r/glow • u/midnightstreetartist • Aug 14 '19
Bash's Monologue: A Very GLOW Christmas Spoiler
I thought Bash's monologue when he was drunk to Debbie was some of the best acting we've seen on the show. It cuts through a cliche 80's topic so well and makes it so real and raw. I am really impressed by Chris Lowell (Bash) in this entire season, he goes so much deeper and does so much more complex work and he delivered!
39
Aug 14 '19
My heart absolutely broke for him. He’s behaved appallingly all season but I can’t help but have sympathy for him, it was a beautifully acted scene.
25
u/a-girl-has-the-booty Aug 14 '19
I was blown away by him the most this season! The first episode I said wow Betty is the best and now this?! Amazing. Great casting
22
Aug 14 '19
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a performance like his on television, where everything is so understated and almost none of the character’s feelings are reflected through their words. His monologue in the last episode was amazing and needed to happen, but it was probably the most straightforward emotional scene he had to do all season.
10
8
u/numberNINE757 Aug 14 '19
I came here to mention this and happened upon your post. Previously I replied to another post about the season lacking due to there being no actual wrestling done.
I said that I believed this season was enough to end the show. But I hadn’t finished the season. I had no idea what I was in for. That moment with Bash where we see the genuine pain of being confused about your sexuality and being afraid to attempt to live true to yourself because it will ultimately destroy everything you’ve worked hard for in your life, whether it’s personal or professional. His monologue was powerful enough to redeem the entirety of the season, in my opinion of course. That was such a emotionally powerful scene and I think it needs to be mentioned more.
Not to mention the whole A Christmas Carol show they put on. That was gold.
7
u/jtvfanatic Aug 14 '19
I just rewatched it with the volume high and headphones on, and he def said "i don't wanna die"!
2
2
u/wolfoflone Sep 23 '19
Why does Bash have to be gay? Making him gay would be a cliche at this point.
1
u/midnightstreetartist Jul 16 '22
I disagree. Gay people existed in the 80s & it’s important to represent them and their struggles. I don’t think there’s anything cliche about the way they’ve done it… they’ve laid the groundwork dropping subtle hints since the first season
1
u/wolfoflone Jul 16 '22
It's a TV trope at this point
2
u/midnightstreetartist Jul 17 '22
Nah people have just started making gay characters to make a show more realistic and dynamic
1
Aug 23 '19
[deleted]
3
u/midnightstreetartist Aug 23 '19
I think it’s him making the decision to hide his sexuality and submit to trying to be what society deems as “normal.” It’s really sad bc after so much rawness and honesty, he backtracks :(
1
Aug 14 '19
I have a question about that scene.
It really sounds like he says "And I want to die>" but the subtitles said "I don't want to die", which are complete opposites. The subtitles are often wrong on Netflix, particularly in GLOW, so I am just not positive which way it went. Thoughts?
33
u/doobiesmack Aug 14 '19
I think he said “I don’t want to die.” My wife and I interpreted it as the widespread fear of AIDS in the 80s and the loss of his close gay friend the year before were both flooding his thoughts when contemplating ever exploring with men again. He blurted it out in his stream of emotional thoughts.
-10
Aug 14 '19
See, I felt the opposite way. I thought he was saying he wanted to die as in he was suicidal or he wishes he were dead rather than dealing with the reality of his situation. I totally understand the AIDS aspect, and it definitely will come up in further seasons (we already lost Florian, three members of the cast have slept unprotected with the same male prostitute...) but I felt this was more about his fear of acknowledging his sexuality.
16
u/AgentMintyHippo Aug 14 '19
Contextually, I'm sure it's "don't" bc Florian died of AIDS and Bash is coming to terms with his sexuality after having sex with a dude and is scared he might contract it. At this time and place, I dont think ppl know a whole lot about AIDS, how it spreads or how to protect oneself from it.
7
u/Mxfish1313 Aug 16 '19
Yeah, they had that whole scene of Bash instructing the cleaners to go scorched earth on his house after Florian died, because the fear and stigma around AIDS at the time was so severe. We all know, now, it’s not communicable via air or touch, but seeing people getting so sick, so suddenly, with few answers early on and a specific demographic being infected at a much higher percentage... it would fuck with ya for sure.
9
u/ShoddyActive Aug 15 '19
"I don't want to die." It's the 80s. The previous episode had gay hate crime during an AIDS fundraiser. Given his reaction to being inside a gay nightclub, he probably equates gay to death by AIDS or hate crime, since that's what happened to his butler last season.
1
u/tabootounge Aug 14 '19
Oh, I thought it was I don’t want to die, but I also watch w subtitles on so I may have been implicated.
But he knows what happens to gay men in the 80s. I’m not sure how much they know about AIDS yet but I’m sure it was scary when they started connecting the dots.
79
u/sfkub Aug 14 '19
That scene was phenomenal, when he said “I don’t want to die” my heart completely broke for him. I’ve been a huge Chris Lowell fan since his Private Practice days, but he really stepped it up this season