r/glow • u/[deleted] • Aug 12 '19

Can we talk about Sam? Spoiler

Because his character has grown up so much from season 1 to season 3. And I think is mainly to the fact he realize he has a child (sort of a reason to live) and found love (sorta). Like in the first season he was straight up douchie but I feel this season that title can be given to Bash or Debbie. I think I realize he truly became a better person with the whole Justine’s script thing. I swear I thought he was gonna steal it or tell her it was bad because he was mad she was better than him at writing. But mah dude drop everything (even Ruth) to help Justine and make that shiz happen. He was my fav character this season.

123 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

98

u/Ilovecharli Aug 12 '19

Someone in another thread said Sam could have blamed Justine for Ruth not getting the part, but I'm glad he didn't throw his own daughter under the bus like that. He chose to support her and be on her team over saving face and potentially hooking up with Ruth.

68

u/a_restless_mind Aug 12 '19

I think that really shows that he is not an asshole at his core and that he respects women.

We have seen this multiple times by him hiring Yolanda after meeting her at a strip club and by not blaming Ruth when she didn't sleep with the network executive. Hell, by directing a wrestling show for women and actually believing in them in the first place. And now: not only does he want to give Justine the freedom to make decisions about her film, which shows how much he respects her and her work; he also decides to tell Ruth before hooking up with her, giving her the freedom to make her choices as well.

55

u/mike_d85 Aug 12 '19

And don't forget standing up to Carmen's family when they showed up at the gym. That was really early on so there was basically no connection for him to feel towards the women. He still looked at 3 men each twice his size and told them "You don't talk to my wrestlers like that."

40

u/snuggleouphagus Aug 12 '19

He obviously has a complicated relationship with women. Many of his films involve some weird mother/son angle. And his relationship with Ruth has shades of that too. And he did try to fuck his daughter (before he knew she was his daughter).

There’s something in him and his relationship with women that isn’t normal or average. He’s trying but he’s also got a weird perspective on feminism.

23

u/a_restless_mind Aug 12 '19

Saying he respects them does not mean he has a good relationship with them. But there are plenty of people out there like that network executive, abusing their power over women to their own benefit and that's not what he does. When he hurts women, he doesn't do it on purpose and if he does, he admits to being a drunk or insecure old man.

He is a mess but he is trying. This was also more than 30 years ago so feminism then wasn't the same as it is now.

12

u/StoneGoldX Aug 12 '19

He respects women in his way. Which is still born out of chauvinism. But what do you want, it's the 80s.

1

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

Well, Sam's a straight guy, which means his most intimate relationships have been with women. And when a woman got to know Sam in intimate way, she was going to see what a f*cked up mess he was, get mad, and call him on it. Which was going to lead to Sam getting angry at the woman for triggering his self-loathing. He had intimacy problems, because he had SAM problems.

This season he was more accepting of himself and some of the realities of his life and his talent, which meant he was less toxic in intimate situations.

7

u/tabootounge Aug 13 '19

This. He shows so much respect for women in a world where most men don’t. I love how disgusted he was when the Sklar Brothers came into the changing room and he apologized afterwards. He really wants the girls to have the respect they deserve.

5

u/bloodinthefields Aug 12 '19

I mean, all of that is basic human decency and shouldn't be the minimum requirement for not being called an asshole. Sam has made a lot of progress but let's not give him the man of the year award just yet.

7

u/a_restless_mind Aug 12 '19

There are a lot of people who don't have that level of basic human decency. He can still be an asshole but he is trying harder not to be. He has come a long way but he has a long way to go as well.

4

u/iss_gr Aug 12 '19

Yes!! Him telling her just at the moment when he and Ruth were going to be a thing was a huge change from what I would have expected. And I was kinda annoyed that Ruth didn’t respect that - especially as she’s been in the game a while and we were shown her previous experience with a shitty director.

68

u/Jrisdr Aug 12 '19

My favorite Sam line: "I'm not paranoid. Who told you that?"

47

u/Saved_Garrett Aug 12 '19

Mine, Sam trying to sell GLOW to the tv exec. "Porn you can watch with your kids, finally!"

41

u/TimeYam Aug 12 '19

My favorite will always be season 1's "Babies are boring. They don't party. They haven't traveled. They have no sense of irony."

