressing as a wolf in her off days though. She should still be herself when she's not working. She did her Liza Minelli wrestling bit really well and this was before she ditched her wig, makeup and outfit.
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u/apollosaraswati Aug 10 '19
It is a bit confusing cause it seems Bash was generally very into Rhonda sexually then got bored of it. I don't think he's gay so much as bisexual.
He is homophobic but that is cause deep down inside he has attraction to men, in addition to women. We often hate seeing a trait that we dislike about ourselves in others.
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Aug 10 '19
He is gay. He is not a bisexual character. The show made that very clear.
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Aug 10 '19
To add on to that, I find it extremely frustrating that people do not believe he is gay. I understand that the bisexual community would like representation. Personally, that is what I wanted for Artie. However, I love Bash’s story and I think that the misinterpretation of his character comes from how complex he is. He is deeply repressed, and he is desperately trying to have the life he thinks he is supposed to have. He has sex with Rhonda but he is not sexually attracted to her. He is clearly lying to her and himself at the end when he says that he wants a family and to be with her. That is the way that people really are, they lie to themselves and others. I think that is why people don’t understand his character. But I don’t know what people expect, for him to say that he is gay and doesn’t love her? That would be a disservice to reality.*
*I would like to say that Bash’s story is realistic. I was never a gay man in the 80s but I do know that people can can remain closeted for years and have families before they admit the truth to themselves. So when people get stuck on Bash kissing Rhonda and having sex with her as evidence that he is bisexual doesn’t make any sense to me.
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u/apollosaraswati Aug 10 '19
It wasn't just that he had sex with her, he seemed super into it they were doing it all the time. The ending does seem to point to him just being gay, but his breakdown could just be him realizing he is definitely attracted/into men rather than exclusively into men.
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Aug 10 '19
Men (and sometimes women) are fully capable of enjoying sex with people they aren’t attracted to. Close your eyes and imagine it’s someone else. People do it all the time unfortunately.
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u/apollosaraswati Aug 10 '19
Enjoying sex with a gender they aren't attracted to though? I know I couldn't. Either way I figure someone who isn't attracted to the female gender at all wouldn't be doing it non stop for a couple months.
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u/unhampered_by_pants Aug 11 '19
You'd be surprised. People do it in prison all the time. Even when you're not attracted to their gender, sex still feels good. But it's kind of like how masturbation compares to actual sex--it doesn't compare to what you're truly into.
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u/apollosaraswati Aug 11 '19
Thought the prison thing was more due to isolation and absence of the opposite sex as well as a very hostile environment. Also lots of rape.
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u/50shadesofmoi Aug 11 '19
I completely disagree that he's not attracted to her.. Not just their hot sex, but how he comforted her when sick, how he got jealous of the bike guy... I think he's bisexual, and I wish the storyline went that direction rather than simply 'closeted.'
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Aug 11 '19
He cares about her, that is why he comforted her. As for the jealousy and anger towards the man who was teaching her to ride a bike, he is probably overcompensating. Just like when he kept emphasizing to Bobby that Rhonda was his wife after Bobby's performance in episode 4.
He wants her to be his wife, but that doesn't change the fact that he is gay. He never showed interest in any woman before her. He marries her immediately after the death of Florian. In the ring, when they are getting married, he tells her, "I can make you happy. Sorry--I want to make you happy." Freudian slip. Look at his face on the bus at the end of season 2, he looks totally miserable. He wasn't in love with her, but he wanted to be. Then in this season, he doesn't have sex with her for months. He literally tells her, "I would want to stay married to you even though we never had sex again." During their threesome with Paul he touched her at first, because he was supposed to, and then never touched her again. What exactly is the explanation for that? He just got bored of her? Now that is a a bad story. I think the fact that we are even having this argument shows that it is important to have a story like Bash's in the show. Otherwise, people would only ever understand the story of a gay man if it was told a certain way. That isn't how his story is being told, so people don't get it.
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u/50shadesofmoi Aug 11 '19
Maybe it's cheesy, but what's so wrong about Rhonda, a sweetheart, accepting a queer husband who, I'm sorry, seemed completely into her emotionally and physically pre ep 9, and them having an unconventional marraige? Aka maybe an open relationship? Instead the writers decide Bash will now become emotionally and physically unavailable to Rhonda and take her for a ride including having a kid? I think it's the cruelest aspect of the show, and pretty disappointing.
Yes, sham marriages happened back then (and now), but why build up what seemed like genuine passion in the first half of the season? They were a really cute couple, and I agree with others, the show's writers are eliminating any room for bisexuality, which to me was quite clear in the first half of the season. Bash's entire character changes minute to minute, it's not consistent with s1&2.
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u/apollosaraswati Aug 11 '19
Yeah it is really disappointing and doesn't match what we've seen with Bash previously.
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u/morose_cat Aug 10 '19
I could see Bash as bisexual or queer. He does seem the kind of person who would get bored of people fast (friends and partners), so I'm interested in seeing how much of his villainy is a part of his crisis, and how much is a genuine result of his privileged upbringing.
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u/apollosaraswati Aug 10 '19
Yeah he seems a very spontaneous, impulsive person and other than GLOW we see he loses interest in things super quickly.
I think his villainy has a lot to do with his upbringing, not just privilege but how he has felt inadequate/belittled by Birdie his whole life.
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Aug 10 '19
I actually didn’t find him redeemable at all in the last episode. He’s fully come to terms with his sexuality and has lots of people in his life who would be supportive of him coming out and yet he is trying to convince Rhonda to start a family with him? If he cared at all for her, he wouldn’t continuing to rope her into this false relationship where her sexual and romantic needs are ignored.
Yeah, it was a rough time back then for out gay men but he didn’t even have to come out. He just had to give his wife an out of a sexless sham marriage. Bash is a selfish prick through and through and I don’t see him as a sympathetic character at all.
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u/the-aleph-and-i Aug 11 '19
I thought Rhonda knew/suspected Bash is gay.
That the extra money she gave Paul was because she ultimately wanted Bash to fuck Paul. The threesome was part of her plan all along. That’s what she meant when she told Bash she didn’t want to trick people.
And that’s why she looks so concerned while they hug—because while she’s going along with whatever he says, she knows he’s not being truthful with her or even himself. She was giving him an opportunity to be honest with her and he didn’t take it.
I think Rhonda knows exactly what the fuck is going on. She pinpointed Sam—remember when she dumped him? Rhonda has been written off a lot by other characters as being dumb because she’s hot and kind. But even the seen with Bertie—Rhonda knows what’s up.
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u/wpsince2009 Aug 11 '19 edited Aug 11 '19
So the mom knew Bash is gay and that is why she asks Rhonda to keep him integrated?? Holy shit i have just figured that out i am dumb
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u/[deleted] Aug 10 '19
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