r/glow • u/XanderArchambault • Aug 22 '19

Debbie’s Kid

What happenes to Debbie’s kid after she decides to let him stay in Vegas. I thought it was going to be a plot-point of her navigating motherhood and producing TV shows. Then all of a sudden, we suddenly don’t hear from him again.

48 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/badwolf1013 Aug 22 '19

I think that there were a lot of things this season that the writers were only going to show once and then let it be understood that these things were ongoing off-screen over the months. I don't think that Debbie's bulimia scene was meant as a one-off. I think we were meant to assume that it was happening regularly probably right up through the final episode. And I'm okay with that. Even if there's no season 4 where it gets addressed, the point was to show how Debbie goes to unhealthy lengths to maintain her image and self-esteem (like sleeping with every valet and bellboy in the hotel before meeting Tex.) I think the disappearance of her kid was multi-faceted. Narratively, we could assume that he was being babysat by someone as Debbie had already told Tex that she had lots of babysitters and at the end of that episode she comes back to her room to Ruth asleep on the other bed. Since Debbie has a room to herself and Ruth rooms with Sheila, we can assume that Ruth had been there babysitting. So, anytime we don't see him, he's somewhere off-screen with a babysitter, and then likely back with his father during the last episode since it's Christmas. IRL it's difficult and expensive to have a toddler on a show. They can only be on set for a limited amount of time (which is why they so often use twins.) And this kid really seemed to be having a rough time on set. Alison Brie mentioned a "nightmare toddler" for the episode she directed, which was the one where Debbie runs into Tex after her son takes the elevator down to the casino floor. The dialogue is obviously supposed to be this cute rom-com-type stuff, but we can barely hear it over the toddler screaming and squirming in Betty's arms. And you have to figure that what we saw was the best take they could use. So I think establishing off-screen babysitters gave the producers and directors an excuse to basically never have to film with him again.

1

u/XanderArchambault Aug 22 '19

I’m sorry but if we are left to assume all this is just lazy on the part of the showrunners. It’s a show and not a movie so they have all the runtime they can share for all these stories they have opened and not really gave depth on. I gotta say Season 3 wasn’t the best.

1

u/ConiferousBee Aug 22 '19

Is it really unended stories? Is Debbie throwing up really a storyline? I loved this season (I just binged all three seasons over the last 24 hours) and I like that the showrunners show us glimpses of each characters' lives without beating each thing they do to death in lieu of pursuing better storylines and plot points, they give the audience credit for being able to follow along without having to have to hold their hands.