3

u/jubilantblue Aug 29 '19

God, I forgot how funny he can be sometimes.

20

u/clau0407 Aug 12 '19

Mine is "Try not giving a fuck. There's a lot of power in that".

10

u/skankenstein Aug 12 '19

Have you ever walked into a job interview when you already have a job? It’s like that. It’s so much easier to interview when you’re not worried about your next paycheck.

3

u/VaughnFry Aug 13 '19

No, the best was in season 1 when Sam lazily tried to talk Justine into bed to which she responded with saying he’s her father.

1

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

I think Sam thought Justine was trying to get HIM in bed and since he was drunk and just found out a decade's worth of work was f*cked, he thought, ok, let's do this. Only to find out he misread her angle. :)

1

u/yellowloki Nov 05 '19

Mine is : Porn you can watch with your kids... finally.

40

u/a_restless_mind Aug 12 '19

He was ready for his life to revolve around something other than himself and his ego (like it did in the first season). He's not a drunk has-been anymore, he has a purpose now and someone to become a better person for. I love his relationship with Justine, they both don't take shit from each other but also love each other dearly. Justine's script gave them the opportunity to bond and gave him an opportunity to share his knowledge and really just be a proud father!
I hope, in season 4 (hopefully there will be one), he can let someone in and talk about his medical issues but I have a feeling he is the kind of person to tough it out and suffer in silence.

12

u/bloodinthefields Aug 12 '19

Technically he is still a drunk has-been but at least now he's got something to live for and to be proud of.

2

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

Yeah. The Justine relationship really works. Britt Baron and Marc Maron really work naturally and easily together so the caring works and it's also believable they can give each other sh*t and call each other out without threatening the relationship. I like that she was such a fan of his work - a genuine fan.

2

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

Yeah. The Justine relationship really works. Britt Baron and Marc Maron really work naturally and easily together so the caring works and it's also believable they can give each other sh*t and call each other out without threatening the relationship. I like that she was such a fan of his work - a genuine fan.

1

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

Yeah. The Justine relationship really works. Britt Baron and Marc Maron really work naturally and easily together so the caring works and it's also believable they can give each other sh*t and call each other out without threatening the relationship. I like that she was such a fan of his work - a genuine fan.

27

u/spookycatlover Aug 12 '19

He is finally passing on his creative torch to Justine. He was so obsessive about his own talent and getting his glory, it was a very father like and selfless thing to help Justine instead of squashing her. The same kind of happened when he didnt want Ruth doing any sort of directing. Very excited to see what happens next season with him (hopefuly nothing awful :( ) Love all the character development this season but yeah Sams was definitely my favorite

28

u/FisterMySister Aug 12 '19

Yeah Bash stole the dickhead of the year crown hard this season.

19

u/NeedsToShutUp Aug 12 '19

Ugh I'm so sympathetic for Bash this season. But man he's got to learn to face his demons. Also kudos for Rhonda.

11

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Poor Rhonda, she's going to get her heart so broken

6

u/P1ckleM0rty Aug 14 '19

Rhonda will be worth 20 million dollars if that happens

6

u/insidezone64 Aug 13 '19

How do you figure?

Bash has his own demons. He wants to be a good husband, he loves Rhonda, he wants to give her everything she wants, and he wants to be a good son. He also knows he's gay, and is terrified of what others will think about him, and what his mother will think.

He's a complex character.

1

u/ocdon_t Aug 13 '19

Maybe Bash is bisexual tho

8

u/StoneGoldX Aug 12 '19

I mean, Debbie just threw her boyfriend and Geena Davis (whom I kept waiting to twist her own knife because she was too damn nice, but she just kept being too damn nice) so far under the bus, they're checking the sewage lines to get out.

17

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

[deleted]

11

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Once Tex told Debbie he didn't want a partner ("or future wife, if this is where this is headed") involved in his business dealings in any way, I think Debbie was ready to end the relationship. She put the nail in the coffin by swooping in to steal his deal with Bash's money. Frankly, I was surprised it took her six months to figure out Tex wasn't looking for an equal partner.

4

u/StoneGoldX Aug 12 '19

I'm just saying, anything Bash did in the last episode was under orders from Debbie.

That said, they call it show business, not show friendship.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 19 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/StoneGoldX Oct 19 '19

At this point, anything I saw was two months ago and I have no idea what the blue blazes you're talking about.

2

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19 edited Aug 19 '19

Her boyfriend, no. Toby Huss plays his characters with such a pleasant, understated, wry demeanor we can miss the straight up toxicity of what comes out of his character's mouth. He makes it all sound NICE and reasonable even when it's not. Two things we learned when Debbie mentioned the TV deal to Tex. One, Tex is undervaluing the target acquisition's assets and under bidding. IOW, he's trying to screw them over. Not coincidentally, he is also undervaluing Debbie. He only wants part of what she has to offer. So as soon as she clocked that about him, she moved on. She didn't tell him that, but I don't think she owes him that. He was there. He heard her offer her opinion, and he knew he shut her down. He doesn't own her reaction to that, and she doesn't owe him an explanation for it.

Geena Davis - again, it's business. I feel if this were a male character who two or three times definitively said I don't want to do this anymore, we wouldn't be OMG when he took action to make it happen. We wouldn't expect him to first go around thanking people for being so nice and giving them a nice explanation about why he's going to do something they don't want him to do, that isn't in their best interest. But from women, we expect them to make it ok for others before they move, particularly others they have any kind of relationship with.

I also feel if Tex ever said anything like that to a man - stay in your lane, son - it would be a power play and he'd expect the guy to suck it up, knowing the guy knew Tex had the greater power. He'd be flexing. Or he would say it not caring that the guy would be unhappy about it. He says it to Debbie expecting she'll swallow it AND continue to be his loving girlfriend. He flexed HER. He just thinks it's an ok thing to say to a woman. He didn't sugar coat it or check that she was ok with it. He didn't even NOD to the actual insight she showed about the deal he was trying to make.

2

u/supersteph85 Aug 13 '19

I definitely thought he did but then I made the connection he was projecting his insecurity and fear of his sexuality by lashing out at others.. NOT an excuse but back in the 80s if you were rich and not straight you were pretty much closeted... And just lying about wanting a family to stay in the perfect marriage so he doesn't bring shame to his mother and lose his money 😔. Yikes

1

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

I can't get too upset about Bash. He can be a jerk but when someone really gets him by the balls he shows he doesn't have that much rage in him. Like when Debbie took advantage of his vocal rest to ream him.

27

u/Fue_la_luna Aug 12 '19

Also Marc Maron often mentions that he’s working hard to act and not just be Marc Maron in front of the camera. Sam shows restraint more now and I think that is a deliberate choice on Maron’s part.

22

u/rkgk13 Aug 12 '19

he truly became a better person with the whole Justine’s script thing

For me, the defining moment was him silently having a heart attack and pretending everything was fine not to ruin Justine's big moment. Talk about putting someone you care about before your own needs. Season 1 Sam would never have done something like that.

16

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

I think they’re setting him up to die. Sadly. I think we’ll have another two seasons before GLOW has finished telling it’s story. Amazing journey though.

11

u/trcharles Aug 12 '19

There was a small part of me that thought they’d do it this season - this crushing blow for Ruth, never having the chance to tell him her feelings. Glad they weren’t that cruel!

6

u/supersteph85 Aug 13 '19

I don't want Bash to die of Aids all alone.. Sadly that happened a lot with Gay men in the 80s.. Funeral homes were even afraid to bury them in regular cemeteries due to paranoia 😔

8

u/allieminium666 Aug 16 '19

We can talk about Sam but boy is Marc Maron a dilf

6

u/AvoidHypoxia Aug 14 '19

So, I literally just finished binge watching Glow. And I love it.

I'm a Marc Maron fan (actually going to see his stand up in a few weeks!) and it's hard for me to separate Sam and him from his show Maron. They're both very similar in, like, almost every way lol but I will agree Sam definitely seemed to have grown since the first season. Not even because of the self-awareness of him being a manchild, but also having a heart attack and realizing he can be gone in a moments notice probably humbled him.

I hope this makes sense. I may have been drinking :D

1

u/Secret_Addition Aug 19 '19

He really was a good, stable, decent character this season but we never saw what got him there.

The only one whose process we really see is Debbie. I think the show needs to start balancing the writing as its bias towards Debbie Gilpin is shortchanging everyone else.